Running Blog

I choose to do xc only and I get a 10 miler as a reward? I'm going back to soccer. (: Just kidding.. (kind of! This doesn't give you permission to give us 10 milers often, Coach!) it actually felt really good. Even the monster hill felt fine.. well, we didn't actually have time to feel anything on that hill, what with Rachel stepping on our hills and yelling "Go go go!!" It was really humid out, but other than that, it was a great run.

AM- 4 miles. Shoulda been 5 but I turned around early to go to -sigh- soccer tryouts. Sorry about all the mess, everyone. Anyway, ran with the Level 2 girls.. they really pushed it on the way there! Rachel and Nicole set a good pace and Taylor and Mia pushed me from behind. I kinda hung out in the middle of them. They have a good thing going. The way back we stuck it together more. It was fun! (: Stoner and Kaylee.. I think on runs like this, we should run with all the girls. And when they yell at us to please slow down and run with them, don't ignore them! Yeah, I watched you guys.. you thought you could be sneaky.

PM- Hot and yucky. Blehh. Not excited for practicing after school this year.. (okay, so I won't be running. But that turf gets HOT!!) Weight lifting and plyo's (plio's?). We dumped water all over ourselves and I felt disgusting from then on. The run wasn't bad though.

Is it possible to have pulled every muscle in your body? Because that's about how I'm feeling right now. I'm sooo sore. Anywhay.. the hills weren't that bad today. They were actually kinda fun.. Except when Stoner tried to run me into the ditch. I did 3x1 minute and 3x30 seconds.. I figured that would get me back in time and be in between Level 3 and Level 2. Soccer will start at 3 next week though, so I won't have to leave early. Stoner and I actually had no idea what we were doing because we didn't hear Coach (not because we were looking at a book of palindromes or anything..) So when we turned into Hell's Hole, I wanted to go crawl under a rock. But it turned out okay. So, yes. That is all I wish to say at this time.

Top 10 reasons why running in Bountiful is a terrible idea:

10. The altitude.

9. My grandparents still have dial-up so updating this blog takes a day and a half.

8. Whoever designed this city didn't believe in straight roads (or yards, for that matter)- my striders were all over the place.

7. Apple trees. I stepped on mushy apples and almost broke my neck.

6. You have to take a shower afterward.. and the shower is never just right- always too hot or too cold.

5. Peope here enjoy trees. A lot. Especially the kind that hang down just low enough to whack unsuspecting runners in the face.

4. You have to get up early and you're on vacation.. which is no fun at all.

3. Hair dryers don't work in the bathroom unless the light is turned on.. took me 10 minutes to figure that out. (I know that had nothing to do with running, but it was really frustrating.)

2. Did I mention that my grandparents still have dial-up?

1. In addition to the town's lack of straight roads, there is no such thing as flat. The entire way out was uphill.

2 Reasons why it's all worth it:

1. People here are obsessed with watering their lawn (and the sidewalks and the street.) It's sprinkler heaven!!

2. It's gorgeous up here!! I ran up by the temple and saw it and the Great Salt Lake and the mountain all at once.. took my breath away (I'd just run a mile and a half uphill, so that may have had something to do with it too.) And then I saw a deer and her two little baby deer right across the street from me.. it was insane!! I LOVED today's run.

So, I show up at the elementary school and see only one car in the parking lot and think "Maybe it's not here." But then Stoner pulls up.. and I think "Oh well if Rachel's here, it must be here." Yeah.. don't ever listen to Rachel. Last week, she told me afternoon practice was at 3.. it wasn't. So anyway, after we all get to the high school, we find out we have 10 miles with 2 miles tempo. I regretted not going home when no one was at the elementary school. Blahh. It felt okay. The tempo felt.. tempoish. We stopped at my favorite place for water. And saw and discussed some interesting things. (: We also played musical chairs at Rachel's. So it was fun.. but by the end, my legs were very achy. Also, I've been having the hardest time breathing lately. It's like I can't get enough air to my lungs. Hope it doesn't affect my race..

