It Runs in the Family

One time after state my coach asked me if my mom was a runner or if my dad was. This got me wondering if running does run in the family. I never really thought it did, but it would make sense. I know of at least 6 people either on the cross country team or are alumni of our cross country team who have siblings that have also run on the team.

My sisters also run, but (not to be mean) they are not as good as me and I do not think they like running nearly as much as me. My dad was also a runner, but he was a sprinter. So where do my running skills come from? I think running might run in the family, but it I don’t think genetics is what makes people good at running. I think determination plays a bigger part in making someone good at running.

Shoes

Shoes are a very important part of running. It is extremely important to find the perfect shoes for your feet, because they have such a huge impact on how you run. If you don’t have good shoes that fit right there’s a good chance you will face injury at some point in time, because your shoes don’t fit you right.

The best way to get a good pair of shoes is to go to a local running store. Not Dick’s Sporting Goods or Scheels or NIKE, an actual running store, dedicated only to running. There they will watch you walk or look at the arcs of your feet or do something to make sure you buy shoes that are right for your feet and won’t make you get injured. I normally go to Running Wild. My assistant coach works there and they are normally really helpful.

Unfortunately, even if you go to a store that’s really helpful, shoe shopping is not always easy. Normally you have at least 3 different shoes that the workers say are good for your feet, and then you have to pick the one you like best. At Running Wild, they let you actually run down the sidewalk in the shoes, which is very helpful, but it’s still hard to find the perfect pair. You need shoes that fit right, last a while, and are comfortable.

Brands of shoes are all different. Some last longer than others, some are made to perfect your running form and some are more comfortable than others.  Saucony shoes last a long time, but from my experience with them, they’re not that comfortable.

(My current shoes)

 

My favorite shoes are Brook’s Ghost. I have had 4 pairs of Ghosts and I will probably continue to buy them. They are extremely comfortable and they fit really well, but they do not last very long. Considering I probably run somewhere around 900-1300 miles a year I end up having to buy about 3 pairs a year, which is really expensive. It’s almost impossible to get shoes for under a hundred dollars anymore, so 3 pairs of shoes is a lot of money. If you buy Saucony’s they will last for about 500 miles, so that would save some money, but I do not like those as much. I have also heard good things about Mizuno’s and Asics. I am not a huge fan of NIKE’s, but I know people who like them.

It is very important to buy good shoes and it is also very important to know when you need new shoes. My assistant coach always tells us to look at the bottom of your current shoes and if you can start to see a different color coming through the bottom of the sole of your shoe, then you need new ones. I can always tell when I need new shoes, because my knees start to hurt and I start to get a lot of blisters on my feet. In general, you should replace your shoes every 300-400 miles, but factors like weight and where you run also play a part in when you need your shoes replaced. I think the best way to know when you need new shoes is when your joints start to hurt or you start to feel pain, even when you are not doing harder workouts.

Shoes are a major part of running. Knowing what shoes are good and when they need to be replaced is something every runner needs to know.

6th Meet

Last Tuesday my cross country team had our 6^th win of the season! We remain undefeated! It’s extremely amazing to win a meet and it’s absolutely unbelievable to have won six meets in a row! I am still in shock by how good our team is this year.

This meet was in Iowa City at the same course we ran on in the second meet of the year. I ended up running 14:44, which was 25 seconds faster than when we ran there in the second meet.  I placed fourth and was the second runner for Kennedy. It was a good course and since our team runs together for most of the race we do pretty good. I think we also are running better, because of the training we did at the begining of the season.

This was one of my favorite courses for many reasons. Courses with long straight away’s (The first stretch of the race before you have to make the first turn), like Iowa City’s make the start of the race a lot easier. Having a long straight away allows for enough room for everyone to start the race without being trampled and in my opinion, also makes the beginning of the race feel shorter. The course also is one big long loop, instead of multiple loops around the same course. I also think that this makes the race seem a lot faster. One thing that is bad about this course it that it is in a hay field. If you have allergies and you’re running in a hay field make sure to bring allergy medicine, because for me, running always makes my allergies worse.   

