Running Blog

Green springs. some creepy guy yelled at us and when i looked over, he was taking a picture of us. not okay. weights after. they were fine.. but now my hamstring hurts.

i was kind of excited to get out and run today.. it just makes me feel so happy! first we tested our vertical though. i jumped... (drumroll... dramatic pause.... HUGE breath...) 19 inches. yay. we wont talk about what alli jumped. anyhow, we ran out in kiddleton today. fun. mia and i sprinted about .25 of a mile trying to catch up to coach to ask a question. then we slowed back down with the girls, but stoner, mia, aubrey and i kept a pretty fast pace going for the rest of it. it felt way way good. my hamstring bugged throughout the day and a little at the beginning of the run, but after a little bit it calmed down. so im hoping its probably just sore. during the run, some random kids started running with us.. for about 15 feet. they tried to keep up.. we were just too fantastic.

got up at 7:30 today so i could get the run in before work. so. cold. i had gloves on, but at the end of the run my fingers were so cold and swollen that i couldnt open my garage and i had to stand outside my front door and ring the doorbell  like seven times. then i had to run my sister to home depot to meet her ride to soccer, stretched outside the car while we were waiting for her ride, sped home, got ready for work, and left.. the entire time i was shivering like none other. but just as i left for work, katie texted me and said im not working this weekend. curses. welp. got my run in anyways.

repeats today! first time not doing a workout with stoner and mia.. weird. anyhow, 2x1000 at 85%. i felt sick today and was jut hoping for an easyish workout so i could still do well. my goal time was a 4:06 but it was super easy and i ended up at 3:52 and 4:00. still felt sick, but i liked the workout. harts warm/cool. weights after. super fun.

trail run today! honestly, practice has become the best part of my day. i love getting out there and running with the girls, even if its a workout or whatever. anywho, ran up mustang pass. it was a little tough on the way out and we lost some girls but on the way back liz, taylor, aubrey, and meskerem stayed right with stoner and mia and i. party! then my mom took me to buy some new running shoes! i got some new kinvaras and and a pair of the brooks launch. hooray for not having to run in nasty ripped shoes anymore!

tempo run today. 12 minutes of tempo.. for me and stoner it was about 6:35 pace. the tempo part felt fine.. fairly easy, but afterward on that road upnto the school, it was a fight between my legs and my brain.. my legs were so so tired but my brain just wanted to finish it. i stretched really well afterward, but my left leg kept cramping up and i just wanted to die while i was driving home. its okay now though.. thats good.

the workout got changed today because of the wind, so we went dog pound with striders after. it was good.. my leg started doing that hurting/cramping thing again so i didnt do the leg stuff when we did weights. just bench presses. im not sure if doing weights would have hurt it; it's not like an injured pain.. it just feels like my leg has a really bad stomach ache. whatevs. i'll go buy some gatorade tonight.

Kosmin test today. I got to do the 800 one.. yes. (: I made it 690 meters.. I dont think thats very good. Oh well. I'll improve, I imagine. It was quite chilly out there today. Reminded me of last saturday. Speaking of, it looks like im going to be running by myself in the cold again tomorrow. I have to work (for real this time) so I have to go at like 7 in the morning. Boo. 

Mia came to run with me today!!! Yeah! It was only 19 degrees outside though. Much too cold for me. I ran in much warmer clothes this week.. TWO pairs of gloves (best decision of my life), soccer pants, a long sleeve shirt and a running jacket thing on top, and a headband. I felt ten times better than last week. We only went seven though.. we were both afraid we'd be late for our respective engagements.  Also,  neither of us had a gps watch,  so we had to guess our tempo pace.  I did have a dysfunctional stopwatch though,  so we did our tempo for the right amount of time at least. It felt really good and I was so glad Mia came. 

Repeat Monday!  3 1000s at 4:13 pace.. except faster than that,  because my kosmin test was so slow that my 1000 pace went up instead of down. So the workout was super super easy. My splits were 3:58, 3:59, 4:05. I really tried to slow the last one down to hit my pace. It was pretty cold out there today and when we got into the weight room,  my poor frostbitten hands started burning.  Also,  my legs broke out in hives.  It is far far too cold outside these days. Weights felt good though. 

Trail tuesday. We went out by the water tank today. I felt super good. There were some largish hills, but even though we stopped to regroup at the top, I felt like I could keep going. The only annoying thing was when we went downhill, my hip kinda bugged. But not too bad. I had to drive out into the desert to find the half of the team that  didn't make it back.. they all got lost. There was a little scare when we couldnt find Hunter and Evelyn,  but after a few minutes, they came back the other way and all was well. The end.

Pretty eventful day today. Water was shut off at school til lunch so no bathroom for us! Then when we were changing after school, the automatic flusher thing on the toilet in my stall went off and kinda scared Mia and me.. shortly thereafter it went off again and BOOM! Explosion of toilet water everywhere. All over the floor and on my leg and on my bag and school pants. I screamed and ran smack into the wall of the stall and Mia started laughing her head off.. then BOOM! Hers exploded too. That'll teach her. Anywho, long run with tempo today. 8 miles with 18 minutes of 6:40 pace. Felt pretty good until the turnaround, then I just wanted the tempo to be over. When it finally ended, my calves were pretty tight, but I got to stretch them when we stopped to open a mysterious door in a mountainside. After a few other holdups, we got started again , and ended up being like the last people back. also, we saw the fattest dog any of us had ever seen. Ever. It was short and HUGE. Like a hippo in a dogs body. Anyway. Good run. The end.

Old man hills today! 4x400. It was kinda weird cause there were only four girls there.. and only two of us were doing the 800 people workout. It felt good though. It wasnt a crazy hard workout, but I really tried to push myself hard on the last one.had a lovely talk with aubrey and megan and liz on the way back about smoothies and senior ball. Weights after.. felt way good. Then stretched really good and rolled my hip. Lovely day.

Easy 4 with striders. We went to starbucks today with megan, liz, erin and roberts. We threw a ball around and had some lovely conversation. My hip was feeling fine. I stretched after and everything. Fun day.

Another run by myself. I woke up at 7:30 with a sore throat. I got a Ricola cough drop, concerning which I'm pretty sure the general concensus is that you should never eat them unless you're on death's door and all the stores within a 100 mile radius have run out of the Halls brand. Neither of those scenarios applied to my situation this morning, but my mom made me take one anyway. Anywho, everyone had 5 miles this morning, except the 1600 level three guys and for some reason, the 800 girls, who had 5-6. I just went 5 anyway. I took my dad's phone so I could track my pace for the tempo, but there were two very large problems with this: 1. The touch screen only responds to skin touching it, not a glove, so I had to keep one thumb out of its glove the whole time, until it got too cold, and then I started just smacking it into my nose so it wouldn't go dark and lock. 2. The GPS on my dad's phone is even worse than he watch we used on wednesday when it comes to pacing, and the times were ALL OVER the place. It would go from 5:30 pace to 9:00 pace in two seconds. Once it even went from 6:20 pace to 11:15 pace with no numbers in between. So it wasnt much help. But I think I was probably pretty close. I started to have breathing problems and my calves were tightening up by the end of the tempo. So I stretched and I might even stoop so low as to take another cough drop before the day date.

So mia and rachel and I arranged to meet at the school at 7 cause stoner had to be back at her house by 8, so I headed over there at 7:15 (I was late cause I needed to find myself some medication.. im dying over here) and no one was there.. not even a car. I waited and waited and finally just ran by myself,  kind of annoyed that they made me wake up at 6:45 and then no showed.. it actually turns out we all kind of no showed each other.. we lack communication skills, apparently. Anyway, it was quite freezing but I really enjoyed the run. It was nice to be able to just have a chill run with no tempo and just get to think. Stretched and bought myself some cough drops (the Halls kind!) and cold medicine afterward. Hallelujah!

Repeats today. I was feeling absolutely miserable all day, and it got even worse when we started. My stomach was killing me and I was coughing up a storm. But the workout went pretty well. I was supposed to be doing 4x1000 at 4:13 pace. Usually when we do repeats, I run the first one or two kinda fast then try to slow up and actually hit my time. But coach said that if we can hit a time consistently, then that's good, even if it's faster than what you're supposed to hit. I hit 3:57, 3:56, 3:55, and 3:54. So I felt pretty good about my times, even though I felt like poo physically. Weights after, felt good.

Bleh. No run today. Sickness and such. I'll be back tomorrow.

Oh what a lovely day! Six to green springs with 1x2min and 2x1min fartleks. But along the way, we had a couch party at my house (SOFA-N, SOFA-N), then crawled through a tunnel long enough to get us to China.. unfortunately, this one only led across the street. Then we creeped on McKennah, had a berry war, and I smacked into a tree. Then weights and striders while we sang and did handshakes. What a great day.

Am: easy 3.. actually felt really nice outside. Afterward, Mia and I sat in the locker room and talked about anything and everything (mostly marriage) until it was so late that the cheerleaders came in. 

