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! 😉

 

 

 

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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?

And She’s Back!

I’ve been tired.

I’ve been busy.

It’s been one of those weeks. Or two of those weeks, I suppose. Also, I feel as though I don’t have much to write about at the moment, because I haven’t been running. Or I hadn’t been running. This week has been different.

Okay, firstly I ran three miles on Saturday with my brother. We were slow. But it was a good run that was definitely worth the time it took. When you don’t run for awhile, you want to run again, but you’re also kind of scared to go back. Once you run again though, your determination is renewed and you’re back in the game.

 

I ran with my brother and my friend this Tuesday. We ran four miles. They were slow. Slow, but glorious. Because running is glorious. After that run I had so much energy. I cleaned my room, I folded my clothes and I did school. I even made my bed which I never do, even when I have energy. =) I was so glad to have running partners though, because 1) they got me out there in the first place and 2) they kept me going at a pretty good pace.

 

 

Those splits were very encouraging because my average pace was about ten seconds faster than the previous run. Even though I killed myself to go that pace, it was so worth it.

Then there was today. I wasn’t planning on running. I was tired. I was bored. And, okay, I’d just eaten a bowl of chocolate frosting. I was wearing running clothes so I figured I might as well run.

 

I don’t even know what to say. When I looked at my Garmin during the first mile and saw that my time was a 7 minute mile, I wanted to leap for joy. I knew that I couldn’t hold that pace for the whole run, but getting at least one sub-8 minute mile under my belt was good. Getting two was even better! And before long, I will be back on track! Cross country, which starts in less than a month, will only get me faster!

On a rather sour side note, after today’s run, my lower right shin was killing me. I walked around and stretched it out. But it still really hurt. I stretched it more and took an ice cold shower. It’s okay now but I’m kind of dreading waking up tomorrow. This isn’t the first time that’s happened. It hurt after Tuesday’s run. And Saturday’s. I’m really hoping it’s just cause I haven’t stretched it out enough and that if I just keep stretching that it will go away. But do any runners out there have any suggestions as to stretches I could do or other remedies for my sore shin?

One last thing:

Due to my laziness and lack of interesting things to write about running, we missed a very important date! July 28, 2011: my first-ever blog post. Man, I have changed a lot since that day. Thank God. I like reading my old blog posts though. They are entertaining in a kind of embarrassing sort of way. I used to post more pictures though. I should start posting more. Now, where is my camera?

Any other ideas on how I can further improve my blog?

Pretty Predictable

Guess what!

I actually ran today.

Truth be told, I was more surprised it happened than you all probably are. You probably just thought, if you thought of me at all, something like, “Well yesterday she said she was going to run today, so she probably will!”  No, see I like to think that I am a resolved person. If I make up my mind to do something, then I will do it. And that is mostly true. But there is one exception. And that’s when I’m tired. I’m the worst tired person in the world. I’m crabby and lazy and emotional. It’s not fun to be around.

But you already know that from past tired posts…

I’m going to be honest: When I got back from my job I had no plans of running today. I figured I’d just do it tomorrow (famous last words). But something happened. I don’t really know what it is, just like this urge or craving to go run. So I did.

It was really hard. Like insanely hard. It was a beautiful day for running though. It’s about 80 degrees but really breezy and altogether beautiful. But still. I hadn’t run for almost a week. And I haven’t really been cross-training unless we’re counting freezing in a pool for 3 hours as some sort of exercise…which I suppose that is pretty good fat burn (nah, I’m just kidding about that last part… 😉 ). I was a little out of shape to say the least.

At first, I was all like, “I love this! I love running! Wow, look at that: I’m running a 7:30 mile even though I haven’t run for 6 days! Well, aren’t I just Little Miss Athletic!”

That’s the first mile.

The second mile, I was thinking, “Okay Claire you can do this. Just listen to your music and zone out. Oh wow, look at you still holding that 7:30 pace. Well well well, aren’t we impressed!! Yes, we are.”