There is no one in our team that is exceptionally good, but we have four people who are pretty decent and a fifth runner who is not too far from us. Because we have such a close team, we are able to accomplish a lot in meets. I think the most important thing on a cross country team is to have a close team. It not only makes cross country more fun, but it’s the reason our team is doing so well. If you can push yourself to run with the people in front of you, there is a good chance you will be more successful.

We have been training for our race by running intervals on Mondays. I can't even explain how much these intervals suck, but I think that they are a big part of why we're getting a lot faster. We run 4-5 1000-1200 meter intervals. They take forever to recover from, but I think they are really helping us. We never did them last year, and now that we are doing them this year we are all a lot faster.

Runners High

After the meet on Thursday, I experienced runners high more then I normally do. New York Times explains how endorphins are released after exercise, which gives you the feeling of runners high. I am not really sure how to explain this feeling, but it’s something I have experienced multiple times. I just get really happy and energetic and I experienced this to a greater degree on Thursday.

I think it might have been because I ran so well, but I didn’t even break my all-time PR so I am not really sure why I was so happy, but I just wanted to dance and sing and laugh. This could also be because for some reason I get a lot of energy at night (yes, I do spend countless nights having dance parties by myself, in which my sisters make fun of me).  

So I had all this energy and so did a lot of other people, and we had over an hour long bus ride. Let’s just say I am pretty sure that bus driver will not be driving around the Kennedy girls cross country team anymore, but it was sooooooo much fun and definitely the best bus ride I have been on.

After we got off the bus, several members from the team headed over to Parlor City to enjoy some ice cream (which is probably my favorite thing to eat). We had a lot of fun! One of the cross country boys asked me to go to homecoming, which reminds me I should probably go dress shopping soon since there’s only like 6 days until homecoming :/ and some of the boys also decided to play leap frog across the street and we ran out of songs to sing, so it was a very interesting night. One of the nights that remind me why I run.

The next morning a couple people told me that I was actually acting high though, but I guess that’s what I get for running so well ;)

I am soooooo glad I have such a fun team this year!

  I wonder if all runners experience a runners high like I do. I would assume it’s different for everyone, but since I can’t exactly explain the feeling that running gives me, it’s a little hard to compare to what other people feel.

5th Meet

My team had another great meet last Thursday! We won our fifth consecutive meet this year and we won another trophy for our almost full trophy case!

The meet was in Dubuque, at a course that in the past I didn’t particularly like. Last year it was freezing cold and rainy.

However this year I ended up getting my seasonal PR and I think most of the team did too. Almost everyone ran a lot faster than they have been so my coach thought that the course might have been a little short, but the whole course was measured out with signs, so it would surprise me if it was short.

I ended up running a time of 14:40 and I finished fourth. I was also the fourth runner for Kennedy, so clearly our whole team was doing well. We ended up with only 22 points (a perfect and nearly impossible score is 15)! Unfortunately, Linn-Mar did not run their varsity runners at the meet, so our only big competition was Iowa City High, which we ended up beating by close to 50 points. 

It really made me mad that Linn-Mar wasn’t there. I was really looking forward to getting to compete against them, but instead their team ended up running in Illinois and getting 2^nd place out of about 20 teams from Illinois.

I was also surprisingly really sad that two of our Kennedy runners beat the school record that I set last year. I knew that my record was going to get broke, I was just hoping that I would be the first to beat it and judging by what my mom said about how strong the first two Kennedy finishers, finished their race, I’m thinking I might not get to set the school record again this year. I think I am going to make it my goal, though to set the school record again, but it will be extremely hard since I am competing against three of my very competitive teammates who have the same goal in mind and are also working very hard to achieve it. As selfish as it sounds, sometimes I think it would be easier just to have a team that was not as good, so that I would just be the best runner and there would be less competition.