Pm: Trail run! Chuckwalla trail.. super fun. I felt way good, but I hate the way our groups string out and some people end up running by themselves so I tried to be the link between roberts and Megan,  and hoped we would kinda group back together, but no such luck.

Went at 6:30 with Mia dear. We were gonna go 8 miles, so it's a good thing I checked the blog before we went. we had 20 minutes of LT pace, which was like a 6:20 for us. Again, we didn't have a gps because the only one we own is my dad's phone, and we weren't allowed to take it in the rain. But I had a regular watch, and I made a mental note of where I was at 6:20 and 12:40 so I'll drive over there later and find out how far it was. I dont think I was hitting my times though, and Mia was pretty far back, so I stopped us at 15 minutes. This tempo thing is really hard for me. I can do repeats and fartleks and old man hills.. but I can't keep a hard pace consistently for 20 minutes without stoner beside me. Which is dumb, cause it's just like an xc race, only no pressure. I'll keep trying though.  Also, we saw Mr.  Green running! Twice.. but Mia only saw him the second time.

So.. I just drove and measured. In the first 6:20, I made it .96 of a mile. In the next 6:20, I made it like .90 of a mile. so whatever that means.

Am: a very quiet run to Arctic Circle and back.. froze to death in the showers after.

Pm: repeats at 87%. We weren't really sure what my time should be, cause I was already beating my 87% time last week. So we decided just a little faster than last week's average, which was 3:55. My first one was 3:48 and I felt just great. Second one I was a little behind at first, but then I caught up to Josh and Dave and ran the last lap with them and I ended up at 3:49. I wanted to stay in that area, and I was nervous that on the third one I was gonna get slower than that.. so I overcorrected and went 3:44. Whoops. The last one I was just happy to be done and went 3:44 again. Harts warm/cool and weights after. We put a little more weight on the leg extensions and curls and felt a little sore after. But it felt good. Hot chocolate and cookies with Alli after. (:

Temple quarry trail. We got there before the rest of the girls, and coach just gave us the watch and told us to start when we got there. But then we felt bad when we passed the girls.. sorry ladies! Anyway, twas fun. We all slipped and slid and got a little lost.. and we encountered some leaping squirrels. Chilly out there today.

Am: I knew I should have just gone back to bed when I tried to brush my teeth and the entire blob of toothpaste plopped onto the counter before it even made it to my mouth, but I showed up at school anyway. Easy 3.. with the guys. Eh.

Pm: 8 with 24 min. tempo.. supposed to be like a 6:30 pace or something. I was told to stick with Mia, but things felt too slow so I picked it up a tad.. and I was feeling okay until the turnaround.. then I was just done. I felt sick and my calves were tight, and Stoner just kept getting further away. After the tempo was over, I still felt awful. My legs hate me right now, but I swear I'm stretching and rolling them. BIeh. Just one of those days I guess.

Old man hills today. 4x400 with Aubrey.. we're the only 800 girls who run together.. it's a joy. I like talking with her. Anyway, today they felt much harder than the last time we did them.. I think I was going faster today though. They also went by quite a bit faster. I felt way good, except my arch was in considerable pain, but I'm thinking that will be taken care of pretty easily. So no worries there. Just a lovely workout, if a bit hard. Weights after.. we upped our weight on the bench press to 5 pounds on each side! It was a little difficult, but we're pretty buff.

Oh. And good news. I saw a dead bird today. Which means that there's one less live bird.

am: easy 3

Pm: another easy 3 with striders. We wrote a song with kaelie g. Fun. 

I wasn't really sure whether to count this as a race or not, but might as well. Pretty much just the same kinda tempo stuff we do every saturday, but with other people around. Felt fine at first, just running with Stoner,  but my legs are just so so achy all the time now.. it was hard to keep them moving.  Otherwise, I felt good. Fun to see everyone come out and support this great cause. We warmed up 2 miles on the course, then cooled down 1 mile on the field and 1 mile looking for the little kids so we could finish Jake's race with him.

Well, after staring at the January calendar on here for a good minute, wondering where the heck I was supposed to put today's run, I found the February button. Congratulate me.

Am: easy 3. I actually wore a jacket this morning.. twas chilly. Megan scared us all to death by tripping on a concrete block thing, but she's okay. Also, liz aubrey and megan kept separating from us, so we'd hide and scare them.. fun stuff. Except mostly I just stood and watched them scream.

Pm: 4x1000 repeats at 89%. We finally adjusted my time, so I have an actual goal time for these workouts.. todayit was 3:44. First one, I felt lovely and ran a 3:43. Second one I was too slow for most of it, then I picked it up on the last lap and hit a 3:41. Wasn't too happy about that one, cause I had to make up for my lagging on the first lap and a half. Third one felt really hard.. definitely the hardest one. But I hit a 3:37. The last one I felt really good for the first lap.. I felt like I was flying. Then I didn't feel so amazing the next part.. but I didn't slow down and I hit a 3:36. 

So I felt super good about this workout. First one in a while that I haven't felt sick or sore. Weights,  stretching, and rolling after. Plyos tomorrow.I 

Am: one of these days, I'm gonna fall asleep while taking my heart rate and not wake up in time for practice. It took me 5 tries this morning cause I kept drifting off. Bleh. Still chilly out there.. plyos after. Felt fine.. I think I do them wrong or something.

Pm: Trail Tuesday!  The dreaded Icehouse trail. The 6 of us girls decided to switch off being the leader every half mile. Turns out the giant hill is exactly half a mile long. My calves were seriously considering shriveling up into little raisins.. gross. But the way down was fantastic! I just about face planted into stoners legs, but I caught myself.. the entire girls team made it the entire run on our feet! It went by a lot faster with the whole switching off thing.. I actually really enjoyed it.

 am: very quiet 3. Warmer today.

Pm: 8 miles with 30 minute tempo.. unfortunately, I didn't finish the tempo. My legs hurt so bad.. at the turn around I just stopped.. and tried to lean against the rail, missed it and fell.. Cameron probably thinks I'm an idiot. I'm so mad at myself for letting it get to me, but honestly, my calves hurt so bad. Roberts stopped and jogged with me the rest of the way and talked with me.. he made me feel a little better. I don't know. Definitely a frustrating day. 

No morning practice today..

Old man hills. 1x800, 2x400, 4x200. The 800 and 400s were fine..  just ran with rach and coach and my calves just hurt a little. Then we started the 200s and I just was feeling like I wasn't getting any air. Which is stupid, because my breathing issues are all mental and I know it, but it feels so real. I mean, they are real, but I'm causing it. If that even makes sense. Anywho, Megan killed the last two 200s and I did okay.. my last one was better than my first 3. Took me the entire run back to the school to get my breathing back.. and then my calves started tightening up way bad.. so I took it pretty slow. The coaches told me to drink more water and gatorade and get some salt and potassium in me. So I took a water bottle to school today (I drank like 40 oz..) and bought some gatorade and chocolate milk. Plus I ate a pickle. Pretty delish.

Easy 3 today!! Woot. Mia and I ran along giving flyers for the race tomorrow to businesses. Fun. Then striders after.

Bleh. No morning practice this morning.. I searched the whole house for my car key and guess what. Jake had it. I had a presentation early anyway. 

Pm: time trial. Harts warm/cool. I ran the 800 one.. I was kind of nervous to find out where I was.. but not too bad. My first lap was a 1:12, which is good.. but I didn't really go on the last lap like I should have. I ran that one in a 1:16, ending up with a 2:28. Faster than any time I ran last year, but still slower than sophomore year. So I guess I need to remember to push harder the last lap. Striders and stretching after.. and now I have runners cough. Joy.

Am: didn't really feel like running way ahead with stoner and mia so I ran with aubrey and liz.. none of us said one word during the run. Not one.

Pm: 8 miles with 30 minutes at 6:40ish pace. Coach ran with us today.. that helped I think. I stuck right on with the group til a little after the turnaround.. then coach told me to surge up to get back with them. I did, and stayed with them for a little longer.. coach pushed me a bit. But I was struggling. So I ended up doing the 1 min on/off thing.. then, weird thing happened. My feet fell asleep. I still could run fine and stuff.. but it felt super weird. It got better after though. It was a little discouraging that even with the slower pace and bigger pack, I still fell off.. but that's the longest I've stuck with them since our 18 minute tempo day. So.. I'm getting there. Tempos are just not my favorite. My calves still hurt, but not nearly as bad as last week. Weights after. The end.

Am: three.. aubrey tried to get in on our scaring adventures but it failed.

Pm: [traditional] green springs run. Aubrey and roberts opted out of the tunnel crawling part, but everyone got in on the berry wars. My calves hurt on the way out, but felt much better coming back. Lovely day.

Am: three. Brought stoner and mia home with me afterward for a valentines breakfast of german pancakes. (:

Pm: 8x200s at 37 sec. This is definitely my kind of workout. I love repeats. This felt pretty easy too.. I never felt like I was really pushing. My splits were 38, 38, 37, 36, 36, 36, 34, 34. My calves felt fine except during the warm up and cool down. Weights after. Twas a wonderful day.

