A Blank Slate.

2011 is coming to a close. It is at this moment where everyone begins to reflect on the choices and decisions they made over the past 364 days, yet people must (or should) remember that one does not start anew because the calendar says so. Although a new year is starting, you can not forget everything that you learned in 2011, shove it into a box, and throw it into the back side of your closet (like some of you did with your unwanted Christmas presents). With that being said, I will take this time to reflect on my 2011 and make some goals of what I want to accomplish in my 2012.

What happened to me in 2011:

-Competed in Intercollegiate Athletics (NCAA)

The largest difference between High school and Collegiate athletes is the desire to train. In high school, kids come to practice whining and complaining about the workouts or complain about being sore from previous workouts. No matter the situation, there is some sort of complaining going on. In college, I have been exposed to people who want to train to make themselves better. They don't complain, they don't screw around in practice (unless the situation calls for it), and most importantly, collegiate athletes have the mentality to train. They want to make themselves better and to enhance their athletic ability. Yes, I know that there are plenty of high school kids who want to accomplish the same thing. The training to compete in collegiate athletics requires more volume and more intensity, which is another crucial aspect I learned while competing this year. Recovery days aren't walks down to Beaver Pond and screwing around; they are 20-30 minute runs with a quality weight-room session followed afterwards and maybe an ice bath to make sure that any muscle soreness is eliminated so that the next workout will proceed without problems. Based solely off of this year, I can't imagine my life with running. It is my heartbeat, my passion, my sport.

Big Boy School

I came into 2011 with the idea that I was going to teach mathematics at the secondary level (high school). While my desire to become an educator has not diminished, my interest in upper-level Calculus courses has. I am not entirely sure when I switched my mind, but I am glad that I did. At this moment in time, I am a declared Science Education major. Specifically, my degree is titled as a Bachelor of Science in General Science Teaching. My degree, permitting the passing of all my WEST-E exams, will certify me to teach science-based courses in middle/high schools with an emphasis in any desired area I want (At the moment I am working on my Chemistry endorsement, but I may pursue an additional endorsement in Biology as well). If this quarter goes to plan, I will be at junior standing by the end of winter quarter, which lets me sign up for classes earlier than my fellow 2010 graduates. This winter quarter has a lot of tough academic challenges I have to face. I am taking Organic AND Inorganic chemistry, (Can you say mind f***???) as well as Intro Geology and Biology courses. Not to mention, I am starting my pre-req's for the Education program as well, taking one class this quarter and testing out of one other. I wonder how differently my life would be if I was still pursuing Math; I can tell you one thing, it would suck!!!

I GOT JOBS!!!

One notable difference between last year and this year was my occupational status. Prior to this summer, I had never held a job. I had always relied on my Mom for money, yet I have never been in a position where I felt financially unstable because she would always put money on my debit card if need be (which also happened this year, me getting a debit card). At the start of the summer, I had applied at Dick's Sporting Goods and after being home from school for a month, I had my first day of work on July 12th (I think... I can't remember the exact date hahaha). Although I was only there for a month and a half, I learned the ropes of selling shoes and how to carry six pairs of shoes in one hand (yeah... that's talent!) When I went to school, I immediately jumped into another job working as a food-prep for our dining hall. My official title was a "Slicer," which made much more sense when I discovered that my sole job, for the three hours I worked every weekday, was to slice the deli meat and cheese that would be used for the wraps and sandwiches. The job itself was not difficult, yet the constant 6:15 alarm five days a week, on top of classes and practice, took its toll very quickly. After just one month of working there, I decided that enough was enough and quit my job. Then one day while I was visiting my friend Jacob at his work, (the Information Center) I saw a poster asking for tutors and five minutes later, I had myself an appointment with the Tutoring Services to receive an application. I have loved tutoring so far and would not trade it for anything! The hours are flexible, the pay is nice, and it is not stressful because it is something that I am passionate for.

There's this girl...

I have never had trouble beginning an essay, or formulating ideas for a paper, but when someone asks me "Describe your girlfriend," it's hard because she is indescribable. I had no idea that I would be with her for this long (currently going on a year and a half). Looking back though, I can't imagine my life without her because she has not only become this girl who I love more than almost anything (The pyramid haha), she has become one of my best friends. She knows me inside and out, can read me like a book and, in my eyes, is perfect. She has helped me with a lot of things over this past year, both academically and emotionally. If I am seen as a runner, she should be seen as my training shoes because not only does she provide me comfort and support, she is always with me no matter where I go.

Realization of Myself

I know that everyone's goal in life is to figure out what their purpose is in life, after all, isn't that why we are here? Looking at this ideal from a biological perspective, we are here to pass on our genes to attractive/suitable females in order to promote offspring. Others would argue that God brought us here to follow in his teachings and to spread the word of God to others. That would be cool.... if there was a God. There, I said it.. I don't believe that there is a God. When I first told my girlfriend this, she was a little shocked, but I knew that should would understand. To me, God seems like a fairy-tale, similar to Santa Claus. While everyone knows there is no such thing as Santa Claus, people tell others (mainly little kids) that Santa exists to promote the joyfulness of the holidays. Being a Science major, I know how the world works. First of all, one cannot give birth without sexual intercourse; so the whole "Virgin Mary" does not make sense to me. Secondly, how can one "person" make a planet? Planets are made from protostar's forming and collecting dust particles and eventually forming protoplanets. Thirdly, how can your spirit travel to Heaven? That, in itself, leads to the other question, where is Heaven? Where is Hell? To me, it seems illogical, but for the 1/3 of the world, the idea of God makes sense.

Suicide
I saved this for last because I think that this topic has greatly affected my life the most this past year. On September 14th, my Mom was driving to my school to bring me the rest of my stuff for my room. When she arrived there, (two hours late) we quickly unloaded all of my things and she then she told me "Something is wrong at home." Those words still haunt me with thoughts of sadness and confusion. My stepdad thought that he wasn't good to us, to our family, and decided to end his life. He wasn't happy with himself and eventually, the burden became to much too handle. I spent the following two and a half weeks at home, trying to figure out the why, but I figured it was meaningless because we can never really know; we can only play the "What if..." game, and no one likes playing that game. I wonder if he thought about how his irrational decision would effect our lives. I can tell you one certain thing, our lives are now changed FOREVER because of it. I wonder what we did (My mom, sister, brother, myself, his daughter, his family, etc) to make him push himself to kill himself. My Mom told me to go to counseling at school because of it, which is where I first thought about the existence of God. She has been going to group counseling as well, which I think has helped her with the loneliness of being in a five-bedroom house by yourself.


"Life is like a box of chocolates; ya never know what you're gonna get"

This quote has been the story of my year. Everyday brings something new and the mystery of each day should be celebrated, not feared.

So now... Here are my goals for the 2012 year!!!

- Get back into shape. I am running a half-marathon in June and I want to be in 1:25 shape.
- Work on my academics. I need to raise my GPA
- Keep the girl ;)
- Prepare for adulthood. Turn 21 in August!
- Love life
- Live life

Fat.

I need to workout.... NOW!!!

I feel so out of shape and I don't want to feel like that anymore.

With our first outdoor meet just four months away, I need to get into shape!!!

I'm Not Going Down.

Even though all these events have been happening, I am not going to let them break me down. I know that I have to be strong, not only for my Mom, but for myself as well. That being said, I am not going down.

Back into the Swing of Things.

This past week has been horrendous. If I were to classify this past week's events as a hurricane, it would be a Category 5. In the Fujita scale (The scale used for measuring the severity of tornadoes), it would be an F5. This past week has just sucked for a variety of reasons, ones that I am not quite ready to blog about for the world to see.

But as Martin Luther King Jr proclaimed "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Eventually we (My family) have to move on from this terrible ordeal and get back into the swing of things. All of us kids have to go back to our normal routines. For my sister and I, that entails going back to college, trying to get back to our schedules (With classes and our extra-curriculars). My brother is still working up in Seattle and has dropped by every so often to see how we are doing. For my mom....well I don't know if she will ever be "back to normal" after this devastating loss, but I can only hope that she recovers from it.

Shattered.

What one sees in themselves when they are looking into a mirror, in their reflections, are a compilation of their actions and decisions. They choose to wear the clothes they are wearing. The accessories they may have, such as hats, watches, rings, etc is also their discretion. But what they can control is the fact that they are still standing, still looking at themselves. When one makes that choice, to not look at themselves anymore, they are essentially shattering the glass; breaking it up into pieces so fine, that it can never be reconstructed. When someone breaks a mirror, they are often too scared of getting into trouble to clean it themselves, so they'll often leave it alone and wait for someone else to find the shattered glass.

One person's carelessness can lead to a few people's discomfort, because they have to clean up the glass, throw it away, get a new mirror, and get it delivered. People don't realize how much effort goes into making a mirror, or all the people that are involved in the manufacturing process. There could be hundreds of people involved, trying to put out the best product they can, but when all is said and done, someone broke the mirror for a reason. Shattered.

