This is us before our track workout on Tuesday night. Fresh back from vacation in Telluride, Jim and I are ready to train!!













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And this is us when we got home. Track workout was brutal this week. We started doing "dynamic drills" which are basically different drills that are done while moving. We did lunges, and grapevines, and skipping, and different funny ways of running on the straight parts of the track and then we "recovered" on the turns. Running isn't my idea of recovery, but we did it. And let me tell you, if you ever want to feel completely detached from your legs, try doing 40 really deep slow lunges, and go straight in to running. I really just couldn't pick my legs up, it was ridiculous. But I still made it :)






My goal for our next long run is to bring my camera with me, because I really wish I could show all you out there in internet land what I did this morning. Here's a picture I stole from the internet so that you can at least get an idea...

Woke up at 6:20 am today, a Saturday, and headed out. Even the drive to Half Moon Bay is beautiful. I've never been there before today, but I really want to go back and see more of it.
Anyway, so we get there, and it's really chilly and overcast. Park the car, warmup a little, stretch and then we're off! Erin and I ran together again, and we were going to go 8 miles. Well, I was going to see how it went, but we started with the 8 mile group. I think it's one of those mental things, I just convince myself to start running, and that I can turn around at any time.
The first bit was pretty cruddy. I was tired and stiff, and it was chilly. Probably about mile 2 I got in a pretty good groove and started to feel better.
The path we went on followed the ocean, and was stunning. There were lots of trees and other naturey bits too. There were horse tours too, so we passed the people on horses and picked out which ones were the prettiest (the horses, not the people). By the time we got to the 6 mile turnaround point I was feeling pretty good, and Erin and I ran right passed it! We got to the 8 mile turnaround and were grateful for aid station #2, which was stocked with Gatorade, gummy worms, and peanut butter M&Ms. Once we were there we were 4 miles away from where we started, so we had to run 8 miles, cause we had to get back to the car! On the run back, Erin and I had some eating adventures. I attempted to drink water out of a cup while running, and got the whole thing ended up on the front of myself. Erin was carrying a cup of gummy bears and at she accidentally dropped it, and then my next step I smashed them and we both screamed in shock. A nearby mentor turned to ask us if we were OK, but we were both so giggly and amused, we shouted "we dropped our gummy worms" So maybe you had to be there, but it was really quite funny at the time!
The whole run was overcast, and the sun never showed, so we managed to stay cool the whole time, which was great. It was weird feeling so warm internally, but having it still be cool outside.
I think I'm going to have to invest in one of the little running belt things that will hold my water and snacks (and camera) for next time, it'll be better to be able to sip liquid constantly, then just the aid stations.

So we FINALLY made it back and stretched while our muscles yelled at us. One of the coaches advised us to get in the water, so we went to the car and got long sleeve shirts and different shoes, and then waded into the water up to our thighs. Well, we got our butts wet too, but we intended only to get our legs :) The water was freezing! But that's supposed to be really good for muscles after a long run, and I wanted to treat by legs well, so we stood and chatted with teammates in the water. We watched seaweed attack one of the other girls and her freak out. The water was pretty murky and gross.
To give perspective on the temperature, everyone who wasn't running was generally wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts or light sweaters. And the water, well it's the Pacific, it's never warm! But my legs went a little numb and it was all good.

Drove home and ate a crepe from the farmer's market. Took a nap, ate some more, watched TV, and tried not to do anything that involved bending down, because my legs are not interested in doing that right now!

But I feel really good. I'm really impressed with my body and with myself. I mean, I've never been a runner, never really ran, and in about a month I'm going 8 miles. Wow...