Am: three with lots of shadow punching. I didn't participate.

Pm: trail.. uh.. friday. Prospector (pete) trail. Had a great conversation with roberts, had a stick the length of my pinky stab through my shoe into my toe, got a little bit lost (there were NO FOOTPRINTS! I'm tellin ya, Roberts!) and had a lovely time. The squishy car ride was also enjoyable.

Old mans. Liz, megan, aubrey, stoner, mia and I all met up at the school to do the, together. We also saw Erin and Hunter out there on the hill.. that's 8 people done with their workout by 9:00. How dedicated of our team. Anyway, Aubrey and I had 4x400, 4x200 (we think there was a misprint on the blog..). The first 2 400s felt hard! Like, harder than usual. But the next two felt fine. The 200s went by quickly, but by the end of them, my calf/Achilles area was way tight. So before we ran back to the school, I took off one of my shoes and stretched. Then on the way back, my foot fell asleep again! So weird. I was almost attacked by a demon cat, but we fended it off with our screams of terror. It was an okay day, but I'm sick again. I've been coughing so hard it's making me gag, and I can't really breathe through my nose. But really. Who needs to breathe?

Pm: 3. In the desert by mi casa. It was dark and cold, and we almost got lost and froze to death. Also, a bird flew out of the bushes as we ran by, and I'm pretty sure Michael state qualified in the high jump. I laughed so hard I started coughing and couldn't stop.

Didn't get a lot of sleep last night cause I was coughing so bad, and I ended up not going to morning practice.

Pm: repeats. 4x1000 at 3:46 pace and 2x300 F pace. I did not feel great today. My first two were all right at 3:45 and 3:48.. but I really struggled with the last two. I ended up with a 4:00 and a 4:01. I was trying not to let it get to me mentally. Then Alli and Aubrey and I did our 300s. They were hard! I ran :51 both times.. it was hard to recover from them. I keep having coughing fits that last a good minute and make me feel like throwing up. Bleh.

Wasn't allowed to run yesterday.. instead, I napped for 2 and a half hours. I honestly had no idea cough syrup made you drowsy.

Am: first morning run in two days! It was lovely. Plus plyos.

Pm: 10x200 at 37 seconds. My favorite workout!! I seriously love this one. I didn't like it when we ran behind the guys though cause they always stopped at the starting line (apparently we were supposed to.. but it was still annoying) and I had to run in like the third lane to get past them. anywho, my splits were 39, 38, 37, 35, 35, 35, 36, 35, 37, 35. And we took our heart rates after every 3 200s.. mine was a solid 153 every time.. I'm blaming it on the sickness. Harts cool down.. and we planned a girls team day to go to swig, sang our Homie Joe song, played the Shelley game (stoner won.. apparently I'm like Velcro.. Who knew?!), taught Aubrey and Megan the xc rap, and jammed to T Swift in Stoners car. I seriously love our team.

Am: three with Megan and Aubrey.. pretty crazy run. We're pretty much party animals at 6 in the morning. Not. But we did actually talk once when we passed the guys and noticed the whites had separated from the blacks.

Pm: easy 3! Sandburgs with the boys. Fun stuff.

 vertical test after.. I jumped 20 inches. Take that, Mia! Striders and stretching after.. half marathon tomorrow! Ahh!

Race day.. the only day ever in my life on which I will eat oatmeal.  I ate it in the usual way: by taking as many bites as possible until I gagged, then dumping the rest down the sink. 

Picked up Stoner and Mia and got over to the course at like 8.  We ran a little and did agilities, then went and camped out in a nearby hotel with like 70,000 other runners.  Then we went and put our clothes in Hunter's car and got to the starting line.

Stoner wanted to start out faster than last year, cause we were mostly catching people for the first few miles last year.  So we did, which isn't my favorite thing.. I like starting out a little slower, then catching people as I go.. but it wasn't a big deal.  We stuck together for the first 5 miles or so.. at the 3 mile mark, I fell behind a bit, but I caught back up before the 4 mile mark.  This first half of the race I feel pretty good about, because I wasn't feeling awesome, but I stuck right in there and even when I fell off a little, I stayed the same distance behind.  I ran with this one dude who never actually talked to me, and then another dude who did talk to me and told me about his son named Tony who ran against Dave Sheeran and I told him about my mom and Coach. 

Then I got to mile 7, and disaster struck.  My feet fell asleep.  I could feel it starting to happen and I was like "no no no no no no no. Not here. Please."  But they didn't listen.  I grabbed some gatorade at an aid station over there, but totally missed my mouth and splashed it all over my eye.. my eyelashes stuck together the rest of the run.  I was still doing okay up until like the first hill.. that was where I saw Aubrey and my parents.  But the hills are when my legs start to get tight and it didn't feel too good.  The first hill was hard, but not awful.  The second hill was terrible. I felt like I was crawling up the thing.  It was at this point when my feet were completely asleep and my legs were pretty achy, and I said to myself "ya know.. how about instead of racing, I try to make it to the finish line still on my feet."  But after the hill I started going faster again.  It felt like there was a million years in between the 11th and 12th mile markers, but I got past both of them and found the guys, who were cooling down.  Michael came and ran in front of me to block the wind.. I was kind of annoyed, but it got me moving quicker.  Then Coach came and ran with me and told me to kick.. so I kind of did and caught like 3 ladies or something. 

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I sat down and ripped off my shoes.  Why do my feet get numb?  It's the dumbest thing I ever heard.  Anyway, I thought I came in at 1:44, but the clock was way off and my time was actually 1:37, which is faster than last year.  Happy about that, and I was way happy for how great everyone from our team did.  Last year I was way mad after the race.. but this year I honestly was just happy (after finishing anyway.. the whole during the race part wasn't so great).  It was a lovely day and I was just glad to be alive, which is always a good thing.  I'm glad I ran it.

Am: three. Hamstrings don't feel too great.

Pm: 4 with striders. Holy smokes. My legs were not happy with me on the way out. The way back felt better. It was a fun run though with lots of singing and waving.

THEN. Decathalon clinics. I don't know that I've ever been so awful at so many things all in one day before. But it was way fun. I liked the shotput. 

AM: 4 miles with Mia dear.  Had 4 fartleks with it.. by the end, my calves weren't feeling great.  But we got it done with and did plyos after.  Then we sat in the locker room and had some intense conversation until we realized the bell was about to ring and we hadn't showered yet.. whoops.

Pm: easy three to green springs [again]. Then more clinics.. i got hit with a discus at the first station, so we moved to the javelin station.. where I immediately got nailed with a softball from over the fence. So we went to try long jumps. Turns out I'm all right, but I still got made fun of. I hate everything.

Am: Kosmin test.. so cold! I don't like this test very much.. I'm not very good at it. This time I made it 693 meters.. 3 meters farther than last time. Woot. 

Pm: decathalon! Holy smack. I'm awful at everything! I beat stoner in the 200 and the high jump.. but she beat me in the 100 and the shotput. We decided the real name for the decathalon should be Public Humiliation for Everyone Except Janzen and Archie. We could call it PHEEJA. After the events, i did 3 miles on the track with Stoner and Aubrey. 

Am: easy 3. Stretched, iced, and rolled after.. my shin hurts. 

Pm: three around the track plus striders.. and the decathalon! Did a little better today. I beat janzen in something! Can we all pause for a second and realize the momentousness of this day. Because pretty sure it will never happen again. It was the discus. And I beat her by 5 feet. And I'm pretty sure it is the crowning moment of my high school career.

4x400 at race pace.. so 1:14 for me. This workout wasn't easy. It was pretty warm outside and I was running in the 8th lane cause of soccer. I started at the line they use for the actual 400 like in meets, but I still felt like they were so long! Also, dumb soccer kids from some other school were spitting at us and being dumb, and I feel like no one understands to stay out of the way when runners are on the track. Anyway, now that I'm done complaining, my splits were 1:14, 1:14, 1:14, 1:10. Afterward, my eyes did some weird thing where everything was too bright so I had to just sit with my eyes closed. Anyway. It was an okay workout. Just kind of hard.

Green springs loop. Megan, Mia, Stoner, and I met at 6:00 to run so that Mia could go to preference and I could go to work. It was a fun run. We played 20 questions and talked about all the guys leaving on missions soon.

Am: really warm this morning. Striders hurt our feet. My legs hurt.

Pm: 4x1000 at 3:46, 2x300 all out. Not a great day for me. I don't really know why, I just wasn't hitting my times. My splits went 3:46, 3:52, 3:52, 3:56. Then the 300s.. I hit 51 both times. It's hard for me to recover from these. Also, I noticed this really huge vein on one of my ankles. Like, it's ginormous. Not that that has anything to do with anything. Weights after.. I like hanging out with Megan and Liz and Aubrey.  They're really fun.