The third mile, I’m like, “So I think I should run four miles. If I don’t run four miles, I’m going to be mad at myself. I’ve got to run four miles. I’m almost halfway through my third mile anyways! I should just do this. I can do this. I can. I totally can. I’ve run farther…

OH MY GOSH I’M GOING TO DIE!!!”

Fourth mile, “Almost there. Almost there. Breathe. Run. Just run. It doesn’t matter if you look like a grandma runner (no offense, people), just keep running. Gonna die. Wait half a mile left. Turn on my pump-up song (Pretty Girl Rock)! I can do this. Heyy and do the pretty girl rock… okay point-one-five of a mile to go.”

And then there’s this hill I have to run up at the end of my route. It is not steep. But at this point, it is a killer. I feel that burn of an empty stomach. Running running running.

And done.

And I can barely breathe but WHO CARES? Cause I just finished four miles! That’s one extra mile than required by my coach during every run.

And now, I feel fantastic. As I always do.

And I’m so glad I went. As I always am.

Pretty predictable.

WHO CARES?

😉

More Running-ness

Okay I think I now understand why I run.

It’s not solely for exercise. It’s cause I love it. I realized this last night when after an exhausting hour of swimming and day, in general, I went for a run. I wanted too. I was tired and sore from swimming. But I had to go. So I ran four miles. They were by far, the slowest I have run in a long, long time. The last time I ran an 8:30 mile was in March. But whatever. I’m actually just proud that I even ran four miles. So, at this point I don’t really care about the time (I was running 8:20’s) cause I’m just proud that I ran at all. I know. I’m such a  tough coach. 😉

Anyways, after my run of awesomeness, John lent me his compression socks. I’m not the athlete who has like all that fancy post-run stuff like a foam roller or those stretchy things (yeah, I don’t even know what they’re called) or compression socks. Although, compression socks are for when you are running. Well, all through my run and when I got home (and actually all  day), my calves were killing me, so I saw James wearing compression socks and I thought maybe that would help my calves, so I asked John if I could borrow his. I was quite the sight last night in my short shorts and long socks. I thought of taking a picture but decided that would not be the wisest decision!! 😉 But today, my calves were fine! They weren’t sore at all! Now the rest of me is sore. My shoulders, my arms, my back, my hip. I’m falling apart. But it’s okay. Cause once I get used to swimming, I should be okay.

Okay I want to tell you all about my race on Saturday. Thanks for the many well-wishers, both online and in real life! 🙂 That, in itself, made it fantastic! 🙂 It was hot. I was slow. But that’s okay. I ran a minute faster than last year at that race. I had to walk for like 10 seconds (that was all I allowed myself) and I thought I would die. But in the end, it was three miles, and I run that all the time. I was a little disappointed by the results but I hadn’t exactly trained for it. Actually, I hadn’t trained for it at all. It was just fun to actually run in the race! And I started out with two of my friends. They both finished before me, but it was nice to start out with people that I knew and have them there for me at the finish line! 🙂

Who’s that half-dead girl about to cross the finish line?? 😉

Victorious!!!!

Haha. I love how I look like I’m dying. Or about to cry. Or something.

I love races. They are so fun. I am planning on doing at least one more this summer. I think I am going to start training for another half marathon. But not now. I have started training for a half marathon like ten times this past year. I’m going to wait until…august? September, maybe. I’m a wimp and I hate running far when it’s super hot out. When I am training for something and I have a schedule and the schedule is like:

-~-Saturday- run 10 miles.

And then it’s Saturday and it’s 80 degrees out and humid. What idiot would run 10 miles in 80- degree weather? Well actually I can think of plenty of people that would do that but I WOULD NOT. So then I get off track and it’s all annoying and messed-up.

Of course, I’ve decided that now that I am a “veteran-half-marathoner” (wow, that’s a mouthful), I no longer need a schedule. But still. I have one in my head. So I’m waiting until it gets cooler before I start. But I’m going to try to at least get my mileage up to six miles over the summer. Six is a good distance.

