Tempo Day/ Preview Weekend Day 1

So today was the day, La Verne preview weekend day 1. I had to wake up early but honestly I couldn't.

I ended up running my run at 10 AM.
The heat was awful.

Got my first 3 miles in at 23 minutes. Easy jog.

Then came the tempo. I put on the flats and went off. I was cruising comfortably but it was getting tough due to the heat. I got it done though. Got it in at 18:06. Nice little 6 minute pace for it.

Then came spotlight weekend. I have met so many cool people. I even got another 3.5 miles in too.

Sorry for the small post, will elaborate later

Bye :D

Total: 9 miles
Week Total: 47 miles.

Mills

The run for the day was supposed to be a 9 miler. Finally I get a break from the 10 mile runs. So what do I chose for my run? Well I could run around my city, no that's too boring. I could run one of our school runs again, no not that again... I get an idea and I hop in my car and head north. Mills.

Mills was our toughest training course in high school. It is a 5 mile course, doesn't seem like much huh.

The thing about the course is that it begins with a slight gradual uphill that many do not notice because they are too busy taking off and going crazy with the pace. Those that did this would soon be seen later at around the 1 mile mark or if they got lucky the 1.5 mile mark. You would see veteran varsity runners slow to a pace that resembled walking, just with more rapid arm movement.

I begin going starting up the pace rather quick. I've ran this course many times and have tried going all out on this. This is my course. I know everything there is to know about it. The hills, the turns, the declines, the mile markers etc.

Back to the description.

At about the half mile mark you get to a hairpin turn that leads you to an incredibly steep uphill. And if that's not enough the top of the hill hairpins so that you have to travel about another half of a mile to get to some kind of flat ground.

I keep pushing as my pace begins to deteriorate. I am running slower yet I am giving more energy then when I was running faster. At around the mile mark I really begin to feel it. My legs begin to really burn as I feel the lactic acid build up. I keep going knowing that there is one a little bit to go and I'm good. First mile is 8:35.

Then comes three hairpin hills. Each bigger than the one before. First flat, then slight incline, then steep.

I hit the first hill and I am taking off, the pressure on my legs has been relieved. Then comes medium and it begins to get a bit tougher. I keep pushing, just one more hill to go and its all downhill. The big hill comes. I sprint to the top. I know from here the downhill will be my rest. The second mile passes by. 9:00.



Once you get past the steep hill it is all downhill. At that point gravity just takes you down the hill making a jog turn into a sprint. From then comes one more steep hill, which becomes easy because of the downhill. Momentum shifts your body forward.

I decide not to fight it, I let the downhill take me as fast as I need to go. I run up the hill easily and arrive at the top.

Then you arrive at a random gazebo at the top. This is where you can take a short breath after the hills.

I take a moment to look at the view and stretch. You can see the whole city from this point. I get to the Gazebo at about 19:30.

Did I mention you're not even half way done...

From then on it becomes easy for the next half of a mile. It's a slight downhill so the gravity quickens the pace.

I begin again and I take off. I am now cruising at a 5/6 minute pace. I feel great.
No more struggling. I get to the 2.5 mile mark at about 21:00.

It dips and you head uphill for a bit then it gets flat. Then comes the biggest hill. The trail curves around the hill and you have to pick up the pace beforehand so you don't have to work to force yourself uphill.

The hill doesn't seem so hard anymore. I have developed a taste for this part. This is fun.

The rest of the run is all downhill. That becomes the most dangerous part. It's about 1.5 miles of downhill, and it hurts. The pace is quick and if you try to slow down you find yourself stomping your feet. Then it finally finishes.

From then on I hold back. No use going all out if I still got 4 miles more to go. I finish the run at 38:08. Fun little jog.

From there I head to the flat course. It's just an out and back 4 mile. I finish that in about 30 minutes.

An Easy 10.

Whenever I would head back to my old team to run I would I always get the same question, "What are you doing today Cris?". My reply would always be the same, "An easy 10.". This would shock some as I would be too if I had heard this when I was in high school. Those two words never seemed to go together correctly.

When the run came it was a different story. As soon as the first step came I knew this would be far from "An easy 10". As each step came my ankle felt like it was going to snap, causing me to always have to cut my run short. An easy 10 turned into a horrible 6, with me having to stop at every light to stretch out my ankle. A run that really should have taken 45 minutes takes almost an hour. Then I stopped going. I needed to get my head together before running the old runs.