AM: I did the tempo this morning with Megan and Mia and Stoner.  We had just a 20 minute tempo today, which was nice.  For the most part, Mia and I stuck with Stoner, until just before the turnaround.  I don't like the turnaround.  But this time instead of dying right after we flipped back toward the school, I felt like I pushed a little harder and I felt like I finished strong, which was good.  We saw all kinds of animals out there: deer and ducks and bunnies and a cat.  Also, it was way freezing and we had left our jackets at the park, so my arms were falling off til we got back there.  Anyway.  It was a good run and I feel good about it.  Happy to have it done.

Pm: ha. Just kidding everyone! Turns out I wasn't even supposed to do 8 miles  this morning.  I had 5 with 10x1 minute on, 1 minute off. Dumb. Anyway, stoner and I did 3 to hot nails this afternoon with plyos after. Fun fun!

Am: tres con mi amigas. The weather is supah bipolar.

Pm: 6x400 with goal time of 1:14. This felt easier than last time, until the last one. My splits were 1:14, 1:14, 1:13, 1:14, 1:11, 1:13. The fifth one was an accident. I was kind of mad about it cause I felt way more tired on the last one. Anyway. Weights after. Happy about this workout. Found out our events for the meet.. I'm doing the 800, 400, and long jump. Don't even ask about that last one.

AM: Wore my little sleeve things from the half marathon.  It was a lovely run today.  We talked a lot.  Plyos after.  Then we took Megan for donuts.

PM: Five on firestation. It was pretty quiet. My feet were hurting.. I think it's cause of my brooks. 

ALSO. They cancelled tomorrows meet and I'm extremely angry. That's all.

Am: rainy and wet.. we were nice and dry though. (:

Pm: Fire station hills. I was feeling rather sickish before the run today, and after the first hill, I thought "I'm not gonna be able to do very many of these". but as we kept going, I started feeling better. I felt like I did pretty well. It's a good thing Coach stopped us when he did though, because on the last two I was feeling sick again, and as soon as we stopped to wait for stoner, I seriously thought I was going to die. Kay, not really, but I was hurting pretty bad. The run back felt way good though and I was very happy I finished the workout.

Met with Stoner, Mia, Aubrey, Liz, and Taylor at the school to get our run in. Aubrey and I had 5 with 2 miles LT pace at the end. This was a really great run. I felt way good throughout, especially during the tempo. I felt like I was going a really good pace.. the only annoyance was getting stopped at lights twice. But I cheated and ran before it turned green.. but I made sure there were no cars. (:

3x1000 at 3:46. We actually had 4 plus 2 300s but I had to leave early. My splits were 3:45, 3:43, 3:40. It felt good to have a good 1000s workout. Now to spend a week relaxing (and I guess running too) in california.

Today wasnt a disneyland day, so i left at 9 and ran with my mother down the streets of Anaheim.  It was a pain in the freaking neck. There were lights and people everywhere. I threw in 10 minutes of tempo on the way back.

Well. I don't really even know where to begin here. I wasn't really that nervous for this meet.. I don't really know why. I probably should have been, since I only ran twice this whole week and I've been not eating very healthy either (Disneyland churros are wayyy too good to pass up). Also, I've been sick. But. I wasn't that nervous. We got there, and I found out that my races weren't til the end, so I warmed up with Stoner for her 3200. Then we pretty much spent the whole meet cheering for each other.. I swear, there was hardly ever a time when there wasn't one of us senior girls racing. And we all did the long jump (I don't know my measurements, and if I did , I probably wouldn't tell you).

Anyway, finally FINALLY it was time for the 800, after 30 minutes of breaks, super hot sun, cold wind, more hot sun, cloudiness, rain, wind, more hot sun, and wind again. The cutoff time for the faster heat was 3:00.. so I was pretty confident that I could place well. But I was more concerned about my time. I wanted to get low 2:20s, but I didn't make it. I don't know my official time, but Coach said like 2:30. I'm pretty disappointed. I felt like I raced pretty hard. There wasn't really anyone around to push me, but I still felt like I was going faster than 2:30. Anyway.

Then I ran around and little bit, then warmed up for the medley, which was right after. Coach lost his mind and put me in the 200 in the relay.. geez. Our medley team ended up 4th, and Coach said I ran like a 27, but I'm pretty certain that was a lie.

Then I got to do the 4x400! Woot. I actually like this one. Our team is a pretty good one, but we were all pretty tired.. All three of the other girls on my team made finals in their other races so we all had run pretty recently, and Alyssa had been running all day. We ended up 2nd though, cause Janzen's a beast and ran a 1:01.

AM: So I woke up at midnight and thought it was time for practice.. but I was so tired, I decided to sleep in and miss practice.  Then my alarm went off at 5:40, and I was so confused.. I could not figure out how I had managed to go back in time.  I almost just rolled over and went back to sleep, but I decided I couldn't sleep through morning practice twice in one morning, so I dragged myself to the school and ran (I wasn't rewarded for it, by the way.  The showers were cold, I forgot my backpack, and then I found out I didn't even run the 800 last Saturday. Bummer.)

PM: 4x1000 at 3:46. Eh. Not feeling too great today. My nose is still stuffy and I have a bad cough (again.. I swear it never goes away) My splits were 3:47, 3:48, 3:53, 3:52. Then we had 2x300 all out with full recovery. I ran :51 both times. My throat has never been so dry. My lips were sticking to my teeth and I sounded like a frog when I talked. But I went and got two bottles of water after.. I'm gonna try to stay really hydrated this week and hope it helps me recover.

AM: 3

PM: 4 to sandbergs with striders after. So hot! We waded in sandbergs a bit to cool off. Stoner and I took a walk down Memory Lane (literally). After practice, I was planning on just coming home to relax and eat applesauce cookies, but both my parentals are sick (I am too, but they're being way whinier about it than me) so I proceeded to make dinner and clean the entire kitchen (yes, all of it. I did the dishes, vacuumed, and scraped off the pieces of Trix stuck to the floor and counter) without being asked. Oh, and then I went downstairs and worked on my sterling scholar portfolio. I'm the golden child, I know.

Wasn't allowed to go to morning practice today. 

PM: 4x600 at race pace+4 to 6 seconds. This workout was a lot harder than I expected. My heart rate was so high it wasn't even funny. My splits were 1:57 (right on), then 2:01 and 2:01, then I messed up the watch on the last one and missed that split, but it felt faster. Turns out I don't know how to work a Garmin. During the cool down, I started coughing so hard I had to tell Aubrey and Ali to leave me cause I was dying. Weights after. I feel so bleh.

No morning run again. I'm on the road to recovery though.  (: 

PM: four to sandbergs with 4x200. Super hot, until we jumped in.. then it was freezing!  But it was fun. We found a gun in the pond.. so naturally we checked it for bullets, and when we found it was empty, we brought it back with us. We were a little afraid of being arrested, so we surrounded Ali so no one could see.

Meet tomorrow! I'm in the open 400 tomorrow and the 800 on Saturday.. and supposedly the 4x4 too, but all the sprinters insist that I'm not.

Am: I'm back! Three in the morning. Woot.

Pm: skipped all my classes to help get ready for the meet.. this is easily my favorite meet of the year. Today I just had the open 400. I met some girl in the bullpen who's a sophomore and said she runs like a 1:03. And then she went and took second in finals. She smoked me. Anyway. I ran a 1:04.. which is 3 seconds better than kanab.. probably because I was so tired at kanab! That's all for me today.. stoner did well in the mile though. She pr'd.

Well.. this race was not what I wanted. I was in the fast heat, seeded 10th, which I thought was good cause it would make me go faster, but it also made me nervous. Some of those girls are really really fast. We did an alley start, which I hate hate hate, but it's how they do it at state, so I guess that's good. I got kinda boxed in when we all cut in though, and I was tripping on people for about 100 meters. Our first lap was a 1:10. That's so fast. I couldn't keep it up.. like 6 people passed me in the last 200 meters. I was pretty mad after. It was ideal conditions for a great race.. the weather was nice and there were fast girls all around me.. so I was pretty frustrated with my time.

I was supposed to run the medley 4 after, but I was coughing so Mrs. Gil wouldn't let me. I really wanted to run it though. I want to get the 400 in quite a bit this season cause I want to have practice for the 4x4.

Am: easy three.. with frida and kaelie!! Eight girls. That's our high for the season.