This was also the first time I was the fourth runner for the team, which I wasn’t too proud of either. Normally I can run with the other 3 teammates, who run close to the same time as me, for most of the race and then speed up around the 2 mile mark, but they sped up more at the end then I did.  I think this is partly due to my shin splints, but I think that they are also getting a lot better.

Overall this meet has its up and downs, but it was a pretty good meet and I am looking forward to our next meet on Tuesday.

Page 3B in the gazette

A couple of days ago my team and me were interviewed for the newspaper and this morning the newspaper article was published. http://iowaprepsports.com/2012/09/19/kennedy-g-xc/

This was the third time I have been interviewed for the newspaper and it still excites me so much.  I cut out every single article in the newspaper that I am mentioned in (normally it just has my name and the place I got) and put it in a box. Someday I want to refurnish a table top with all the newspaper articles from cross country and track.

The article is about my three teammates and me, who run close to the same time in every meet. We have been taking turns leading the team to our four.

Our coach talks about each one of us separately in the article, which is kind of interesting. I thought it was funny how the one thing he said about me was that I don’t worry. I think that that’s probably not true. I do worry I just normally worry more before the meet than right before the actual race.

The last time I was in the newspaper, teachers, neighbors, old coaches, and my family all sent me copies of the article along with a note of congratulations, which I thought was really nice and I appreciated it a lot.

Tonight we have a meet at Dubuque. I am really hoping we win this meet too, but I know Linn-Mar is going be hard to beat, since we kicked them to a 4^th place ranking in state, and we normally are ranked about ten spots behind them.

I am guessing Lauren might lead this race if she is having a good day, because Dubuque tends to be a little hilly and I don’t think hills really bother Lauren. I am really hoping to get a season PR tonight and I am hoping my shin splints don’t bother me tonight.

Shin splints :(

Today is Sunday, and because of my emerging shin splints I don’t think I am going to run today. My friend really wanted me to run with her, but I think it would be good for my legs to take a break. Even if they are not full on shin splints yet I really don’t want to risk getting full on shin splints. For any of you who are lucky enough to never have experienced shin splints, they feel like a knife is stabbing you in the shin.

 I had shin splints really bad my freshman year. It was not fun. It got to the point where even when I was sitting down, not doing anything, my shins would hurt so bad I wanted to cry. My friend had them so long, that she had to start taking physical therapy. So the last thing I want this year is shin splints.

Apparently one of our other top runners, has shin splints. This really scares me, because she does not know how to stop running. I bet she is running today. Last track season, she got injured and did not tell anyone, or stop running until right before state, when she physically could not run nearly as well as she could earlier in the summer and she had to go to the doctor. After state she couldn’t run for over a month. She also got injured in cross country last year and had to sit out for a few meets. So I am really scared she is going to get injured again this year. We really need her and it’s not fair for the team for her to push herself so much that she ends up not running as well as she should. Hopefully she has learned from her mistakes and decides to take it easy this week.

I really hope my shin splints go away, but I have a feeling this week might consist of more icing, stretching and shorted workouts then most weeks.

 

 

 

My Weekend

Practice on Friday sucked. I am sadly getting shin splints, so when our coach said if you have shin splints run your hour and fifteen minutes around the park down the street from our school, my running group and I decided that’s what we should probably do. Unfortunately, things went downhill around 40 minutes into our run as I found myself having difficult time breathing. I think I must have run into something that I was highly allergic to. I had to turn around and walk back. I didn’t even feel like eating a popsicle (our team has popsicle Fridays, where someone brings popsicles every Friday) and my sister had to drive home.

That night my cross country team had a bonfire! It was a lot of fun! My team has been trying to do more “team bonding” things, because our team is made up of some pretty awesome people, so we decided to have a bonfire. We made smoothies out of about 60 left over bananas from the meet on Thursday, talked, and did some dancing and singing. I ended up sleeping over and then we all had to get up early to go to Saturday practice.