Today was the Green Springs run.. twas fun. There were sprinklers galore. And Kaylee only complained a little bit. (: I felt a teensy bit tired on the way up.. and then the boys were like "Hey, run back with us!!" and you know Kaylee.. she jumped right in. They sped away though, so we didn't run with them. Then we caught up to the Level 2 girls at Chevron and Rachel was oh so proud that we beat them back. Then Mia and I went to Emerald City and had delicious smoothies, and the smoothie guy kept telling everyone we'd just gotten back from playing soccer. Then we watched Tangled. So, today was a fabulous day. Oh, and also we did striders, after Tyson and Trevor kept yelling at us. We were gonna do them anyway.. probably.

A.M: It was nice to have a short run today. We had a good pace going. We saw a dead cat and remembered morning practice times. (: I hope the race today goes okay. I want to help push the girls but I'm going to be kinda tired. And the last races I ran were up at state track and that didn't go well at all. I really really hope it all works out. And that is all I have to say at this time.

P.M: So I went to soccer practice and ran who knows how much.. then I hopped in the car and we sped up to Cedar and I got there like 15 minutes before the race. I was really nervous about burning out from having just been at soccer. Also, I had no idea how to pace. So when we started, we had a good group for about 200 meters. Then it started to spread out and Coach told us to push it harder. So we picked up the pace and Liz, Freida and Mia stuck around near us. I still had no idea what I was doing though. Then Coach told Kaylee and me just to finish the race with a strong last mile.. so we picked it up and it felt okay. I don't like playing catch-up. And Coach wanted me to make top 5 but I didn't start my kick early enough. I guess that's just something I'll have to learn from. But overall, it felt good and I was happy with it. I think my time was pretty good compared to my past ones there but I'll have to go back and check.

Today was fine.. we ran around and around and around again at the park. There were LOTS of sprinklers though and we ran through all of them. It was kinda weird without Kaylee or Megan or Liz or Stoner. But they're all too cool for Mia and I, apparently. I got blisters at the race yesterday so running barefoot was a good thing. I'm still trying to figure out what to do about them. I'm gonna try to get better socks so I stop getting blisters.

The 5 miles is just an estimate.. today was not good. You see, last night during the soccer game, Mark wrapped my feet because of my blisters. And they felt fine.. but apparently they got more horrible overnight. Because they are terrible. So today, I put my shoes on and it hurt. Bad. So I took them off after stretching and all us girls went into Mark's room so he could wrap them again.. but this activity took like 45 minutes. Because when the wrap was on, my feet were so fat they couldn't fit in my shoe so the padding moved out of place. It was still kinda sore, but not as bad. Mark told me it was because of pressure, but I had to be careful or that pressure would turn into rubbing, which would make them worse. He said he wasn't sure I should do hills because of the way my foot would be positioned. So we ran and going up the hill did not feel good on them. So I ended up only doing 3x30 seconds and 2x1 minute. And by the end I was feeling very lightheaded so I went to my mom to see if she had some food and she gave me expired yogurt. Yum. And Mia and I sat at the drinking fountain and drank and drank and drank. Then I didn't feel so dizzy and stuff. So today was kinda the worst. But Mark said that if I keep my blisters from rubbing this weekend, they'll clear up a lot. So.. yes. That's pretty much it.

Okay.. so this just made my day. I didn't get my time after the time trial. I know it ended in 37 though. So I tried to just put 37 seconds. But it gave me this message:

According to your data, you ran faster than Usain Bolt in his 200 meter world record. This is highly unlikely. Double check your time and distance. If you really did run faster than Usain Bolt, please use the Feedback Forum to report your success.

I was tempted to use the Feedback Forum, so they would think I was really cool. But I decided honesty is the best policy, and made up my time instead. So please note that the time listed above may or may not be real.

Anyway.. this was really supposed to be about the time trial. It was very quite hot outside and I was very quite tired from having just come from soccer practice. I kept expecting Stoner to catch me on the hill. My mouth was severely dry and tasted like Tricuits. And whenever I went through the sprinkler, I had a moment of temporary panic where I couldn't breathe. And the grass out past the softball field is bumpy and squishy and terrible for running. So.. it didn't feel amazing, but I guess I did okay for having just been playing soccer. And the heat and terrible running conditions. So.. yes.