Pm: holy smokes, you guys. I'm dead. Today's workout was prolly a little easier than the usual repeats, which I am very grateful for, but it was so hot! Today we did a workout to work on finishing races faster. So I had 4x800, and my first lap was supposed to be a 1:30 then my second was supposed to be a 1:26. So 800s at 2:56, which really isn't bad at all. The first two I ran the first lap with stoner cause we were both supposed to hit 1:30.. but we got sick of waiting for the 1200 girls so I got my own watch. I learned that it's hard for me to hit a 1:30 first lap.. it feels really slow. But I need to work on it, because when I run the first lap too fast, I don't run the next lap fast enough. The workout was mostly good. I mostly ran the second lap faster (except the first one.. stoner and I got a little anxious on the first lap and ran a 1:24) then we had 2x300 f pace. These are pretty much what killed me. The first one felt good.. we started after Michael and Casey ran by on their 1600s, and I made it my goal to pass Michael before the end. I got him (with like 10 meters to spare) and ended up at a :49.. so that was good. My first time under 50 seconds. The next one felt awful.. I was so tired and my muscles felt sooo tight. But I ran another :49.. I think once I run one of them, my legs just stay the same for the next one, cause I always hit the same time twice. Then we cooled down to harts, and camped out there for like 10 minutes cause we were all dead. I seriously was having a hard time walking because my hamstrings were so tight. Weights after. The end!

4 to green springs with the boys. Striders after. We (mostly stoner) mothered a baby hummingbird back to health (well.. almost).

Am: workout. 10x200.. first 5 at 800 race pace and next 5 1-2 seconds faster. Race pace is 37 for me. Splits were 37, 38, 36, 37, 37, 35, 35, 35, 34, 34. Felt way good.

Pm: four to sandbergs with roberts. 4x200 after. 

Am: tres.

Pm:  race! I wasn't super nervous for this one. I warmed up a bit and headed over to the starting line.. I was in heat 4. I'm not really sure how to write up a 400. There's no thought that really goes into it. I was in lane 2.. so I was behind til like the 200 mark. I think I ended up 4th.. and I'm pretty sure I ran a 1:04. The 200 was later.. we'll not talk about that.

Am: 6 miles with 20 minute tempo. My goal pace was like 6:30ish. The first 10 minutes were golden, and I was between 6:30 and 6:40 the whole time. The last 10 minutes were awful. I could not make my legs move faster. These tempos are discouraging. I get so frustrated. The run back from the trail wasn't that great either. My legs hurt way bad for some reason- they haven't done that since the beginning of the season. I took my mind off it by comtemplating what I'd do if one of us was attacked by a dog. My final answer: probably scream. We had weights and plyos after.. my partner was TB.. big mistake. Turns out she's way buff and benches with the 10 lb weights,  not the 5s. Ow.

Out in the fields.. wayy too early for me. Yesterday was a way busy day and I wanted to sleep in.. but no. We ran around a mountain thing and frida stole some balloons.. then we did the last 1.5 miles at LT pace. It felt okay. Then we went to the park for free breakfast. Yum.

Ick. Today was 4x1000 at 3:46, 2x300 all out. The first part was really good. I was feeling great and hitting my times.. even a little faster than my times. The first 2 were both 3:43. The third one, I was on pace for another 3:43.. until the last lap. All of a sudden, I got this huge knot in my stomach and i felt like I couldn't stand up all the way straight. That lap was way slower and I ended up finishing at 3:49. I recovered with the girls, trying to breathe deep and make the pain go away, but it wouldn't. We got back to the starting line, and I felt like this one would be bad. I'd had a positive

 -INTERMISSION.. I can't make this one paragraph, apparently-

workout so far, and I just kind of decided to keep it that way. I didn't do the last 1000. The knot didn't go away, but I knew I still had to do the 300s. I ended up with :48 and :49 on those. It took me a long time to recover after and I still don't feel very good. 

Pm: 3 with Mia in the middle of a freaking tornado. 

Am: three.. still feeling that icky feeling in my stomach from yesterday. I'm pretty sure I've fractured my appendix and/or spleen, but no one really cares.

Pm:  10x200. I did this workout with the sprinters. It was kind of a pain. It was a hard workout, because they go quicker than we usually do on our 200s, but it takes twice as long cause they walk the recoveries! I was there forever! I was the only one to actually do 10 of them. Honeycutt stopped after 4, Janz did 7, and Katie stopped after 8. Lexi started with us when we were on our 8th though, and she really helped me keep pushing, because she was going faster since she just started. At the end, I was very very tired and my head really really hurt. I felt really lightheaded and my eyes wouldn't focus too well.. I was scaring myself on the drive home, so I stopped at harts and got some water and tried to help my body relax. 

Am: three.. it felt way fast on the way out there.

Pm: easy 4 with Roberts, Stoner, Mia, and Flaubrey.  my legs really hurt! Striders after (Mia's fault). It was pretty fun.

Am:very talkative morning run. Really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Pm: race.. first time running the mile all season. It was okay.. I have mixed feelings about the outcome. I ran the first lap with Kamryn. Then I just kind of fell off of her and kind of ran my own pace.. I didn't really go with anyone. I was doing fine mentally until about halfway through the second lap, when someone yelled to me that I was settling and I needed to pick it up. At that point I was only a few feet behind Kamryn and some random Hurricane girl who just ran up out of nowhere after the first lap. But after they said that, my brain just kind of quit. I was really angry at them for saying it. I know it's way stupid, but I hate it when people besides coach or my parents cheer for me like that. I don't even know why. I'm fine if they say 'good job' or whatever, but I hate the stuff like 'don't settle' or stuff like that. Dumbest pet peeve ever, but there it is. The rest of the race, I didn't really focus on running. I was more focused on how mad I was. I ended up 5th with a 5:43. Which isn't a fabulous time for me.. but I'm not super upset at myself about it. I'll try again. And I'll be a little more focused and not so mad.

I just made up the mileage for this.. I have no idea. I did the workout with the sprinters today. We did firestation hills. They don't go as far as we do, but they go faster. We had five. Everyone just kept giving us water. I always feel weird doing the workouts with the sprinters.. they don't do things the way we do. Like recoveries. But it was still good. I felt good. Weights after.

Am: three. We nearly blew away.

Pm: 4x1000s at 3:46 and 2x300 all out. Coach had me do the distance workout today. So glad he did. I've struggled a bit with this workout pretty much ever since my time moved down to 3:46.. I don't think I ever had a day where I hit my time on all four of them. Today was windy and rainy, but I actually thought it felt good. Other than the soccer players using us for target practice, it was really a great workout. My splits were 3:37 (way too fast.. I backed off a bit after that), 3:42, 3:44, 3:42. Then we did the 300s and I hit :50 and :49. I wasn't feeling very well after the 1000s.. Stoner even told me I looked pale (which could have been because the rain washed my makeup off..), but I was okay during the 1000s. Weights after. Great day.

Am: three. So cold! Coach scared us to death.

Pm: workout. 600 (r pace +4 sec), 400 (r pace +2 sec), 300 (r pace), 200 (r pace -4 sec), 100 (r pace -2 sec). I felt absolutely awful in 3rd and 4th periods.. and it never got better. My 600 and 200 were both 3 seconds slow, and my 400 was 5 seconds slow. I didn't do the second set. As soon as we finished the cool down, I went home and got in bed.. I hardly moved the rest of the night.

I wrote about today, then accidentally clicked on an ad and it deleted. Basically, Mia and I ran alone, Aubrey and I ate poisonous fruit, and I practiced handoffs with Janz.  The end.

Freak. I did it again. The post deleted. We ran 4 with 200s in the morning. My leg still hurts.. like almost in the Achilles area but to the left a bit and up a little. Now to region sterling scholar. Shoot me now.

Ran the 1600 and the 400 today. The 1600 was just not good. But I talked to Coach about it afterward, and he helped me a lot to stop stressing. I'm going to focus on the medley tomorrow and just let the mile be what it was. 

The 400 was pretty good.. I ran a 1:04.74. My times are pretty much always right around 1:04, so it was a lot like the others in terms of time, but I felt much stronger at the end of this race. I had taken it a bit slower the first 200 than usual, which gave me a lot more left to use at the end. Now I just need to figure out how to do what I did at the end of this race for the entire race.

I'm gonna be honest; I didn't get nearly the mileage in I was supposed to today. That 3 is probably a little high, even. Anyway.

The medley wasn't til like noon, so I cheered and sat around a lot. When it finally came time to warm up, I ran around cheering for Katie and Stoner, then did a few more laps and agilities. I was pretty nervous for this race. I knew we wanted to qualify, and I really really didn't want to let the other girls down. Cierra and Katie started it off really well and kept us right in there (which was super impressive of Katie,  cause she had just run a really good 800). Then Janz took off and passed everyone except Aimee, so we were in a really good position when I got the baton.

I wanted to start it off a little bit slower so I could have a good kick at the end. Jackie from Lehi passed me somewhere on the first lap. As I crossed the line after the first lap, I could hear Coach yell 1:11. That was rather quite faster than I had planned, but I knew I had to pick it up now. I remember hearing Coach tell me I needed a 1:15 2nd lap.. and after that I really don't remember thinking much of  anything. I passed both Jackie and the Cedar girl on the last curve, and the only thing in my head was just to hold them off for 100 more meters. Luckily, I did. My split ended up being around 2:23, and our medley time was a 4:23.

