21!!!!!

Woo hoo!!! I hardly get excited over birthdays, but today is different. I am at the age where I can do pretty much anything I want (legally of course). Although I still can't run for president quite yet, I think that this year is going to be lots of fun!

Rock and Roll.

I love the feeling of waking up super early and going on a nice run; one that just wakes your body up naturally and makes you feel one with your surroundings. Turns out I was not the only other person who had this on their agenda. Today was the Seattle Rock and Roll Half and Full marathon events. I'll be the first to admit that I did not seriously train for this event. However, I did get the opportunity to run the race with my friend Kyle, which was a lot of fun. Having run this race since its inauguration, Kyle knew the general layout of the course and was a fun partner to have throughout the race. We arrived there an hour before the race started and already there were thousands of people doing their various pre-race rituals. After walking up and down the street where all the corrals were located, we got settled into our designated about ten minutes prior to the start. As we approach the starting line, I suddenly get the discomfort of having to relieve myself (I HAVE TO PEE!!!). So about five minutes before we reach the start line, I run out of the starting line and find a lone tree. I quickly race back to the start line with plenty of time to spare.


Mile 1: 9:42. We were practically shuffling through the crowds of people and enjoying ourselves amongst our fellow runners. Relatively flat with a slight uphill.

Mile 2: 8:48. Dropped the pace down by like a minute, most likely because it was all downhill. At this point, we both were feeling good (I would hope so...), but we decided to hold this pace for a while. Body felt good and I was just on a slog.

Mile 3: 8:47. Still feeling great. We had a gradual climb during this mile, which was nothing too big. I felt proud that I kept the pace that close even with the uphill. Kyle constantly told me that we were running his pace, as opposed to mine. Soon though, we'll be running my pace.

Mile 4: 8:53. Another gradual downhill mile. Can't remember what this mile was, but my shins started to hurt at this point. I haven't been on my feet for this long in a while. Time to get back into shape!!

Mile 5: 8:51. Super flat mile. Just clicking through the miles and trying to remain on our pace.

Mile 6: 8:49. Had a slight incline during this mile. This was where we got to run along side the waterfront (I believe). Gorgeous view. The leader of the marathon race ran along side us for a brief time; he was flying!

Mile 7: 8:46. The majority of this mile was run along the coast of Lake Washington. Amazing views! It got a little congested throughout this mile because they narrowed the road due to the splitting of the marathon people with the half-marathon people.

Mile 8: 8:36. This mile had some significant ascent to it, but nothing that we could not handle. Not only that, but the whole mile was practically in a tunnel. Kyle began picking it up cause he liked passing people, which was fine by me. I really gotta poop!!

Mile 9: 8:25. I think this was the mile that I passed my friend's dad (B-Valley). He had a Nike PreNationals shirt and I recognized his face immediately after I passed him. Nice to know another familiar face was running today.

Mile 10: 10:12. I know what your thinking... Why so slow?? Well I had to take a pit stop, otherwise I was going to poop my pants! Kyle went on ahead of me, not wanting to wait for me haha. I don't blame him; I would have left him too.

Mile 11: 8:08. I wanted to catch back up to him, so these next to miles were all about making up some time.

Mile 12: 8:12. Seeing the "mile 12" sign, I knew that I needed to pick it up because I wanted to close at a decent clip.

Mile 13: 6:56. This mile felt the best out of all of them, probably because this is closer to the pace I normally run at. The finish line was at the top of a hill, which was nice because I love owning people on hills.

Mile 13.1: 1:53:53. Overall, the race was a lot of fun! I enjoyed that I was running with a good friend. I know what I wanna accomplish this summer, in terms of getting mu mileage up. Who knows? Soon a half-marathon will be a typical long run for me! A year from now, I will (hopefully) be completing the full marathon with Kyle. Gonna break four hours there and get him to be a 3:.xx.xx marathoner.

Just an ordinary day.

Raise you hand if you grew up without a father figure, one who taught you how to play catch, ride a bike, and was always there for you. In addition to that, keep your hand up if you had lost a male parent, due to divorce or death. Keep you hand up if you think that Father's Day is idiotic because fathers should be celebrated everyday, not just the third sunday in June. If I was with my group of friends, I would be the only one still with my hand up. My parents got divorced when I was very young, three I believe. I do not know why they split up, nor do I really care because there is nothing that I can do to change things currently. Up until I was 13 or so, my siblings and I would travel to New Jersey to visit him for a month or so. He would fly out here (to Washington) on various occasions, such as graduations, and times when he felt like "its been too long." Besides my sister's recent graduation, the closest I have come to my Dad was seeing his name on checks in the mail. Granted I love him. He always tries to keep in touch with me with various phone calls and I know that he cares deeply about me. When we moved to Washington (January 5th, 2000), my mom quickly met Dale, whom would be my future stepfather. He joined our family with a daughter of his own (whom at the time was seventeen; her name is Kirsten), a stern attitude, and an non-relatable persona. It was that persona, in combination with his "smart-alec" attitude that made him hard to get along with. He never talked about his past, probably because he wanted to forget about it, but I do know that he did not grow up the most financially stable household. Growing up in Oregon, he joined the armed forces (Navy) after he finished high school and served during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, I am unsure of what he did next. From what I can piece together, he moved up to Washington, got a job, found his future wife, had a child, and disconnected himself from his family back in Oregon. With my Dad still living in New Jersey and Dale sitting on the entertainment center, I can't really say that I am celebrating Father's Day to its true potential. I will call my Dad in a little while to say "hello," and I will be going over to my Aunt's for dinner with her, my Grandad, and my siblings. But today, on this supposed Father's Day, I feel like it is just an ordinary day.

