C Mantz Run

Today was my first actual day running with the cross country team and I was so excited!  I woke Conner up 15 minutes before we had to leave which I don't think he was too happy with.  When we got there everybody had already stretched.  I did some quick ones which was a mistake.  We didn't do any warming up, either.  We did some hills which I was excited for.  When we started up 6th South I was going at an easy pace trying to just stay back with the girls, but it felt as if they were going too slow, so I sped up.  When we got to about 2 miles my calves began to hurt because I didn't stretch.  I slowed down a bit.  Because my calves hurt and I didn't want them to hurt any more, I didn't go the long way which was only a mile longer.  When we started getting to the school, I saw this big group of girls running and I thought I had gone the wrong way, but I knew where I had gone was the right way.  Turns out they were the soccer girls.  Afterwards we did core, which didn't hurt because I do planks and other workouts, but the workouts were really different.  It was a lot of fun and I'm SO excited for cross country this fall!!!

Did a simple 5 miles later in the morning than usual and it was hotter than I was used to.  It was still fun!

Did my last run before the Utah Valley Half Marathon and I was not feeling it one bit.  I just did a three.

Did the Utah Valley Half Marathon.  Woke up around 2:30 and got ready.  At 3:00 my cousins picked me up because two of them were doing the full and one was doing the half which meant I wouldn't be alone at the start.  It was perfect temperature outside before it started.  I was further in the back when it started because it was so crowded!  When I started off I felt as if I was going too fast, but I didn't want to slow down.  I just continued running pretty much the rest of the time.  I got water at almost every station because my throat kept getting sort of dry.  Once when I went to get water, I accidentally tipped it all over a lady because she was holding it wrong and I felt really bad.  The water people (volunteers) need to learn to hold the rim, not just place it on top of your hand which is why I tipped it.  I did the same thing to a lady at the Ogden Half with Gatorade, too.  Towards the end (maybe mile 9 or 10), I was going and so many people were passing me!  I was trying to go as fast as possible, but people were still passing me!  Usually that mentally messes me up and it really did.  When I got to the road where you can see the finish for two miles many more people began passing me!  Later on I found out they were part of the 10K.  I tried to sprint, but it didn't feel as if I was going any faster. 

My time was 1:39:41 whiched didn't surprise me because I didn't think I'd beat my Ogden Half time.  It was only two minutes slower, though.  I had a lot of fun!  I got first in my age group and pretty much slaughtered my record by about eight minutes.  Last year I did by about ten minutes, so I hope I keep the record for 14 and under for quite a while.