Finally I was healthy and I decided to actually try the easy 10. I arrive at the school and watch as everyone stretches. I talk to some of the returning varsity guys, they are pretty nice. I talk to my sort of protege' Luis and ask about his mileage. Turns out he is behind 1 mile so I invite him to come with me. He agrees and we go. This was going to actually be an easy day for me. It's not that the kid is slow, far from it. Since he arrived in high school Luis has been breaking our class records. First breaking our freshman Mt. Sac record,then the 2 mile record. He will eventually set every class record and be the fastest runner to come from our school. The thing that sets him apart from the rest of the fast freshman that have come to our school is his determination. He strives to do his best everyday and has to be one of the most humble people I have met. It's his second year and he has no coach so I began giving him some of my earlier workouts. He will probably top off at 60 this summer. So for his first high mileage summer I can be forcing him on the runs. He's quick but not at the point to be putting down 6 minute pace on runs. So finally I can keep myself from racing another run.

We begin running and are running pretty calmly, talking about running and stuff. Around 3 miles we get into a conversation about German Fernandez. GF came before his time but his enthusiasm as he described the two mile reminds me of how I was when I began getting into all this stuff. It's nice to know he is learning his history. We get to the 5 mile mark at 40:40, 8:05 pace. I needed this kind of recovery run. We head downhill still going pretty good. We about to get to the street that leads to the school when something happens. Crash! Luis drops. I guess a wire clipped him and down he went. He caught himself but he knee took some of the fall as well. He insists we keep going and we finish the run at 1 hour 20 minutes.

Total: 10 miles
Week Total: 29 miles.

A little speed

10 was on the schedule for today's run. Normally I would dread this day, the day of weekly strides but for once I was excited. I was feeling great as of yesterday, and I knew it was going to be another great run.

I head out of my house at 7:00 PM. I head uphill for about 1.8 miles. First mile passes, 6:58. Nice easy pace. I knew I still have time to recover so I kept it relatively conservative. Then comes mile 4 and it's at 28:08. I'm still on relatively great pace. I turn the corner on 6th street and I'm just a straightaway from the college. Then the car across the street rolls down his window. He yells, "Go Cristobal!" It's a friend I haven't seen since my freshman year. Whoa. I pick up the pace. I'm just lost in my shock of the moment. I arrive at the college and it's time for strides.

Every stride is faster than I had the last time. I'm doing strides in trainers yet my 100m are a second faster than last time. I'm feeling great.

I start running back to home. I'm a bit sore, but I still feel great. It's beginning to get dark so I decide to push the pace a bit.

At one mile to go I take off. Rushing home faster and faster as it becomes darker. I'm racing the arrival of night and the night wins. I keep going. Turn the corner. I'm still running great. I finish. 5:58 last mile. I'm still not tired.

Total: 10 miles
Week: 19 miles

My Journey: The Beginning.

Thia is where I begin my story of how I came into running and my journey through high school running. This is supposed to be for a legacy book that I owe my friend Luis. We did these legacy books in order to pass down our story to the younger guys. So this is the beginning of my story.

This is the beginning.

To start this story off we have to start even before high school. My infatuation with running began two years before. It all began in 7th grade P.E. In this class we would usually run "The Mile" once a week. Before middle school I had only ran a mile once before in my life. We did it back in 5th grade and I got somewhere in the range of 12 minutes. Talk about a school that's fit. As I remember there was a lot of walking. So when I arrived in middle school it's pretty reasonable to say that I was pretty unfit. Yes I was still that extremely skinny kid I am now but I hadn't run more than a mile in my life.

So every Friday we would line up and run "The Mile". Everyone always dreaded it but for some reason I was always looking forward to it. I wrote down my best times in my agenda and every Friday I set out to try and beat my time. So every week I lined up and set out to get faster. I had no sense of what was splits, pace, or even how to go out conservatively. It was always a guts out race for me. All out since the start. 8 minutes went down to 7:55 which went down to 7:42 and finally I ended 7th grade with a personal best of 7:29.

I entered 8th grade and I continued to improve. The goal? To break 7:00 for the mile and get into the 6 minute mile club. Our school had a sort of tradition where if you broke 7:00 in the mile twice in a row you would be awarded a shirt like this:



That set you out from the rest. As the year progressed I also progressed as well. I was running faster every mile and even began adding extra laps afterward. People thought I was crazy because I looked forward to the next mile. I saw it as a test, to see how fast I really was.

