Stop.

Stop succumbing to physical pain and listen to your head.

Stop being a pansy.

As I was on my run today, I was mumbling these thoughts as I had to stop quite frequently during my run. I would like to say it was because I wasn't as hydrated as I should have been, but then I can't blame anyone else for my laziness. Slowly, but steadily, I will get back to (and surpass) the form I was in last year and get back down to 155 lbs.

The countdown continues...

4.2 miles today...

160 days...

Rain.

Running in the rain. Simplistic. Rugged. Euphoric. I went out on my run today and immediately began to feel water land on my jacket and head. I miss running on the westside because of this. On the eastside, its either really hot or really cold, but in Puyallup, it's a comfortable medium.

My run today consisted of a mile WM, then some hill sprints, then a long-ish cooldown. I felt strangely comfortable during my WM mile (6:59), which is the fastest I have ran a mile in quite some time. My hill sprints brought me back to my HS days during XC practice, running up the hill by my high school, driving my knees with every explosive bound. My cool-down reminded me of my sophomore year of college, when we would run 2-3 mile cooldowns to ensure that all of the lactic acid has been flushed from our throbbing legs during an intense workout.

My countdown continues...

3.5 miles today

161 days...

Obtuse.

Looking ahead on the trail, while making sure my footing is sound with each stride I take, I glide through the woods as if nothing was in my way. At least, that is what I imagined myself to be doing. In actual reality, I looked like a huffing and puffing, shirtless guy struggling to run. As I mentioned in my last post, I have not ran in at least a month (that is if you don't count me running to the bars from Amanda's house in jeans and Vans, 1.25 miles surprisingly!). Nonetheless, I decided to go out and try and get back into it. I always feel slightly guilty when people call me a "runner" because I had not been running all quarter.

Starting today, I will promise myself to run everyday. I will promise to take of my body the way I am suppose to, such as eliminating fast food, limiting my alcohol consumption, etc. I have my goals and I have my tools. All I have to do is build it.

Countdown to XC season...

August 26th, 2013.

163 days...

Spring Break.

Today is my first official day of Spring Break vacation! I feel like this quarter has brought a combination of realization and assurance into my life, within the occasional hurdle here and there. Over the past few days, I have been contemplating about my future career plans, resulting in an eventual switch from my prior major/career path (Education) to Pharmacy. I think that my decision to switch majors was due to my interest in pharmacology/medicine.

Because of this, I have decided that I want to attend graduate school (Either Master's or PhD, depending on which type of program I get into). I am going to apply to multiple programs and evaluate my options from there. I plan on staying in-state. If I do not gain acceptance into a PhD program, I would most likely obtain my Master's from either CWU (my current school) or WSU. I haven't told my family about my most recent choice in attending graduate school, but I think that if I get provided financial support, they would support me in my decision (at least, I can hope for that).

In addition to my graduate school information seeking process, I desperately need to start running again. I barely ran all quarter and I think it was due to my lack of afternoon availability. My spring schedule has all, but one, of my afternoons open, which I will use to get in regular/consistent training for my marathon that I am doing at the end of June. I plan on running the race with my friend Kyle, the same guy I ran the half-marathon with last June (See Rock and Roll post for details about that race).

Nonetheless, I am excited for the conclusion of this year. I am slowly getting ready to enter the "real world," which both excites and partially frightens me. I am privileged that I have great friends, amazing family, and the opportunity that I can do whatever I set my goals to (within reason that is).

But for now, I am going to enjoy my time off!!!

See y'all later!!!

Perspective.

When I tell people that I am a Chemistry major, they say things like "Oh wow! You must be really smart" or "I was never good at Chemistry." You would be surprised how often I hear the latter. But when I tell people that I am Education major, they say things like "Oh good for you" or sometimes they produce an awkward silence. Last week I was at a "late" reception for my Uncle's recent marriage (BTW, they got married on leap day, I mean who would wanna get married on a day that is only there EVERY FOUR YEARS?!?!? Just my 0.02). Anyway, my aunt was introducing myself as an Education major who wants to be a teacher. To my knowledge, she did not mention any specific subjects that I would wanna teach. When the woman she was talking to, who liked like a weirdo, looked at me as my aunt was introducing me, she gave me a blank stare and said "Good for you." Good for you? What does that mean? Stupid, idiotic person. What job does she have that is SO much better that she thinks she can degrade teaching? Its people like this that make me say "I am a Chemistry major." But the great thing is, I do not care what she thinks.

Consistency.

When I was on the XC team this past fall, I was in the best shape of my life. Now that I am not running XC, I feel like I am missing out. Recently though (within the last few weeks) it has been my goal to become a more consistent runner, in terms of my training schedule. To help me with my goal, I have been keeping a training log throughout the duration of summer, which I feel has really helped me stay on track. This past week has been my most consistent week with a embarrassing 26 miles this week. I am hoping to increase that to ~30 miles next week, which is still minute. I am going to be building my base throughout the fall and winter, in an attempt to have the best season of running I have ever put together.

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.