Saturday practice always sucks. We go to a park where we run “5 miles” up a “hill”, which doesn’t sound too bad until you find out its definitely over 5 miles and the hill is more like a mountain. I don’t even understand how there is that big of a hill in Iowa, maybe it just seems bigger when you are running on it, but I am thinking it could be considered a mountain. So we went to practice and it was freezing out. I had on a sweatshirt, running tights, and earmuffs. I was still freezing and even during the run I was cold. Somehow, even though I was cold, I was still sweating. This really annoys me.

After the dreaded Saturday practice was finished, a lot of cross country girls and me met at the farmers market. It was the last downtown farmers market of the year, so I really wanted to go. I have only been there one other time this year and that was when I ran there. Last year when I never ran on Saturday morning’s I went to almost every farmers market. So we all headed downtown dressed in oversized sweatshirts and running tights, and probably not smelling the best. After what seemed like 20 minutes I finally found a parking spot and then enjoyed walking around with part of my cross country team, while people probably gave us weird looks, considering we didn’t look very lovely after our run.

After the farmers market I had a haircut and then went to an Iowa State game. Saturday practices take a lot of energy; so unfortunately, I was really tired during the game.

Cedar Falls Meet

Last Thursday, my cross country team won our third consecutive meet! The course was in Cedar Falls and is one of my favorite courses. You start out running around baseball diamonds, then around a pond and all the sudden you are in a cornfield and you run past a drum line. The course then finishes downhill. It’s a really fun course!

Last year, we had districts in Cedar Falls. I ended up getting third in that race, which was my highest place finish of my sophomore year! We ended up getting second in districts and I got interviewed in the newspaper.

http://thegazette.com/2011/10/20/district-xc-at-cedar-falls/

I have so many good memories at the Cedar Falls meet. I remember freshman year, when I wasn’t so focused on running, my friends and me got in trouble by our coach for talking to the boys from Washington, which was actually quite funny… Last year we got really cool tee-shirts and our team ran really good. This year, though, the meet was slightly awkward as my friends were mostly just setting me up with a homecoming date, which I am not really sure I want to go with. 

Our team did run very well on Thursday. We did a good job of staying together and we ended up finishing in 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th place and our fifth runner finished in 18^th place. I ended up finishing 6^th at a time of 15:11. I keep running close to the same time, which is really worrying me. Last year I got a PR (personal record) at almost every meet and dropped a total of 2 minutes throughout the year. Although I am a lot better right now then I was at this meet last year, I am still wondering why I am not improving very much. I think I didn’t run as well this meet, because I am starting to get shin splints, which is also scaring me a lot. I am still proud of how I ran on Thursday, and I am especially proud of how our team did Thursday, but part of me wishes I would have just run a little faster.

Also at the meet there was this insanely fast girl from Waverly Shellrock. She ended up running 14:26, which is slow for her, considering she has already ran under 14 minutes this year. Girls cross country runners have gotten soooooo much faster and sooooo much more competitive this year.

Kennedy is now ranked 3^rd in the state, behind #1 Dowling and #2 Pleasant Valley. Linn-mar is ranked 4^th and we have beat them twice, so I am really looking forward to state, I think we have a good chance of doing better than any other Kennedy cross country team has done.

 

Teamates

Cross country is an awesome way to make a lot of friends. Some of my best friends I met in cross country! Our team is just like a big family. My teammates are super nice and super positive! It’s almost impossible to not make a friend in cross country. I think my freshman year would not have been nearly as good as it was if I hadn’t done cross country. It was really helpful to know upperclassmen before school even started.  

It’s really nice to have friends who have the same hobbies as you. It’s a lot easier to run with friends then to run by yourself! You also get to see your friends every day after school and you pretty much have the same extracurricular activities, so it’s easier to plan parties.