Really, words cannot describe how happy I am with this race. I haven't run that fast since sophomore year, and it feels so good. Plus also we qualified for state, so that was a huge plus. (: This kind of race makes me remember why I like track so much.

 am: three. Pretty quiet. 

4x1000 at 3:46, 2x300 all out. Felt pukey all throughout the workout.. I think because I didn't get a chance to eat lunch til half an hour before the workout. Early days throw my whole routine off. My splits were around 3:45, 3:49, 3:49, 3:42. I'm not totally sure, because my watch was off.. it would start and be on the right time, but by the end of the 1000, it would be 2 seconds off of everyone elses. So I guess it was an okay workout.. it felt awful, but looking at those times, it wasn't that bad. The 300s were bad. I didn't have my watch, but I could feel the suckiness. I was so so tired after. I just wanted to sleep.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those in Boston today. What an awful thing.

Am: I really really really didn't want to come this morning.. I couldn't sleep all night cause I was coughing so hard. But I did. How dumb of me.

Pm: Coe #1.. whatever. Basically, we ran 100, 110, 120, etc until we got to 200. And there was some formula for figuring out the times.. mine started at 21 seconds for the 100, then 22, 23, 24 etc until the 200 which was 32. It was a good workout.. really fast. It was over pretty quick. Some of my times were a second fast, some were right on, one of them was a second slow. 

My cough  won't go awayyyyy.

Am: I swear, every morning I wake up and decide I'm not coming to practice because I'm so tired, then somehow I end up at the school 20 minutes later. It's quite annoying, really.

Pm: Panther relays. Quite awful, really. I mean, it was kind of a little bit fun, but I just did rather horribly. First I ran the 1200 in the distance medley (no school record for us.. not even close). Then I anchored in the 4x800. I would like to exempt myself from blame in the donut situation here. Liz had 150 meters on me before I even got the baton. Then the 4x4. That one was okay.. I was just very tired and coughy. So.. not a great running day. On the bright side, the weather was ni.. oh wait.

Am: showed up late, so I ran the way out with Michael and Krenshaw. Chilly this morning.

Pm: today was weird, and I got out to practice and I just really didn't want to run. Which is weird, because usually I look forward to practice. But for real. I just didn't want to do anything. But then we got going and there were 10 (TEN) of us, which has got to be a new record, and it was so so fun. We had story time and ran through sprinklers and planned out how we're going to come to Rylee's graduation in six years. Then we ice bathed after. Also, we had 200s. It was a lovely run.

Am: I would like to let it be known that I finally FINALLY made it to morning practice every day for a week for the first time this season! Now I'll be taking the next week off to recover from this exertion. 

Pm:  race. Just had the 400 today. It is driving me crazy that I can't break 1:04! No matter how I run it, I always get the same time! I really enjoy the 400 though. 

Tomorrow is the 800 and the 4x4. I'm getting nervous for the 800. I really really want to run it as well as I did last week. I'm scared.. but excited too. I know I can do it. I just have to remember that during the race..

Well. I was extremely nervous for this race.. more so than I have been in a while. I was afraid everyone was expecting me to run the way I did at DH last week and I was afraid I couldn't do it. Also, they were doing an alley start, which only added to my anxieties. I HATE alley starts. 

Janz was in my heat for this race, but she was in the alley before mine cause Coach put her time in as 2:30. When we started and cut in at the 100, I was pretty far back in the pack. The first 150 or so after cutting in, I just focused on catching up to Janz. I passed her somewhere on the home stretch of the first lap. We came across the line at a 1:11 (ish). Then I knew I could run as well as I did last week, but I had to pick it up. I started passing girls, and ended up getting all of them but two Ogden girls (and I don't think Sarah Feeny really counts). The last 100, I was dead. I was trying hard to kick, but I was way tired and my muscles were all tight. 

After the race, all I wanted was to have qualified. Turns out I missed it by .73 of a second. That was pretty disappointing, but I know now that I can do it.

Later I ran the 2nd leg of the 4x4. We were hoping to qualify.. we were 3 seconds off. I don't know my split, but it didn't feel as fast as I wanted it to be.

Am: three. Finally warmer in the morning. My leg hurts though..

Pm: 4x1000 at 3:46, 2x300 all out. Holy hotness. It really wasn't that hot outside.. but it was way warmer than we're used to. It was also windy off and on throughout the workout. We had the sprinkler spraying us at the starting line, but it only reached the inside lane if the wind got going. Anywho. The first two were good, 3:44 and 3:46. The third one just felt yucky and my throat was so so so dry. I ran a 3:50 on that one. The fourth one was looking like it would be about the same as the third, but Coach came and ran the last lap and a half with me and for some reason that made it tons easier. I ended up hitting a 3:45 on that last one. Then the 300s.. I'll be honest, I had no motivation to go fast. 53 and 54. Weights after.

Am: almost did the workout this morning, but then didn't. After, we found a refrigerator box. Kids kept pushing and kicking and stabbing us though. Rude.

Pm: 8x200 at 34 seconds with decreasing recovery (1:15 for the first 3, then 1:00 for the next 2, then 45 seconds for the last 2). I was a tad slow on most of these.. I hit 34 on the 3rd, 5th, and 8th.. and 35 for the first two.. and 36 for the 4th, 6th, and 7th. Which is a really complicated way of saying my splits were 35, 35, 34, 36, 34, 36, 36, 34. The decreasing recovery threw off my groove. But I felt like it was still a good workout and I felt good about it.

River run with Roberts and Rylee! What alliteration. Except Roberts ditched us when we got to the river. We played with sticks and Rylee dove in the water like 6 times. We looked everywhere for Roberts when we got out of the river, but all we found was some hobo. So we ran back. Weights after. My hamstring hurts.

Am: three with stoner and mia.. then we found a portal to narnia. We plan on shoving Megan in there tomorrow. She's the only one who can fit.

Pm: coe #2. 200, 220, 240, 260, 280, 300. My times started at 43 and went up 2 seconds every time. This workout felt way easier than the coe one we did last week. I never actually hit my times.. I was always too fast. I tried to slow it down near the end, and I got within one second on one of them. Anyway. It felt good. So excited for Davis. It's gonna be a good meet.

Am: three

Pm: headed up to Davis today! Went for a run with the guys with a few striders after.. Stoner said after that the hills weren't that bad, but I don't know what run she went on, cause I was dying on a few of them. But it was a way fun day. Striders were a little stinky though.

Race day! I was nervous all night, so I didn't get a great night's sleep (not to mention I was sharing a rather small bed with Stoner).. but I was excited too. I managed to eat two pancakes before I felt the pre-race queasiness, so that was good, because I generally can't eat breakfast at all on race day, no matter when my race is. 

We got there and watched Matt race, then Stoner came and warmed up with me around the neighborhood.  I got my spikes and my sticker (or just my 'er' as Byron called it, because it wasn't sticky at all). Then I went and did agilities on the field. 

They called us up to the line and I was in the first alley (have I ever mentioned how much I hate alley starts?) and me and the Park City girl next to me got way boxed in. I spent the first 200 letting everyone kind of shove each other around, then at the 200 I moved to the outside so I could move into a better position. But too bad for me, cause there was a girl right behind me that I didn't know about, and she was like 'oh..' then ran right into my leg. I tripped and my face came way closer to the track than I ever hoped for it  to be.. but I caught myself and managed to stay on my feet. I tried to speed up to recover from it, but I just let it get to my head and everything just kind of sucked after that. Ended up with a 2:28. Bleh. That was definitely not what I wanted at all. Coach told me after to get closer to the lead pack quicker next time, so that I'm within reach at the end. I ran a lot more mileage than I usually do at meets today, cause Stoner and I did everything together, so I warmed up and cooled down with her as well. So that was good for me.

All in all, it was a good experience, and one that I can learn from. I'm still going for that 2:23. I've got it in me, I know that. I just have to go out and do it.

Also, I know this is spaced way weird, but I have tried and tried and I can't fix it. Sorry. 

Am: I went to morning practice, but I ended up not running because my calf feels all cramped. I stayed and rolled it for a while.

Pm: I did a 2000 (a super crappy one) and a 1000 before I decided I just couldn't do it with my calf anymore. I stretched my calf and Michael showed me how to use the foam roller to help it, and I'll ice tonight, so hopefully it loosens up. It was so so so hot today. After the cool down, Aubrey,  Liz,  Mia,  Stoner, and I went and got snow cones and screamed primary songs the whole way, since the radio is off-limits during missionary week. I hate missionary week.

Am: three. My calf still hurts.. I rolled it some more.

Pm: 4x400 all out with full recovery. It was so so hot. The first two felt fine and I got 1:06 on both. The 3rd I still hit a 1:07, but as soon as I hit the 300 mark, something felt wrong. It felt like my legs wouldn't hold me up anymore. We finished that one and I had to go sit down- I was dizzy and my legs didn't want to work. Stoner was getting impatient though, and made us start the last one. It was the most terrible I have ever felt while running. Ever. It was absolutely awful.. I ended up with a 1:20. I went and sat down by the wall and covered my eyes.. everything looked way too bright and it was giving me a headache. Then we went on the cooldown and the headache wouldn't go away. But my calf felt fine until after the cooldown. Then it hurt again.

