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