Hey Guys!!!

So I know I haven't posted in a while, but some crazy things have been going down! I feel like this year is going to be something special. Over the past two weeks, we (As teammates) have bonded like peanut butter and jelly (Except for Jon; he is just jelly). I don't think that I would trade this set of teammates for anything else. As the band All Time Low says,

"Maybe it's not my weekend, but it's gonna be my year..."

Manergy!!!

Today is the first race of our collegiate season, a local invite that is our "home course." Its only a 6k (Normally collegiate men race 8k/10k). The course is a little slow due to some longer grass, but hey, let's do it guys!!! Manergy!

Steamrollers and Nightcrawlers.

Raise your hands if you have NEVER been camping before??? When that question was echoed throughout our campsite, my hand was the only one to go up. In my defense, I grew up with a mom who would work three to four twelve hour shifts a week and a step-dad who either worked from home or had to drive to Kirkland to go into his office. Needless to say, I was laughed at when my hand rose.

Every year our cross-country team goes on a short camping trip (two to three days). This year we went up to White Pass (Elevation: 4500 feet), which was about an hour and fifteen minute drive from school. Nothing too far. We were scheduled to leave at ten, but with Kevin's impeccable punctualness, we didn't even leave until 11:11 (Maybe that was a sign of good things to come). Turns out it was.

I was told by some of the upperclassman that the previous year was like hell on earth. It was sunny one day, but the following day a deluge engulfed their campsite. They (Everyone who went, as well as all of their belongings) were drenched. Yet they all came back to potentially endure another two nights of hell. When we arrived at our campsite, we quickly unpacked and got everything settled. The girls shared three tents, while the majority of the guys (Eight of us) all fit into one tent. This tent was HUGE! We fit eight guys and still had enough room to steamroll and nightcrawl.

On our second day, we did a hard workout up at the summit of the pass (Where an annual summer high-school XC camp is held). The workout consisted of:

1.5 mile WM
6:00 min Tempo
4 x (3:00 hard, 2:00 easy)
1 mile recovery jog
4 x 400m w/ 200m jog recovery
1.5 mile CD

It was a tough workout. The elevation was definitely played a factor, not to mention the terrain. Speaking of tough terrain, during one of the "3:00 hard" intervals one of our top guys fell going around a corner and sprained his ankle. His ankle swelled up to the size of a tennis ball in a matter of seconds. We helped him along the trails until Kevin met up with us with his bike. He was able to get back to the vans and get some ice bags on his ankle, but for the rest of us, we still had to finish the workout. After the fartlek intervals, we jogged back to the vans to grab some water and meet up with Bryan to start the 400's. They were on a relatively flat area along the lake, which was a lot easier than the rolling trails we traversed during our tempo and fartlek intervals.

After the quarters, we did a nice cooldown by the ski lifts and piled back up into the vans. All of us were exhausted from that workout and just took it easy the rest of the afternoon. We played several games of Spoons (Scott is the Spoons Champion of the World as he won six straight games) and Egyptian Ratscrew (No real winner lol.) That afternoon we had two people (Connie and Jon) swim 300m in glacial run-off water to a random island. Mind you, the water was probably about 40 degrees (Pretty f***ing cold). Everyone else, including Kevin, just watched them, making sure that they made it to the island (And more importantly back to shore) without too many leeches on them (Four people got bitten by leeches while we were swimming in the river/lake).

So much happened at camp, that it would probably take me a good ten full, in-detail paragraphs for me to correctly explain everything that happened at camp. While it is unfortunate that the people reading this won't know everything that happened, the memories that I will take from the camping trip are irreplaceable. Team dinners, team bonding, late-night fire talks, ice baths, raccoons, no showers, steamrollers and nightcrawlers, rolling logs, and jumping off of rocks. Those are only a handful of memories that occurred during those two days. So now when anyone asks if I have been camping, I can now look curiously around and think back to White Pass.

Is That A Banana In Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

After an exhausting night last night (See "The Gorge"), I wasn't really feeling like today was going to be a successful day (workout-wise). None of the guys 100% knew if we were going to have a hard workout today or not. Turns out..... we were.

Today was the day of the 3rd annual Wildcat Stampede Fun Run, a fun run in which the cross-country team hosts and provides assistance to any people willing to run five kilometers around our beautiful campus (hahaha that should have been on the poster). We met up at the Pavilion at 9am, as the race started at 9:30am-ish. We were given a course map and were suppose to select corners, to help guide the runners to make sure that they didn't get lost. The course wasn't that difficult to navigate because it was lined with multi-colored chalk arrows, which helped guide the runners around the "tricky" corners. The winner was the Track/Cross-country coach at the local high school (He ran a 16:45....not bad), beating out one of our alumni runners (He just wanted to crawl back into bed haha). After the race, we did a quick two-mile shakeout run. The run was a prelude for our workout later in the day.

Kevin had told us that the workout was going to be a "moderate-hard" workout. What he actually meant was "Your gonna run hard anyway, but we'll see how you guys are feeling at the moment." The workout he had planned for us was a fartlek-type workout. Swedish for "speed-play," Fartlek workouts utilize a combination of either race-paced (or in our case, tempo paced), intervals, followed by a brief segment of recovery jogging. It's like your standard interval workout, just without the breaks. The workout planned was three sets of 5:00 minutes at Tempo pace, followed by two minutes of easy jogging; nothing brutal, but a good quality effort. I feel like these types of workouts are better than just standard tempo runs because during tempo's, everyone tries to run with each other, yet during these, the paces vary. During the first two intervals, Manu, Scott, and Nate Minor seperated themselves (a little bit), from the main pack, with myself trailing off the pack. By the third interval, everyone was running "their pace." Oh, I didn't mention that we ran our Farltek over the Fun run course, so we could see what the racers were experiencing during their run earlier that morning.

After the Fartlek, we did some hill repeats over at Brick Hill (Our favorite hill during Track season). We did 4 x 200m (Which is to the crest of the hill) with an easy jog recovery back down to the bottom. These weren't "All-out" efforts, just a nice, hard pace to help develop some leg turnover. After four, my legs were feeling pretty tired! The accumulation of the Fartlek, plus the hills, in addition to the prior week's workouts, have been slowly taking their tolls on my body. It's ok though. I feel good now! Just needed to stretch a little bit and get in a nice cooldown. All and all, I had about nine miles on my day.

Later that evening, we all decided that we were going to hangout as a team at one of the older guy's apartments. Not only did we have enough guys to play a small "Three vs. Three" basketball tournament, we also consumed delicious banana-based treats, such as muffins, pies and cakes (We had a lot of leftover bananas from the Fun run and Kevin told us to take them.) The evening was a total success, even without some of the freshman girls (I don't think they like to socialize haha.) We all enjoyed ourselves and, more importantly, enjoyed each other. With the guy's team being comprised mainly of sophomores and juniors, we have just shy of two more years with one another. It's cool that we can all hangout as one big group and just have fun, not only like teammates do, but as normal friends do as well.

The Gorge.

Last night, I was given the opportunity to not only help out our cross-country team by selling alcoholic beverages at The Gorge (To a bunch of middle-aged adults trying to relive their glory days), but also to listen to music for eight hours straight, with the head-lining act being the Dave Matthews Band. Anyone who has been to a concert in the Pacific-Northwest area has most likely been to The Gorge. It is probably the most well-known amphitheater in the Pacific-Northwest (At least in Washington that's for sure.) Not only do they host incredible events, such as Warped Tour, but the backdrop to the stage is literally a cliff (More like the Columbia river, but hey, when your drunk off your a$$, you can't tell which way is up right?) The scenery surrounding the venue is surreal, which makes this place not only stunning on the eyes, but also an amazing venue for music.

Our job, well at least my job, was to help everyone enjoy the concert in the quickest way possible. How do we do that? By giving them beer hahaha. We had seven people (Scott, Matt, Zach, Kailee, Ashlee, and myself serving beers and margaritas from about 1pm to 9pm. We also had soda and water as well, but c'mon, who really gets WATER at a concert? I had been told by Kevin that I wasn't allowed to actually touch any of the alcohol (Because I had not done the training or whatever.) That rule quickly went out the window the moment we had a significant line, which did not take very long. I don't think I have looked at that many ID's, as I did in that eight hour time-gap. One thing that was intriguing was that about 75% of the people we carded, were not from Washington. I saw more Canadian licenses than Washington ones (Heck, I saw more Illinois ones than Oregon ones; I guess people travel REALLY far when they want to see someone perform). We also encounter a few guys from overseas (Two gentlemen from Belgium, one guy from the U.K. and another from Ireland.)

After we were done selling, we got to enjoy the concert for a little bit, while Kevin was stuck making sure that all of our number were semi-correct. We ended up selling over $22,000 dollars worth of merchandise (Holy cow!!!). Being a volunteer group, we received a small portion of the profits (I think it was like 5%), not to mention all of the tips that people generously gave us. By the end of the night, everyone who was working (We had seven people in our booth, and six more working in a Lemonade stand in another area) each received $40 dollars worth of tips. Not to mention it was all in one dollar bills hahaha. Can you say strip club?? jk jk. It was a great experience that I would do again in a heartbeat, although maybe next time, we could stay open a little later, which would mean more tips, and essentially more money.

