Vital Trek of Life

Woke up this morning at 7, and prepped to run. I threw on a couple layers, and slammed a Spring energy gel. It was 16 degrees today, and I had a freezing and negative experience running in 12 degrees yesterday, so I decided to run on a treadmill. With that being said, I went into the tiny exercise room of the Lundstrom Student Center.

I was still in a few layers, which made this run very hot. I just ran an easy 6 today, and the first 4 I kept my long sleeve quarter zip on, because I didn’t have a shirt under it. I waited for almost everybody to leave the tiny gym before I took off my shirt. I was now just in full length tights.

More people ended up coming in the room! I felt awkward in this public space without a shirt on, but there wasn’t much I could do.

After the run, I cleaned up, finished packing, and headed to the fueling station for a little bit of breakfast. We left in a van with Coach Mark at around 10.

On the bus ride to the SLC Airport, me and Mark exchanged Idaho lore stories; AKA funny or crazy moments we witnessed/experiences through our careers as athletes, especially ones that occurred in Idaho.

When we got there, we had three flights for the day. SLC to Las Vegas, LV to Austin, and Austin to Lubbock.

The first flight was pretty normal. I was on the window seat, middle was empty, and Mark was outside. When we got back to Vegas, (it was like an hour) it was crazy to see the slot machines and colors and all the people looking miserable sitting in their seats. And I know that most of Vegas is much crazier than the airport.

I got a little bowl at Jamba Juice, downed it, and mentally prepared for a three hour 20 minute flight.

On the second flight, I was in the middle seat. I listened to music, but didn’t do much else. It was very long and boring!

The third flight was very short and straightforward. Crazy how small cars can look when you’re flying over them… a big white van just looks like a white ant headed to its home on a hill

Once we got into Lubbock, we all felt relieved. The airport was very small, and pretty quiet. We arrived at like 9:05. Mark got a rental car, and we decided to go get some food.

Mark was hyping up this place called Jason’s Deli, so we decided to go check it out. It was 9:58, and they closed at 10! We walked in, nobody really helped us til 10, then they told us they were closed. Kinda a bummer, but we decided to walk down the street to IHOP knowing they would be open! So we ate IHOP, after waiting 45 minutes for our food. Very average and disappointing IHOP experience.

We all then went to bed. I still had some energy, so it took me a bit, but I eventually fell asleep around 12:15 and woke up around 8.

Woke up, headed down to the continental breakfast, and let me tell you, it was a classic one. Classic janky eggs, weird texture oatmeal, juice machine, the whole shabang. I ate A LOT. Mostly because of my unsatisfactory experience at IHOP, which left me very hungry. I worked on some homework after that, and we all headed down to the course.

The course was very plain; there weren’t many trees in sight. I felt like I was in a desert, except it was freezing cold. We went inside a building, and there was a store of USATF gear, and we picked up our bibs. We got free shirts!

We then ran the course. It has minimal hills, and was just a couple loops of dead, short, grass. It’s gonna be fast!

We then headed to Jason’s Deli for lunch- attempt 2. I got this baked potato, and it was MASSIVE. Biggest potato I’ve seen/eaten in my life. Smothered in barbecue beef and cheese, it was tasty. So big I couldn’t even finish it! Maybe longer than my head! Jason’s Deli was a very positive experience, which, reflecting on the prior night, made the IHOP one even more dreary and upsetting. There was a free soft serve ice cream machine, and the staff were very friendly and prompt.

Post lunch, we headed back to the hotel and cleaned up. I finished my homework, and then finished my leftover potato.

Didn’t do much that afternoon other than stretched, killed time on my phone, and watched TV.

For dinner, we went to this place called BJs. It was pretty good! I got a pretty good salmon bowl that hit the spot, and gave me a little more variety after the massive potato. Mark got me a blue raspberry Pedialyte, so I worked on it a little before bed, then hit the sac

Woke up the next morning: Race day mindset. Got some hotel breakfast, ate a banana, finished the pedialyte, and geared up for a serious day. I showered and threw on the uniform, and wore some half tights. We headed over to the course at 11, so I kinda just watched races and laid low all day til my race.

The girls did really good! Jane and Cailey got 4th and 5th, and races well. It was a super windy day, with gusts up to 28 mph, so whenever you were by yourself, the wind was ridiculous. Without drafting, racing wouldn’t be fun at all. Later I ran, and I ended up getting 4th, in the low 26s. There weren’t very many people, which was both encouraging and discouraging. So not very fast, but it was a good effort, and I’m looking up to indoor season. My race started fairly slow, and ended slower.

After racing, we found out there was no world championship this year! This was a huge bummer, as that was what we were looking to qualify for, and a big part of why we were racing in the first place. Oh well, I guess.

Post race, there was a skimpy awards ceremony (it wasn’t really official) but they gave us cool medals. I was starving and my legs were killing me. Fortunately, we went to lunch at Jason’s Deli again right after. What a blessing!

I grubbed up on this Chicken bowl, and then loaded a cup full of swirl ice cream. The rest of the day was spent watching movies, and playing games on my phone. The hot tub at the hotel was broken, otherwise I woulda hopped in there.

Overall, this trip was a really fun experience and opportunity. I’m thankful the coaches believed in me and gave me the opportunity to race here in Lubbock.