This year has possibly been one of the hardest, most incredible situations Ive ever been in.. Life has thrown me some of the most unexpected curve balls, but for the first time in my life, none... I mean none have stopped me dead in my tracks. Yeah, they threw me for a bit of an emotional whirl wind, but my training didnt really suffer. For once, I put the utmost faith in my coach and ran the workouts that HE wanted me too, without questioning him. I think that may just be the key to this whole runing thing.

In January, I was putting in some amazing miles, getting the best base of my life in...

Feburary was where I was really begining to look like an athlete, getting some fartlik runs in and holding my own. Then, in the end of feburary I started to feel a bit tired.. and then came extreme exahstion..I thought, "its over, Im running like crap"! Got my ferritin checked and it was at 14. So, easy runs for the next month... I decided that, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I would take this as a learning experience, be an example for my athletes and understand that this would someday make me a better athlete and coach. So, I did just what trav said... I ran easy...real easy.

March came a long and I was still runnin Easy runs. Mid month, I finally got back to where I could run an hour.. My confidence was building!!! THen BAM, family drama (Should have expected that one). I had to evacuate in a day.. Normally that would have stunted my trainng tramendoulsy. But, for the first time in my life, I kept going, using running as my serenity rather then my stress. I did take some much needed advice from an  buddy of mine (Ross), he said "dont let this affect the way you roll kid".. So, with that said... I put the personal stuff behind me and just focused on the stuff I had control over.

This positive attitude, I beleive helped me to cruise into April where I can still remember that first day Trav said-" so Tiff, did you bring your spikes?", I smiled from ear to ear and ran for my spike bag, That power 400 was the best feeling ever! I was now living with my best buddy Nikki, which was a blessing in discuise.. I realized that my horrible family situation helped me to get back where I needed to be. Nikki is someone who always puts me in my place and someone I can count on the NEVER over react to a situation.. She's a solid rock man, but I think I may be softening her up... SUCKER! As for running, I ran some awesome track workouts, thanks to my base, patience and a coach that wouldnt let me push it to far. I also grew up a bit this month. The last part of the month was pretty stressful, with a minor quad pull and and coaching drama, but I was able to elax a bit, find a happy medium and trudge through the muck and come out the other side feeling energized and excited... I was itching to race though!!!!

Finally, we reach May!!! Yesterday, I ran the 1500 at Pacific University (my first race since early october) and it went well. I ran my best opening time ever. It was nice because for the first time, I didnt psych myself out, I went into the race feeling like it was going to be a bit of a test effort, just to see where I was. My goal was to just be competetive because, I really had no idea what kind of shape I was in and well, I ended up running alone the whole race, so my time really wasnt anything spectacular, but it really showed me that I was ready for more. May is shaping up to be a pretty nice change of pace for me... Maybe there are some PR's in store!