August 21 2005 -That is a hill allright! "Das ist ja ein hügeli!"
First official day of practice!
What: Long Run
19KM (11.8 miles) with two installments of 15 minute tempos after half an hour of running, 5mins jog rest in between the tempos (Livia Burri is a Junior runner here and is preparing for the Swiss Championships for the 5k so I decided to do her workout with her since she would most likely be dragged into several of my own workouts.)
Where:Gwatt Zentrum (next to Thun)
Comments: Foggy and drizzly weather
Quotes: "It is nice to have someone that talks so much on our run."
-Livia Burri
First official day today!!! I felt a little bit under the weather because it feels more like fall here than summer. It has been quiet unusual weather here because we normally have a summer here (I used to come on vacation over here in the summers from when I was 8-16 yrs. Old so I know the typical weather). Since I have been here, it has been pretty unseasonably chilly and I have had a hard time with my immunitiy! Although I cannot complain because I have not felt a drop of humidity here and the weather, besides the rain, has been a perfect average of 70 every single day!!! The run still went well though so I was happy. Fritz BOSS was on his bike of course, telling us "links" or "rechts" left or right! Thank goodness or I would have gotten lost around the trails we ran on. And there are beautiful trails all over the place here! No matter where you are there are always Wanderweg s (official, well-kept trails) nearby to run on! EVERYWHERE!
Where I've Been…
My running career started in high school when I was too small to play soccer with the boys since we didn't have a girls' soccer team. My brother Hernan told me to run cross country. I didn't even know what it was, I just showed up for practice the first day and stuck with it!
I had an amazing coach in high school Mr. Aylsworth (Skinny) who taught me everything I know about the mentality of my sport. I would never ever have made it this far without him. I started out high school as a AA school and then my junior year we moved up to AAA. I made it to States every year I ran for cross country and outdoor track and topped my career out in high school when I won the Pennsylvania State Championship meet, which of course was a major highlight of my high school career. I was still a distance runner baby at the time, but the lessons I learned from those years were priceless and remain with me and will remain with me always. Those are my running roots as I like to call them, my high school years at the very small Oxford Area High School. Where I first learned to dream big…then onto college……How I even came to Oxford? Well, better save that for next time…
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