Time Trial.

Who doesn't love a good race? Ask that question to a bunch of little kids and they'll scream/get excited about the opportunity to race. Ask that same question to me about twelve hours ago and I would have said "Not me." All throughout high school, I never got the true "racer's" mentality. Even now in college, I am still learning how to race properly. I know that every race is different and the only way to learn is through trial and error.

I woke up at 6:55am (too early....) and made my way downstairs to grab some breakfast, eating a bowl of cereal with some orange juice. I don't like to have a lot of food in my stomach before I go racing; I have had bad experiences with cramps during races. After I ate breakfast, I quickly took a shower, got dressed, and relaxed on the couch waiting to leave for the ponds. I asked Matt if we were driving, but he then told me that we were walking. Oh well. As we were walking to the ponds, Ryan passed us in his pick-up and gave us a lift.

We got there a few minutes before 9am (When the girls race was scheduled to start). All of the guys sat around the picnic tables, waiting for the starting gun to go off, simultaneously signaling the start of the women's race and the beginning of the guy's warm-up. We strolled along the course for our warm-up, about two miles, came back and laced up our flats/spikes. By the time we had gotten there, two of the girls were already finished. Shortly after all the girls finished, the men gathered together and headed toward the starting line, decked out in our racing apparel. We (The guy's team) stood behind the starting line, while our teammate Scott (Injured at the moment, but our #2-3 runner) gave us the starting commands and we were quickly off.

In the novel "Once a Runner," Quenton Cassidy states that the first lap in a mile race is "lost in a flash of adrenaline." That's exactly how I felt during the first mile of the race. The first mile went by very quickly, yet I heard my split (Yelled at me by our assistant coach) as "6:08." During the second mile, I was just trying to keep the rhythm I had in the first mile. About a mile and a half in, I saw Peter (A freshman from Eisenhower) 150 meters ahead of me and could tell that he was slowing down. I don't know if he had gone out too hard, but my goal was to catch him, and eventually, pass him. I did just that right at the two-mile mark, which I crossed in 12:34. My third mile was a struggle. I didn't have anyone in front of me (That I could see). It's always tough to run hard by yourself. I guess that's one skill I need to pick up on rather quickly.

About 400m away from the three-mile mark, I saw a guy ahead of me, who I immediately tried to catch up to. By three miles, I was only a step behind him and coasted behind him for about 400m. After that, I decided to pass him because he was starting to slow down. The last mile (for me) was pretty tough. I knew that I just needed to push through the pain and focus on maintaining my form. About 400m from the finish line, I began to hear footsteps coming from behind me. I thought that it was going to be the older guy I passed at three miles, but it was Peter. He flew by me (It looked like he was starting his kick), but I didn't think to go with him. I knew that I feel like I could have out kicked him if needed be, but this was just a time-trial. I just kept pace and only quickened my stride the last 150m. My final time was a 25:54, yet when I looked down at my watch, it told me that the course was actually 4.08 miles, instead of four miles. On paper I averaged 6:28min/mile pace, yet I actually averaged 6:21min/mile pace.

I got second to last out of my teammates. I didn't expect to beat anyone else (Just Wes). My goal is to be able to run sub-six min/mile pace for the duration of an 8k (or a sub 30:00 8k). I know I can do it, I just have to get use to pushing the pace (by myself) and hopefully that can turn into some fast times. Today was another trial of miles, with many more miles of trials left to go this season.

Tempo Troubles.

Day two of cross-country practice separated the men from the boys, and I felt like the junior high kid running 7:30's in the 1600m. The afternoon workout was a 1.5 mile warmup, followed by a three mile tempo run. After the tempo, we were supposed to jog a mile for recovery and then meet up at the track for a hard 1600m on the track. Today's workout showed me the kind of shape that I was in and today I was running blind.

We had to meet up at the Pavilion at 9am for a morning shakeout run (An easy two miles). I got up at around 7:15am, made myself some breakfast (Peanut butter toast) and took a quick shower before we headed up to the Pav. We sat around for a while, waiting for Kevin to show up (Kevin tends to be fashionably late). After our quick run, Matt and I headed back down to his place to grab some lunch and to chill before heading back up to Kiwanis Park for a team lunch. Kevin had made a massive trip to Fred Meyer's, in which he bought deli meats, cheese, fruit, juices, cookies, snacks and other typical lunchtime fare. It was fun interacting with everyone, although there seems to be a trend where the guys always congregate together and the girls do the same. Maybe one day we'll all hang out together haha.

After lunch, Matt and I just went up to Ryan's place to chill before we had to go to practice at 2pm (Meeting about training). We didn't end up running till 3pm, which was fine cause that's our scheduled practice time. We headed out from the Pav, down Brook lane to Brick, up Brick hill and down Radio St to Flenning. We traveled up Flenning a little ways and that was where we would start our Tempo. We waited a little bit for Kevin to get there on his bike, but pretty much as soon as he got there, we were on our way.

This tempo was my first tempo in about a month and a half, so I wasn't too surprised that I found myself in the back of the pack right away. Even Manu didn't pick up his pace until we were about 1/4 mile in. I decided to set my watch to split every 1/4 mile, to help me make sure that I was staying on pace. At the one mile point, I was behind the back of the pack by about ten seconds. My coach gave me my split, "6:09." According to my watch, my first mile was actually a 6:18, but no matter the split, I wasn't feeling too hot. My legs were feeling a little tired, and aerobically I was being "worked," but I had the worst case of cotton mouth that I have ever had. My mouth was completely dry and I still had another two miles to go. At 1.5 miles in, I had to stop for a brief second, try and get any saliva I could muster up, and continued the rest of my run. The last mile of the tempo felt good, more importantly, I felt strong during my last mile. My mile splits were 6:18, 6:21, 6:23 for the tempo. I am pleased with my effort cause I know that I was working hard, yet at the same time it was bittersweet knowing that I was the second to last person to finish the workout.

After the tempo, I quickly grabbed a drink of water and began the one mile recovery jog. At this point, my legs were feeling a little heavy, but felt all right considering my effort. We headed over to the track after Kevin opened the gate and we started our hard mile shortly after. He said that this should be "Everything you had left," but I knew that I wasn't gonna press super hard. I decided that I would try and run 1:25's (which would be 5:40 pace) and thought that would be a good, solid time. As Kevin said "go," immediately I was in the back of the pack. At this point, I didn't really care. I just kept my pace rolled along the track. As I passed the start line for the opening lap, Kevin read off our splits "85". Perfect.. right on pace. Second lap was just about maintaining pace, which I felt that I did. Second lap, "2:51" A tad slower (An 87), but nothing too bad. During the third lap, I just focused on staying relaxed, instead of worrying how far ahead everyone else is. 1200m in... "4:17." That lap was another 87, which felt surprisingly good. As I entered the back stretch, I gradually started to quicken my pace. I noticed that Matt was only a few meters ahead of me, he must have been having an off day. I cross the finish line "5:40." Right where I wanted, and it felt hard, but a good hard.

After a short mile cool-down, I had to go take a massive dump (I know.. maybe not the most appropriate thing to say on a blog, but that's what I had to do). This tempo really opened my eyes to knowing my pace during runs. More importantly, it taught me that all the guys here are already in solid shape. This is only gonna make me work harder to try and improve. With our upcoming time trial on Saturday, only time will tell how everyone is gonna fit in. I was the second to last person to finish both the "tempo" and the "hard mile" on the track today. I hope that Kevin sees something in me that he likes.

Day One.

Today was a day full of firsts for myself. It was my first ever collegiate XC practice, more details coming up, but it was also my first run, more details on that as well, where I averaged sub 6:40 pace for the majority of the run. All and all, it was a first day that I had expected and my expectations were already high.

My mom and I left Puyallup this morning at around 8:30am, made a quick trip to Safeway to fill up, and then departed to Ellensburg. We got here a tad after 10:30 (not a bad trip) and met up with my friend Matt (People on dyestat/tracktalk know his as "runnerman17") because I will be staying at his place for the duration of the camp. After another quick Safeway trip to get some last minute items, my mom gave me a hug goodbye and was on her way home (not without a detour to the Outlet malls in North Bend).

I got myself situated at Matt's house, which didn't take very long cause I don't have too much stuff, and then proceeded to grab my books for the quarter ($420 and still needing to get another book.... SUCH A SCAM!). After that, Matt and I headed up to the Pavilion where we would meet up everyone else.

