You've got to want it to win it

Today I went and did my rehab before practice and got a new tape job.  All day my knee has hurt walking downhill and down stairs, so we went back to the first taping style and will probably save the second for workout days only.  For the run I went out with Nikki, Giselle, Kate, Lauren, and Andrea.  We ran out on Foothill and then up Sunnyside to do the zoo loop.  Giselle and Nikki turned on Sunnyside, and the others turned on Wasatch but I kept going.  Right when I got to 4 miles where I was going to turn, I saw Amanda so I turned and ran with her :)  I was with her to the golf course but then she kept going and I went back to campus through the golf course.  When I got back to the locker room my knee didn't hurt going down the stairs!  Just gotta make it through one more workout tomorrow and then rest up for regionals on Friday :)

Today we had our final workout before regionals!  Hanah did the extra taping like she did during last week's workout, since today was on the track too.  For warmup I ran out to South Campus with the girls, and then to avoid the hill I just ran back to the track and added a few laps until they arrived.  Then we did our strides and drills, and then picked our workout from the two Kep had written.  The second one he had written on the board with the map of bailiff was different than the one he posted a few days earlier... I picked the new one :)  I changed to my spikes and then Lauren, Nikki, Giselle, and I ran down to bailiff to do the first part of the workout.  We did two 200s, I hit 43 and 44, and then we did a 1200.  We were supposed to hit 1:26ish pace.  I finished in 4:22 (didn't take splits or anything, didn't care too much).  Then we had 400s.  Since the loop was 600 meters we decided to run 400, then recover backwards 200 to change it up every time.  For these we were trying to hit around 1:24.  My times were 1:24, 1:25, 1:25, 1:24, 1:28.  At this point I decided I was done (we had to do between 5 and 7) so I ran back up to the track with Lauren where we were supposed to do a few fast 200s.  When we got up to the track I didn't feel like quitting on the 4s so I did two more, both in 1:21.  The track was easier on my knee because the turns were wider than the bailiff course.  Then I did two 200s in 37, then two more in the opposite direction in 35.  I cooled down a mile and a half with Giselle and Nikki picking up the flags on bailiff, and then went and stretched for several minutes afterwards.  

Today I started my run with Nikki and Kate.  We started out on Foothill, then I turned at 1300s and ran down to 1300e.  I ran over to 500s, did a lap in the cemetery, then ran up South Campus and finished at 6 miles.  Had a nice long stretch afterwards.  We are all sore from weights yesterday, hopefully we feel better tomorrow and can all run our best races Friday!!

Today in Fort Collins we went to the course in the late afternoon to get our premeet done.  We ran one loop of the course, then I did strides as part of a second loop and ran the rest of the loop when I was done with the strides.  Giselle and I have been talking about our goal, top 30, the past few workouts and were really excited :)  but in the team meeting, Kep told us he wants us to get top 15.  I am not mentally prepared for this.

This morning I was really nervous for the race.  I woke up at 6 and couldn't get back to sleep :(  so I went down to breakfast early and did homework for a few hours.  I wish I had thought better right when I woke up, I probably could have really used a shakeout run.  When we got to the course we relaxed (or tried to) for a bit before getting going on our warmup.  We did one loop of the course backwards, and then did our strides and drills in the starting area.  After I had changed shoes and was about to head over to the line, Kep came over and told me he thought I could beat Shalaya because she didn't race very well at conference.  WTF??  Thanks coach. He's getting an earful about that one next week.  On the line I felt like crying between strides.  Never have I come into a race with such low mental confidence.  I was preparing with the goal top 30, not top 15 and beating an Olympian.  I knew I had to focus so just thought about top 30. Or tried to anyway.  When the race started I went out at a decent pace, was a little terrified about getting tripped, but was fine going with the flow.  Coming to the first turn I got cut off a lot as people would run to the left of the course to avoid the small hill on the turn.  This course was great for my knee!  The race plan was not panic the first k and then push hard the last 5.  I could see Giselle not too far ahead but didn't want to close on her yet because I wanted to wait for the k.  If I had I might have been able to hold on like at pre-nats and run better, but I really wanted to just be patient and work later.  When the k mark came, I went.  There were several girls I was passing back and forth, but some I would pass and never see again.  At one point I caught up to a pack and realized they were slipping away, but then figured I just needed to go with them and then I would be able to pull away with them.  So I did.  I didn't hear my splits but I didn't care.  I just focused on keeping passing people.  I could hear people yelling to an SUU girl that she was their 5.  I did not want to let that happen, so I pushed to pass that pack.  The first lap was over quick and then from that point I kept reminding myself it was more than half over, so I had to pick it up.  At 5k my split was about 17:48, and I realized if I was going to break 21 I would have to have a screaming fast kick.  I couldn't do it.  When the course did turn though (probably 800 to go) I started my kick and caught a few girls.  Coming down the final 400 I could see a Colorado girl and was determined to catch her, and I did.  No one caught me, I pushed all the way through to the end.  Giselle was 12th and finally broke 21!!!  I was really happy for her :)  But I wanted to cry after my race because I was mentally out of it.  And now half of my cross country seasons are already gone.  I cooled down with the team out and back on a trail to the outside of the golf course, then I ran more with Amanda until I hit 3 miles total for cooldown.  I felt like I was going to pass out at the end of it, I was so exhausted.  When we got our runnercards I was again painfully reminded of my time because the average pace was 5:44.  That is the same as my very first race my freshman year up at Utah State.  It is time for things to change.  I hate running right now.

This morning I went for a run with my iPod in the snow :)  I had planned on running to Cottonwood Complex to watch my sister race.  I ran to Sugarhouse and then ran up to 1700e, then did part of the cemetery loop down to Alden and then weaving back up to Imperial Street.  When I got to 3300s I ran down, but the sidewalks had a lot of puddles which weren't fun to avoid, and they caused the snow stuck in the heel of my shoes to turn to ice blocks :P  I had to stop several times to pick them out.  I also had to stop and stretch my calves during the first mile because they were really sore, but they felt better as I kept running and stretched them more at lights.  There was so much snow that I almost didn't recognize that I was at 1300e when I made it there.  From there I continued south to the complex.  When I got there I didn't see a lot of cars and was worried about not having a ride home...  I ran down to the parking lot and saw Bill and a few other people.  I used Bill's phone to call my sister and then finished the mile I was on to get 7 for the day.  My calves feel a lot better now!