Hello Again! (A random post about lessons that turns into cluing you into what is going on in my life lately)

It’s been so long since I’ve been on here that I actually forgot my password!

I know. I know. I said I’d post again when school started but life happens and I had more interesting things to do then sit at my computer tip-tapping away about my (non-existent) life. But. NOW. I am going to sit and tippy-tap at my computer about my life that I DO in fact have and I will not post as much as I used to. SO deal.

Oh I’m just warning you. This is coming off of watching a LOT of Jenna Marbles so I am a little hyper and like…idk Jenna Marble-ish…just warning you! 

I had a great summer and a great fall. So far. I went to some parties. I met a lot of new people. I ran cross country and became amazing at running. Well, not amazing but pretty awesome. I mean life has been awesome. I’ve learned some lessons too. 

1. Don’t give your heart away when you’re 15. Just don’t. No. You’re not going to get married. So, just don’t use the word ‘love’ unless you are talking to your friends that are girls or talking about some delicious food. Or cute animals.

2. School is important. In my family, we have a rule where we have to have all our homework done before we can go do fun things. So I just do it you know? Like easy as that. Okay I actually didn’t learn that lesson cause I already knew it. Disregard this.

3. Figure out who your real friends are. Hint: No matter how much you like them, they are not the ones who back-stab you, treat you unkindly, or ignore you. They ARE the ones who listen to your rants and then forgive you, apologize for what they did wrong without making excuses, listen to you, and are there for you when you need them.

4. Don’t do stuff on a whim. Like seriously? Whoever came up with the saying, “Follow your heart” was stupid. Don’t follow your head either. Just….get lots of advice. From a lot of different people. Of different ages.

5. You never know how people will react. If you haven’t already figured this out, I had a bit of a “relationship” through the past couple weeks. And I want to talk about it. It’s not secret anymore. But it was a big part of my life. And leaving it out would be leaving out a big part of who I have become. But the point of this lesson is that, some of the people I told about this who I thought would react in an “I told you so” fashion were actually the most sympathetic and understanding towards me. And some of the ones who I thought would care, just didn’t. So…don’t lose hope. Someone always cares.

6. Move on. Just do. And you need to find someone who will slap you upside the head and scream at you, “Move on.” But that person also has to hug you at those hard moments and tell you it’s gonna be okay. And she/he has to understand what you’re going through.

7. P!nk is awesome. Have you heard her new album? So amazing.

8. I know that I haven’t talked a lot about God on here in awhile. I actually had one of my readers talk to me about it. He said, “You know I really appreciated when you talked about God on here. Could you do that more?” And I said, “I really don’t feel like I am in a place where I could talk about how much I LOVE God and how wonderful He is and how much I am striving to live a godly life, when truthfully I’m not.” But I’m at a different place now. I don’t know. This summer was really great. I absolutely loved it. But it was hard too. A lot of self-discovery going on. And now I know myself a little better and I know what I want and being a Christian is definitely something that I want. I can’t imagine my life without Christianity a part of it. I do believe in God. I do want to please Him. I’m not perfect and you can’t always tell I am a Christian but I do love God. We are going to the most amazing church now and it really has been quite a wake-up call for me. So, I’m refocusing my life. This should be fun….

9. Injuries stink. I actually couldn’t run for the past two weeks because of a knee injury. It is serious deja vu. Ugh. Even with my stretching, I’m still side-lined. At my highest point over the cross-country season, I ran a 21:11 5k. My best time ever. And it was amazing. And today I ran for the first time in two weeks and I ran 2.6 miles. I couldn’t even run three miles. And I ran it in 21:25. I’m really trying to not let that upset me. Because I know that I am making a comeback. Oh, and the pain when I was done running those painfully slow 2 and a half miles? It was UNBEARABLE. I thought I was going to barf my knee hurt so bad. But I ran today. And that’s something! 🙂 And I love cross country. I am so sad it’s over.

10. Friends are awesome. Guys. Friends are so important. I am so thankful for my friends. They are so good to me. I know I’m hyperactive. I know I talk a lot. I know that I can be sooo annoying. I know I can get a little obsessive. But they stick it out. Cause they love me. And knowing that is just really…sometimes the only thing I’m living for. I’m not in any way suicidal but, everyone has those days where they’re like, “What am I even doing? I should just run away and start over!” But I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave my friends. This includes my family. Cause even though they’re annoying, my brothers are so sweet and fun. And even though she yells at me for not doing the laundry, my sister is the one who is up at one in the morning making me laugh after a really. bad. day. And my parents, even though they annoy me sometimes, are really pretty great. So guys, find friends who love you and who will always believe the best of you and who will take you for who you are. And if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. Cause I know how important it is to have someone there to listen to you.

