Shoot for the Stars

Cheri's house. 5:30 a.m. Mishel rode with me to Cheri's this morning. It was so so cold!!! I wore a tank like it was still summer but atleast capris instead of shorts I wore. Both Mishel and Cheri offered me a jacket but I thought that I would be fine. I felt like this time I never warmed up too much, atleast not on my shoulders which is rare. It was foggy too so that didn't help as much. We ran from Cheri's home and made a L on the main road out back on the country roads past the cottage and hay area. We make a loop by turning R on 200 street and back to Cheri's road. I felt we kept a decent pace! Cheri did well! We were joking that Cheri and Mishel kept such a good pace because of the aggresion they have with kid drama-teen trouble stuff. I said, I guess I Need to have kids so I can run faster! lol. I felt pretty good this morning, esp. considering I played football last night; I thought I'd be more sore!

Roegner Park. 7 a.m. Ran with NIcole and Lisa! It was great to run with them again! We ran out and back, then just took one break after we did an out and back about 3-4 miles, we took a quick bathroom break. Then we ran the extra bit past 1/2 mile then back and out again and extra bit. Then we had to go a little extra almost under bridge then turned arounld for full 10 miles. We all wanted a long run! We felt good; it was at about mile 8 were my legs started to get stiff, heavier! but other than that did pretty good. Some R leg pain in beginning but went away, my L ankle was sore after. Weather was goregous, 60-70s. Great to run at Roegner again! Nicole ran more mileage after Lisa and I were done. Way to go! The girls were trying to convince me to run a marathon in Dec. I am not quite sure about it but they were convincing.

My home. 8 a.m. I decided to get up and run today even though Labor Day. I felt like I needed to burn off some calories. I didn't bother checking with any of the ladies; thought they would all be tired from the race and different activities as well. It was already starting to get hot today. I passed Angela and Marianne on my way onto Lemon Tree. How funny! We stopped and talked for just a few sec. I kept on going the usual route but evidentaly didn't start my GPS up again after talking. So I think I should acutually add in an extra 1/2 mile to my run. I just went by what my watch said and went a little bit further. I didn't go to the big bend. I ran past the trash cans a bit further out. Then instead of turning onto Rd that connects to Lemon tree I went straight to see where it went. It just went back to the main Rd, 164. So I turned around and went to the Rd I was used to that connected to Lemon tree. Then I ran home; very hot! My legs were in pain, so so sore from the lake I think or the 10 mile run on Sat.? Tough run but I was going a decent pace as well.

Lakeland Hills.5:30 a.m. Decided to join the ladies in Lakeland instead of my usual running buddies. It was just Janet, Niki, and I today. We ran the usual route in Lakeland hills but took the downhill part which was shorter so it was just about 4 miles or so. I felt pretty good, I was worried about the hills and little sleep I got but I did them just fine! Yeah! My right leg felt a little funny in beginning. I think I am really due for new running shoes. No major pains just small ones.

Mishel's home. 5:30 a.m. Walked across the street to join a run with Mishel, Angela, and Cheri. It was a surprise to see Cheri there because we usually go to her house for a run. Also I wasn't expecting to see Angela because she has been running with the new girl lately who is more her speed. I thought we scared her. ha ha funny. Great run with all 4 of us. We did our usual route again. Toward the last 2 miles Mishel and I pulled a bit more in the front ot the group. It was actually decently warm this morning so a tank and short shorts was perfect. I feel sore from football and my ankles don't feel the same.

Enumclaw Starbucks. 7 a.m. start. It was June, Angela, and I there waiting for Janet and Lindsey to get there but they were running a little behind. June said I should get going since I was on a time crunch. Angela ran with me and we did the usual route up the bike path and a loop around. She helped remind me what roads to turn on because I still forget the route, especially since I hadn't done it alone. We ran almost the whole time together except towards the end Angela told me to keep going. She walked some and slowed down. Overall, she kept a great pace. I waited up for near a road where I didn't know which way to go but I also didn't want to run alone. The very last stretch I ran solo as I tried to keep my pace steady. It was a goregous day for a run! Sunshine out but not too terribly hot yet!

Lakeland Hills. 5:30 a.m. Mishel and I carpooled together to lakeland hills but she drove this time. We were both feeling like zombies this morning! We just didn't get enough sleep last night; tossing and turning most of the night. I think there was just too much on our minds. It was tough to run the hill this morning so we skipped the other big hill. Niki was the only other person there to run with us. Tough run but good work out!

Lakeland hills. 5:30 a.m. I drove solo this morning there because I hadn't heard from Mishel. It was just Janet and I this morning. We never heard back from Niki. It's like everyone ditched out this morning. I paid Janet the money for run for Soliders. I told her I was so tired so we did a shorter route today and went down hill and then back L to the main shopping strip. It was a good run but boy was it tough again! I seriously need to get more sleep! This was the kind of morning where I got up but pondered whether or not I should go back to bed. I even texted some of the ladies to see if were still running and Janet said she'd be there so I made myself run. Plus I wanted to try out my new running shoes and outfit I got Tues!! I love my new running shoes! I was way over due for them!!!!!! HARD HARD RUN today! I prob. just should have slept in!

