You've got to want it to win it

This morning after class I went ahead and went for my run because the rest of the day is reserved for Ben since today is the last day I get to see him before he goes to the MTC on Wednesday :'(  I ran to Sugarhouse, did a clockwise lap, left the park at 1700e and started on the cemetery loop.  After doing the normal route right before I hit Imperial Street I decided I didn't want to run anymore so turned left and ran home.  When I got back to Sugarhouse I couldn't resist so I turned into the park for part of another clockwise lap.  Then I didn't feel like running back up to 1500e so I ran home along 13th and then added an extra half mile at the end to get to 9.  Then Ben surprised me with red roses :)

This afternoon we did 400s at the park on 13th East and South Temple.  We warmed up there weaving through campus to add distance but also to avoid going straight downhill to get there.  We did our drills and strides in the shade, and then changed shoes.  Since our strides were a bit short Kep made us do some longer ones before starting the workout.  He wanted us to do between 12 and 16 400s.  We started on the lower field, cut diagonally across it, up the hill to the upper field, around, and then back down and finishing back on the lower field.  If we were doing these on the track I would have been supposed to hit 77s, so he told me to try to go just above 80.  I led the first one and finished in 1:26, and after that I think everyone realized we needed to pick it up because the next 2 were 1:24 and 1:22.  We all stayed together which helped because we could work with each other but also had to do the work as crowded as we might be in a race.  The next one I hit in 1:24, then I don't remember the rest accurately but they went something like 1:25, 1:26, 1:26, 1:27, 1:30, 1:31, the 12th one being 1:33.  Kep could tell I wasn't having a good day and I told him that Ben leaves tomorrow :'(  The team waited for me to change shoes before cooling down back up to the locker room.  Hilary and I ran through the institute parking to give us the extra bit to get to 10 for the day.  When I got home I took a 13 minute ice bath and then grabbed a bowl of ice cream and fro-yo... I emptied out the fro-yo container with one scoop so had to do with ice cream, oh well. ;P

This afternoon when I got to the locker room I found that just about everyone had written messages on the board about running earlier.  So it ended up just being me and Charlotte, but it was nice.  We ran out on Foothill, all the way to 2300e and then to 2100s.  She ran with me down to 1500e but I told her I was running to Cottonwood Complex so wouldn't be going back to campus.  Fortunately we ran 15th last week so when we got there she recognized it.  I kept going and went down to 900e and took that all the way out to 3900s.  Then I cut up to 11th, stopped in the park to get water, and then did the last mile and a quarter out and back on 1300e.  Then I watched Abigail and the other East runners kick pockets at pre-regions :)

This afternoon we had a workout at Liberty.  Unfortunately, right after we got on Trax to go down to Trolley, we realized we had left our girl that is trying out as she had went to her car to get her ucard and we didn't see her on our way out... We warmed up running on the median in 600e over to the park, and then Hilary and I ran to the drinking fountain and back.  Then we were all relieved to see the girl we had accidentally left pull up, we were so glad she made it!  She jumped in our strides and drills with us, then warmed up a few more minutes while we waited for Kep to be done pacing Amanda for her workout.  Our workout was a mile, a mile and a half, a mile, and two 800s.  I was supposed to go with Andrea and we were trying to hit about 6:10 pace.  We relaxed too much the first mile and hit 6:27.  We picked it up on the second one, I finished in 9:14 and Andrea and Giselle were just a bit ahead of me.  For  the next mile I got 6:11, and then we did the 800s in 3:00 and 2:59.  Mentally it was a much better workout than Tuesday; I think Kep had me go slower than last week today partially because of my workout Tuesday.  For cooldown I ran to the drinking fountain again with Hilary and then we ran to the Trolley Trax station to finish our cooldown at 9 for the day.

This afternoon for practice it was me, Hilary, Andrea, and Lauren.  Since we were doing a premeet and it was a shorter run anyway, we went on Foothill.  Lauren is having ankle issues so she wasn't able to come very far, and Andrea turned at 12 minutes, but Hilary was with me over to 1700s and 2300e.  Then I cut down to 2100e and ran that back to campus.  My calves hurt during this part because it is such a gradual climb, but I guess it's good to run this soreness out before tomorrow.  Back at campus I went to the bailiff to do my strides and decided to do them barefoot :)  I did 6 strides and felt awesome, then finished with some drills.  I topped it all off with a 15 minute ice bath.

This morning when I woke up and heard the pouring rain outside, my first thought was "I love cross country!".  I got to wear my rainboots for the ride up to Utah State for the season opener :)  When we got there it was chilly and the grass was a bit wet, but at least it had stopped raining.  The course looked nicer than last year, but there were only 4 port-a-pottys for bathroom.  I wasn't thinking when I took my potty break and when I was done threw the whole roll of TP in the hole... Oops, that was a sign I needed to wake up and get ready for my race.  With about 45 minutes before race time we started on our team warmup.  The first and second loops were alright, but coming out of the second (which is actually the end of the first loop too, and the 4th) there is a slight uphill, so I knew that might be difficult.  The 3rd loop was shorter than I expected it to be, so when I did part of the 4th loop for the last bit of my warmup I was sure the course would be short... and decided to race with my Garmin :)  After doing strides and drills with the team, I changed to my flats.  After a few more strides on the line, and having to wait a few minutes for the timers to be ready, the race began!  Because the start is sloped downhill (opposite of all the other loops) I was able to get out well and not push too hard.  I ended up at the front, and going into the first loop Amber and Taylor from Weber were running on each side of me.  I just stuck with them and the pace felt pretty relaxed.  I hung with them the second loop and I think I was annoying them because I kept stepping on their ankles, but that was because Amber was running into me a little bit and forced me to run half step behind them.  I didn't feel bad for stepping on them because of that :P  Coming out of the second loop my hips felt really tired from the hill, and then they were able to break away while I was recovering.  I really need to rebuild my quad strength!  The third loop was different than what I ran in my warmup so it did end up being full distance, but either way I was prepared.  During part of the third loop the Weber guys cheered for me which was nice of them, because they know Ben would have if he were there :)  Coming out of the 3rd loop and into the 4th, Jamie caught up to me and passed me and I wasn't able to hold on very well.  I think she also must have been kicking at this point because there was only about 1000 to go.  Coming around the final turn to the slope up to the finish line I was worried that someone else might catch me but I was able to make myself push up the hill and even pull out enough of a kick that I almost had to puke when I finished.  Once the rest of the team had finished and changed shoes, we went out on the road for cooldown.  Surprisingly my legs didn't feel tired from the race, so I was able to run up with Hilary and Charlotte.  We did one big loop that was about 2 and a half miles around the blocks that the park was at, and then Hilary and I did another one so that I could get to 5.5 cooldown and 11 for the day.