After that, we then proceeded to sit through three and a half hours worth of meetings. It was mainly the compliance meeting that took the longest. The last thing I had eaten previously was a sandwich at around noon. We didn't even start running till about 4:50pm. Not good haha. But there wasn't anything I could do about it and before I knew it, we were out the door heading off on our first run. Our route was a giant tetrahedron, which resembles the shape of Nevada (5.62 miles in total). The first "side" was a 1.57 mile stretch leaving the Pavilion, traveling on Airport, to Bowers. Our first mile was about an 8:05, which wasn't surprising cause we were basically shuffling towards the beginning of the run. Our next "side" was a 1.50 mile stretch of just straight road. During this section of the run, the wind was in our face the ENTIRE time. But not surprisingly, our packed quickened and we pushed through the wind in a solid pack.

The next side was 0.70 mile stretch of open road, but this time the wind was at our back, and I could tell that we were just floating along. Our pace continued to pick up. It was during this stretch where some people were struggling, myself included. I still stayed up in the pack (Eleven people in the pack), but was beginning to feel like I was working a little too hard for an "aerobic" effort. Our last "stretch" was a 1.85 mile section that consisted of a 1.25 mile section of gravel and the rest on the road. It was during this part of the run where I was beginning to fade from the top group. I tried to hang on as long as I could, but my quads didn't wanna push forward anymore. At this point, we were probably running 6:20's and I couldn't keep up anymore. I slowly dropped back and at the end of the John Wanye trail, I had to stop for a brief moment and shake my legs out.

At the point where I was fading, two guys came up and passed me. I hate it when I get passed by other guys during "easy" runs cause it makes me feel like I haven't put in the right work. By the end of the run, one of those guys faded really badly and I finished about fifteen seconds behind him, probably finishing a minute behind the guys in the top pack. This run really made me realize that this is the real deal. All of these guys have better pr's than myself, and it's time to buckle down and ready for a great year.

Tomorrow's workout: A short tempo with a 1600m hard on the track afterwards. I have done very minimal speed work throughout the summer, so we'll see how I can hold up on this tempo. I am not gonna go crazy pace wise like some guys might do (5:30's). I think i'll start out more conservatively and gradually pick it up. We'll see how this goes today.

Kicking It.

By this time tomorrow, I will be (hypothetically) all packed up and ready to head back to school the following morning (Wednesday). I finished my last day of work today, worked from 8am to 4pm, and it went surprisingly quickly. I spent the first fifteen minutes of my shift waiting for a manager to open the front door because it was locked (and I couldn't figure out how to use the phone as an intercom hahaha). After I was let into the building, I was able to get to work knowing that I would have to deal with hundreds of shoe boxes (We got in a massive truck this morning).
For the month and a half I worked at Dick's, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now i'll be able to put another thing on my resume, Running Specialist haha.

Just a few moments ago, I got back from a short run. Just five miles, but I decided to mix things up a little bit. I was going to just make it a normal run, but I thought, "What the hell.. let's run fast today?" My first mile (7:04) felt super smooth, but my ankle was bothering me a little bit, like my shoes were a little too loose. I am due for a new pair of trainers anyway, so I think I'll head to Dick's one last time to grab some new trainers.

I picked it up my second mile (6:47) and then after I heard that split, I turned on the jets (so to speak). I started running hard for the next 1k, and ended up running a 3:35 (5:48 mile pace). I then settled back into my easy pace for the duration of the run. It was nice knowing that I did still have some speed, although I am wondering if i'll be able to hold that pace for our time trial. Because 1k is a little different than 6.4 kilometers.

Just a day, just an ordinary day.

Some of you may recognize that the title of this post is a lyric from a song. Any guesses??? Tick tick tick tick tick tick.......eeeerrrrrrrr. Times up. Vanessa Carlton DUH!!!

As my last few, summer days in Puyallup come to a close, I have been reflecting on what my plans are next time around (next summer I mean). My goal (hopefully) is to actually stay in Ellensburg for the majority of the summer, maybe take a class or two. I feel ready to start my new life; my more independent life.

The Deal.

On Tuesday evening I went on a run with my friend Kyle, whom I met at school. He lived in my dorm and we met through a series of mutual friends. Now when I first met him, he had told me he ran XC and Track in high school. Turns out, he was "JV" status, running times like 5:40 for the 1600m, 22 minute 5k times, etc. Over my years of running, I know that anyone can become a great runner as long as they have the dedication and drive to do so. Kyle has that drive. Once he finds "his groove," he sticks to it and can crank out the miles.

On our way to running venue, (Ruston Way along the Tacoma waterfront) we began talking about our lifetime goals for running. He had already ran two marathons and three half's, so just another marathon wasn't gonna cut if for him. Although one of his goals did stand out to me. During high school, breaking five minutes for the mile was a goal that haunted me for years. My sophomore year I ran 5:20, junior year I ran 5:06. I didn't run a competitive 1600m during my senior year of Track, but I did run a TT (Time-trial) a few days after I ran my PR for the 800m (2:06). I ended up shattering that barrier, running a 4:42. I knew that I was in good shape; I just lacked a strong mentality when it comes to pain tolerance. I knew right when he said that, that I would help him try and make his goal a reality.

Kyle also said that he wanted to do an Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run). Completing an Ironman has been a goal of mine since I started swimming last year. Maybe when I turn 25, I'll complete an Ironman (Five years to go). The swimming portion would be the hardest for me, not sure why, but swimming for long periods of time is kind of boring to me. I can go hammer out a 25-30 mile bike ride like it's nothing, but swimming for more than 10 minutes at a time seems like torture.

We ended up getting on the subject of ultra-marathons (Any race distance that is more than the standard 26.2 miles). Then the question was uttered.... "50 miler???" Fifty miles is a LONG distance. That's the distance from Seattle WA to Olympia WA. To be running that far in one sitting seems daunting to most; even 26.2 miles seems daunting to the average American. After Kyle said "50 miles," he immediately put out his hand and we made a deal.

Here is The Deal:
1. During the Summer of 2013 (Before our Senior Year of College), we will compete in a 50 mile race preferably on trails.
2. Prior to that race, during the Summer of 2012 (next summer), we will compete in a 50 kilometer race, (31.2 miles) preferably on trails.

We are hoping to find some races during the summer, rather than during the school year, so that it does not interfere with my racing schedule for XC/Track, and his work schedule. So far the White River 50-miler, which is held at the end of July, is looking to be our race. Not only is it a local race (half-hour from my house; 45 minutes from his), but it fits right into our time schedule. If all goes according to plan, this should be an awesome adventure for the both of us.

Runners.

Runners are a weird bunch of individuals. I always knew that I was "stranger" than most, due to the fact that I enjoy running. After I got off from work, around 10pm, I told my co-workers that I still had to go running that evening. They asked "How far" and I calmly said "Ten". Their response... "MILES!?!?!?!" "No feet...." I am thinking to myself; of course miles. Retards haha.

What kind of person enjoys putting themselves through weekly battles of Mind vs. Matter competitions? Who actually enjoys punishing their bodies so much that they can barely walk the next day? Who would rather be at the brink of collapsing and breathlessness at the end of a race, than to be able to walk off the track? Runners. We are peculiar individuals who, for some reason, like to torture ourselves. Maybe we have all become brainwashed by Kanye/Goethe/Nietzsche; "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger."

I recently started putting a picture at the top of each one of my posts, to help bring some more variety to my posts, rather than for my blog to be just words on a page. The picture posted above is one of Dathan Ritzenhein during the 2009 World Championship 10k Final. He ended up taking sixth in the race, the first non-African finisher in the race. During high school, I thought that he was a god. 2x Footlocker Champion, 8:44 2-mile PR in high school, which I believe is #11 All-Time behind (Verzbicas (8:29), Fernandez (8:34), Nelson (8:36), Lindgren (8:40indoor), Virgin (8:40.9), Prefontaine (8:42.5) Cheserek (8:42), Scharsu (8:44) and Reynolds (8:44). When he broke the AR in the 5000m in 2009, I was so happy for him. He battled a lot of injuries during his college career, but he persevered and made his way sub 13min. I think that he should focus on the 10k at the upcoming Olympics. He has made two World Championship teams in the 10k ('07 & '09) and I think that the strength he has gained from his marathon training will help he become successful in the 10k, more so the marathon. That's just my opinion.

First Day.

Four years ago today, I was sitting in the middle of the Emerald Ridge High School's upper gym listening to Mirk, Kevin, Brianna, Livia, Courtney, and Roberto read off the Captain's Log. It was the first day of Cross-Country practice. The coach, Gary Osborne, was standing along side them periodically making jokes and busting out into rhymes whenever given the opportunity. It was a surreal experience cause I hadn't been on a team since seventh grade track, (which didn't go well). It was a point in time where I felt nervous, yet excited. Unprepared, but ready to get started.

Two years ago today, I wasn't sitting in the middle of the gym floor; I was standing. I was reading off the Captain's Log to the underclassmen, while they were giving me their semi-attention. I was now the person that all the sophomores would look up to (or they would talk s*** about how much faster they were than me and how they would beat me). No matter what they thought, I was in charge and ready for that season to start.