Spring Break.

I love not having any academic responsibilities during spring break. All I have to do is wake up, eat, relax, and do whatever I want. I love spending time with my mom. I know that she has been lonely since all of us kids are grown up and are at school or working. I enjoy seeing my old teammates (back at the high school) and being able to use my personal experiences to make them more successful athletes.

Over the past two days, I have been anxiously awaiting my final grades for this quarter. I was surprised about some of the grades I received, but in a pleasant way. After receiving a "D" and a "C" on my first two Biology tests, somehow I managed a "B" in the class overall. Organic Chemistry kicked my butt this quarter, and by kicked my butt, I mean that it picked me up and
"drop-kicked" me. Yet through some miracle of nature, I got a B-!!! I was expecting something in the "C" range, but I will gladly settle for my grade. Not to mention, that was the lowest grade I receive this quarter, which is not too shabby!!

Next quarter is going to bring some old and some new material. First off, I decided that I am going to complete the Organic Chemistry series and take Chem 363. Only Pre-Med, Pre-Dental, or Chemistry majors have to complete the whole series, which means that all of the Biology majors will not be in the class. Woo Hoo!!!! jk jk. I love my Biology friends. I am going to start taking the Math requirement for my major, which means a year's worth of Calculus. Oh joy.... But I am going to take two more math classes and get myself a Math minor! That'll be a nifty little thing to have in my repertoire. I will also be taking a Philosophy class as well. It is only two nights a week (yes, I said nights. I did not want to take another class during the day because I wanted more time to focus on my homework and work). That class is my second-to-last Gen Ed (technically I have three left after Philosophy, but I am trying to get my Science Gen Ed's waived). I think that class will be an easy Gen Ed, hopefully shooting for an A.

Overall, I think spring quarter is going to be a good one. I know what I have to focus on and what I want to accomplish. Let's do this. No Excuses.

No Excuses.

Long time no blog, right? Sorry for the long delay, but I have been pretty busy this past quarter with school, a job, and "little to no" running. I know what your thinking, I am not happy about that last part either.

I do not know what happened to me this winter. The combination of cold, crappy weather and an academically challenging schedule made it difficult for me to consistently train. I can remember back to my junior year of high school, where my training was at the peak of consistency. I ran six or seven days a week, for three months. I know that is not much compared to other runners, but at the time, I felt like I was invincible. My highest mileage during that point was a tad under 60mpw (59 to be exact). Since that point, I have not been anywhere close to that. There are some times where I feel like I will never get into the shape. Notice that I did not say "get back into shape" because I do not really think I was in that good of shape to begin with. My PR's are simply mediocre, and any runner who puts in "mild" effort can easily surpass my fastest times.

Ultimately, I want respect. I know that I have talent, but I believe that my potential has yet to be tapped. I want to be able to race in road races or summer-time track meets and have younger kids say, "Wow, that guy is fast."

There are several milestones that I want to get achieve within the next few years, which will tell myself that I am in shape:

1. Complete my half-marathon with my buddy Kyle. Although we have both completed half-marathons, our training/race paces are quite different. Hopefully, this spring will be help us train together and get our paces closer to one another.

2. Train for XC. I had a blast this past fall competing in XC and would love to do it again. My only draw back is that I will not be able to compete early-season because I will be taking a class (stupid timing).

3. Try and get to the track. I have one year to make the most of my track season because my last spring quarter will consistent of student teaching (I am pretty sure that will conflict with my track schedule). Therefore, I need to get my butt into shape.

4. No excuses. I am committed to my teammates and to myself that I will get to the way I want to be. I am not going let mishaps, weather, or anything else stand in the way of reaching my goals.

My goals:

Half-Marathon - 1:30 shape (Running with my buddy, but i'll pull him along)
800m - Break 2:00 (Been my goal since HS, it is time I do it)
1500m - 4:10 (Roughly sub 4:30 mile)
8000m XC - Break 27:30 (I need this in order to compete with my teammates)

Weight - 155 pounds

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.