11. Contrary to popular belief, sleep actually DOES make the world go round. Those people who stay up till like three in the morning and then get up at six? Or those people who pull all-nighters? i have no idea what is wrong with them. I need my sleep. Which is why I will end my very random post now even though I could continue. Cause I need to go to bed. And I still have reading to do….

hmmmmm. why am i writing a blog post? oh yeah cause I’m sick of school…

TMEDoML Recap!

So I wanted to give a more in-depth post about my race yesterday!

Firstly, everything was in favor of me! I was running the first race of the day. I was super excited and energized about the race. It was perfect weather. The course is awesome.

So I knew everything would be good.

But I was a little nervous because of how poorly my race on Tuesday went.

But other than that I had no reason to be nervous!

Okay so a really important part of a race is the course, obviously! If it’s hillier it will be harder, etc. But this course was really awesome! I really loved it! It was a loop that we ran four times and it was really pretty and relatively flat. There was one hill but it was not very steep and it was on the straight part of the course so it was fine.

I am really bad at starts on races which is why the longer the race is, the better I do because I have time to gain back the time lost at the start. But, I had a good start at this race and because of the loop course I had an easier time making up that lost time because I got used to the course. I ran in ninth place pretty much the whole race, switching between seventh through ninth on the second and third laps. Two other girls from my team and I ran basically the whole race together which is awesome because I know that I wouldn’t have done as well as I did if I hadn’t had them to pull me along. I was behind both of them but then in the sprinting region by the finish line I passed one girl and finished between them.

I forgot to mention yesterday (not sure HOW this slipped my mind) but not only did I place but I also PR’d! I finished yesterday’s 3-mile race with a time of 21:11 which is a personal best for me in my entire running career!

So that’s also awesome! =)

And after my race, I cheered for all the other races and screamed my throat out and had fun hanging out with my friends! =)

And then we went out for lunch afterwards.

And I came home at 4:30 and was exhausted.

And I passed out mid-conversation at 10:30 last night.

And I was exhausted all day today until I had some Mountain Dew. Then I was insane.

I took a nap too. Which I never do.

I labeled yesterday “The Most Exhausting Day of My Life!!!!!!” or “TMEDoML” for short. That’s not really short.

Okay, we can all tell I’m tired! 😉

 

 

 

Reason #8: Why I Like Cross Country

It always redeems itself.

On Thursday we ran a 50-minute tempo run. I was on top of the clouds after that run.

And today I ran at an invitational and placed 8th in the Frosh/Soph race.

And because I got six hours of sleep last night and was up at six this morning and have been running (pun intended) since then, that’s all I’m going to write for now because I am very very tired and need some sleep!

 

The One Thing That Bugs Me

I needed some time to cool my temper before I could write today.

I’ve been in a very grumpy mood.

But now I’ve calmed down slightly (the dinner time rant helped a bit) so here’s what I have to say to you all.

If you are training for a new time for your 5k, don’t run  only 3.1 miles during your practice runs. Do us all a favor and run FOUR miles! Or FIVE! Or even more than that! Because then! When you get to the actual race, it will seem like a piece of cake! Brilliant thoughts guys!

If you are training for a 10k, then run more than 6.2 miles. Guys, this is elementary stuff but it’s so insanely clever! Because the more miles you are logging the better you are getting. It’s just the way it is.

So run more miles.

That’s the one and ONLY thing that I don’t like about cross country. Yes we are running every day, but we only run about three miles every day. Which is actually less than I used to run.

I’m not done ranting about this. But I need to go now.

 

 

 

Reason #7: Why I Like Cross Country

You have to keep going.

Even when you don’t want to.

I think we all know where this is going! 😉

We had a meet today. That is the worst day to not feel like running.

I slogged through our warm-up run and our pick-up run and our strides and I knew that today wouldn’t be the best race ever.

It was not the best race ever.

It wasn’t even a good race.

I’m pretty sure that was my worst race ever.

I don’t even know what my time was on it. But I do know that I felt horrible the whole time. My legs are so so tight and I need to roll them out but I haven’t gotten around to it. I wanted to lay down and cry. Or sleep. Either would have worked.

But I kept running. Cause I had to.

That’s the great thing about running on a team or even just in a group. You can’t stop. You can’t slow down. You have to keep going. You gotta stay with the pack. If this had been one of my own runs by myself? I would NOT have finished it. I would have just stopped after two miles when I couldn’t bear to go on for one more second, but obviously I had to keep going! It’s a race! You can’t stop. So I kept going. Even though I didn’t want to. And I finished. Even though it was hard.