Cross country girls couldn’t be more encouraging. Seriously, we are constantly saying good job or giving high fives. It’s really awesome to have a team that wants to see succeed just as much as you want to. Although, all the cheering and good jobs can be kind of tiring when you’re doing a hard run and every time you pass someone you have to say good job, it’s worth it to know you have an awesome, supportive team.

I have a lot of good times with my teammates. We share a lot of laughs and always have a good time.  This week we have a team bonfire, so I am really excited for that. We also do team dinners before a meet and we have popsicle Friday’s. I love hanging out with my cross country team!

I also feel like cross country doesn’t have as much drama as a lot of other sports teams. Don’t get me wrong, there is still drama, but not nearly as much. Even compared to track, which a lot of the cross country girls also do, there is not nearly as much drama.

Cross country is a great way to make a lot of friends and have a good time!

Cedar Rapids Cross Country Invitational

I had another amazing week of cross country. Last Thursday we won the Cedar Rapids cross country invitational! We beat number 2 ranked Linn-mar by 5 points! It was a huge victory for us! We are undefeated 3-0 and I think last year we only won 2 meets!

We finished with 4 girls in the top 11 and our 5^th runner was 21^st.

My coaches and my dad have been drilling me about getting out faster (the first meet I ended up in almost last by the 200 meter mark and had to pace about a hundred people). I really just don’t understand how people can full out sprint the first 100 meters of a race. The beginning of a race scares me way more than it should. The shooting of the gun, the screaming of the crowd, it’s just all together frightening and then everyone sprints like crazy as soon as the gun is shot. So my goal for this race was to get out fast and stay with one of my teammates who is amazing at starting a race. This way I would not scare my parents and coaches who are probably thinking I am going to run horrible (since I would be in basically last place) and I would save some energy and time by not having to randomly speed up and slow down to pass people. When the gun shot I ran as hard as I could and I stayed in the front. It was a little tiring, but I quickly recovered and I think I saved a lot more energy than if I had to change my pace to pass people. I strongly recommend starting a race out in the front, because it’s too much work to pass everyone in the race.

The rest of the race went really well, because three of my other teammates and me ran together and pushed each other. It was just a line of Kennedy runners around 7^th place for most of the race. The last 800 meters is where we start to separate. I ended up passing a girl from Iowa City around the 400 meter mark and a girl from Linn-mar around the 50 meter mark, so I was pretty proud about that and I ended up getting fifth place. I truly think that running in a group is a lot easier than running alone.

After the race I was greeted by a lot of my close friends (one of which was asking our fifth runner to homecoming at the end of the race).

I loved this meet! I literally could not sleep that night, because I was still so excited. I could not believe how well we did, all because we got out fast and stayed together.

 

Why Run?

Most of the time when I tell people how much I run every day, they think I am crazy and sometimes its hard for me to argue with them. Every once and a while the blazing hot sun is out, the temperature reaches 100 degrees, and our coach decides to make us run 8 miles with faster times then we are used to. Those are the runs that make me really start to question why I run, but then I think of all the reasons I love to run.

The feeling you get after you run hard is my favorite thing about running. You get this feeling of accomplishment and relief. You feel amazing that you just finished the run and you feel relieved that it’s over with. I really can't explain how it feels after you finish a run, but I think that some people call it a "runners high." I highly recommend that you go run and really push yourself and feel accomplished.

I also love running, because it keeps me in shape and makes me feel healthy. It's really hard for me to stop running for a long time, because after about a week I feel gross, unhealthy, and even lazier then I normally am. You definitely don't have to run to be in shape, but running is a very effective way to work out, because running involves almost every muscle in your body.

I also really like running, because I am good at it and it’s a sport that everyone can be good at. I really believe that if a person works hard and trains right they can be a good runner. It takes a lot of work (and I can’t express that enough), but you don’t have to be coordinated and you don’t have to be playing the sport since you were five to be good at it, you just have to want it. That’s something I really love about running. I know that as long as I still love to run and am willing to work hard, I will constantly get better.

