C Mantz Run

I was super happy to do a race this summer! It was an early morning, but not too early. Warmed up maybe a half mile, maybe more. Had no idea what time I would hit, I was just hoping for maybe a sub-40. I hadn't ran a ton of tempo, either, this summer. I did wear my flats, though. There were a ton of people I recognized at the start. Talked to quite a few people. The start was fun, there were a lot of people. Turned the corner, and took advantage of the first hill. Of course, 200m in, my left shoe untied. I was next to Sarah Feeny and 2 other girls. I almost wanted to ask outloud if I should stop or keep going to tie my shoe. Just kept running. The four of us pushed each other for the next 3 miles. It felt good. I PRed in my 2 mile up. At about 3.5 miles, a girl came up from behind and passed us. Sarah went with her, and I tried to hold on, but got gapped pretty well. A girl in red was maybe 7 seconds ahead of me, but that gap grew. At mile 4, my legs began to feel the burn. My stride didn't feel as strong the last 2 miles, but I kept a decent pace. On the last turn, where the finish line was in view, I felt a pop on my right foot around the toes. A blister had popped. I was not mentally prepped for the final stretch to be as long as it was. Tried to get on my toes, but the blister burned a bit. Was still able to speed up at the end. After I finished, I looked down at my foot and some blood had soaked through my shoe from the blister. The mile splits were 5:26, 5:43, 5:59, 6:01, 6:13, 8:07 (last 1.2). My first 2 mile was a 11:10 and first 3 mile was a 17:09, so much faster than I'd ever ran either of those distances. It was way fun, though. I'm still pretty shocked about all of those times. Hopefully they can boost my confidence, lol. It was a blast talking to and catching up with a bunch of people after. I was sore, and was stupid enough not to cool down. Had a fun rest of the day with sore calves and thighs. I'm happy with the race, though.

Met up at the wilderness trailhead up Birch. It was Ethan's last chance to run up to flat top, so we did it today. More people were gonna show, but only Storrs, Spencer, Ethan, and I showed up at 6am. My calves and thighs were still really sore from yesterday. We started up nice and easy with Storrs in the front.  It was not completely a run, but I'm counting the whole thing. About half a mile out, my calves were burning, but I just kept going. For the second mile, my left foot went numb, which was weird. It hurt, but I couldn't say 'no' to my only chance to run flat top this year (for my first time ever as a matter of fact). My foot found feeling when we got further up and slowed down. As we went up, it slowly got steeper. By the third mile, we were averaging 20 minute miles. It was still way fun! The trail was really overgrown, but that didn't stop us, lol. The weeds and rocks did pull off my scabs from tripping last week, which didn't feel too good. When the trail ended, I was feeling physically really good, and could've gone a bit faster. The view was amazing! Because Ethan had to get home, soon, we didn't spend too much time at the top. It was 4.5 miles exactly, which was awesome. Came back down really slowly. I suck at going downhill, especially with gravel, so that was an adventure. Spencer and I usually got left in the dust, but Storrs and Ethan were nice enough to stop and wait. It was way fun running up there, and we did it in about 4 hours. At the bottom, we drank some weird juice stuff and said goodbye to Ethan.

The rest of the day, my body was super sore.

I was at girls camp, so I woke up around 6:30 to run. It was really cold, but felt amazing. We were at Cinnamon Creek, so I continued up the road. Found a trail that led to Rosy's Mine, so I ran up to that. My legs were still super sore, so I thought today was gonna be a recovery run, but it wasn't. There was a ton of uphill and downhill. Crossing the rivers on these log bridges was cool. The min was 1.5 up, and there were 2 boyscouts up there. The trail kept going, so I followed it, but it was straight up the mountain! I kept following it, thinking it would level out, but it never did. I turned around becuase I didn't want to climb 2 mountains in 2 days. My average pace was over 14, and I took the downhills way slow. The trail was a bit uneven, but on the flattest part, I tripped on the tiniest rock, bruising my knees and palms. It was just in dirt, and no blood, so that was a plus. Got back after 4.8 miles at 13:40 average pace.

Took a quick break, and one of my leaders, Emily, was gonna run. We went down the road this time. It was fun chatting with her, and it felt good to do something flat to recover. We turned around at a fence, and walked up the hills. We did 2.87 miles (not including the walking) at about 10 minute average pace.

Still at camp, but I woke up at 6. It was super chilly, but felt wonderful. I went 2.5 down the canyon, then came back up. I should have gone further, but I was gonna meet our vistauns to run a few miles at 7. Coming back was harder, because it was uphill. 9:02 average pace. It was really fun. My calves were still a little sore, but they're feeling somewhat better. When I got back, I waited for 15 minutes, and nobody showed up/woke up. I turned my gps back on, but it didn't load. I was super tired, so instead of running more miles, I went back to bed. Had a fun day relaxing, though.

Got home in the afternoon. It was hot, and my time was limitted. Only did 4 up the canyon in 90 degree weather. 8:25 average pace. My body was exhausted, and calves were still feeling sore. Had a fun evening, though.

Made the decision to just make this weekend my time off before xc. It is super early, so I may take a mid-season break if I am tired. My body was just really tired this week, and I had no chance to run today. The last 2 days were short, so today and tomorrow will be off. I'll start my season training on Monday, so I'm pumped.