Life of a Runner: Chugging Along

Hey readers! I thought I’d do one big blog entry for the last two weeks before I go to cross country camp. Is part of that because I forgot to write last week? Maybe. But this works just as well because I can’t write tomorrow and I’ll be busy this whole next week. Doing what, you ask? A whole effing lot of running. Let’s get right to these last two weeks.

Monday, July 26th

2 miles, 17:16 (8:38/mile)

This morning was alright. The first mile felt good, the second not so good. There wasn’t a breeze at all, and even at 7:00 it was 70 degrees with sky-high humidity.

Tuesday, July 27th

3 miles, 26:34 (8:51/mile)

“Every Morning” by Sugar Ray was stuck in my head this whole time. All I could think of was that song does not make sense. I struggled the most going by the cornfield on the edge of town. As soon as you turn that corner, it gets harder to breathe. For one, the corn blocks the breeze most of the time. For another, corn makes it really stupid humid. I did the east loop around town and then out on the gravel and back for a quarter mile. One of my neighbors and his wife said hi. I guess we’re both early morning people.

Wednesday, July 28th

1 mile, 8:41

I woke up way too late to go run, around 7:45. I didn’t even try for a double, it was so hot this afternoon. I couldn’t breathe so well. I found the road that goes through Pleasant Plain to Fairfield, though, which I had been looking for.

Thursday, July 29th

1.02 miles, 8:46

Awful!! I almost did a double today, but it was even hotter than yesterday. I think the high was 94 with a heat index of 110. This is not a great week so far, but at least it’s due to the heat. It was around 7:20 when I went, and even then it was 80 degrees.

Friday, July 30th

2 miles, 17:35 (8:47/mile)

Today was much better. I screwed myself over by sleeping in and not running until almost 9, and I was dehydrated, but it wasn’t a bad run. My plan is to wake up at a good time tomorrow and do a bit of a longer run.

Saturday, July 31st

1.58 miles, 13:40 (8:39/mile)

Sooo things did not go according to plan. I knew it was supposed to rain overnight into the morning, so that wasn’t a surprise when I woke up at 7:00 and it was still raining. I waited until 7:30 to go, when it had cleared up. It was sprinkling just a bit when I started, but it let up after half a mile or so. My plan was to do at least 3, so I looped around the one side of town before coming back toward my street. Right when I got to the top of Mechanic Street, the sky opened up and it started pouring. Luckily, I just had to turn left and go all the way down the street to get back home. By the end, I couldn’t even see, there was so much rain. I tried to wipe it out of my eyes but right away they were full of water again. So I called it a day early. I was dripping all over my floor when I got inside so I dried off with a towel and laughed about this rain that came out of nowhere. It felt good anyway! It wasn’t too muggy!

Sunday, August 1st

2 miles, 17:33 (8:47/mile)

I ran when I was out at Brett’s house right away in the morning. It was pretty smoky outside, and I wasn’t sure if it was from someone nearby burning something or if it was from those wildfires up in Canada. It was a bit hard to breathe, and my legs felt a bit sluggish, but otherwise it was a good run. I had a nice time. The hill killed me a bit, though.

This week!

Monday, August 2nd

OFF

This was actually my first off day in over a week. I ran 8 days in a row!! That’s pretty neat for me, since it’s been a long time since I’ve had a streak that long.

Tuesday, August 3rd

2 miles, 17:47 (8:53/mile)

I definitely jogged some bits of this. It wasn’t that I couldn’t go faster, I just felt more comfortable going a slower pace and so I did. I didn’t see a reason to push it this morning. Great weather. It was around 56 degrees when I ran. I wore a t-shirt! It was nice and quiet.

Wednesday, August 4th

3 miles, 26:41 (8:52/mile)

I woke up at 6:00 this morning to watch the Olympic women’s steeplechase. Wow, what a race!!! It was incredible, and my hero, Courtney Frerichs, won silver!! After that high note, I went for a little run myself. It was a good run. I had to chuckle out loud, because when I went by the cows on the west side of town, they were passing gas quite loudly as I ran by. That definitely put a goofy smile on my face. I finished out the run by picking it up for the last mile. The first two were more leisurely, then the last half mile or so I worked a bit harder. I felt like I had to, with those women giving such a killer performance! It was pretty amazing to be able to watch that race, though.

Emma Coburn, who is pretty much the name in women’s steeplechasing in the USA, had a bad race. It was really tough to see it, but what was even tougher was hearing her be so down on herself because of it. It wasn’t like she was throwing herself a pity party, she just said that it sucked to have her bad day be today and that should not have happened. I could definitely sympathize with her because I know for sure what it’s like to have a bad race, especially the steeplechase. It’s just such a tough race, and when you’re not feeling great, it really sucks. I think back to my last steeplechase. It was a horrible race (mostly due to the fact that I didn’t eat properly beforehand) and I was deeply upset about it afterwards. It took me a while to get over it, and it was still in my head when indoor track started the next year. And then that ended up being my last one I will ever do. I had no idea at the time, but if I had known, I would have treated that failure a lot differently. Instead of obsessing over it, overanalyzing what happened, and putting the race and those emotions at the forefront of my mind for months, I would have brushed it off a lot sooner, looked at my career as a whole and said, “You know what? I may have done badly today, but I’ve had quite a few good races in my time.” My only hope is that Emma, who I look up to a lot, can do the same.

Thursday, August 5th

2 miles, 17:19 (8:40/mile)

It was raining this morning, so I waited until it was done to run, which ended up being around 10:30. It was still super humid, and my stomach didn’t feel so great from my breakfast, but I felt alright for the first half. My first mile was way faster than my second.

Friday, August 6th

2 miles, 17:28 (8:44/mile)

I felt alright this morning. Actually, the last couple of days have been alright, for morning runs, pace-wise. The horses whinnied as I ran by, which always makes me smile. Another thing that got me going was thinking about cross country camp. I actually sped up because I was getting excited just thinking about it! I really am so excited to see the runners again and get to spend time with them. Camp is a really fun time, and I hope a lot of them are going!

I decided to mow right after my run, which was nice because I got it out of the way but not great because I didn’t drink nearly enough water and didn’t have anything to eat until almost 11. I had a lot to do today because I’m going to my parents’ house for my dad’s birthday!

Saturday, August 7th

OFF

Took today off because I didn’t feel great this morning and I want to rest up for camp. It starts Monday and goes until Friday, then I have Mines of Spain that weekend! I meant it when I said it’s a busy week. I hope you all enjoyed this. I can pretty much guarantee next week’s blog will be more exciting, though. Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next week, if I’m not dead!

— Morgan