Hello, world! September 29, 2007

My little fam, Paul, Emma and I went on a trail last week in Benner Twp. It was about a 1 1/2 miles and my daughter was able to walk the whole thing! I also did some weight training by doing the monkey bars at the playground. But the trail had a great wide grassy opening perfect for the beginning of a cross country race before the crowd thins out into the woods. Does anyone know how to set up a race for the public, and if we ran to support a cause how do you generate money for top runners’ prizes? I guess if I was independently wealthy I would just give away my own money, but that’s not feasible.

-Liz

I walked a stroller! September 11, 2007

Hee hee, I had to have the same excitement that I had in my last post. I walked around with my little one (while she was relaxing in the stroller) in our neighborhood. I walked maybe a mile, I think last night I must have ran more than a mile, tomorrow I’ll check the mileage by driving the distance. I’m dying to find out.

I did see something crazy, a dog actually jumped over a very high fence when we were walking by (then into a brisk jog as I said “Oh my!”) and it started fighting it’s neighboring dog. Luckily, we got away without a chase. The dogs actually started fighting, eek! I hope they don’t manage to get out when I run by tomorrow. My little daughter loves dogs, so I hope it didn’t deter her from loving dogs still.

I’m going to run every other day till next week and I have my full strength back from being sick.

-CC Girl

I ran! September 10, 2007

I ran so far away, couldn’t get away (Flock of Seagulls)….I ran at least a mile at 7:30 PM to the academy near my house and back, all flat but a very steep hill at the end (we live on a hill that is a huge). It felt good to run a steady pace and I beat the rain. I still felt bad though since my daughter cried when I left, she has major separation anxiety, so my poor husband had to run a Little Einstein movie for her to calm down while I was gone. The only part of me that hurts is my back, but that always hurts, so c’est la vie. Yeah, I’m a runner again! Whoo-hoo!

–Liz, a.k.a CC Girl

Living in the Past September 9, 2007

Alot can be said to continously look backward, and that is not currently living life to it’s full potential in the present. So, I’m going to change gears on the site about IUP in the past. I am going to make an effort to go running TODAY. I’m going to at least run a mile even though I’m sick. I’m sure other CC alumni have done the same thing. Well, our daughter is up from her nap but I will tell my husband I’m going running!

–Liz, a.k.a CC Girl

First Meet at IUP and Autism Race September 9, 2007

Dear Readers,

Sorry to leave you hangin’ for so long, I have been away at a wedding in Pittsburgh and all this week my family and I have been sick. But, this is my recollection of my first meet at IUP.

Well, for spectators, cross country isn’t for the impatient, since it takes about 25 minutes (or longer if it’s a long course) to run 3 miles. On a good day, it would take me 20 minutes. Well, that is why I was very surprised that my family and to my complete surprise that my old principal, Mr. Horner from South Park showed up for the alumni and varsity IUP meet on campus in August of 1996. I have to tell you, I actually get pretty flustered when there are people I know in the crowd for some reason, and that is when I do my very worst. I started off a little shaky, but I at least finished ahead of a couple girls. I would have done better if I had paced myself. The course that we ran was in the field in the park near campus and goes past the graveyard and ends on the horse track where they have the Indiana County Fair. It’s actually not too hilly so it is to the runners’ advantage, but when it’s hot out, it’s hard since only the graveyard is shaded.

I recently ran a 5K in April of 2007 for Autism and all my in-laws, my husband and baby came to see me run and I actually threw up after the race because I was so nervous that they came to see me run. Plus, they snuck an incredibly steep hill in the course (which even the volunteers working the start and end point didn’t know about). I remember Kevin from my high school team used to puke almost after each practice. I don’t know if I would keep running if I would do it after every run. Luckily, my father-in-law had a bag and it was just water. Icky. Did that ever happen to anyone else? I also would get horrible charlie horses, or wouldn’t watch my footing and get kicked by other spike wearers (my WPIAL track meet, which was pretty important) because my dad came to see me run. I guess I was too worried about where he was and if I would run fast enough for his approval… Silly to think about, since that stuff shouldn’t matter when your racing though.

-Liz

First Practice at IUP September 2, 2007

Looking back to August of 1996, after meeting everyone at the Field House, and doing 20 situps, 20 push ups and various stretches, we ran, but not together for very long! No directions either, not that they would have helped since the other freshmen and myself had never practiced with the team, so we didn’t know where they ran. Well, I personally think I stayed with the team 3 or 4 miles until I lost them and found myself near Perkins in uptown Indiana. The only way I knew my way somewhat was from driving in town with my dad when he helped me find my dorm on move in day. Crazy. Well, most of the freshmen were in the locker room after I got back and Lauren said that she had gotten lost, and I confided that I had, too. I guess we all learned that we need to be faster next time, and to be able to stick with the team. The next few practices were of the same, which were pretty tough. It was hard to realize that I once was the fastest girl at SP, and now I was in the slower pack now. 10 mile Mondays were the hardest, but Freebie Fridays (usually the day before the meet) you could do as low as 3 miles. I ran a lot with Karen, Tanya, Lauren and a few times I went out on the weekends with the twins (they are speed demons though).

Before the first meet though, the older girls had all of us over to watch Jumanji and we had spaghetti (gotta get your carbs) at a local Italian restaurant that I remember had black spots in their water pitchers (icky). But, I liked the movie, the bonding was fun and everyone had a good time. =) We also went to the Indiana County Fair together which was nice. We didn’t have the same worries as most of the freshmen, which was who were we going to hang out with, it was already taken care of.

-Girl who loves to hate hills, Liz