Run.Eat.Repeat

First of all, hope everyone had a great snow day!!! I sure did. The highlight of my day however was definitely not my morning run. Lots of fresh snow, ice and potential wipeouts just waiting to happen. And boy did they happen. When running in these kind of conditions, the only priority is survival. These days are kind of nice in some ways because the runs are very very slow. There is no pace pushing and you are so focused on not falling that the run actually goes by faster. You get frequent breaks because you have to figure out how to make it around a huge snow pile and the much needed stops to laugh at the people wiping out all around you. But in all seriousness, in these kind of lovely snowy conditions you should always remember that it is a marathon, not a sprint. No matter if its a 3 mile or 12 mile run. Just take your time, get your mileage in and even if you aren't going your usual pace remember that you are getting extra cardio because it is harder on your body to run in...

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner I thought I would do a little blog about food and what you should and shouldn't eat as a D1 runner.........Just kidding!!! One of my biggest pet peeves is when people think that runners should have a special diet. No, it is actually the opposite. With the amount of running we do, it is almost impossible to replenish our bodies with the amount of calories we lose when we run everyday. Because of that, my main goal is to get those calories by whatever means necessary. I don't only eat salads and vegetables. I eat lots and lots of carbs, sweets, and just about anything that I can get my hands on. If you are a runner and you are worried about your diet then you should't be and I hope this blog helped you a little bit. Now get seconds and thirds at Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow cause I know that I'm going to!! Very thankful for running so I can eat all of the pie I want :-)

This blog is just one big PSA. Everyone and their dog should know this information so I will tell you. You're welcome! So this Friday our cross country team hosted the midwest regional meet at our home course in Peoria. Our boys went in ranked 5th in the region which was tied for our highest ranking ever. So that in itself was a feat. Our boys went out and ran the 10k of their lives and by a complete miracle, pulled out second place to auto qualify for the national meet in Wisconsin!! They beat 2 nationally ranked teams and they are now ranked as #25 in the country. Our boys made history on Friday and now you can go watch them continue that history this Saturday. It makes me so happy to see the people that work so hard every day right along side me finally be recognized for all of their hard work. This team is so special and they deserve every piece of history that they are paving.

Even writing this blog post makes me very sad. Why? Because even thinking about winter running right around the corner sends a shiver up my spine, quite literally. But here I go so prepare for an informative yet depressing blog. Winter training is tough for two reasons. The first most obvious one is the cold and the snow and the ice and everything that comes with winter weather wise. It is so so so hard to get yourself to wake up at the crack of dawn and leave your warm bed to go run in negative temperatures every single morning. Putting on so many layers is literally exhausting and no matter how hard you try you either end up with not enough layers and you're freezing the whole run or you have way to many and you feel like a marshmallow who starts sweating profusely about 5 minutes into the run. Everything about it is tough and makes every run so much more taxing mentally and physically then those nice fall runs that we all fell in love with. Now what I think the worst part ab...