It came down the last two official weeks of P.E.. I had been running 7:10's and I had to try and break 7:00 these last two times to get the shirt.

The first one came and I took off and left it all on that grass field. Cross the finish..... 6:59! Just one more and I could finally get the shirt. The last time came and I took off again, lactic acid building up in laps 3 and 4 due to going out so fast. I pushed as hard as I could knowing this would be my final chance to get the shirt. My legs burned and my heart was racing, I had one lap to go. Then the final straightaway came I gave it all I had, 6:59. I finally doubled. One week later I got the shirt. As you can see I still have it now.

My beginning is pretty simple, no track or cross country team, no training, just a simple P.E. kid that enjoyed challenging himself in "The Mile". It began there in the field of Vernon Middle School that I was set out to become what I am today.

Next up: The First Day.

I'm Back!

After a whole summer of limping every single one of my runs I finally had a fast long run. I had done a shorter version of this last Friday and had remembered my splits pretty well. My Friday run went a little something like this:

1.25 miles: 9:15
Somewhere between 2 miles and 2.25: 14:56
3.75 miles: 28:55
7.5 miles: ~58:00

Pretty slow run. Stupid ankle was bugging me.

So today it was time to get to work on my miles. 70 miles is the goal for this week so it looks like it's going to be another long week. It's 6:30 and I arrive at the trails in Claremont. It's 6 PM but it's still pretty warm out. I stretch myself out a bit and hit the trail.

Surprisingly my legs felt fine. I had what I was missing for months, control. Control of the pace I wanted to run, if I wanted to go faster I could without feeling like my ankle was going to pop. I had control over how I wanted to run this run and I decided early on that I was going to test the limits of my body.

I am cruising through this run rather quickly. As soon as I pass through 800 meters I begin thinking, "Wow my training is paying off." I pass through 2000 meters at 8 minutes flat, a minute and 15 seconds ahead from a run I did less than a week ago. As I pass the mark and check my stopwatch I am instantly filled with joy. I keep cruising down step by step quicker and quicker as each stride passes through each mile with time passing by and me just having a great time.

The run is still going well, I feel great. It's just me and the trail. I zoom past the "2 mile mark" it says 11:56, whoa. I am running 5 minute pace! Then I pass the middle of the 2 and 2.25 mile marks, 12:55, 2 minutes faster than where I was at last week.

A minute passes by and I come out of the trail, it's time for street running for another 2.5 miles. From here on out it begins with a steep uphill for about 400 meters and then a gradual downhill for another mile and a gradual uphill to the turn around point.

I cruise up the hill with ease, it's as though I'm running flat. Then the downhill comes and I begin to play it very cautious, don't need to be getting hurt here. I pass fruit street, less than a mile to go. I pass by the 3.75 mile mark, 25:04, holy crap almost 4 minutes.

Then comes 4 miles, 26:45. Nice pace, I haven't even broken a sweat. I'm on my way to the 4.5 mile mark and ahead of me are some kids on their bikes. I begin to pick up the pace, my 6:30 pace has turned to 6:00 pace will no signs of slowing down. I pass them and one kid decides to try and race me, I hit the light and it's about to turn red..... SPRINT! I make it, he stops. Nice little race.

I arrive at the 4.5 mile mark at 29:46, on my way to sub 60.

I turn around and it's basically all uphill from here. That's when the pain begins to resurface. Slowly but surely it begins to take toll. Not as bad but I know I have to slow it down so I can recover.

I finally finish the run in 1 hour 2 minutes and 22 seconds.

Sub 7:00 mile pace.

A good start.

Week Total: 9 miles

Carbon Canyon

The day began extremely early. How early? Try 4:56 AM. Awake after my alarm rang for the third time in 6 long minutes. Sleep deprivation again, haven't been able to sleep comfortably in weeks. I awoke logged on and got directions for coach's house. I take a shower and get dressed. It's now 5:29 AM. Start up the car and I'm off, it is now 5:31 AM. Mapquest says 29 minutes. I say I can get there faster than that.

I arrive in Yorba Linda at 5:53. 22 Minutes. Told you I'd make it there with time to spare.

The run in mind was going to be another easy 10 miles.

The run began. Something clicked in my head. It's time to try to keep up. I am supposed to be running with this group. We ran up to Carbon Canyon. We pass that spot where my race was destroyed here less than a year ago.