Am: woke up feeling sick.. possibly having to do with the weirdness from yesterdays workout.. possibly not. Whatever the reason, I skipped morning practice.

Pm: Kosmin. I honestly hate this test. It's not that it's way hard or anything, but I don't think it shows me anything. It did not predict correctly last time, and this time I ran it worse so.. whatever. It was fun to run with Roberts though. Oh, and the quote of the day goes to Megan: "it was fun.. but then I was sitting on my head."

Am: three. Leaving for BYU today.. excitement.

Pm: Steeplechase! Stoner and I were way nervous.. we practiced hurdles before the race and realized we both suck at them. We made a deal just to do this for fun, because we were so scared. It ended up not being a big deal at all though.. I fell into the water once, but jumped right back up and was fine. I ended up taking 7th.. but then one of the girls ahead of us was a 1A-2A girl so I still got a shirt. (: It was way fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But a little while after, I started to feel sick to my stomach. Little did I know, this would prove to be a recurring theme of the trip.

Later PM: I ran with the girls, despite feeling like puke. It was actually way fun.. we traced a hand and a house, snapchatted Frida, and got scared to death by a flying fern. We also did 3 striders.. okay, so our total mileage only added up to 1. Whatever.

Ran with the girls up through Provo. I was feeling so so sick, so I was kind of grumpy and I just wanted to go back to the tent so I could lay down. When our run finally ended, I laid down in the tent and slept while the girls went to get lunch. I couldn't even make myself eat until dinner. It was a very long day.

Went on about a mile warm up with the girls. I was still feeling sick all morning. I tried to think positively, but I was mentally just done before the gun even went off. Worst 800 ever. Now I really just need to focus toward region if I'm going to qualify for state.

Not so long after that (they got rid of the lunch break), I had the medley 8. Honeycutt and Kayla told me beforehand not to worry a ton about my split, because they knew we wanted to qualify the 4x4 today, which took a lot of pressure off. It was pretty slow, but I tried to surge a little at the end, and I ended up passing a girl.

Then the 4x4. Cierra and I were both pretty tired from the medley, and Cierra didn't even know she was running the 4x4 til right as we were checking in for it, but we were determined to qualify today, even without Janzen. Alyssa started us out strong with a low 1:02, and Cierra got us into a good position (either 3rd or 4th). Then I got the baton and before I even hit the 100, 4 girls passed me. I don't know where they even came from. Then I passed our tent and I heard Coach yelling something or other, and I knew I had to pass them all back. So around the 200 mark, I got around them all and was battling the Dixie girl for 2nd when I passed off to Katie. I then promptly proceeded to get run over by two girls on other teams, but I really didn't even care. I was just watching Katie and the clock. I knew it was going to be close. She came in at 4:11. We got it by 2 seconds! So happy. My split ended up being a 1:03.5, which is my fastest this season, so at least something good happened to me today.

Am: three.

Pm: 2x800 at 2:56. Felt super good, even though stoner and I aren't very good at following directions. We finished at the same time as the othergirls thogh, so no one had to wait. My splits were 2:55 and 2:47. Felt so nice. And we finished before the monsoon hit, although I still drowned when I ran outside to save my dog.

Am: my mom wouldn't let me go to morning practice cause of my cough.. but now I'm beginning to suspect that she just does that when she needs me to take jake in the morning.

Pm: easy 3 to sandburgs. The water felt sooo good. 4x200 after. Really great run today. 

AM: Three

PM: I just had the medley 800 today, which was nearly the last event. It was getting chilly by the time the race rolled around, so I ran a little more warm up. I was on a team with Lexi, Honeycutt, and Cierra.  We were seeded 2nd, so I knew we could go out and score some points here. But as I was watching Honeycutt try to hand off to Cierra, I thought there was no way Honeycutt could reach her before the blue arrows.. and I was right. We were quite a bit outside the handoff zone on that one. I knew we were DQ'd then, and I was looking around, wondering if someone was going to tell me not to run, or if I should do it anyway, but no one said anything.. so when Cierra got to me, I went anyway. We were in last at that point, but there was a girl not far in front of me. I want to say she was from Hurricane, but I can't really remember. I got her not far into the first lap, then I kind of hung on the back of the DH and SC runners. When we hit the second lap, I picked it up a little and went and got them.. then I kind of just tried to hang on til the end. I didn't have much of a kick. I came in a ways behind the Cedar girl, who had a pretty big gap on everyone. Turns out they were DQ'd too though, and so was CV. Apparently it was a rough race for everyone. 

I was happy with my split, which ended up being a 2:24, even though it didn't count. It gave me more confidence for the open 800 tomorrow, which is something I could definitely use. 

Am: last morning practice with all the girls! *tear*

Pm: Had the 800 and the 4x4 today. Warmed up for the 8 with Stoner and Mia and Liz. Felt ready to run.

The start was absolutely awful. I accidentally stepped on a girl's foot, and she shoved me back and I was stuck in the back of the pack for the first 100 meters. After the turn, I got out into the 4th lane and got into position.. but it was really weird, cause Aimee was pacing her teammate and so I was running right with her. We came through the first lap at 1:14.. way slow. But then all of a sudden a cedar girl and two hurricane girls passed me.. and I just died. An SC girl passed me too before the finish. 

Pretty frustrated with this race. I never really even considered that I wouldn't place top 4 here, because I knew I could do it. I ran a 2:24 just yesterday. I don't know why I can do it in the relays, then struggle so bad in the open races. But that was my last chance to qualify in the open 8 and I blew it, so I guess I won't be running it anymore. Pretty disappointing.

Then the 4x4. We struggled a bit the first two legs, and when I got the baton we were in last. I passed a few girls, maybe 2 or 3. We ended up finishing in 5th or 6th I think. My split was a 1:03.6. Almost as good as BYU.

Welp. I'm done with region races forever.. and my streak of always getting a medal at region that started my freshman year of xc has been broken. Lame. Ready for state though. I just have the medley and the 4x4, so I'll be able to focus just on those and do well in them.

No morning practice today.. I enjoyed sleeping in, until I was woken up by my dad yelling at my brother for peeing on the floor. Like, seriously. Welcome to my life.

Had a short workout today: 100, 200, 300, 400 all out with full recovery in between. Felt way nice outside, and it was over with pretty quickly, so that was nice. My 400 was a 1:06, which was all right after the other sprints. Harts warm/cool.

Am: 2 with ze boys. I mostly ran by Krenshaw cause I had nothing to say and he doesn't talk much. (:

Pm: Harts warm/cool with 1x800 all out. It was sooooo hot today. I was dying. Ran with Stoner for the first 300 of it, then felt like I should go a little faster. The last 200 I tried to go catch some 1000 guys. Ended up with a 2:30.. I was all right with that for having no one around me and with the awful heat. 

Later I went to the scholarship awards night or whatever.. Michael and I were both awarded Outstanding Athlete of the Year! Pretty neat, eh? XC kids are just too great.

Am: 2 with Mia and Stoner.  Some creepy man followed us on a bike.

Pm: tres to sandbergs with Stoner. It was so blazing hot, and my brain was so blazing tired from the AP test.. I just didn't want to run. But it was okay.  Except my legs were way tired today. The worst they've been since the beginning of the season. Stoner said hers were way tired too. Bleh.

Am: last morning practice ever. Woot?

Pm: workout. 2x100, 2x200, 2x300, 1x400 all out with full recovery. Felt fine for the most part, got a little tired near the end, so the second 300 and the 400 weren't as fast as I'd have liked. But it was fine. Last workout ever.. what the?! 

Found out after that I left my car keys in my mom's office. Had to sit on the curb by myself til my dad finished practice and came to save me.

I really have been running up to this point, I swear. I just never bothered to record it. Today was just a little run around Logan with Katie. The weather was fab.

Another baby loop this morning. Just the same run we did yesterday, except under cloud cover today. My legs are finally getting used to all the stair climbing throughout the day (4th floor probs. Seriously). Tomorrow I'll probably be running on my own while Katie's in class, and I'll probably extend the loop a bit and go three or four. Sometime this week I'd like to run down to First Dam. It's super pretty down there.

Extended the Lundstrom Park loop that Katie and I have been doing, then added the normal loop on at the end.. except I accidentally turned too early at one part of the loop (twice..) and didn't realize it til I put the run into Google maps, so it was only 4 miles. It's hard to remember all these street numbers in my head. Tomorrow I'll either do that again (except right this time) or head down to First Dam. All my roommates are in class all day for the next three days, so the shower won't ever be taken.. meaning I can run as far as I want whenever I please.

