first am xc workout of the school year!

I signed up for Saturdays but didn't end up going to either race, and I had a few comments to make now, so I hope Ms. Tuesday doesn't mind.
2 lil comments:
-This falcon pic is maravilloso- falcons seem like quite the majestic birds of prey.
Imagine if we had Evergreen's mascot; the blog would have a title like, "bury yourself in multiple feet of sand and hide inside your shell with the Geoducks"...
-In procrastinating on hw, I did a little bit of comparison b/w the Stanford results of last year & this year and was impressed to see that Jane, Jess, and Lisa improved in time! Jess' finish looked pretty thrilling; wish I could have been there to watch & cheer. Jane- the Chico woman who beat you by a bit last year finished dozens of spots behind you this year. Lisar- I know you didn't feel like you'd giving Stanford your "all" last year, but your 2 min improvement this year is still soooo cool! And Mary- you're quite the valuable racer, finishing well ahead of our #4 finisher last year. Chico raced very fast; more so than last year. My response is to be excited about the improvement that we'll be making (and the injuries that we'll be healed from- imagine a fully healthy squad!) before we chase them down at Regionals.

And now, to the report of running our butts off:
Today was the first am xc workout of the school year!!! I brought my camera but forgot to take pics. I've been placed in the 11am Tues workout group, but the report from the 7am Disco group was that the workout was "tough". Erika mentioned that Lisa looked great (kudos :)
We did 2k's and then some 1k's on the Fremont side of the canal. "We" included Marj, Erika & I, and 3 wonderful newcomers: Laura, Lauren, Madel. I think we'll be grouping up for the next few weeks but not sure. On the warmup, I felt a little voice telling me to invite our group to open in prayer, which we did. I'm glad, esp since there are so many times when I block out the voice that might be the Holy Spirit.
The canal workout & strides on the kidney track were a first for the newbies, which is fun for me to participate in w/ them.I was pleasantly surprised to see (and wave to) Yvonne taking Lucas for a stroller walk on the Burke :] Gotta say, I miss stroller walks w/ my little charge, Grant (the two yr old who I nanny for during breaks)
By the end, the sky had parted & looked very nice. One thing that thrilled me 'bout my workout was that its volume (2x3k, 1x1k) did not need to be modified! I did a full running workout w/o pain! God is faithful in healing my stress fracture. Looking forward to doing this workout again, but w/ more even times & faster. Might not do a pretty tough pool workout the night before, as I did this time.
Needless to say, I'm in love w/ this blog already! OK, back to writing for hw.

Work for It

Hi Ladies,
I wanted to give you a saying that I was given in the 7th grade by one of my favorite teachers. She believed in me, and wanted to encourage me and thought of me when she read this. And now I'm giving it to you guys because I believe in all of you and we all are very strong women who can do anything. Most of you will have heard this before, but no matter how many times you read it, it always has the same impact. Good luck with the first week of school, it will go well.

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter if you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running."

Remember, we are powerful and have the grace of God in our hearts. I love you team, best training and studying :)

And we're off and running!

Well, this is my first attempt at a post on our new blog! It seems that these past few weeks have just been jam-packed with so much lovely cross-country practice and team bonding time that there has not been much time for anyone to write! But I thought it would be good to share a few thoughts on the season so far... hopefully others will add more soon ( :

GOD 

has already been doing some amazing things on this team. 

From our prayer times at retreat and during goal-setting and before and after races, it is very evident that Christ is indeed our focus this season and that is such a beautiful and wonderful blessing that we can take hold of going into the season. I also have complete faith that He is going to heal those with injuries. Suzie--we are all relentlessly hoping and praying for your healing!

GROWTH

is also taking place in a big way on our team. We have quite the mix this year of different backgrounds, levels of experience, ages and backgrounds...and yet already everyone is learning and growing a lot. Its been great to see the freshman ladies jump right in and get involved...to see Kayla and Madel's enthusiasm as they try out a new sport for the first time...to see people supporting those that are working through injuries and also to see us setting a high goal--winning nationals! --And then setting out to work hard to accomplish this.

FUN

this team is so much fun and absolutely hilarious! Some memories so far are...the awesome freshman skit at retreat, Mr. Zucchini and our fantastic sting web pranks on the guys (I don't think they fully appreciated our 3am efforts!)...the amazing dance party...freshman breakfast...scavenger hunt...Lisa's hippie b-day and granola making and so many more...post 'em if you guys have random 'fun' memories of the season so far!

Well, there is so much more I could say, but it will have to wait for another time. One last thing I want to add as we are setting our eyes ahead  is that these last few weeks have been really encouraging as we continue to move toward our goals. Sundodger was a great wake-up call of what we all need to work on and a valuable first racing experience. This past weekend both in Olympia and down at Stanford the team continued to learn and I also saw a new dedication and desire to get better and close up our pack. With hard work and smart training and most of all CHRIST JESUS going with us and before us I know we are on our way!

Fly Falcons ( :

Falcon XC, Women

Here is the first post, and I will do all I can to contribute and learn about this sport I have just became a part of....XC. But note, as it has already been many times before, this is not just another women's XC team , this is the SPU women's team we are speaking of. Before I started running with the team, I had an idea of how this experience would work out, and thought it would simply be a great team bonding experience with teammates and coaches in addition to getting extra work for the track season. Over these past few weeks, I have learned that this is, and will be, a much greater experience than I will have ever thought it to be. I have also realized I forgot about the most important aspect of this all, and that is GOD.

I have never ran this far and hard in my life, and have never realized the strength it requires. I have for many years ran, swam, jumped and competed for "myself" because I thought no one had cared. But I soon learned that it was my best friends, my teammates, and coaches and others who cared and believed in me and in each other...and now I realize it is also God. Growing up only hearing the word "God" as a word spoken in anger, I knew SPU would change my outlook on life. I of course had always believed in God; whatever, whoever and wherever he may be. But running on this team has so far strengthened my trust in God and others, and myself. During the two XC races I have ran so far, I have had to trust myself that I can finish working hard, with the help of positive thoughts (mostly yours) in my mind to keep my arms pumping and legs moving. It is so easy to quit, sometimes too easy to quit. But what makes it all worth it is the hard work put into it all, and knowing that you finished with your team working as hard as you could for them and God. What makes you keep running?

I would like to say thanks right now, and I am sure I don't have to say why. We are a great team, and every one is so supportive, working towards each other's goals.

Let's make it a great one. (Above is the picture of most of our women's team at Camp Casey, and sorry about those who missed out on this special opportunity).