It was senior year. It was the day of Brea Invitational 2009. The last time I came here was freshman year, I remembered the race quite well and knew what to watch out for, at least I thought I did. 4 years had changed a lot. I was 6 minutes faster than my first race, I was more than a foot taller, and I was no longer running frosh/soph but rather 1/2's. Brea is set up like this, A race with just the 1's and 2's, then another race with the 3's and 4's, and then a race with 4's 5's and 6's. The race was stacked, I knew the teams involved, Arcadia, Esperanza, Valencia, Brea, and of coarse our rival schools Colony and Azusa. Colony was our league rival, we had been wanting to beat them for years and were the team holding us back from taking league champs. Azusa was Alex and I's rival. They had two guys that beat us at our season opener, they wore racing shoes and we wore trainers. This was our time to finally show them that the first race was just a fluke. Bang! The race began and soon we were all packed in tight. Elbows brushing other runners legs somehow not tripping over the ones next to us. I was 400 meters into it when it happened. We begin running through the side of a playground. Person two in front of me moves out of the way of an oncoming bench. Person in front of me hits it head on, I fly over him and my knee smashes into concrete. Leg is completely bloody and this should have been the end of the story. Instead I get myself up and keep going. I had a medal streak going and I was not going to break it because I fell. So the race continues and we begin running through what seems like beach sand. You can't really pass people because it is too narrow so you are basically just tiring yourself out. All throughout this I can see my teammate and the Azusa guy battling. I can't do anything about it. I just keep going as my cuts begin to get covered up with sand. So painful. We hit the downhill and coach yells, "You are in 35th, lets get that medal." I put the hammer down and pass people instantly, 1 goes by 34, 2 goes by 33, 3 goes by 32, 4 goes by 31, 5 goes by 30, and the sixth guy barely outs me for 29th. I had no idea what was going on, all I knew is that I got the last medal.

It gave me a strange feeling to pass this place. But I couldn't stay I had to keep going. Teammates end up losing me at 4 miles, turns out they picked it up to 6:30 pace. I am left running on my own encouraging myself to keep going even though my ankle feels like it is going to snap after each unforgiving step. I finally arrive at the 6 mile mark at 46 minutes. Nice solid sub 8 pace. I get some time to relax. Then we are off back to coach's house. 6 miles to go. Surprisingly after 6 miles my pace has relaxed but has quickened. It's just Bradley, AJ and I running pretty relaxed talking about camp. One thing that connects all of us, something we didn't know at the time is that we are all Runner's Workshop Alumni. Crazy huh. We pass two high school teams on the way back, Villa Park and Valencia. They had such huge teams.

I finish the run at a time of 1 hour 29 minutes. Right under sub 7:30 pace.

The top guys get back soon after. We eat donuts at coach's house.

Then we head off to Original Pancake house. It's just Matt, AJ, Bradley and I there. Speaking of past relationships, hopefully future relationships, and just other random stuff. It was a nice break from all the running. The food was amazing.

Cherry crepes are so bomb!



Week Total:46

Straight Up Rantin', (Personal)

I have been meaning to do this for a while but haven't had the time. Through this summer I have gained so much miles to my training but also in the process have lost many people that were close to me. Now it's time to explain myself so lets start shall we.

It began with T. I did her a solid by telling her something that could have ended my friendship with one of my closest friends. Why risk it? I hate cheating plain and simple, and the fact that it was one of my friends made it worse.I couldn't stand to look at her knowing he was playing her the fool. He saw her as a summer fling but I knew she liked him a lot. What's a friend to do. I finally told her. I asked her to do me a favor and not tell him she knew. No going off on him no blogs no nothing. Her words, "Chill I won't.". I believed her, but I warned her that if she didn't I would never speak to her again. What happens next? She does the one thing I told her not to do. She blogged it. She says, "Don't worry I didn't use your name.". How fucking stupid can you be. There was only 4 people left in the group and I was the only one that talked to him. Just because you couldn't keep your goddamn mouth shut it all goes to shit. The worse thing, the idiot crawls back to him like a pathetic sick puppy. Idiot. I have dropped in on your blog once or twice and wow. You speak of all these immature people when you in fact are being described in your own writing. You are psycho and clingy, and hate on people due to jealousy. Hating on people that have nothing to do with your life. As a friend said, "She is making me hate blogs."

