Life of a College Runner: Summer Plans
Hello again everybody!! I’m back! Summer running will be a lot different from running at school, therefore the blog will be a little different. But I promise to keep you updated weekly. Just a warning, though, it will probably be less exciting for a while. I don’t have a race to run every week, but there will be plenty of training runs.
One kind of exciting thing that I didn’t write about was a little race I did two weeks ago. It was the Sunderbruch Beer & Bacon run. I love that race so much because the people are cool (you’ll find that trail runners are some of the coolest people), the course is hard (it’s a true trail race, which means lots of steep hills and turns), and the food is also good. My mom, my sister, and I have been running this race for three years now. Any of you Iowans who want to try trail running, this is a good one.
Anyway, it was a nice morning for the race, and I ended up doing pretty okay. I got first overall female in the 5K so that was cool. Actually this is the second year in a row that I’ve won. And I may have set the course record. But the cooler thing was that they give out bacon bouquets as awards, so I got one of those. It’s good bacon, it just doesn’t look really appetizing when it’s put into flower form.
Yeah, so that was a nice day. Other than that — and my sister’s graduation the next day — nothing much has happened, especially in the way of running. The next weekend I went with my mom to Parkersburg to spectate as she ran the 10K. As I found out, spectating at a race is super weird. I was just standing around at the start watching people go, and I couldn’t help but feel like I should be out there too. Also, it’s kind of boring to spectate, especially when you can’t actually watch the whole race.
Anyway, here we go! On with the summer and my summer plans!
First of all, I want to make a list of my running goals for this summer:
- Run the full mileage
- Get stronger
- PR in the half marathon
Pretty simple, right? Yeah, we’ll see how it goes. I’m extremely hopeful for this summer, and I am completely willing to put in the work. This fall will be the best cross country season of my life, and I’m going to do everything I can to get me there. That includes sticking to the training plan that Coach gave me, doing extra strength work on the side, and continuing to believe in myself. I started getting really good at that towards the end of the year.
If any of you are wondering about number three there, I signed up for a half marathon to do with my family. I have three weeks to train for it, so we’ll see how that goes. I figured it was only three miles longer than my long runs, so I should be able to do that. I’m already in sort of decent shape. Also, my last half marathon was the summer before my freshman year, and I wanted another shot at it. I’m in a lot better shape than I was then, so I’m excited to see how it will go.
Anyway, here’s my week!
Monday
An easy 3 miles. I felt pretty good getting out there for the first time in a couple of weeks. I got up early to run, but it was still hot and humid, something I’ll have to get used to again. I ran 23:42 (7:52 pace). I debated whether or not to put my times on here for the summer. It was mostly a matter of pride, because if I have a slow run I don’t really want people to know about it. But I decided to do it anyway because I like being honest and this is my running blog, so those reading it should be able to see my ups and my downs.
Tuesday
Not good. I know yesterday I said I wanted to put my times down, so I will, but I am not proud of it at all. I made some stupid decisions last night in the way of eating and hydrating. By that I mean I skipped dinner last night and didn’t drink enough water. Then I tried to go out right away in the morning — without breakfast or water — and run 4 miles in the heat. What made it worse was that I chose a route with no shade. So basically it was one bad decision after another, and I was very stupid. I stopped to catch my breath and cool off a couple of times when I felt I was on the brink of passing out, and for a while I thought I was going to have to walk home. My time ended up being 34:16, which is 8:34 per mile pace. Moral of the story: be smart about running and don’t skip meals!!
Wednesday
Today was 100% better than yesterday! Mom, Dad, and I drove out to the trail in Garrison and ran there at night. This is a very different trail from the race I ran a couple weeks ago. It’s mostly flat and it’s crushed limestone, not dirt. It was around 6:30 when we got going, so it was a lot cooler. And the trail is pretty well-shaded for the first two miles, so that helped too. I felt amazing. Weird how eating and drinking plenty of water can help a person run, huh? I’m still kicking myself for that one. I don’t think my mom will let it go any time soon. You can imagine how she reacted. Anyway, the run today was great, and I was happy to be out on the trail with my parents, even though they weren’t running with me. My time was 30:10 for 4 miles, 7:33 per mile.
I spent most of the run thinking about the book I’m writing/editing. One great thing about running is that it offers you time to think with a clear (or mostly clear) head. I like to work through plot ideas or bad cases of writer’s block while I’m running. Today was perfect because I felt great, I wasn’t too concerned about my pace (even though I ended up being kind of fast), and I was by myself. Anyway, it felt good to think things through and solve my problems, and it was a great run.
Thursday
Today also felt really good. My mom and I went back to the trail tonight and I did another easy 4 miles. I was actually trying to go slower tonight and pace myself, but on the second mile I picked the up the pace quite a bit. I think I just need to get this out of my system. It’s been a while since I’ve been running every day, and I feel so great now that I’m on fresh legs. I think I’ll calm down a bit next week or the week after. Today I was 30:43, 7:40 pace.
Friday
It was my off-day today!! Coach gives us a somewhat flexible schedule, but I think I might leave Fridays as my off-day. It’s kind of nice to have a whole day free.
Saturday
It rained this morning! I was just headed outside when it started sprinkling. I looked up and saw really dark clouds moving towards me, so I took off running, trying to outrun the storm. It didn’t work, of course, but running in the rain and/or storms is my favorite thing ever!! My mom and I have plenty of stories about times we’d needed to hurry back home or turn around so we didn’t get struck by lightning. It was an easy 3 miles this morning, with a time of 23:36, 7:51 per mile. The rain was definitely the best part.
Sunday
So, one thing I need to do this summer is come up with some good routes for longer runs. Since many of my easy runs will be between 5–7 miles in the future, I need good places to run. Today I made a mistake and decided to wing it for my long run for the week. I was supposed to go 7 miles, so I decided to take it easy for the first half. That didn’t work, of course. I still went faster than I should have. I ended up doing the weirdest route ever. I went around town for the first mile, then turned out on gravel, then turned onto a dirt road, and when I got back to the road into town I was only 3 miles in. So I went on another gravel road and by the time I got back to town I was 5.5 miles in. So I did a weird loop around town to get back to my house, but I was still a quarter of a mile short! I ended up adding on by running down a street and turning around and running back to my house. It was such a roundabout way. It wasn’t even hot today; it was cool and there was a really nice breeze. But that was probably the longest 7 miles of my life.
Moral of this story: not knowing where you’re going is fun, but it’s good to have an idea of where you want to run before you get out there, and how far you need to go out to hit the mileage.
So my first week of training was filled with a lot of mistakes but also a couple of really good runs! Wednesday was definitely my favorite run this week. It was such a nice day. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this. We’re going to get through this summer together, friends. It might be tough, but we’ll do it. It will be interesting, that’s for sure.
Thanks for reading!
— Morgan
