Falcon Fast!

NATIONALS BABY.


I was looking through the SanFran photos of Regionals, and I have to say, Suzie had some amazing photos!! It looked like you guys had a ton of fun, and I wanted to share a picture with you that I thought was extremely powerful.

The photo above, just look at it, take it in for a minute and think about what it means....."NATIONALS BABY", is what I get from it! (Those ladies competing at nationals soon, good luck and race hard! ). Sometimes there are photos, there are experienced captured by a mere image, and it is amazing at how a picture truly is worth more than a thousand words. I look forward to seeing the many photos compiled over this great season! (Can I say collage waiting to happen! or scrapbook for those of you who like that!)


Anyways, I just wanted to comment about photographs, and even if most of us aren't running, we can still be inspired for those racing at nationals, and for our own practices and goals for the indoor season.

p.s.
I'd also like to say how great our team is...truly! :) I love you guys.

Last race of the season (for me!)

As I look back at the endless opportunities this season has given me, I can definitely count them on more than two hands. I find that through all of this hard work, I have become great friends with my teammates and coaches and have done things I never thought I could EVER do. But with all of your help, I did, I ran XC. With everything I do, I try and do it well, otherwise there is no point in doing it. I had really no idea what was going to happen when I joined XC, for heaven's sake I never ran MILES!! I am glad to say that I feel great about my first XC season and how it rolled out. Who would have guessed I could actually run a "real XC time!" (hehe, quote from Mary after my 2minute drop in my 6K race at Lake Padden).

And for my last XC race of the year, at Lake Sammamish with Madel, I felt good but knew I could ran put out a stronger and faster effort. I have to tell you about the girl in the mud story during my race. No, no, don't get excited, she didn't fall and biff it into the mud. BUT this girl was right near me for a while during the race, and right off the bat she sounded like a annoying bug in your ear...."ew, ew, ewww, ew, ew" No seriously, she said EW so many times I couldn't keep pace with her "ew's"! And do you want to know what she was "ew'ing" about??? About our friend MUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha, I couldn't help but laugh and want to kick her in the mud at the same time. Maybe she wasn't a true XC runner, because we don't have mud phobias. Is the photo above not just thrilling!? :)

So anyways, I hope you all are enjoying this last week of October. I LOVE YOU GUYS and appreciate all of you and what you do.

Thansk for the memories, truly.

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 :)

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).