Next comes D. So he finds out. Yeah I knew he did. He said he wasn't tripping because he wanted to break up with her anyway. I knew it was different. A guy doesn't allowed himself to get exposed and does nothing. I invite him to come to the beach with us for my cousin's last day, I was going to apologize for everything that day. I had been meaning to. I later find out he said if he saw me he would punch me in the face. Yeah? Is that how you're going to handle it. You have continually fucked with me for years. You have gone to far extremes to make me seem like you were superior to me. You have embarrassed me in public saying that was nothing, not even at the status of a normal person. Then hitting me in the back of Henry's car. You didn't think I remembered that huh. You had all this coming. You were a shitty friend to me and good riddance.

Then comes H. So it seems the guy we can all trust has been saying stuff behind my back. Saying that I have been talking shit about him behind his back. Saying that he can't trust me. Out of everyone you were one I respected the most. Fuck it you're gone too.

Although this means I can no longer hang out with my best friend that often because of these people so what. I am left with me and my goals and that's where I like to be.

Of coarse there are more and I will post more later but I just had to clear this story up. College is coming up and why surround myself with those that despise and plot to tear me down when I can just keep pounding down the miles and move forward. As each mile comes I move farther and farther away from you and lets just say, good riddance.

A Disapointing End I Guess,,,,

Well the end of the week didn't end exactly like I would have liked it. I had 22 miles left by the end of Thursday.

Friday:
The day began to get later and later and by the time it came to run I realized I had no one to run with. Hernan was working and Kevin was in San Fransisco. I ended up doing an easy 6 miles on the Euclid trail. Would have done more but it got dark.

Total Mileage: 54

Saturday:
Saturday ended up being the hottest day of the summer for me. I could only handle doing 10 miles. The heat got to me quick and I just wanted to get out of it.

Total Mileage: 64

I will not let this happen again, minor setback, a learning experience.

Well I guess till next week I guess,

Double The Runs, Double The Thinking,

I absolutely dread double days. Now that the heat has picked up in this crazy Southern California city, I have to start running twice a day. A short run in the morning before the heat absolutely fries me, as if I'm not fried enough as it is, and a medium to long type run in the evening. The only problem that occurs is I'm always too lazy to wake up. Take today for example,

I set my alarm to beep at 7am but after constant uses of the snooze button I finally arise at 7:45. Not really slept the night before but I knew I had to be up early. Made a deal with my mom where if I left the house spotless she would take me out to buy the new shoes I have been needing for so long. So eh why not put a run in the morning to lighten the load. I lace up my Saucony's, knowing quite well that this would most likely be the last run I would have in these, and went outside.

Fuckkkkkkkk. I have not felt the heat so much since last summer. I wanted to go back inside my air conditioned house but I knew better then to do this. 30 minutes of running and it'll be over, just 4 miles of hell.

And hell it was. I covered the first two miles in 14:45, feeling like I am racing this just to get done.

The awful thing about these runs is that it's usually not long enough for me to get into my groove, which usually ends up happening around mile 5. Instead all I'm left thinking is why am I running in this hell.

I finally get to the turn around point and it's time to pick up the pace. At the time ticked away, the temperature arose.

I was hitting about 6:50 pace when I hit the 3 mile mark and the heat finally got to me. For some reason I felt like I was going to be sick. I just reminded myself that it was probably from lack of food and that I would be done in less than 10 minutes.

I finally finished it, sub 30 for a 4 mile.

Total Mileage: 40

I came back home and took a cold shower. So refreshing. I did absolutely nothing for the next hour just because I felt like shit.

I finally cleaned my house and my mom came and took me to go to Top Speed Running. They put me on the treadmill and it turns out I can now wear neutral shoes! So relieved. They brought out two Asics shoes, one Addidas, one, New Balance, and one Brooks. I took some time running in each around the store, my choice?


Brooks Glycerin 8.

I took these shoes out for a test run with the old high school team. Their coach wasn't there so it meant we were allowed to come run with them. So I called up Kevin to join us. He agrees and we head out to Montclair High School. We wait a while for the kids to get stretched. As always one acts like a total douchbag, but whatever, he is nothing to me anymore.

We begin our run and are traveling pretty well. Talking to everyone in our group, Kevin, Hernan, and Luis. About 2 1/2 miles into it Kevin turns due to having problems from the day before. Another 1/4 mile into it and Luis turns because he had just ran 6 miles. We stop at Claremont McKenna and Hernan and I decide to put down an easy 2 miles on the track so we wouldn't have to travel much more uphill.