I really do recommend that everyone try to run. That doesn’t mean you have to go join your cross country team right at this moment or start running 50 miles a week, but you should start with a mile or two every other day and see if it’s something you love to do.

Eating Healthy

One of my favorite seasons is starting… football season! That means watching our high school football team probably embarrass themselves almost every Friday night and going to Iowa State games almost every Saturday!  It also means delicious and unhealthy food.

As a runner, proper nutrition is very important. Runners need a lot of carbs, proteins, vitamins, and fats. The healthier you eat the better your runs go. After tailgating on Saturday, I ended up eating 4 cupcakes, half a bag of chips, and a lot more other unhealthy food. After a day eating like that, my run felt ten times worse than they normally are. I STRONGLY recommend NOT eating like that ever! I will definitely work on eating healthier this football season, because no matter how good grandma’s cupcakes are, eating four of them is just too much.  

I think what I hate the most is when people are in sports and they miss a meal. You burn a lot of calories exercising and you need at least three meals to get the nutrition your body needs. I don’t like it when people use the excuse “I don’t have time” or “I’m not hungry,” because your body needs the energy you get from food and you can’t get a good run in when you feel exhausted. Everyone is busy, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss meals. Try cooking your meals in advance and putting them in the freezer if you know you’re going to be busy and keep sandwich meat and salad in your fridge.  Sandwiches and salads are good and fast meals to eat.  Also never miss breakfast, it’s the most important meal of the day! If you wake up late just grab a couple of granola bars to take with you.

Try to stay away from pop. From my own experiences, drinking a bunch of pop the night before a run, makes the run a lot worse. Pop dehydrates you and has absolutely nothing good in it. I decided to challenge myself to not drink pop during the summer a couple of years ago and now I think pop is really gross and I don’t drink it at all. I highly encourage you to stop drinking pop for a couple of months and after a while you won’t even miss it.

Just because pop, cupcakes, chips, and other sweets are not very healthy, doesn’t mean you can’t eat them. Try to eat smaller portions of the unhealthy food you love and make sure you are getting proper nutrition, which includes getting at least three meals a day.

Cross Country girl problems

Today I wanted to wear a pair of sandals, but unfortunately I am a runner and I have gross feet.
Being in cross country is awesome, but there are a lot of problems a girl in cross country comes across. Wearing sandals is just one of the things that is hard to do when your a runner.

NEVER forget to wear socks when your running if you ever want to wear sandals again. Socks are a very important part of running, so don't be afraid to spend some money on some quality socks. Look for socks that say dry-fit; they are amazing at preventing blisters. Also make sure your shoes fit right. If you don't pay attention to your socks and shoes you will have gross feet and you don't want to be the one to ask if you can sneakers to homecoming, because sadly you can't.

The other day I went jean shopping. Any runner will automatically know the problem here. Does anyone else have a waist that's two sizes smaller than your legs? I swear I tried on like 30 pairs of jeans before I found some jeans that fit right! Thank God for super stretch jeans! I ended up buying a pair super stretch jeggings from American Eagle and Hydraulics from Yonkers. Thank you, American Eagle and Hydraulics, I now have jeans my legs can breathe in.

Another HUGE problem every runner girl faces is the endless hunger and the never gaining weight. I know never gaining weight might seem like a good deal, but seriously it would be nice to have some curves. When you see slightly chubby men with bigger boobs then you, well let's just say there goes my self-esteem for the day. I really feel like I cannot eat enough food. I get hungry, I eat all the food in my house, and an hour later I am starving again, so I go to the grocery store and the whole process starts over again. I eat like a sumo wrestler and I look like an anorexic. I guess I do like to eat, but it would just be nice to gain a pound every once in a while. Our teacher offered us extra credit once if we gave blood, which sounded like easy points to me since I don't mind needles at all, but unfortunately there's a weight requirement for giving blood.

There are so many problems cross country girls face every day, but it's all worth it, because running is something all cross country girls love.