Hills.

hill: noun: A naturally raised area of land, not as high or craggy as a mountain

To many runners, this word may represent one of the worst things that could possibly pop up in the middle of a run. To a crazy few (myself included), this word represents one of the greatest things that could pop up in the middle of a run.

For the past few months, my runs have been deprived of these beautiful, challenging objects. The flat lands of North Carolina, specifically Pembroke, have forced me to train on flat, even terrain. While this is perfect for speed training, it leaves out the definitely benefit of incorporating hills into your training.

Fast forward to now... It is currently 12/13/2011. I have logged 2 consecutive days of runs through hilly terrain. Tomorrow will be the third, and undoubtedly, I will probably hit upwards of a full week of hilly runs. Mentally, this is the most exciting thing to happen to my runs since I got some new running attire over a month ago. But why write a post about it? Because...

MY LEGS ARE THE MOST SORE THEY'VE BEEN IN MONTHS. It hurts to crouch down. And even extend them fully. I am not used to hills anymore and it sucks after hitting them hard for 2 straight days. Pretty much, I just wanted to vent about my soreness.

In all honesty, I am beyond stoked that I have hills to run on again, but I also cannot wait until I am used to them because I miss not being sore...

Like the Changing of the Seasons

Another season and another semester over and done with. This one was better than the last and I will never forget what happened. I set out to qualify for my first National Championship ever and I did just that. Despite not racing quite how I wanted to once I got there, it was an experience I will never forget. Now, that has passed and I am trying to survive finals week and preparing to head home for Christmas. But when I leave North Carolina this Friday, I will not be coming back...

Starting in January, I will begin anew at Eastern Washington University. It is time for me to move on to (hopefully) bigger things and do so a lot closer to home. I have known I was leaving at the end of this semester since last school year. I am leaving for personal reasons that no one else is responsible for. My coach, teammates, and school here in NC have been incredibly good to me, and I hate to part with them, but I know this is the right move. I hope to carry the success I found this season into the DI level and grow even more among the fierce competition that awaits me. I know, with the right mindset, I can achieve BIG things.

With all this being said, I want to say thank you to my coach for doing all that he has to help me be successful these past 3 seasons, to my teammates for constantly pushing me and encouraging me to fight for my dreams, my competitors for providing amazing competition for me to run with, and all my friends I made in school for doing your best to make me feel at home here. I will miss each and every one of you and wish you all the best of luck.

"Succes isn't how far you got, but the distance traveled from where you started."
-Steve Prefontaine

NOB

No, not noob. Or boob. Or non. NOB. Nike Or Bust. I came up with this term over summer with a friend and fellow collegiate runner from the University of Washington and it has stuck in my head ever since. It's a declaration. A goal. A mission. It says we are determined to make a run to go professional after college. No, not necessarily for Nike (although that would be awesome!), but at any level of professionalism. It doesn't matter to us if our times aren't fast enough yet, or even if they ever will be. What matters it that every day, every run, every race, in the back of our minds is this goal. It drives us, motivates us, picks us up when we feel weak. Every PR and every good race brings us that much closer to achieving our goal. Only time will tell if we will get there, but you can be damned sure that every day we will fight for it.

NOB.