Timp Half Marathon

OK, so on Saturday I ran the Timp Half Marathon with my aunt. It was so much fun, and I found out I set a personal record! It was only by about 20 seconds, but hey, a PR is a PR. I was also really surprised at how great I felt. I mean, just take a look at our splits: 7:08, 7:52, 7:17, 6:57, 6:52, 6:52, 7:00, 6:54, 7:03, 7:11, 6:53, 7:02, 6:49! I'm also really proud of my aunt Heather she set a PR too but by a lot! If anyone is ever wanting to a half marathon, this is the one. It's all downhill and very enjoyable. Yesterday I did P90X Stretch which really stretched out my muscles and left me feeling great. Then today I ran 12x60 second pickups with a total of 7 miles. I can't believe I wasn't very sore after that half. I haven't done one in a little under a year. I'm getting so excited for college! Countdown: 16 days til the first day of practice.

I love this because everyone can find greatness in their own way. This not only applies to running but in every aspect in life. We can be great at anything we want to.

Sometimes I ask myself why I run... It's because in the end IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT. Monday: 6 miles w/ 5x60 second pick-ups. Tuesday: 6 miles ( hilly run ). Wednesday: 5.25 miles ( Taking it easy ). Thursday: Going to do hills ( 90 seconds each ), not sure how many yet. Friday: Going to take it easy again. Saturday: Timp half marathon! ( Not going to race this b/c I haven't been building up to it, shooting for 7:30 to 8:00 pace ).

Words from Steve Prefontaine

Quite often I'll probably post some pictures and facts about runners who inspire me. Steve Prefontaine is a runner who is probably one of the most famous in the running world. This dude was insane, in the 1970s right before he died in a car accident at the age of 24, he held 7 American records in track events ranging from the 2000 meters to the 10,000 meters. Pretty amazing I'll say. He also said some pretty cool things too, here are some quotes...

"A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more." "Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started."

Summer Training

Well, this summer I feel like I haven't had the chance to up my mileage to where it needs to be. Youth Conference, NY, Girls Camp, etc. don't get me wrong, they were so much fun and I don't regret I went, however I am freaking out because I don't know if I will really be prepared for what college training has to bring. Let me just say, last week I ran 12 miles. TWELVE. That was because of Girls Camp, and the week before I ran 36. My mileage has been like that all summer. Today I went on a run with a future teammate and her old coach. They are in such better shape than me. My college coach, (Coach Houle) has given us workouts to run, where some days we go 60% and other days we go 80%. Today was a 60% day. The girls I ran with (or, ran the warmup with) took off once the warmup was over and ran a 6:35 pace for 5 miles. I was literally about half a mile or more behind them running as fast as I could without killing myself at a 7:20 pace for 4 miles. I am glad I have these girls to push me though. It motivates me to become faster than I ever have before. I came home after that workout though and found that I'm supposed to be doing my 60% days at 7:50 pace! It makes me feel better that I'm supposed to be doing those runs slower, but at the same time stressed that the girls I'm running with are so much faster than me. Anyways, I have just 4 weeks left until I leave for college. Luckily, I don't have very many trips that will interfere with my mileage/training. So my goal for this week is to run 30 miles. Next week 35, then the last two weeks I have left at home 40-42 miles. Hopefully I'm not injured by the time I leave...

Lastly, I may just have to take some great advice from Nacho Libre to motivate me!! "You are tall and fast like a gazelle, YOU CAN DO IT!"