Cheri's house. 6:30 ish a.m. For some reason I couldn't hear my alarm go off again on my phone or it just never went off. How annoying! Luckily, Mishel texted me to see if I still wanted to run due to the rain outside that was coming down pretty steadily. Of course, I said yes lets still run! I want to get this long run out of the way. Mishel needed an extra 5 min which was good cause I was still getting ready. I had to change my outfit due to the rain. My shoes did really well though! I love my new shoes! We managed to drag Cheri along with us. She was not liking the rain but she's had worse condition for a marathon before. We ran a new route that was suppose to go to a cementary out towards Enumclaw but Mishel wanted to turn R on a country road that went past some of the most beautiful homes ever! Wow! What goregous scenary! Plus it wasn't rainning the whole time, in fact most of the time it wasn't rainning! We got a great run in! We had to add an extra loop in because the short cut we took made the run slightly shorter. My hamstrings were really tightening up on the last hill. We walked a couple of times when Cheri wanted to. Near the end I just booked it on the last stretch to Cheri's home! It felt good but I was tired! Awesome run! Slight R knee pain but dissapatied.

Mishel's home. 5:30 a.m. Very damp/foggy this morning. It felt cold due to the moisture but we had patches of warm and cold throughout the run. Mishel, Niki, Angela, and I ran this morning. Angela and Niki had headlites which was nice. I wore my new safetly blinking red light to help while we ran. It was fun to wear my new running clothes, shoes, and light. Fairly good pace we all kept as we ran together. We walked 1-2 times as Niki needed to catch up after the hill and also when the cars both came from different directions. Quite a few cars that passed us a long the way. Usual route past school and the L on road up hill, then back around to gravel road and to main rd. We finished at the end of Grayson Rd and walked to our homes.

Cheri's home. 5:30a.m. It was actually pretty warm this morning. We ran R from Cheri's Rd out that way so I thought it would be a shorter run however I have never been with them when they do the regular route where it is almost 7 miles. I hardly got any sleep last night so I wouldn't have agreed to run that long if I knew in advance. It was tough! There were a lot of rolling hills as well. We ended up running all the way back to the small rd that goes up a hill like when we run from Mishel's place. Wow! Talk about being surprised! I guess this means that it is good trainning for the 1/2 coming up in mid Oct.

Lakeland Hills. 5:30 a.m. We were suppose to meet at 5:15 a.m. but Cheri was running behind and Mishel and I were waiting for her so we could all carpool together. I felt a little rushed on time. We met up with Nikki. Janet wasn't able to make it this time. I felt a lot better today than I felt on Wed, however it was very hot and humid this morning! Yuck! Luckily I had shorts and tank which helped a lot! Cheri was acutually running really well this morning and we kinda kept the lead near the end. The very end Nikki and I kinda raced to the finish sort of. Good run. We just did the usual route.

June's home in Enumclaw. 6:30 a.m. It was rainning this morning. I carpooled with Mishel, along with Niki from Mishel's place. There it was Cheri, Janet, and Anna who joined the run from June's house. June just met up with us later. We left a change of clothes at June's house for after the run. We ran the route up the steep hill and back past the mountain. Then we paralleled the 164 on a back road. I ran with Anna the whole way until Starbucks, bad mistake! She is really really fast! We kept under 9 min which is do able for me but hard on long runs like this one. We just got talking a lot and got to know each other better. We learned a lot and talked about some deep issues, such as loosing a close family member. She is such a strong person and amazing athlete. She is like a white female Kenyan runner. We then met up with the ladies from starbucks but we over jumped the loop that went right to starbucks and on the bike trail the ladies were already coming for us. It was Sunny and June who joined in. Then we did our usual route. The last 2-3 miles I really dropped back in place and felt so tired like I wanted to walk. We did talk some I know. The time wiht 10:00 min is the one we walked for sure. Near the end I ran with Cheri and she helped me mentally to keep on going. Mishel ran up with Nikki and Anna. Tough run but boy was it good! We got to all eat at the Kettle in Enumclaw to celebate Cheri's bday. What a huge portion they give! There was no way I could eat all of it! How funny! You even get a tshirt if you eat all of it!, Something to work towards!

Mishel's house. 5:30 a.m. Angela and Cheri met up with us at Mishel's home. It was actually a lot warmer than I had expected so I wasn't wearing my long sleeved shirt for long at all. I caught up with Angela and it was nice to see how her weekend went and all the stuff she is doing with her daughters. Mishel had a sore throat so she was really lagging today. She said she felt like she was on auto pilot. I ran her speed a lot of the time in the back because I am still sore from Sunday run, what a big jump! I am proud but didn't know if I wanted to do quite that far of a jump. Usual route today. Mishel walked up the hill. I think we walked just for a tiny bit after Mishel got up the hill and tha tis why mile 3 is slow. Overall, good run, just sore on the hamstrings.

Auburn Riverside HS. 5:30 a.m. Nikki met up with me at the track and we worked hard on speed work. She hadn't ran speed work in a long time so she would run most of the way hard and then walk the turns. We ran first for 1 mile to warm up. Then she was in lane 1 and I was in 2. We did 4 sets of 1/4 mile. In between we would walk 1/4 of a mile after each sprint. It was a great work out! It is always hard to run fast like that! I felt it went really well. It was very cold this morning though! Then when we were done we jogged 1 more mile. Total work out: 4 miles (1 mile was walking)

Cheri's house. 5:30 a.m. Mishel and I walked to front of BV and there Niki picked us up to head to Cheri's place for a fast 10k run. We wanted to work more on our speed this time but were all kinda tired/sore. It was very foggy this morning. Angela met us there at Cheri's. I think Angela was a little upset on about mile 4 when we just started to increase our time by a lot. Niki just took off when we headed down the hill. We did the route where we turned L and did a loop to 200 street. There were some hills which made it hard but good training for the 1/2 coming up. It was a tough run! Near the end Mishel wanted to walk some. Cheri and I decided to just finish the run by keeping the running pace. Mishel was right behind us when we finished but she was still battling a cold.

 TT: 53:55   Avg: 8:59   Max: 6:53

 Splits: 9:12, 9:15, 9:36, 8:31, 8:37, 8:45