Now I am just the "weird" alumni that occasionally comes back to practices. I don't think that I am weird. I would have loved to see more alumni come back and run with us. People like Rick (School record holder in the 1600m and DII All-American in Track) or E-man (School record holder in the 400m and 800m and 3x DIII National Champion in the 800m). I have so much knowledge that I can pass on them, information that will help them become more successful. But if they don't wanna hear it, then it's their loss.

Ten Days.

Ten days from now I'll be driving back to Ellensburg, back to school, back to the team, and mose importantly, back to freedom. I am not saying that I don't have freedom here. I can do (Mostly) whatever I want, as long as I ask my parents first (Cause after all, I live in their house). But I miss the nights where I have played cards till three in the morning, watched Tangled a bajillion-and-a-half times, and made those late night trips to McDonalds after a trek up Manastash. It's those adventures that make me love college more than I already do. Don't get me wrong, classes are fun (Most of them haha), but the majority of one's fun happens outside of the classroom. As for me, my fun will be tucked in somewhere between classes, work, and practice. I know that this year things are going to be WAY better than last because now I know who my friends are (And who likes to pretend).

Can't wait till the real fun begins in less than ten days.

Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials

Throughout the summer, I have done a form of cardiovascular activity, (whether it is running or biking) almost everyday. While I may not have been running consistently, I have been putting in the effort when it counts. Now that XC camp is only two weeks away, I felt like I am reaping the benefits of this accumulated aerobic exercise. While my mileage hasn't been at its best, I put in 40 miles last week, which isn't a lot (I know). But the funny thing is that I felt fine. I haven't taken a day off from running in nine days, (normally I take one day off per week) but because I did a recovery run on Tuesday and another easy run last night, I feel fresh and ready to get back into my normal pace.

During the winter in my junior year of high school, I ran practically everyday with a few of the senior guys, trying to get prepped for the upcoming Track season. I ran everyday. I put in the miles, (My highest week was 59) and I hoped that I would see the benefits of the three months of hard work I had put in. When Track rolled around, I thought that I was in the best shape I had ever been in, which was true. I was able to do the workouts that my coach asked me to do and I would do them at the paces I was suppose to hit, sometimes even faster. But when races came around, I found myself confused. I wasn't running what my coaches thought I was capable of, nor what I thought I was capable of. While I did PR in my events, I wasn't satisfied because I never got to where I wanted to be.

My easy pace, during that winter season, was around 7:20min/mile. I know, it's not that fast compared to others, but to me, it was easy enough to where I could run 6-8 miles, but not too fast as to where I would be gasping for breath afterwards. As winter came to a close, my paces gradually sped up (Naturally). By the end of the winter I was averaging close to 7:00min/mile or a tad faster. As of Aug 18th 2011, 7:00min/mile is my easy pace. Earlier in the summer I was running like 7:20's and 7:10's... but now I can comfortably go out on run, and hold 6:50's, sometimes even 6:40's. On two consecutive runs, I closed both of them in 6:30 and 6:36 respectively. Not to mention, my max HR for both of those times was in the mid 160's, while before I would easy eclipse 170.

I am in the best shape of my life right now. I still have two weeks before our XC camp time trial and I hope that my best is good enough.

Glistening Sweat.

So funny story..... I decided to join my gf at the gym for a workout and told myself that I would run on the treadmill. Ugh.... Because I got there five minutes late, the treadmill next to her was being used, so I had to use the one next to that, (didn't bother me, we still could talk during our workouts). After about twenty minutes, the women in between us got off and a blonde haired woman with a large chest, gets on and starts her workout. At this point, I am just trying to stay focused on the treadmill, but my gf starts to notice that the blonde next to me is HARDCORE checking me out. I am wearing running shorts (longer ones, just above the knee) and a racing singlet. I have sweat glistening on my body, while I am cruising along at 7:30 pace, and she is constantly glaring at me for the next twenty minutes. She was doing "up-downs," she was making "noises," and she even stuck out her chest to try and get my attention. After I finished five miles on the treadmill, I got off, wiped down my machine and went over to the open treadmill next to my gf to run a cool-down mile. The woman then let out a sigh of disappointment. hahaha.

Long Story Short: A Cougar wanted my bod, hardcore.

Run Forrest Run.

That's the line that every runner loves to hear while they are running down the street. It often comes from immature teens who think that seeing guys in shorts, shorter than most girl's skirts, is amusing. I think that it's funny that they comment on our attire, knowing that if they went outside without their shirts off, let alone ran, that their beer guts would quickly catch up with them.

I met up with my friend Carly at the gym for a kick boxing class. She told me that it would be a lot of fun, so I joined her for an hour of kick boxing wonderfulness. Turns out, the class WAS a lot of fun. After the class, I quickly changed into my running shorts, strapped on my HR monitor and my GARMIN, and headed out on a run. The game plan? Six miles easy.

As I ventured down Meridian, I intentionally kept my stride length a little shorter than normal, trying to make sure that I wasn't going out too fast. After a little while, I hear my watch beep. Lap 1: 6:59. I kind of chuckled inside. Really??? That felt WAY too easy. Whatever the case, I just kept running down 144th until I hit Nathan Chapman Park. As I was running through the parking lot, to enter the trail, I hear my watch beep yet again. Lap 2: 7:01. Those were the two easiest miles I have run all summer and I feel great. I went through the park, gliding along the smooth, pavement path. As I exit the trail and travel past the soccer fields, my watch beeps again. Lap 3: 7:10. Not bad, I slowed down a little bit, but I didn't mind. I still felt good and comfortable. Heading back up toward Meridian, there was a small gravel incline that I had to climb over. Nothing horrible, but just enough of an incline to where you have to alter your stride and focus on running up it. After cresting the top, I made a right onto Meridian and heard a beep shortly afterwards. Lap 4: 7:00. Right on pace.

Running down Meridian is always a fun experience because it's always something different. One night you may have cars honking and people screaming at you to "Go eat a cheeseburger." Other times you may not hear a single cry of attention, but they still watch you like a lion gazing upon an antelope. For the most part, Meridian is flat. If anything, there are very gradual inclines and declines, but nothing to where your pace will change dramatically. After I pass 144th, my watch beeps again. Lap 5: 6:47. During this mile, there was a gradual decline, but it still felt incredibly smooth. At that point I knew that I had a mile left to go before I made it back to my car.

The last half mile of the run I picked it up a tad. During the summer, I have always pushed the last kilometer of half mile of a run, to help give me some mental strength in the latter stages of a race (I currently don't have any haha). After a short while later, my watch beeps for it's last time. Lap 6: 6:36. Not too shabby. My max HR was only 166.

The run felt so nice and so smooth. Knowing that I can run 6:30 last mile on an easy training run is a confidence booster for me because my tempo pace is suppose to be 6:00min/mile. I feel like I will make some big leaps this year when it comes to my running. I have some goals in mind that are long overdue, such as breaking two minutes in the 800m and running a sub 4:40 1600m. I know how to train and I know how to train intelligently. That combination should bring me success.

Eight Hours.

I completed my first eight hour work shift today, well seven and a half because of the mandatory 30 min lunch, and it wasn't......horrible. I mean I know that's what i'll be doing when I become a teacher/coach, so I better get used to it. Actually, I'll probably be going from six till five, (when I become a teacher) which is eleven hours. Not good!!! haha.

Anyways, I woke up at six, (ugh...) so that I could sneak in a short, shakeout run. My game plan was three miles easy; nothing too hard, but just long enough to where my legs would wake up. I planned on running 7:30min/mile pace, the same pace I ran on thursday morning. As I shuffled out of my driveway and headed down the road, I could feel yesterday's evening run in my legs, (Five miles avg. 6:50 pace, with the last mile in 6:30). Nonetheless, I shuffled down the road and out of my development.

I looked at my GARMIN as I turned out of my neighborhood, 4:35. Turning onto Sunrise BLVD, I headed down towards Meridian with the smell of fast-food breakfast sandwiches attacking my taste buds. About 150 meters onto Sunrise BLVD, my watch beeps. Lap 1: 7:20. First mile was a little fast, but it felt super smooth and I knew that naturally, my pace would quicken as I woke up. As I rounded the corner onto Meridian, I checked my watch, 1.40 miles. Only another tenth of a mile and then I would trek back home.

When my watch read 1.50 miles, I shuffled to a stop, quickly turned around, and headed back home. At this point during the run, I was comparing this shakeout to Thursday's. While I went a 1/2 mile farther on thursday, I felt A LOT smoother on this crisp morning. I hear my watch beep again a few minutes later. Lap 2: 6:56. Now that was a little too fast, but for some reason I didn't mind. I still felt comfortable and my heart was hovering around 160bpm, so I just kept it the same pace (or so I thought). As I head up the small hills on 110th and back to my neighborhood, I still feel pretty good. I have a tendency to pick up my pace during the last kilometer of my run, but I tried (honestly), to maintain the 7:00min/mile pace. A few strides before my garage door, my watch beats yet again. Lap 3: 6:46. Well that may have been a little too fast for a shakeout, but whatever. I averaged 7:01 pace for the run as a whole, which is 24 second faster than my pace on Thursday.