We begin.

1st 800 comes at about a 3:09. Still feeling pretty fresh. Some eye candy on the track as well which made the run much nicer.

Mile 1 comes at a 6:34, we slowed the pace down quite significantly realizing that we were traveling faster and closer to tempo territory.

Hernan drops off at the mile mark to get some water and for some reason something clicks in me to try an easy tempo.

First 400, 1:30
Second 400:1:31
Third 400:1:31

As I see my watch at the 1200 mark I notice I'm off pace by a bit and add a small surge to get it back. As I come into the last 100 I do not even look at the watch, I pass the two mile mark and click.

6:00, nice.

From then on comes the cooldownish recovery run. We ended up finishing the run at 59:28. Nice easy run.

Total Milage: 48

As the day comes to a close I have a pretty interesting discussion with my neighbor. Many say that he is an idiot and lacks intelligence but after all these years I have come to understand that behind his tough exterior lies a complex and confusing person.

I admitted to him something that I have not said to anyone else. Something that I am incredibly not proud of. For some reason this has crept into my thoughts once again. It began with me joking around but ended with a realization that I do not like to admit. The person has invaded my thoughts once again. Him and I were left in similar situations, by his terms, "We got fucked with." So why now?

A Night Run.

Night runs do not come often to younger runners. The world restrains us from having these adventures. When they come, they are always a good memory.

Something about the night changes me. Everything feels easier. The pace is much faster than something I would be able to do at lets sat 1pm but yet the pace feels easier than that.

You lace up the shoes and go out, at a time where many are already tucked away in their comfortable houses.

I mean the run itself brings many different elements. Elements that do not usually come when I run in the afternoon. A slight sense of danger, but yet that's what keeps me going.

You go out into the twilight, nothing showing your path but the next streetlight several yards away.

I feel so swift when I run at this time. Nothing holds me back. It's just me, the road, and my time, counting down until this illusion of a peaceful world ends and I must shift back to reality.

The nice breeze blowing past you as you take the next step, your next minute, your next mile, your next hour.

It's so easy to get lost in these runs. I start and next thing I know I'm five miles into it cruising at a comfortable 6:50 pace, and I still got 5 miles to go.

Time passes right in front of you while your stopwatch counts down the time till your dream is over. Reality is moving forward while your time is counting down and you are lost in your own world as though time has ceased to become a factor.

By the end of the run I find something familiar that reminds me that I am about to finish. This run is about to be finished. It's as if this is just a dream and when the clock strikes and I take my last step I am back to reality.

You turn into the last corner of this seemingly endless adventure, but instead of it being something dim and unfamiliar it is rather something that clicks in your head and sends you back. You are done.

8 nice miles tonight.
36 week total so far.
Behind 1 mile.

Alone.

The calmest runs for me come when I'm running alone. Just me and the music blasting in my ears as each song progresses to the next. Many do not like running with their I-Pods, and it makes any runner look like just something as trivial as the average jogger. I don't know where I began doing it but running with my I-pod just gives me the extra motivation I need, especially around mile 5 or 6, when I know I still have another 5/6 miles to go. It takes you into another world, still able to see the beauty in the world but without all the noise everyone brings to it.

Sunday:

The day was set to be a 9 mile run. This week will be the highest mileage I have ever done in my life. 70 miles. Last week was disapointing to say the least. Only 28 miles done because I wasn't able to run most of those days due to my ankle. This week I said it's done. I'm not going to let this ankle problem get to me any longer. I'm not going to let it hold me back. We ended up going to the beach with family and friends. It was my younger cousin's last day in California so we wanted to end it on a good note. I'm having a good time just laying in the sand just chilling in Huntington Beach. Around 7:20ish I finally get myself up to go run. I finally have what I've been missing, discipline. I'm going to need it for this season. Too long I have stood by and let days and miles go by. So I lace up the shoes and go. I'm running on the bike path cruising at about a 7:30ish pace. The plan for the run was 36 minutes out and 36 minutes back so that it would come to about 9 miles. Someone asked me how do I know how many miles I do. I know now that I never run about an 8 minute pace on my runs so I always multiply my miles by 8 minutes. There will always be some extra miles in there but it's better than being behind. The beginning of the run was filled with ankle pains. It all went away around 15 minutes into the run. That's when out of nowhere a little girl runs right into me. That's when I bust a spin move and completely miss hitting her. It was epic. From then on the pains began to fade. It was just me and my music. As I began getting closer and closer to 36 minutes I could see the sun set. That was the most beautiful thing I have seen in a while. As I came closer and closer to the time the sun began to fade away as well. When I reached it I didn't stop. Something in me told me to keep going. I got to the next stop light and kept going because I saw something familiar, a big building at Bolsa Chica. I had no idea I had gone that far. 43 minutes. I sat down and stretched for a bit. Then I knew I had to go back. I had to get back quite fast because the sun was coming down. It was as though I was racing against the sunset, trying to beat the night from coming first. By this time I was basically alone on the bike path. Everyone had pretty much either gone to their campfire or gone home. It was peaceful but also a bit unsettling. It was hard to see so I had no idea what was coming next, or quite frankly where my car was. By this time my mind had already left me, I was feeling the runners high. That's the point where you don't have enough oxygen going into your brain so you get the sensation of being high without smoking. The body's pain goes away and nothing else matters, it's just you and the trail. I finally finish the run at 1 hour 28 minutes. 12 miles.