And now I’m all fine! =)

Can you find me?

 

Reason #6: Why I Like Cross Country

I improve so much without even realizing it!

I hope you guys are all in a great mood today! Cause I most certainly am!

I wasn’t…

but it was nothing a little running couldn’t fix!

See, it wasn’t actually even today’s workout that put me in a great mood! It was my workout on Friday and then something I READ today that put me in a great mood!

Friday was our first meet. It was 95 degrees. I was NOT in a racing mood.

But when the race was over, I knew it had been a good one.

First and foremost, when I crossed the line I used up my last ounce of energy. When you hit the complete rock-bottom feeling just as you cross the finish line you know that it was the best you could possible have done. So, that was my first clue that I had done well.

The second clue was…well….there weren’t really that many runners at the finish line when I got there. I mean, that’s pretty obvious. I would have counted then to see what my placing was but since the first five minutes after I finished I just walked around trying not to die, my counting would have been very inaccurate…

The third clue is that my brother told me that he counted 17 people come in before me. Now, obviously this is like a major clue…but I didn’t want to get TOO excited in case he had counted wrong or had completely made it up (he has been known, on occasion, to do that).

Anyways, I had to wait all weekend to see my time and placing and it was a little nerve-wracking, a lot exciting though. I knew that whatever the results were I would just have to accept it and move on.

But

I’m so happy.

With a time of 21:53, I came in 18th overall and 8th on my team! This was not only a perfect debut for my coaches but also vaulted me into the top 12 on the team, allowing me to practice with varsity girls!

First day of practicing with varsity girls: 90 degrees. Soooooo hot. And hard. I thought I would fall over. Literally.

But I’m glad I get to practice with them and be severely challenged so I can get FASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What are your recent victories?

Reason #5: Why I Like Cross Country

Everyone is so encouraging.

Today was NOT a good running day.

I was incredibly tired. It wasn’t only just being tired cause I’m pretty much used to that but also because it was one of those days where I really Really REALLY felt that tiredness.

I didn’t feel like rolling out of bed. I didn’t feel like getting dressed. I didn’t feel like biking to the high school. I got tired during the WARM-UP run! That was when I knew that it was gonna be a death workout. If you get winded during the warm-up run, then you know you’re in for it during the ACTUAL workout!

And today was intervals.

I thought I was going to die.

Or cry.

Or just fall over.

Or just stop.

Or even slow down!

But no. Coach told me to stay at the front of my pack. Then, I had to speed up to stay with the girls at the front! Last week, I was the one breezing through the 600’s. This week, I felt like a turtle that was about to keel over. Yet I still managed to hold my pace (just sticking that in there for a little bit of glorification….) constant and relatively fast.

At this point in the story, you are probably wondering how me feeling like I’m gonna die makes me like cross country. Well, I haven’t gotten to that yet.

See, the fantastic part is that I have all these girls around me, cheering me on! One of the varsity girls came and ran the last 600 next to me and pushed me to keep up with the front of the pack. She knew my name! How did she know my name? I have no idea. I don’t know who she was! But she was my saving grace.

And then there’s Kathleen. We are each other’s personal cheerleaders. When one of us needs it, the other one is there pushing us to give it our best and last shots. It’s awesome. I would be so much slower without her.

And those are just two! All the girls are so encouraging. The older ones give me tips which is nice! And when I say “Bye” I’m greeted by a chorus of “Bye Claire!” and “Great job today!” and “Way to stick with it”! And all those sweet little things! It’s so awesome. Cause I know they really mean it. Cause they’re nice like that. And they really care. And words of encouragement is so my love language!

Night y’all!

I Run the Night!

I ran six miles today!

I just ticked them off one by one!

And even though it wasn’t necessarily “easy” I did realize something very important to running long distances! You should run by minutes not by miles. It’s a lot easier to set out saying you will run for 50 minutes than it is to say that you are going to run 6 miles. I’m not certain why exactly this is the case but I’ve found it to be true every time I’ve run by minutes instead of miles.

I think it’s because it’s a lot easier to run for one minute than it is to run for a mile so it’s more rewarding. And instead of going, “Oh I still have a mile and a half to go and I’m about to die!”  It’s like, “Only 15 minutes to go!…..now only 13!” And the time ticks by so quickly!

