I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Training alone is tough. I never really had to do it for a substantial amount of time until I graduated from Trinity in 2009. Before that, I always had a team during the school year. While in high school, I'd go to the Roger Soler camp during the summer. Afterwards, in college, it was tough to get myself out the door during the hot months, but I at least had some motivation knowing I'd be with my team come mid August. Well graduation and my last trip to NCAA's came and went faster than I anticipated. I was in a new world...on my own with no sight of a team anywhere in the future. I knew I wanted to keep training and see where my new found love of the sport would take me, but the only way to do that was to get tougher...mentally tougher. I trained basically all on my own during the summer and most of the fall of 2009. Jer was trying to recover from an unknown injury at the time, so he'd join me on some warm ups and occasional workouts towards the end of the fall but I was basically on my own. I don't regret not having a training buddy then. It only helped to shape me into a stronger runner mentally and physically. Not only was I learning how to get through workouts on my own, but they were longer and tougher workouts than those in college.

But as much fun as toughening up all on my own was, the times they are a changin'! I have a team again and it is WONDERFUL! Caitlin just graduated from Trinity, Liz just moved back to San Antonio from Ft.Worth, and they're both living two miles away from me! It's amazing being back on the roads with two of my college teammates. Both girls were on the same team with me that placed  6th in the nation at the DIII NCAA XC Championships in 2008, mine and Liz's senior year. We're kicking butt and taking names on the workouts that Jer's giving us and I couldn't be happier to have them by my side. This past week alone we've been helping one another out. I felt awful on Wednesday's tempo, but Liz and Caitlin were powering through like they could go on for hours. It helped a bunch and led me to finishing on pace. Just three days later, on yesterdays long progression run, I was feeling on top of my game while Liz and Caitlin were struggling a bit during certain parts of the workout. This is one of the many benefits of having running buddies. I'm not going to feel great on all my workouts and it's wonderful to have amazing girls there who will help push me when times are rough. Don't get me wrong, Jer and I have been a very solid team of two for the past couple of years. He's helped me out more than he knows, but I always felt a little bad when he'd do my workouts with me. I know he sacrificed some of his own training just so he could help me. With girls, of the same ability level, there's no guilt. 

We're all training for the San Antonio Rock n' Roll in November. Liz and I are taking our second shot at the marathon, which means I'll have a great training buddy during those longer workouts. Caitlin's training for the half and she'll be doing most of our workouts with us just cutting some of them shorter. It's exciting to see us 100% focused on our training while now being grown-ups with real jobs (or the MAT program in Caitlin's case) and responsibilities. This means early bedtimes and starting the majority of runs before 6:00A.M. We'll be doing most of the same races during the fall so that means traveling together, racing together, and cheering each other on. Having 5 people (including Chassy and Jer) has added this extra element of excitement to training. It's not just about my training anymore, it's about all of us working together trying to reach our potential post-collegiately.

The only thing left now is thinking of a team name...