Extended Lundstrom Park loop. I feel like I'm barely doing anything with these little runs, but I'm seriously too tired to do anything more. All this late-night ping pong is having some serious side effects, I'm telling ya. On the bright side, maybe I'll be able to beat Michael in ping pong when he gets back (sike. I still stink at it).

Towers loop x 2. Felt sick yesterday and ended up barely leaving the apartment all day. When I woke up this morning though, I felt great. I went out by First Dam, but the road to actually get there is kind of scary, and getting hit by a car before classes even start could really put a damper on my freshman year. So I settled for running kind of by it. When I finished the first loop, I felt like I could do that again, so I did. Felt great.

Was gonna head out last night, but there was an accident and things got a little hectic.. I spaced. Tonight I went with Katie and it was pretty dark so we only went 2. But I felt okay with that. I'm just happy to be running. I probably won't be going in the mornings this week.. I'm getting a feel for classes and stuff.. but I'll go in the evenings. Sarah might come with us tomorrow. Saturday I'll try and head a little longer again.. 5 or so.

Tried to donate blood today, but was turned down because I have low levels of hemoglobin, which is found in iron or some other unnecessary mineral. Of course. So, after spending a pointless hour waiting in line for that, and then riding the stupid evening express bus all over town, I decided to run.

I thought it would be fun to do my extended Lundstrom Park loop backwards, just for some variety, and I figured I couldn't possibly get lost. I mean, I've lived in this town for almost two weeks. I'm practically a local. So I set out to do that, but on my way found this super big hill that I'd never noticed before (the Logan equivalent of the hill the Ellsworths live on) and decided to see where it led. So I set out up it, and when it finally leveled out, it turned out it ended in another hill.. but this one was straight up 90 degrees from the road I was on. No joke. It was a monster. I thought about going up that one too.. but it turned out to be a 50 mile long driveway to some mountain man's house. So I flipped around and headed down some road I didn't know, hoping I'd end up somewhere familiar. Turns out, it led to Lundstrom Park; right where I wanted to be. Brilliant move on the neighborhood's designer's part. But my little detour cost me, cause it was dark by the time I got past the park and I didn't know which road to turn on.. So I decided to just wing it and hope for the best. Luckily for me, all roads in Logan lead to 1600 East, and I found my way home from there. It was a fantastic run. I loved it.

This morning I kind of mix and mashed parts of the Towers loop and the longer version of the Lundstrom Park loop. As I neared the end of the run, I got that feeling where you feel like you can go forever.. so I went a little farther and added on that extra half mile.. which isn't much, but it was getting pretty hot because I managed to sleep in til 10:15 this morning. But it was a really great run. 

Wasn't feeling tip-top today, but it was absolutely gorgeous outside and I couldn't pass it up. It rained most of the morning and was cloudy around the edges of the valley the rest of the day, and the resulting sunset was amazing. There were zillions of people around too.. apparently everyone wanted to go enjoy the weather. Logan is incredible.

Just three today. Felt lovely. Running is my friend.

Extended Lundstrom. Had to go out in the heat(ish) and then cut it short because some creepers asked Sarah and Katie on a date and they're making the rest of us go with them to reduce the awkward. It was nice though.

Katie and I went running in the rain.. it was absolutely lovely. Although we felt a little fat from our feast earlier today at Bear Lake. Raspberry shakes are divine.

Went out today and it felt amazing. Near the end of the run, some 12 year old kid in flip flops and sweats that barely reached his ankles was standing on the sidewalk, and as I came closer to him, he started running from me and I felt really awkward cause it looked like I was chasing him. Then some dogs came out of nowhere and started chasing him for me, so he ran down another street and I was off the hook. On another note, it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Hurray.

Seeing as it had been a week since I'd made time for a run, I went out today. Felt good, but it was in the middle of the day because I wanted to make sure I got it in, so it was kind of warm outside.. but nothing like STG, so I really have nothing to complain about. Thought I found some kind of cool trail behind Lundstrom Park, but it had a Private Property sign and bulldozers all over.. I'm too much of a rule follower to run out there by myself. If Stoner were around, you can bet we'd be all over that trail. Doesn't matter though.. just went around my normal loop (which now includes the giant Ellsworth-esque hill). Enjoyed it, but didn't go very far. Perhaps tomorrow I'll go four.

It was absolutely gorgeous outside today.. I mean, it was incredible. It was about 65 degrees and sunny and I couldn't get enough. So when I was driving home from Wal-Mart and saw an XC meet going on by our soccer field, I decided to run over and investigate. So I dropped off my groceries and put on some running shoes and headed over.

It was a high school meet between Logan, Box Elder, and Roy. There wasn't JV and varsity, just all the girls running together and all the boys running together. The course was really small.. I think they had to do like 5 different loops to make it 3 miles, which sounded just about as awful as it could get. And they didn't even have a starter pistol.. they had a bullhorn that made some kind of blaring noise. Whatever. I stuck around long enough to see the girls start, then I took off on my own run.

And I just.. ran. I ran until I didn't even know where I was anymore (I ended up in Hyde Park, which is two towns north of Logan). I kept going and saying to myself "JP, your roommates don't even know where you are. You should prolly turn around". But I didn't want to turn around. All I wanted to do was run. I've never felt like that before.. where nothing sounded as great as running. It felt amazing. 

When I got back, I put then run into Google Maps and was surprised at how far I'd gone. I mean, seven miles isn't that far really but when I've been running threes and fours, that's quite a distance. Probably wasn't great on my shins, but hey. It's not like I've got races I have to be ready for. I'll try to be more consistent in the future. Today was seriously incredible though.

Four with Mia in the wee hours of the morning. Felt way good and it was so fun to get to run with her again. Too bad Kaylee bailed on us or we would have had a grand old time. (:

Hadn't done Telegraph in a long while so I drove down and parked in Costco's parking lot (I was too afraid to park at the high school.. Now that they're all fancy and require permits and whatever) and ran down to the light by Dominos. So I went farther than 3 but not quite 4. Saw the dog-walker lady.. Except today she was wearing a shirt and carrying a scooter. Things are looking up, St. George.

Am: three. Wasn't planning on it, cause Janz and I are planning on going a few miles later, but figured I should get some mileage in this morning in case it doesn't work out later. The weather is amazing here this week. And the run felt great.

After a long day (during which I found out that: A. I still have zero aptitude for math and B. There is practically a warrant for my arrest in St. George), I decided it was an excellent time to run. I went down 1400 E. again, except not nearly as far this time. This time I ran to 2500 N. I'm not sure if my run really was 5.5 miles though, because Google Maps and I are having some trust issues right now.  Either way, I decided I wanted to do a little bit of speed today, so I did four fartleks from fire hydrant to fire hydrant (it might actually have been 3 fartleks; there were a lot of fire hydrants and I can't remember how many I passed). They felt very good.. but on my way back, I started to feel kind of tired. I don't know if it was from the fartleks or running farther than I have been in the last week and a half or so (probably a combination of both), but my effort up the final hill was definitely lacking. I felt like I was pushing, but I could tell I wasn't moving very fast. And then I got back to my apartment and my throat felt way dry but my mouth was all gross, so I spit and my spit was bloody (My foot was too, and I was very concerned about it for about 30 seconds, until I realized it was just that my toe got cut open by one of my toenails... my toenails grow all sideways now. I blame 90% of that on running and 10% on my parent's weird feet). Anyway. Kind of tough run today, but felt good.

Went just three today so we could get over to the Quad to set up our tent for the campout. Before I went on my run I kept looking out the window to check for snow, because I heard it was supposed to. But it was just cloudy all day. Then, the very second I walked out of the emergency stairwell (the one we used to transport our illegal kitten and also the one my roommate peed her pants in), this slushy substance started to fall from the sky. It wasn't really rain and it wasn't really snow.. either way, I was glad for my new running gloves and stretchy pants. (: Luckily it didn't start to really snow until I got back into the apartment.

Didn't have human development today because of an out-of-class exam, so after watching my Physics professor stick her finger in liquid nitrogen then smash it with a hammer, I took advantage of the extra time and went for a run. Even stopped at the park and did some core exercises, since I never bothered to participate in high school. Felt good. The weather was great. And fall in Logan is absolutely gorgeous.

Same run I did yesterday.. backwards Lundstrom and up the Ellsworth hill. Started raining halfway through.. about five minutes after that, it started raining hard. I wouldn't exactly call it pouring, but it was definitely a hard rain, and also the rainwater was very cold. It felt really nice though. 

Holy smokes. I ran with Alli today cause she had to do her workout for STATE (it's like the circle of life, except the circle of Peterson's). She had 1200, 1000, 800, 600. We went to a park to do it, and the loop we did was actually fairly tough, with hills and lots of grass. Warm up was about 1.5 miles, then we did the 1200 and I almost managed to stay with her. I opted out of the 1000 and just timed her. Then on the 800 I actually did stay with her (she struggled on the up and downhills). Then the 600 she just about destroyed me, except I had the watch so I started pushing with 30 seconds left and got closer. Cool down was just a mile.