Anyways, I ran it with an average mile of 8:07 which is really encouraging considering I hadn’t run that far in a long long time! It was also nice because usually I have no interest in running on Sundays but today I knew I needed to run for 50-60 minutes cause that’s what Coach said, so I just woke up with that mentality and bam! I ran it! Which means that I’ve run every single day this week! Running is going really great and I have been really really really enjoying cross country! I’m so glad that I’m doing it and not once have I regretted it! Even when I’ve had to get up so early! 😉 Although I will say I am counting down the days until practice switches to afternoons (Two to go! Can’t WAIT!) I’m a much more fun person when I’ve gotten sleep the night before! 😉 Also, even though I love my babysitting job I can’t wait to get some time back! Being a mom is a full-time job! 😉

Anyways, my first meet is on Friday and I’d really appreciate prayer for that! I’m nervous and excited to see how I will do! Hopefully well. Today I wasn’t running very fast but I still have another week to train and get faster! And of course I’m hoping to see dramatic improvement over the whole program (is that what it’s called…?)

Anyways, that’s all for now! How’s your training going? How’s your week going?  Talk to me people!

Oh and sorry I just had to name this post that cause I’m listening to that song right now! 😉

 

The Hard Parts (so far…)

The first week of cross country has been awesome.

And surprisingly easy. Our hardest day was hardly hard because it was the minimum of what I do any day I run. I have to say, so far the hardest parts of cross country have been getting up so early and running EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Geez.

I am NOT a morning person. I am a night person. And it does not make me happy to have to go to bed so early. Two nights ago, I went to bed at 9:30 and I actually FELL asleep! I am thankful that I could fall asleep so I wasn’t AS tired on Friday but still, 9:30? What am I: a 10 year old? I love staying up late. Last night, I knew I didn’t have to wake up early today so I actually stayed up late just cause I could! I’m such a little rebel! 😉

The other hard part is running every day. I’m not used to that. My muscles are soooooore. But I do like getting the exercise every day! I definitely need it! My six-pack is closer to disappearing then it has been for a long time. So, I need the exercise but I also need to get my “healthy eating” back on track! Initiate: Natural Food Week. I’m going to try to eat only natural foods this week. See, during the school year I eat quite healthily but over the summer I kinda went crazy on the sugar. Now that we are on the countdown back to the school year I need to get my healthy ways back on track. Wish me luck, people! I sure will need it!

As I already said, the hardest day of practice so far was a three mile interval run. It was hard cause we had to hold the same pace the whole time but I did that, I beat out some of the girls, I impressed the coaches. It was awesome. I was proud of myself for that and I was also thankful that my previous coach (being myself) insisted that I always run a minimum of 3 miles. It made that interval run a heck of a lot easier.

So as a random side note:

I know I have been very unfaithful to blogging over the summer but now that school is coming back and I’m online more (and running), I hopefully will get back to blogging at the very very least, once a week. But probably more than that. Also, hopefully I will get some awesome running pictures to post… we’ll see! 🙂

The end for now!

 

Life Goes On

I have some exciting news.

I doubt that it will excite you as much as it excited me but whatever.

Tomorrow morning is my first cross country practice! Finally!

It actually is kind of crazy because we just signed my papers today and tomorrow is the first official preseason practice. So that was fast. Adding on to the craziness is that between practice and my job (which I have yet to tell you about I think), I have exactly 15 minutes to shower, dress, and eat breakfast. I’m going to be downsizing on my shower time apparently…

But I am not complaining. i’m so glad that it’s finally starting so I can get a legitimate running schedule going. Yesterday I ran 3.1 miles at a 7:31 pace. I was very proud of myself. That is an improvement from my last run by over 10 seconds per mile. Pretty impressive for a girl who was on vacation all weekend. Vacation not only from my normal life but also from my normal eating routine. If you catch my drift. Late night and early morning Oreos (and more) if you don’t catch my drift.

Okay, have we all caught the drift?

Good.

Anyways, I’m glad to finally get a routine going. And I’m excited about doing something new. And meeting new people. And improving on my running skills. I’m thinking it’s going to be a good experience. Can you tell?

I’m very optimistic about the whole ordeal.

Ordeal being cross country and Ordeal being life.

But right now we’re talking about cross country.

 

Okay, now we’re talking about life.

My pool job ended on Friday. However, I got a totally fantastic babysitting job for the next two and a half weeks! I babysit one adorable girl for 7 hours every day. So far, I haven’t done a full day cause she only needed me for two hours yesterday and five hours today but tomorrow will be a full day. Guys, this is the best job in the world. I’m in charge of the house for seven hours. It’s like the ultimate responsibility. And I love it. And the girl is so sweet and adorable and in love with me, which is always an added plus!

Life is good.

You know, I have been running for almost three years now! And I was thinking about how far I’ve come since then! When I started, a mile was considered a good run and I could barely run for longer than ten minutes before stopping for a breather. Three years later, I’ve run a half marathon and am significantly faster than when I started.

Points for perseverance!