A Winter Track Meet

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Last night, instead of a regular cross country practice, my coach told our team to join in on a local track meet. So we all went to Cathedral Catholic High School for the Winter Distance Festival. I didn’t know what to expect but realized shortly after we arrived that this was going to be fun. No pressure, pretty casual. It was a small turnout with mostly high school runners and I like running against new people.

I entered the 3200m event and ran in the Junior/Senior Girls group. I just got some new spikes and this was my first chance to try them out. They were AWESOME!!! So light. They felt like air. If you’re wondering which ones I have, I have the Brooks Mach 14. I LOVE THEM!!!

Anyway, I’ve never done a 3200m at the track so I decided to just treat it like a cross country race and run my own race. For the first 4 laps, I was in the lead but got overtaken by one girl. I could tell from her pace that if I picked up my own pace, I would not be able to keep it up for the distance so I stayed at my pace and tried to keep the distance between us from getting too far apart. I managed to do this and stayed about 30m behind her until the last 300m where I started to pick up my pace and try to lessen the gap.

Down the final 100m stretch, I managed to come in 2 seconds behind her. I was really proud of myself.

I just learned her name and this is the girl who beat me.

I have 8 days left to go before Nationals. Stay healthy everyone!

 

 

 

My first half marathon

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This weekend I ran my first half marathon to benefit Medals 4 Mettle San Diego. I had a great time. I met some really nice runners. Actually, ALL runners are really nice. 🙂 It’s true!

Anyway, one of the guys I ran with was really funny, talkative, and enthusiastic. His name is Steve and he kept making “WOO WOO” sounds that made me laugh. He led our group through all kinds of hills. Every time we came to a hill he would name it after someone in our group. He named a hill and a bridge after me 🙂

Steve just qualified for the Boston Marathon during his race at the Chicago Marathon last month. He runs 3 marathons a month!

This is Steve and me after our run. See how happy he is?

I was really proud of myself for completing the 13.1 miles. I’ve never run that far in a single run before. And it was fun! The most exciting part was earning a big, cool medal to donate to someone who is fighting for their life. Sometimes these medals go to kids and I am happy to run on their behalf ANY TIME.

 

My 4th Annual Turkey Trot

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I ran at the Oceanside Turkey Trot for the 4th year in a row this year. It was great. I really love our family tradition of waking up really early on Thanksgiving morning and driving to Oceanside’s Pier to race. I started when I was 7 years old, running the mile race. This year, I decided to run in the 5k race AND the mile race.

It was another beautiful day and I hadn’t run a 5k in over a year, so I was excited to see if I could maybe get a new PR. Every year this event has grown and this year there were over 5000 runners in the 5k! I felt okay during this race. My tummy was bothering me for some reason but I just ignored it. I finished in 18:11 which was a new PR for me by over a minute. I wasn’t feeling to well after the race and I needed to sit down. After about 20 minutes and a little bit of food, I started to feel better.

The results were posted and it turned out that I won the 12-unders division- yeah! My mile race was coming up so I went to the starting line. I wasn’t sure how I would do since I already had a 5k in my legs, but I would do my best to run as if I were fresh.

I don’t know what happened but during the race, I FELT AMAZING! I felt so so so strong. I couldn’t believe how good everything felt. I caught up to the rabbits and passed one of them. As I neared the finish, I felt like I could have gone on and on. I didn’t feel tired. It was really really cool. I ended up winning the 12-unders and got a new PR for the mile, too, with a time of 5:23. This is me catching the rabbits 🙂

After my race, I quickly ran back to the starting line to meet my little sister who was also running the mile race. She is 7 years old and her race was going to start in less than 10 minutes. She likes it when I run with her so I wanted to make it back in time. Luckily, I did but I held back to let the kids get off the starting line. Mia was in the front group after about 50 meters when I hopped in next to her. Even though she doesn’t like running as much as I do, she runs really well.

As we neared the finish, I jumped out of the race to let her finish by herself. She took 2nd place with a time of 7:04! I was really proud of her.

What a way to start Thanksgiving! We all went home and Mom cooked a delicious turkey and we had the best apple crumble pie and ice cream for dessert! Yum!!!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

Kicking things up another notch

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*guest post at Team NOW

We’ve just past the Halloween mark and for me, that means it’s time to kick my training up another notch. I am five weeks away from the Junior Olympic National Cross Country Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’ve been having a great season but am ready to start breaking new ground.

I always use Halloween as my marker because it happens to be one of my favorite holidays. I love getting into costume and going out in the neighborhood with my friends. This year I collected a lot of candy and like every year, I have two pieces and then I go on a candy fast until after Nationals. My favorite candy is candy corn and that is a big no-no when it comes to nutrition and fueling my body for peak performance.

Starting this week, I’m increasing my training schedule and will be raising the intensity even more. It’s going to get uncomfortable but it’s what you have to do. Over the next five weeks, I’ll be focusing on getting plenty of sleep, water, nutrition, and quality practices.

What are you all doing to raise your game?

Talk soon,