Monday:

As every Monday, this day was set to be the speed training of the week. 8 miles of regular running with 8 strides, equaling this day to 10 miles. I kept postponing the run till later and later until finally at 7:40 I decide to go out and run. I start from my house and go up Benson Ave to the 210 freeway; 2.8 miles and then turn left to go to Mills, another 2 miles. From then another two miles of downhill through the Claremont Colleges. I love running through a school it just adds a little excitement to the run. I stop at the track, 6 miles into the run. It's time for the strides, but first I put in a quick mile. I'm just jogging and hit stop on the time and it's a 6:50 mile. Nice way to warm up. Neighbor comes with my Spikes and it's time for my strides. First mile, 3 100m's at 15.8ish and one slow one at 16. Second mile, two 100m's at 15.8ish and two at 14ish. 9 miles done one more to go. It's night now, no lights on the track. No I-pod to keep me entertained just the watch to keep me focused. First lap slow at 2:01, then a 1:53, then another 1:53 and closed with a 1:40ish. Nice little jog to finish the day.
Another 10 miles and still ahead of my miles.

Another Saturday Run

Saturday runs as much as I would like to deny, are the days I dread. Not because of the people. On the contrary, I love meeting with my new team. They are amazing. The runs themselves scare me. They are long runs but the pace is just something that I can't take. It's really as though I am racing every Saturday. It's crazy how the other recruits make it look so easy. The new recruits are all around my time but they don't struggle while I am just trying to catch up. It hurts a bit, both mentally and physically. I'm not really used to trying to get the front pack. I was usually the front pack. Now I got to build and it seems like it's freshman year all over again. Why can 't I handle this pace? Oh yeah that's right it's because of the last couple years being forced to run at 8/9 minute pace when I should have been running 6/7. Thanks again coach....

Well enough venting.

Today I decided to run my run today and not try to push it like I have had to the past weeks. Jasper brought a friend over to come run with us. From the start of the run I was struggling and decided to cut it back to 10 miles for the day. Jasper's friend Angel began to cut back as well. From the beginning we began talking. Turns out he's a high school senior coming off of a 16:17 junior season. Knows his stuff pretty well and is determined. It will be fun to see what he does. The run itself was extremely calm. The pace was nice. Not fast at all. We finished around 1 hour 25. 8 minute pace but it was what my ankle needed at this point. I need to let it heal.

Afterward we went to one of the local restaurants. Had a double cheeseburger with fries and a coke. Great breakfast. We had a lot of great talks at the table and I also began to pick up some vibes from the team. The guy's are fun to hang out with. Jasper and Sean are a riot. So funny. Alex is a pretty chill guy. Can't wait to run steeple! Matt is always there to help when I need it. Micaela is just the friendliest person ever. The season looks to be looking great.

An Interesting Week to Say the Least

This week has been one of the most simple yet fulfilling weeks of my life.