In my mind, the shakeout run was a success. I got in a nice easy run and my avg. HR was 155, the lowest it has been all summer (assuming). I can tell I am getting more fit, but with only two and a half weeks left, whose to know how my teammates have been preparing...

GARMIN.

For my birthday my dad got me a GARMIN Forerunner 305. I did a quick run earlier this evening, (4.37 miles) and it was awesome. I loved the fact that I could keep track of my pace, making sure that I was staying on my pace, (7:00 or faster). Also, I enjoyed having the heart rate strap, which provides feedback on what "shape" I am in. Overall, I really enjoyed my GARMIN and I can't wait to use it more in the future.

You can set the GARMIN to "auto-lap" after a certain distance is covered, whether it be as short as 0.25 mile or as long as 5.00 miles. I set mine to 0.50 miles because I get easily bored during runs without my iPod and if I ever fall off of pace, I know that I can quickly pick up my pace.

On this run I averaged 6:54 pace, which is exactly what I wanna hit. Anywhere from 6:50-7:00 min/mile pace is what my coach told me to run on "normal" runs. It may have taken 7 weeks, but I am finally comfortable running that pace for most runs. I hope that it is a good sign of things to come. Only 20 days till XC camp starts!!!

Twenty.

Tomorrow is my birthday... Yay for me. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that I am no longer considered a "teenager" because I feel that teenagers get this negative connotation thrown at them. When someone thinks of "teenagers," they think of rebellious, hormone-crazed, kids. I don't want to be considered a "kid" anymore. Treat me like an adult, and I'll treat you the same. It's not hard, just don't be a d*** and we can be friends.

Thirty Minutes.

A lot can happen in the course of thirty minutes. One can create a new life, while one could just as easily destroy another. One can win millions in a casino, and then get mugged the second he heads out onto the streets. Humans, as a species, take time for granted. "Oh if I had more time, I could do this or I could do that." You have all the time in the world. Make something of it.

Eight to Five.

I knew going in that today was going to be a long work day, my longest to date, but I was happily surprised that it went by very quickly. That's 75 bucks in the bank for me. Hopefully many more days like that to come!

Eggs.

I don't think I have woken up at 6:50am during summer vacation ever. Sadly, I know i'll have to do it twice this week. But today, I road tripped up to Seattle to attempt an Omelette Challenge. Located on the western side of Seattle, Beth's Cafe is home to the dozen (yes...twelve) egg omelette. I have eaten an four egg omelette at home, which was quite easy, but I greatly underestimated the impact that eight additional eggs would have on my stomach. My journey to tackle this behemoth began bright and early on this sunny August morning.

I knew that Seattle traffic would be very annoying (and by annoying, I mean it would be present and not willing to cease to anyone). I woke up 6:50am...so early haha. I wanted to try, try being the key word, and beat the traffic into the city. I also had other plans in the afternoon, which consisted of meeting up with my mom and sister back at home, after my breakfast was over, (we went to a local casino for some BINGO which started at noon). After I got myself up, I quickly showered, made sure I had my directions, and headed out the door to meet up with Amanda.

I decided that our meeting place was to be Amanda's house because her and Travis live very close, (just a street behind one another). Since I was going to be driving, I thought I would make it easier on them. I arrived at Amanda's house at 7:25am, with our schedule departing time decided on 7:30am. Now Travis was being a little baby because I had changed the meeting time, and the time that we would meet up at Beth's. I don't really know what his problem is. I told him that if he didn't want to wake up early, then don't come. He didn't show so me and Amanda left her house right at 7:30am.

Traffic was pretty bad, which was to be expected, but I didn't mind. Amanda, on the other hand, doesn't like traffic. Maybe this is why I am the driver in this relationship. Anyways, it took us an hour and forty minutes to get to the cafe, which I feel is reasonable considering it was rush hour. We had to wait fifteen minutes for Ariel to show up, (she drove up with her parents because she was gonna visit her brother afterwards). We spent ten minutes looking over the menu and briefly catching up with one another before our food arrived.

My omelette was the first thing that came and let me tell you... we all were shocked at the size of it. I had seen it on television and it looked HUGE there, in person, it was twice as big haha. I ordered my omelette with cheddar cheese and sausage. Typically in omelette's they cut up links of sausage and place those in there. No. They literally took a bratwurst, sliced it up, and put it in my omelette. I wasn't expecting it, but damn did it taste good! I didn't end up finishing my omelette, but it was so much fun, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Pictures:

My friends Neil (right) and Kyle (left). I'll be living with both of them and their other roommate, Sky, for the first two weeks of school.



The Menu. Looks pretty original right??


The Omelette itself. It looked a lot bigger than on television. Underneath all those eggs, lay a bed of hashbrowns. Massive, yet delicious.


After our breakfast, we took a short walk by a local lake which was right across the street from the restaurant. This is Ariel (right) and Amanda (left) enjoying their saunter down the street.


Amanda and I down by the lake. The lighting decided to suck at that moment cause when I took pictures of Amanda and Ariel, they came out fine. Oh well, I still think we look good ;)

Lucky 13.

Whenever I go out for a run I typically have a plan, whether it's going 30 minutes or 90. Today my plan was to keep things short and sweet; 30 minutes easy. As I got on my way, I instantly noticed that I had a little more "pep" in my step. Now this next part may seem silly, but it was only up until this year, while I was training with the college team, did I realize that speed is relative to how much force you apply to the ground during contact. I know... I have been running for how many years and the concept of that only clicked a few months ago. The weird thing is that I have never really noticed it. Whenever I would run fast 400's or any fast intervals, I just quickened my stride and pumped my arms. I think it worked pretty well considering I have a 52 second 400 PR.

I quickly check my watch as I am leaving my neighborhood, 4:30. Now I know that at 7:00min/mile pace, it takes 4:20 to run one kilometer. Being ten seconds slower than that meant that I was running somewhere between 7:15 and 7:20min/mile. I didn't really care; I just trotted along down 110th and made my way toward Sunrise BLVD.

Sunrise BLVD consists of a long gradual hill, (About one kilometer from the base before it levels out at the top) that head up to the neighborhood of Sunrise. The road heading to my high school is at the top of the hill as well. I push the pace up the hill, trying to lower my average due to my slow, first mile. Recently I have been trying to make my average pace quicker than 7:00min/mile because on the training schedule my coach gave me at the beginning of the summer, he has all our easy runs done at 7:00min/mile pace. To me it's more of a mental thing, knowing that I can run faster than 7:00min/mile pace for the duration of a run.

As I crest the top of the hill my watch reads 12:30. I decided to head past the stoplight because I know that I am not quite at two miles yet. After I pass a small neighborhood of condo's, I check my watch again. 13:58...13:59...14:00. I stop my watch, turn around, restart it, and head back down Sunrise BLVD. The downhill was a little tricky for me because I haven't done a lot of fast downhill running this summer. A little painful on my shins, but I managed.

I head back up 110th and turn back into my neighborhood, glancing at my watch in the process, 22:30. I am pretty sure that I could close in four minutes for my last kilometer, which would not only put me at 26:30 for my run, but would mean that I closed in 6:25pace/mile. As I am running through my neighborhood, I try and keep my shoulders relaxed and turnover smooth. During the course of this year, I have learned how to run "comfortably hard," especially during my tempo runs and I feel like during the last mile or so of my runs, I have been able to utilize it to learn how to close quickly.

At the start of my run, there were several kids playing in the street, riding their scooters and bikes around the cul-de-sac, yet as I turned onto my road at the end of my run, none of them were to be in sight. With my house in sight, I am just thinking about closing this run smooth and relaxed. Stepping onto the curb I click my watch, 26:30. If I had gone four miles, that would have been rather fast, so I thought that I was probably shy of four miles. It turns out that I went 3.8 miles in 26:30, (6:57min/mile average with my last kilometer at 6:22min/mile pace). The run went really well; the weather was nice and I was able to close like I wanted to, but my shins were a little tight when I got home. I guess the downhill was a little rougher than I thought. All and all, I got another solid run under my belt.

31 days till I head back to school for XC camp. Oh and also lucky 13 for me and my girlfriend (13 months).

Baseball.

I just got back from a baseball game (Seattle Mariners) and it was so much fun. There were plenty of laughs thrown around, along with a few surprise visits from old friends. Here is a little recap of my awesome evening.

My girlfriend picked me up from my house at around 5:20pm and we headed down to another guy's house (Scott), where we would meet up with him and Travis (who would end up driving all of us to the game). It is 5:35pm by the time we leave Scott's house and head on our way to the game. We had the windows open trying to bring in some of the fresh air, but after a few minutes, all of the windows simultaneously climbed upward. Turns out it was Travis locking all of us in. We all know that Travis likes his car to be "warm," but I thought that he would be a little more considerate towards the rest of us. Guess not. Travis also likes to have his music up, which is understandable when your speeding down the freeway by yourself. Not when you have other people in the car who are trying to talk to each other. Again, consideration issues.