5 miles with Roberts, Frida, Kaylee, Mia, and Stoner. We had a pretty good pace going, I thought anyway. We ran past the smelly dead cat. And that's pretty much it. We don't do much talking in the mornings.

So.. after a VERY long night, I get a text from Rachel that says I have to come run in the morning. So I drag myself out of bed at 7 am and get over to the school (I was one of the first people there, I'll have you know!!). When the bus dropped us off, I almost cried. It was sooo far away from the meet! But, I sucked it up and we ran. And ran. And ran. Up. And up. And up. The hill was HUGE. But, at the worst part the guys ended up running with us and they were messing around with whatever they found on the road and it kinda distracted me from the uphilliness. So that was okay. Then we went down the hill and a very nice lady at the gas station gave us some water. Then we finished up the run and watched the meet (everyone did GREAT, by the way!)

The mileage is probably not right.. I did some sloppy mental math to figure it out.. my brain is fried right now. So.. I missed morning practice today and had to run on my own in the evening.. not a good idea. It was terrible. And that's pretty much all I have to say.

We were supposed to do 5 this morning but Kaylee's dad got pulled over because Kaylee was hanging her drugs out the window of the car. So it ended up being 3. Which was fine by me, because I had a soccer game. (which probably would add to the mileage, but I'm not gonna to try and figure it out.)

Once again.. the mileage is probably wrong. Today we did 1200's and 200's. The 1200's really weren't that bad. It was a fast pace, but not too fast and Stoner and I killed the hill every time.. (: And the 200's.. were fine. I murdered everyone on the last one and Kaylee was grumpy about it and said it was because I have fresh legs. Whatever.

3 miles. Artic Circle. There's not much else to say.

AM: Easy 3 in the morning.. nothing much to report.

PM: 5 in the yucky humidity. Overall it felt okay, my stomach hurt pretty bad in the middle but it stopped by the time we turned around.

So.. the race today was.. okay. Throughout most of it, I felt really strong, especially when Stoner came up and ran with me. Near the end though, I started feeling my blisters really bad. And I told Rachel and Kaylee that if I got blisters this time, I was quitting so I guess this is it for me.. Just kidding.. but seriously.. I need to figure out why this is happening. I tried running socks today with these little blue tab thingys.. but apparently that's not the problem. Also, I hate hate HATE our new running shorts. With a burning passion. They rubbed on my legs all weird and I cannot STAND having clothes rub. So they bug me during the race and that's all I can focus on, and I'm constantly pulling them down. So.. yeah. That's pretty much all I have to say about that.

I never know the mileage for speed workouts.. so I kinda just make it up. Today was okay. For the first two I ran with Rachel. The next 2 right behind Kaylee. The next one kinda in the middle of the two. And the last one was stinkish and I didn't go as fast as I wanted to. My breathing goes all funky sometimes and I can't control it. Especially when I run through sprinklers. When I do that, I feel like I can't breathe at all and I start to wheeze and it throws off my whole rhythm. Wow.. rhythm is a weird word! It has like no vowels.. except y but y is just a wannabe. I have this whole theory about the alphabet and unnecessary letters. Like "C".. It makes the s sound and the k sound. If we already have s and k, why do we need c? Think about it. Also, x and q are entirely unnecessary. Anyway, now that I've wasted your time with that, I'll get back to the point. Overall, the workout felt okay today. And.. that's it.

Kaylee wasn't here today because she thinks she's like, super cool or something and needs to be on royalty. So I felt it my duty to fill her spot and push the pace. And Rachel and.. the other Rachel kept telling me to slow down. For some reason, today I was just really happy. The run felt really good. So.. yep.

So I finally figured out that you can find mileage on the PVHS blog.. ya learn something new every day!! Today was a speed workout with 800s and 400s and 200s.. blah. It was actually okay though. The 8s and 4s weren't that bad. The 2s got quite tedious though. Like, really boring. I still kicked butt on the last one though. (: But I wish we didn't get speed workouts on Wednesdays. Because then we barely have any time to get ready and we miss waffles. So.. I'm thinking we just eliminate Wednesday speed workouts altogether. Think about it. (: Also Coach, consider moving my seat in class. Because it is the most awkwardly placed seat in the entire room. Just sayin'.