You've got to want it to win it

Today after a long team meeting (actually it was only half an hour) we went for a nice trail run.  The team meeting concluded with the announcement that Alyssa officially made the team!!! :) :) :)  We were all very happy for her, and this energy showed when we started the climb up to the trails at a fast pace for going uphill!  I was with Kate, Hilary, Charlotte, Giselle, and Alyssa.  We ran up to Red Butte and then got on the trails towards DryCreek.  We stayed on the upper trails which were a bit hilly in places, but it is always nicer coming back.  We took the way that is barely on the side of the mountain down to where DryCreek goes way back into the mountain (I was leading... hehe) and then the other girls decided to turn.  It took us 20 minutes to get to that point anyway so at least I know I didn't scare them by going on the narrow trail... I hope.  Hilary and I continued up the canyon, and it was so beautiful!!!  We lucked out with shade and a cool breeze too.  Running through the red and orange leaves was just another reason to love fall so much :)  We ran all the way to the bottom of the big hill, where I told Hilary I would turn since I didn't want to run up that hill.  The way back felt great and it was well worth the climb for the views we got to enjoy.  And I am pretty sure this was my first time up there not on a summer morning.  I am just so in love with trails!!!  Going back we took a lower path and ended up running through some of the parking lots by the hospitals.  We got water at Red Butte and then ran up to the fence and back down to Legacy Bridge to head back to the locker room.   

Today we had a workout at Sugarhouse Park.  I had suspected that there might be a lot of high schoolers since state isn't too far away, but I was wrong.  Instead, there was a Jr. High meet so a lot of people were there for that.  We warmed up around the perimeter of the park and then did strides and drills in the shade to the north east of the pond.  Then we changed shoes.  Kep had marked a 1600 meter loop with cones and white flags alternating every 100 meters.  This was good since we had to make adjustments so that we wouldn't be running into the meet going on during our repeats.  We were doing 200, 200 300, 2 3 4, 500 500, then 3, 3 4, 3 4 5.  On the first one we messed up though because there was no cone for 100 meters so we didn't stop at the 200 flag and instead kept going up the hill to 300.  That took 1:07.  We had double or double and a half recoveries depending on what the distance was.  If I remember correctly, here were all my splits:  42, 59, 34, 1:00, 1:25, 1:43, 1:48, 55 (?), 59 (?), 1:33 (?), 1:06 (?), 1:17, 1:46.  As you can tell, I forgot some of the ones in the middle... But they were pretty consistent when calculating which ones had hills or not and which ones we ran the exact same for.  Most of the time I was with Andrea, Nikki, and Charlotte but on the last one we joined Giselle and Amanda which helped all of us finish the workout strong.  Afterwards I changed shoes and did another perimeter of the park with Hilary and Alyssa to get to 10 for the day.

I just can't get enough of the beautiful fall weather :)  I ran on my own this morning because I am going to watch my sister race at regions this afternoon :)  I took my iPod and ran up Emigration Canyon.  I wasn't sure if I wanted 9 or 10, but when I got to 4.5 I decided to keep going for which I was glad because when I got to the 5 mile mark the view was even more beautiful than before!  I turned off my iPod and stretched for a minute while taking in the colorful leaves on the mountains :)  Then I ran back down with the iPod off and enjoyed the surroundings.  It was a great run :)

This afternoon I went to watch my sister race at regions!  And watching an exciting race always involves running around to as many different parts of the course as you can, so of course I got a little mileage here.  I am counting it as .5.  Abigail had an amazing race!!!  She finished as hard as she could which was obvious by how much ground she gained and then by her immediate puking once across the line.  I am so proud of her :)

Later in the evening I went and ran another 4.5.  I just made a loop over to 2100s, up to 1900e, over to 900s, down to 15th and home.  I walked the last little bit.  Sometimes just walking after being done with a run feels fantastic. 

Today we had a workout at Liberty.  We started with the usual warmup from the Trax station on 900e over to 900s and down into the park.  Again Hilary and I added extra to our warmup by running around the perimeter, then we joined everyone for strides and drills.  The workout was a 4 mile Kenyan run, I was with Andrea and Giselle and we were supposed to start at 6:50 and drop 20 seconds each mile.  Giselle dropped in the first half mile because her shin was bugging her, so Andrea and I were on our own.  The first mile split was 6:54 so a little slow but we think we started too fast and then relaxed too much to make up for it.  The next mile we were at 6:35 which I was really happy we hit because it didn't feel like we picked it up that much but I guess we were just able to keep the pace change very gradual and under control.  The next mile was 6:21 so not quite on target but still a 14 second drop, and then we dropped another 14 seconds to finish the last mile in 6:07.  We cooled down back to the vans and then Hilary convinced me to finish at 10 instead of 9 so we did a lap and then back to the drinking fountain in the park before running back to the 900e Trax station.  Then we even had a little extra distance to walk back to the train :)  Afterwards I did stem for 15 minutes in the training room.

Today we had recruits so of course we had to go on a beautiful run.  Which meant City Creek :)  Hilary, Andrea, Nikki, and I took Paige for out Trax run.  Before going down Memory Grove we ran up to get water at the gate first.  We had to see the sign that Hilary had seen a few days ago warning women about some fit looking guy that chases ladies up there...  We then continued our run down Memory Grove, and for the first time (for me at least) we went on the trails on the other side of the river.  When we got to South Temple the rest of the girls ran to the train but I ran back up to campus and finished at 9.  Then I ice cupped my shins (I hit one of them on a machine in the weight room the other day, still hurts) and then did stem for 15 minutes.

This morning the team went for a run in Park City.  We pushed the departure time to 8 so it wouldn't be so cold, but it was only a few degrees difference... But a little sleep was nice!  Still I had to wear long sleeves, tights, gloves, and a headband.  I went out with Amanda and stayed with her the whole time.  We turned at 5.5 and then when we got to where Megan was she turned around and finished with us.  As we got closer to the shopping area there were a lot of people and it was warming up by then so we were glad we had started when we did.  Then because it was warm it wasn't bad waiting at the cars for everyone to finish.  The fall is so beautiful in Park City :)