We arrive at the stadium at around 6:50pm and park a few blocks away from the stadium. Fifteen bucks for parking?!?! Talk about a rip-off. After waiting five minutes to enter the park, we quickly settled into our seats and waited for the game to start. I saw one of my friends from high school (Thacker) and we exchanged greetings. Turns out, he was sitting next to us! I thought that was pretty cool. Another one of our friends was gonna meet up with us at the end of the first inning (he works at the venue) and sit with us for the remainder of the game.

Throughout the game we dined on the traditional baseball game fare: $6 hot dogs, $6 French Fries (A pound of fries, which was totally worth it), and $6.50 ice cream (Can't go wrong with Dippin' Dots). The game itself was a little boring because our team was getting their butts handed to them. Prior to Wednesday, they had a 16-game losing streak. They ended up losing 8-0. They are used to losing, so I am sure they can handle it.

On our walk back to the car, we pass a club. It must have been an 18-year old and over club because some of those girls did not look 21. Considering that some of them were wearing just a bra and a thong, they must be under 21 because they can't seem to find guys the normal way (like normal dating). They have to dress up like sluts and prance around a steamy nightclub. Just wait till they talk about high school; he'll soon realize that she is still in high school. Maybe at that time he'll think that's not his smartest choice, unless he is desperate and wants to fondle some A's.

Overall the night was a lot of fun. I got to spend quality time with my girlfriend and hang out with some of the bro's. I hope to have some more of those before I head back to school, which by the way, is only 1 month away.

Best I've Ever Had.

It was a typical night here in the Pacific Northwest; the sun was down, yet the heat still radiated the crisp air. There were some clouds out, but one could still see stars trying to shine through the night sky. As I walked outside to my car, I quickly realized that I didn't wanna run on the treadmill. After all, it's boring, plain, simple... did I mention boring? I turned back around, took off my shirt and sweat pants, turned on my sister's Ipod, and casually made my way to the end of my driveway. I didn't know it then, but in fifty short minutes, I would have one of the best runs I have ever done in my life.

I have recently been running for time (minutes) rather than distance; not exactly sure why I made the switch, but so far it's been paying its dividends. I made the decision to run for fifty minutes, knowing that I would run around seven miles if I kepy a good, solid pace. I start the run by heading out of my neighborhood (It's 1km from the entrance of my neighborhood to my house), and heading down 110th. I hit the first mile right at 7:15, feeling smooth and comfortable. As I make my way to the end of the street, I know that it is 1.78 from my house. I quickly glance at my watch, 12:39, still feeling good.

I turn onto our main road at 16:04, at which point I am not sure how many miles I have gone, but I was confident that it was more than two miles. I ran down the main road until I came up to a hill on my right side. I have ran up the hill before, a hill which nearly killed me back when I was a sophomore (and out of shape), but today I was confident that it wouldn't be a problem. I cruised up the hill and tried to maintain a quick cadence going up the hill. I quickly glanced my watch at the top, 21:54. I would find out after my run that at that point, I passed five kilometers. It's amazing that during my sophomore year of high school, my 5k pr was only a minute faster than that. I find it amazing how much I have progressed since then.

Coming up shortly on my left was a small neighborhood, which I knew had a few rolling hills hidden inside of it. I breezed through the neighborhood and end up taking a quick pit stop to use the bathroom; my watch reads 29:08. I head back through the neighborhood and down a backroad. On this road, there were no lights. I could not see the road, and only two cars drove while I was on the road. It was a little difficult to navigate, but as long as I ran in the middle of the road, I was sure to be fine.

I got back to the end of 110th, 1.78 miles away from my house and my watch reads 39:00. At that time I was thinking, "Okay, a ten minute 1.78 mile run would be like 5:40 pace. Maybe I'll try to get back in twelve minutes and try to maintain my seven minute pace." I ventured down the 1.15 mile stretch of road and with a mile to go I glanced at my watch, 44:07. If I push the last mile, I can try to finish under 51 minutes, meaning that my last mile would be a 6:53. Turning into my development, I know that I only have one kilometer left to go and I try to quickly glance at my watch, but I couldn't see anything because the sweat dripping down my face got in my eye. I ignored it and just continued to push the pace.

As I ran through the newer developments of my neighborhood, I started to feel lactic acid accumulate, which made me realize that I was going faster than 6:53 pace. As I rounded the corner onto my street, I just focused on my form and staying relaxed while powering home (no pun intended). I stopped my watch the moment I stepped over the curb, 50:29. I look again to make sure that I read my watch correctly. 50:29. That meant that my last mile was 6:22, only 22 seconds shy of my schedule "tempo" pace. My legs felt surprisingly great when I walked into my house and headed straight to my computer to map out the run I had just traversed. Turns out I went 7.5 miles in 50:29, which is 6:48 pace/mile. My last mile may have dropped my average pace, but I still would have been under 7:00min/pace for the duration of the run.

At the beginning of the summer, I was struggling to maintain 7:20min/pace, and yet eight weeks later, I ran 30 seconds per mile faster AND ran a farther distance. I can tell that I have already improved so much since I have started my training and I can't wait to train harder during August. It's funny because I was talking with an old high school teammate, and I specifically told him that August is the month (during XC training) that separates the "Men" from the "Boys". The "Men" will continue to put in the miles and strive for excellence, while the "Boys" will watch the "Men" run and ponder how the "Men" got so fast. So now I'll conclude this blog with a quote from Bob Knight, one of the most successful NCAA Basketball coaches in history because I believe that it sums up how my mentality will be until I head back to school.

"The will to win is important, but what's more important is the will to prepare" - Bob Knight

Sometimes I Wonder.

Today I went to my old high school's cross country practice and the practice made me realize how much they have changed. While the team dynamic is still there, it's weird to think that after this year, everyone will be "new" to me. And by "new" I mean that I didn't personally run with them during high school. While that's just a natural part of growing up, I just thought that it was interesting because now I can start a legacy of being an "alumni with lots of wisdom" haha.

So the original workout that the coach told me at the beginning of practice was five to six one-mile repeats. Without even thinking about it, I knew that he was going to cut the workout down because there was no way that they would have been able to complete five repeats. Anyways, after they did some dynamics and stretched for a little bit, we gradually made our way over to the starting line.

As we began the repeats, three guys on the team (Taigen, Alec, and Marcus) bolted ahead of the rest us. Fortunately for them, the repeats measured out to .90 miles instead of a full mile, one less tenth of a mile they would have to suffer. I finished the first repeat about 15 seconds behind Taigen, the top runner from last year (17:13 5k PR) and at the same time as Alec. Now I know that typically during repeats people tend to run the first reps too fast and today was no exception. After the first interval, neither Marcus nor Alec would be within 20 seconds of me for the remaining intervals. I didn't know, coming into this practice, that I was going to be running repeats that day, so when I ran the first one at 5:47/mile, I felt pretty good, considering my tempo pace is 6:00/mile.

My coach has never been a stickler for active recovery between repeats; he also allows too much recovery between reps and once again, today was no exception. I got about four to five minutes of recovery for each interval, which means that Taigen, (who ended up running ahead of me the entire workout) had even more. My second interval was ran a 5:43/mile pace, which felt hard, but a solid effort. My third effort started off easier because I was trying to help Marcus maintain pace throughout the workout. I stayed with him for the first 800-900 meters, but then I just slowly started to pull away.

Overall, I think that the workout went very well. I was able to average 5:52/mile pace for the three repeats, (wouldn't have minded doing a fourth repeat). Tomorrow I plan on doing an easy/longer run (50-55 minutes), which is between 7-8 miles. Then on Thursday I will be joining them again in some 1/4 mile tough hill repeats. Shooting for four repeats total, which along with a 2 mile WM + 2 mile CD, a six-mile day. I have just over a month till I start XC camp. Time to get serious...

UPDATE!!!

So a lot has happened since I have posted on here. First off, I got a job! I am currently a Footwear/Running Specialist at Dick's Sporting Goods. So far I have enjoyed the job very much, although it seems that some of the employees get shafted during scheduling. This upcoming week I have a grand total of *drumroll please* FIVE hours. Not gonna lie, it sucks. But its more money than I would be making sitting on my a** doing nothing. So I'll take it. Also, it surprises me how unorganized some people can be. There are clearance tables that are set up in the middle of the store and it seems like every single person who walks by them has to pick up something, inspect it for ten seconds, then place it in a different location (most of the time it ends up being the floor). If people were slightly more organized, then I wouldn't have to spend 45 minutes of my work time trying to clean up/reorganize all of the product.