Monday:
The day was scheduled to be an 8 miler. It was hot the whole day but for some reason I was really excited about my run for the day. I call up Hernan and ask him if he would like to go running. He agrees and I tell him to bring his racing shoes because I was finally going to get back on track with my summer schedule. The day was scheduled to be split up with a 6 mile run and then 2 mile strides at Claremont McKenna. We decided to drive up to the Euclid trail. For those that do not know the Euclid Trail is just a trail that is in the middle of a busy street with 3 miles beginning at Foothill (12th Street) straight up hill and then a turn around at 24th street leading to another 3 miles of downhill. A very boring and hellish run in the day but a very calm and serene run in the evening. We begin and we are running at about a 7:30ish pace and get to the fire station at 24th street in about 22:50. At the turn around we began to get lost in our pace. We were both coming off ankle pains in the past weeks but when the downhill came it was all gone. We hit our first mile at about 6:20 pace cruising at what felt like a slow comfortable pace. When we hit the mile marker we decided to pick it up us moving stride for stride quicker and quicker while we talked about different kinds of random stuff that we always seem to bring up. When we hit the next mile mark we both agreed to slow the pace down because we were getting too ahead of ourselves. We cooled it down to a 6:40 mile and ended that day with a 41 minute 6 mile run. We get in the car and head to the claremont colleges. There we began our strides. 6 was on my list with another 800 meters to bring it to 8 miles for the day. The strides felt great and during them we noticed another runner on the track. The guy looked like a college guy and he pace looked much faster than we could possibly run and he made it look easy. Hernan jokes around like always saying he could beat him but we both knew the guy was legit. We finish and the guy asks us what school we go to. I say mine and Hernan says his and I ask him if he is from CMS and he says "No I'm from Whittier College". We continue to ask questions like why is he running here and where is he from. Turns out the guy lives in Montclair and we were like we are too. He tells us where he lives and it turns out he lives 4 houses down from me. Crazy. He says he really doesn't have people to run with and asks if we are down to run with him. We oblige and I found another training partner. Then Taco Bell afterwords. Such a crazy day.

Tuesday:
Another day another 8 miler. I hit up Kevin the new training partner and we set up a run. We head to some place by Bonelli, some place called Walnut Creek. We start running at 1 pm. Right in the middle of the heat. The trail was crazy, so much jumping over streams and climbing rocks. True cross country right there. Hernan kept falling into every stream and his shoes just look like he was running in mud shoes. We decide to make the remainder of the run into a street run. Bad choice. The rest of the run was steep uphill. Hernan faded when we hit Via Verde and caught us up when we reached the downhill. We were exhausted because of the heat but it was an accomplished 8 miles.

Wendsday:
The run for the week was a mystery like the rest of the week. Kevin picks me up and we are driving to where we are going but I don't ask where we are going; the mystery makes it more fun. After a short drive we stop at the Claremont Colleges. I thought at first, "Ugh a street run..." but fortunately for me we ended up making a turn into Pomona Pitzer then he asks if I want to see the Regional course. I of coarse say yes and we begin. A lot of loops and needless to say the run was nice. We began talking about our team atmosphere, partying/running lifestyle, specific people our high school teams. After quite a while of Alex blowing me off about me trying to help him I finally tell Kevin how he really acts. I mean a guy can only be nice for so long. It was a nice run. Shorter than I would like but still got 7 miles in.

Thursday:
The run was another mystery. I got picked up at the usual time and we headed off. We end up parking on Via Verde, and I'm like oh no the trail again. We ended up running to Bonelli Park. We hit a trail that I am familiar of but then hit an unfamiliar turn. He then asks if I want to run to his old high school, I say yes. We end up jumping the creek and turn right at the fork in the road. We hop the fence into a residential area and then pass another one to get out. I realize where I am.... I'm a block away from my mom's work and ULV! We end up getting to his old high school, wow the campus was beautiful. 3 gyms, a whole mess of fields, such a nice campus. We turn back and we hop another fence and end up next to the residential area another jumped fence and we end up in Bonelli Park. Nice day. 9 miles.

Friday:
I was incredibly lazy the whole day. Only went on a 3 mile run. It was 6 minute pace the whole way. Nice run, but not a good run day. Ended up going clubbing with friends that and came back at 12 am.

Saturday:
Didn't sleep that night. Got up out of bed at 6 AM and drove to La Verne. A 12 miler set for the day. The run there was perfect, nice and fast but the run back was filled with many problems. Bathroom stop and just ankle beginning to give way. Afterward we went out to eat at one of the local restaurants. That was some good food and the conversation's were hilarious. Funniest line of the day, Jasper, "He had cancer!?". Later I head to the beach with the family. I end up putting another 4 miler to the day. The night was nice and the pace was quick. Total for the day 16 miles.

Week total: 51