As you may have read in one of Maura's posts, Maura and I are in a Maine South cross country camp together this summer which is a month long, so it ends when July ends. All of the running we do takes place in the forest preserve, and you can run whatever distance you want: one and a half miles, 2 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles, 5 miles, 6 miles, or 8 miles if you're either on varsity or looking for a way to torture yourself.
During the first week, my group (maura and two other girls) was barely finishing at 1 and a half miles, and we walked a large portion of the trail. By the beginning of the second week we could do 2 miles with a break at the end of the trail, and between the 1 and a half miles and the extra half mile that made 2 miles.
All of my group is in cross country at Lincoln or Emerson, but we usually never placed too well, or walked some of the time (well, at least I did :^)). So during the camp we were surprised we could even run/walk 2 miles without collapsing. At the end of the second week, our goal was to master the 2 miles and not stop the whole time, and we succeeded! So we ran 2 miles every day for another week - except today. One of the girls in our group wasn't at camp today, and there was a heat advisory warning, but of coarse we chose this day of all days to try 3 miles. I know 3 is, in most terms a very small number. To many other runners, it's probably a very small number to, but to us, 3 miles was like suicide. But we just had to try. As a very wise gym teacher, Mrs. Cohen, once said "You're not going to get any better if you don't push yourself." and we were getting very bored with the 2 mile trail; we knew it so well we could run it blindfolded.
The whole way we told ourselves "If we walk we will die" (which turned out to be very motivational, but made other runners look at us like we were crazy) or "think of ice cold water, waiting for you at the finish line" (which just made us even thirstier and more tired). Once I saw my water bottle, filled with ice and glistening in the hot sun, I forgot how tired I was and sprinted to the end.
We made the whole 3 miles without stopping and it felt really good! Some of the older girls ran 3 miles also, but they said they walked a lot of it because it was so hot, but we didn't slow down once. It's the farthest I've ever run without stopping and tomorrow were going to try to go even faster.
During the first week, my group (maura and two other girls) was barely finishing at 1 and a half miles, and we walked a large portion of the trail. By the beginning of the second week we could do 2 miles with a break at the end of the trail, and between the 1 and a half miles and the extra half mile that made 2 miles.
All of my group is in cross country at Lincoln or Emerson, but we usually never placed too well, or walked some of the time (well, at least I did :^)). So during the camp we were surprised we could even run/walk 2 miles without collapsing. At the end of the second week, our goal was to master the 2 miles and not stop the whole time, and we succeeded! So we ran 2 miles every day for another week - except today. One of the girls in our group wasn't at camp today, and there was a heat advisory warning, but of coarse we chose this day of all days to try 3 miles. I know 3 is, in most terms a very small number. To many other runners, it's probably a very small number to, but to us, 3 miles was like suicide. But we just had to try. As a very wise gym teacher, Mrs. Cohen, once said "You're not going to get any better if you don't push yourself." and we were getting very bored with the 2 mile trail; we knew it so well we could run it blindfolded.
The whole way we told ourselves "If we walk we will die" (which turned out to be very motivational, but made other runners look at us like we were crazy) or "think of ice cold water, waiting for you at the finish line" (which just made us even thirstier and more tired). Once I saw my water bottle, filled with ice and glistening in the hot sun, I forgot how tired I was and sprinted to the end.
We made the whole 3 miles without stopping and it felt really good! Some of the older girls ran 3 miles also, but they said they walked a lot of it because it was so hot, but we didn't slow down once. It's the farthest I've ever run without stopping and tomorrow were going to try to go even faster.