 

 

Pre-race Excitement

How can you tell when the race you are running in is coordinated by a church?

When there’s a devotional in the running swag bag.

As if I didn’t already know that Run for the Stars 5K is organized by my old church, the running devotional pretty much sealed the fact ! 🙂 It’s actually really awesome to think about the fact that over 900 participants will be receiving a devotional in their goodie bags. Anyways, if you haven’t already figured it out, I picked up my race packet today for the race on Saturday! I am #409! Yay. I don’t understand why that’s a “yay” but whatever… Anyways, I also went on a run this afternoon. It was HOT! I was dripping buckets by the first mile. It was hard. But I ran 3.1 miles.

It wasn’t my best run ever. I had to keep stopping for water breaks. But it will do considering I got up at 6:30 to swim for an hour. And then I babysat for two hours which included biking to the park. And I feel amazing right now.

Getting my race packet got me all excited about the race! I love race packets. They are awesome. In fact, if for no other reason, run a race for the packet! You are bound to get at the least an awesome t-shirt and a bunch of brochures concerning other races. But often there are other things like free samples of various sports items and coupons for athletic stores. And after the race, there is always free food and water or gatorade! And pictures and sometimes medals!! 🙂

I was thinking about what I would write about in this post and I was thinking, “I’ll say that the only reason I run races is for the packet!” Cause that is partially true. The goodie bag is awesome. I always look forward to it. But that’s really not the only reason. I also run it for the satisfaction. I run it for the competition. I run it cause it’s fun to cross a finish line, accomplish something, and have tons of people cheering for you! Even if it’s only three miles which I run practically every TIME I run (except yesterday, that was an exception).

I like races.

They are totally worth the money.

Me and my exercising!!! ;)

So, today was a Wednesday.

Which is usually a running day.

BUT NOT TODAY!

“Why?”, do you ask?

Because today swimming started!

I am doing a summer swim team with my awesome friend Mary! Today was (as I already said…) our first practice and I was super excited all day. Okay, actually I have been excited about swim team starting since I signed up for it like three months ago! See, when I was younger I was on swim team with Abby and I was actually pretty good. Of course that was like three+ years ago but I was good, so I was excited/nervous to see how my swimming skills are/will improve.

I am OUT of shape.

But that’s okay.

I’m super competitive so being on a team is good for me! I refused to let anyone pass me and I actually passed about half of the team so by the end of the 75-minute practice I had established myself as, at the least, a fighter. 😉

We did a bunch of drills for freestyle and it was so hard. By the end of it, I was SO sore. But, it was the good kind of sore.  The “I-just-kicked-butt” kind of sore. 😉 (sorry Mom…) Running is a really good workout but swimming? Swimming is by far the best sport in the world. If you want to get in shape, swim. Okay?

I LOVEEE to swim. I do! And it’s only been the first practice. And I already remember why I loved it. Well, I never really forgot.

Don’t worry. I’m not ditching running!! I was itching to get out there all day, but Mary had warned me that the first day is always a big workout (mostly cause you are out of shape ;P) so I decided to conserve my energy and just chill out at home.

Chill out: to eat food and tan. And go on walks with your little brothers.

That’s what I did. All day. It was fun. I was feeling lazy. Obviously. 😉 I was also coming down off of my high from last night’s party. No. Not a real high. Just an excitement, I-love-people high. 🙂 Just clearing that up. MY POINT IS, I am very glad that I conserved my energy cause I definitely needed all of it!

Have I mentioned that I love to exercise? I feel like I have….

Person: You want to go on  a 20-mile bike ride?

Me: YESSSSSS!!!!!

 

Person: You want to go on a 7-mile run?

Me: I’m game!!

 

Person: You want to go practice with Michael Phelps for five hours?

Me: Duh!!!

 

Person: You want to go work out at the gym?

Me: Can you get me in?

 

Person: You want to play a game of 1-on-1 street ball??

Me: (How can you answer NO to that question!?!? 😉 )

 

Okaaay. You get the picture? Yes? Good?