I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming school year. In terms of academics, this will probably be my toughest year because I am finally branching into classes that are in my major (Such as Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Kinesiology). Although it may be difficult, I know that I will love it because it definitely beats the boring "Gen Ed" classes any day. In terms of athletics, I think that this year will be a turning point for me. Since school has ended, I have begun training for cross-country. This is the first time that I have been consistently training for either XC or Track since the winter of my junior year of high school. Cross-country has always been a struggle for me, for some reason. But I have determined that this year I will hope to make a difference for my team. I feel like all the knowledge that I have learned from my coaches and from some of the other guys, that my Track season will be a breakout for me. My goal of running sub-2 for the 800 has been in my head since senior year of high school and I think that breaking that barrier separates the "Oh your actually fast" guys from the "Oh I did track in high school" guys. I also believe that I will do well in the 1500m (the older brother of the 1600m), a distance that has never been my strong suit. But who knows, I think people should watch out because I am gonna bring everything I have to the table during the season.

That is just a quick update about my life at the moment. Oh and me and my gf are doing well :) (in case anyone was curious haha)

Solitary Confinement

It has only been ten days since I traveled back to Puyallup for summer vacation, yet I feel like I have been home much longer than that. Don't get me wrong I enjoy being home; spending time with my family and sleeping in my comfortable bed. I still have a little more than two months before I venture back to school, but I wish that I went back this week. Without a job, I spend my days refreshing my Facebook page, eating, and working out. Those are the three things I do all day haha. I have been looking for a job for the ten days, but I have not had any luck. Is there something wrong with me? Obviously because no one wants to hire me.

Summer.

Going into summer, I have a lot of things that I want to accomplish. The first is having a job. At the age of nineteen, almost twenty, I have yet to be hired by an employer. It rather sucks because I want to make my own money, instead of having to rely on my parents for income. The second is getting a consistent base for my upcoming XC season. There are currently ten returning runners from the XC team already, with at least one committed incoming freshman, and myself. The competing squad is anywhere from ten to twelve, so I need to work my butt off in order to get a spot on the roster. Not to mention I get to go back to school three weeks before everyone else does, not a bad perk lol. Lastly, I want to have an enjoyable summer. Every year my summer's have been getting better and better, and I can only imagine that this summer is going to take the cake.

Trey Tucker.

I started off my second day in the wonderful city of Phoenix, Arizona with a quick, morning run. It was only about three miles, yet because of several, deliberating factors (the heat, my fitness, etc), the run seemed much longer. After that, I met up with my family for some breakfast, continental of course. Breakfast ended at around nine thirty and because we did not have to leave for part two of commencement till noon, I was able to fit in some relaxing time at the pool.

When we (my brother, sister, mom and I) arrived, there were only two other people in the area: two older women who were doing their early-morning gossip. I put my stuff on the nearby table and proceeded to head into the hot tub. Although I was only in there for five minutes, it felt soothing on my muscles after my "easy" run. A few minutes later a family consisting of: four daughters, a wife, and a husband, entered the pool area. I can only hope and pray that I do NOT have four children, let alone four daughters. Those parents will have fun during their pubescent years. Just saying.

Shortly after that family arrived, more little kids made their way into the pool area; two little boys equipped with water-wings and life vests. It was pretty interesting to see the interaction between the older boy, Trey (who was five), and the young girls (the eldest was nine years old). They acted as if they were brother and sister, playing around in the water as if they had been friends for years. At this point in time I was laying on a lawn chair trying to get a tan. The suns rays hadn't hit the pool, which meant that the temperature of the pool was "frigid." Nonetheless, I ventured into the pool and soon found myself a pool time buddy.

Trey, one of the little boys with the water-wings, was "swimming" with his mom towards the shallow end of the pool. His little brother, Ethan, was also in the pool, yet quickly left because he was scared. Therefore, Trey was left in the pool, yet still being supervised by his mother. He began swimming towards my sister, who was relaxing on the side of the pool, because she was trying to help him learn how to swim. If one did not know my sister's future career as a teacher, one could easily spot her motherly-instinctiveness towards little kids. I was watching him learn to swim and when he got to me, I gave him some additional pointers.

Trey then proceeded to give me "races" where I would have to swim down to different lengths of the pool. My rewards for those challenges ranged from a few splashes, to a kick or two (mind you, he is five). After doing this for about thirty minutes, I got out of the pool and went to dry myself off. As I sat down, Trey walked over to his area, grabbed a chair, put his right across from me. We then proceeded to play air tic-tac-toe (I won), thumb wars (I won), and the alphabet game. I am shocked at how well developed his vocabulary was. For a five year old, who hasn't even started kindergarten, he was pretty smart. I learned that he was from Chicago, great city.

What made the whole mid-morning fun was how I was interacting with Trey. Its crazy that the most fun I have had over the past few days, has been with this five year old. It's time like those where I missed working with little kids, either elementary or even younger because they always have a simple outlook on the world. They don't worry about the War on Terror, or the terrible economic status that our country is in, their biggest worry is what's going to happen when their shoes become untied because they haven't learned how to tie them yet. It's time like those where being an Elementary teacher would be a great career for me, and while my mind is set on high school, I wouldn't mind giving another stab at the youngsters. Trey's final words to me were, "Bye, see ya later." Will I ever see him again? Probably not. Will I remember him? Absolutely.

Phoenix.

My mom has been acquiring her Master's degree, in Nursing Education, for the past eighteen months and today, as well as tomorrow, will be the conclusion of her journey. She has compiled hundreds of work hours, whether it is doing papers or making presentations. She has been getting her degree online through Grand Canyon University, which is in Phoenix, Arizona. So as I am typing this blog, I am sitting in my hotel room in the midst of Phoenix.

My mom and my stepdad left for Phoenix on Sunday morning, while my brother and I flew out this morning. Today has been an incredibly long day. It started at 4am. Yes, I said four in the morning. After getting myself upright and taking a shower, my brother and I left his Seattle home at around five. We arrived at the airport at around 5:30. Security was annoying as usual, but our plane did not leave until 7:20 and we were in no rush. After we got through security, we both grabbed some food. Who would have thought that Qdoba would have delicious breakfast burritos? I kept mine simple with scrambled eggs, potatoes, some chicken, and some queso cheese sauce. DELICIOUS!. As we headed up to the gate, I saw two of my teammates standing in front of me. Turns out, they were heading down to San Diego.

The plane ride was essentially smooth, considering that I slept through the majority of it. I didn't mind. We arrived in Phoenix just shy of nine and were immediately reunited with my mom and sister (she flew down from Pullman on Wednesday morning). We then drove to the hotel, where we dropped off our luggage, and then drove right to the church where the ceremony was being held.

The church was not only beautiful on the outside, it was massive on the inside as well. It looked like a church that one would find on early-morning televised church services. Anyways, we got there at around 11:40 and the ceremony did not start till one, so my sister and I decided to take a walk around the church, letting our bodies radiate in the 95+ degree temperatures. The ceremony was similar to any commencement ceremony: the deans gave speeches, the graduates were presented with their "degrees" and everyone was tearing up. I will be the first to admit that my eyes were tearing up throughout the WHOLE ceremony. I don't know why, but I was very emotional. It could be because I have seen my Mom work so hard for the past year and a half, that I was genuinely proud of her. It was moments like those where I am glad to be her son. I just hope that one day, she is the one saying that about me.

304.368 Days

It's astonishing yet amazing that I have found this one person, this one girl, that always makes me smile. I have only known this girl since the end of my junior year of high school, yet I feel like I have been her friend since elementary school. There are a lot of things one can do in 304.368 days: Learn a new language through Rosetta Stone, train for a sport, have a baby haha. While I am not thinking about having a baby at this point in time, in the future, distant future, I think it'll be a possibility.

There are so many different characteristics that I like about this girl. She always makes me smile, no matter if I am upset, or if I already happy. She always has this upbeat, sort of spunky, personality, that while is spontaneous, can be a little "cray cray." Her hair is kind of........CRAZY!!!! Its blonde and curly, which makes it really fun to play with, even though she gets annoyed with it sometimes.

I hope that I get to spend another 304.368 days with this lovely, beautiful, exquisite, pretty much perfect girl who has changed me for the better. I wonder if she realizes how of an impact that she has made on my life. Hopefully, I have made the same impact on her.

881 The Burg.

So 88.1 the Burg is our school's (Central Washington University) radio station. Over the past few months, I have been doing "training" and yesterday I completed my final audition. As a result, I get to have a radio show!!! I actually get the chance to work with another guy; its his show, I am his new co-host. I think i'll be really fun. I am not sure how he will take a new person in the studio, but I hope that it'll be fun. Doing Video Productions during high school made me appreciate mass media/broadcasting. We had always had a radio station, yet we had never used it. This'll give me a new opportunity to try something new in my life, and who knows, I could eventually get a full-time job. So if your in the area, hit up 88.1 FM Monday Nights @ 6pm!!!

High School Drama.

Its amazing how drama in college is so similar to drama found in high school. Granted in high school, we are restricted to acting upon it after school hours, or during lunch. Yet in college, one could act upon it twenty-four hours a day. It's stupid and pointless. Drama is stupid and pointless. People who enjoy causing/hearing about drama are stupid and pointless.