Suzette's Running Blog.

Since today was Labor Day, i ran alone on a treadmill.  

I ran for 1.59 miles as a warm-up, then i did four miles going relatively faster and then finished off with a 1.61 cool down. Overall, it felt really nice to be able to get out and run.  

Morning:

Got up really early and decided to go to morning workout, even though i am suffering a bad cold. We did a mile warm-up, then a mile of speed changes. After that, we all lined up in two lines with numbers and ran two 300s. I nearly died during the second one but at least i got through it. Then we did those team strides. I couldn't get the hang of slapping my team mates hands though... I will need to get better at that. Then we did a mile cool-down.

Afternoon:

We ran up to This is the Place Heritage Park from the track and then ran our course. It was a great way to learn where the course was and also to estimate how difficult the race was going to be. It was rather challenging running all of the course and to make matters better, i am really sore from Monday. Once we finished that, i ran back with Patrick, Michelle and Tania to the track. We stopped at two water fountains too since i was dying of thirst the whole day. Not having fluids at lunch and throughout the school day is pretty bad and very very difficult. This afternoon run was 6.32 miles. 

Since there had been no early morning practice and i was exhausted beyond belief from Tuesday, i was not able to get up to run before school.

RACE DAY!! =D

Started off by walking up to the track as soon as i got out from school and got ready to race. We all then got on the bus and left to our home course. The only problem i saw with our home course is the superlative fragrance given off from the horses at the start and finish lines. It is a rather repulsive smell and it tends to linger on one too... When it came to running my warm-up i went with the girls and we managed to run approximately a mile or a mile and a half. We kept going until someone told us we had five minutes before the start of the race. Since we had already done our cheer, we were able to make it on time and stay warmed up without wasting any valuable time. Once we were about to start, Bill noticed that there had been too many girls and that the starting line was just not wide enough for all 52 of us, so he extended the race a good amount. Right before the race, Bill mentioned to all of us that this particular race was one for fun and that really helped me. I was able to push my limits and the limits of many other girls to the point where i came out succeeding. About .75 miles into the race, the majority of our competition had begun to die off. Girls were dropping like flies and you could tell that they were really struggling. Once we hit the long, steadily increasing hill i began to hear people slow down immensely. I only pushed harder and harder until i reached the top of the hill and took it upon myself to pace myself using my watch and regain control of my breathing. I was able to catch the majority of my breath right around the time i saw my coach Bill and he told me to catch up to the Bountiful girl that was right ahead of me and pass her. Shortly after, i succeeded and she didn't put up a fight. I then caught up to my teammate Josephine and ran with her until i passed her. Unfortunally, i slowed down a little too much on the slick downhill and she caught up to me. Once the downhill was behind me, i began to gap her once again but then i came across the most annoying cyclist and just would not get out of my way!! She ended up catching up to me and we ran together for the majority of the race. I got to the point where i could not keep up with her when we were about 20 ft away from taking a right, right where the trees were. She began to out kick me and i ended up a few seconds behind. Overall, it was a really good race! It felt amazing to get out there and do so well! It paid off, even though i could hardly walk before the race and afterwards i was completely stiff and Natalie was too!

Fun Race!!

Morning: 

Super sore again, but i managed to get up for morning workout once again. We ran up to Sunnyside Park and did two full loops around it. We then did an 800 and finished that loop and went for one last loop around the park and then ran back to the track. To complete our four miles, we ran one loop around the track and then went inside the locker rooms to get ready for school and eat. 

Afternoon:

We took a very easy and light workout by running two grass laps around the track and then did ten strides across the length of the entire football field while trying not to slip and fall. Then we did two more grass laps around the track as a cool down and did our core. My abs have been so sore this week but my calves have been aching far worse. I mean they felt really tight while doing strides today and i had stretched before too! Oh well....

RACE DAY!!!!!!!!!!! =D

Ran the Murray Invitational! I was very nervous at first, but as time passed i felt better and better about the race. Once it came to be the time to start the race, the official came up to us and said it would be another 15 minutes before we could start our race....that sucked. When it came to be the time to start, we got ready -in position and the gun fired. Shortly after, the officials fired another gun because there was a massive pile-up. Unfortunally, I was tripped by them and landed on some rude West High girl. IT HURT! Not to mention, i have been having this strange pain under my knee for a few days...so it hurt even more than it should have! Two of my other team members also got trapped in this pile-up and fell also. I've learned today, that cross country is a violent sport. There is so much aggression! So many people trying to drive you off the course and throwing elbows at you....I've never had anyone try to drive me off the course until today. 

After the race, it was time for our moment in glory. The cross country team running the torch at halftime during the Homecoming game. It felt great! Especially after running a tough race just moments before! Today was great! I'm quite sad though to see that tonight was the last time i would ever get to run the torch at East.