First Post

After hearing so much about blogging and how it can benefit a runner, I decided what the hell, why not.
So here I am. My name is Lucas Muniz, I got to Mississippi State University, and I've been running for almost 4 years now. I have a younger brother, Gabriel, who also runs and is pretty good. He's definitely going to be much faster than me, but I'll talk more about him later.
 I absolutely love this sport and I really couldn't picture myself doing anything else. Sadly I only started my Junior year in High School, but the two years of it really were the highlight of high school for me. The friendships I made and still have, and memories I made, are something that wont go away. For that, I have to thank my Father who consistently nagged me to get my but out there and run with him, haha.
My PRs
400- 54.4
800m- 2:03.3
1600m- 4:44
3200m- 10:32
5000m- 17:22
Half Marathon: 1:20.42 (Atlanta)
My senior cross country season was frustrating to say the least. After a solid summers training with my teammates and the longest run of my life (15 miles...we got lost up in the mountains in Blue Ridge, Ga) I felt awful the first week of school and practice, after getting blood tests it confirmed that I had mononucleosis and I was out for a full month. After loosing the majority of my fitness my season was turned into a game of "Catch-Up" and in the end was only able to do so much. My training and workout parters all ran a minute faster than I did (low 16s) and I was not able to lock in my spot to run at state. I was genuinely disappointed after cross country, but something clicked in me. I knew I was much more capable than what I had done, and I was going to prove myself to everyone else that I could.
I trained well over the winter and was doing strength exercises with a guy named Julian Scadden who lived up the street from me. I guess you could say that he was my trainer.  I was at his house 3-5 times a week from the winter all the way to the end of track season. I can say that this man made the biggest impact on my high school running carrer, he really taught me how to push myself and for that I am forever greatul With my hard work at the track and countless hours working out with my trainer I made huge jumps in my times and really established myself on the team (ranked 2nd in the State during XC season behind the power house of Brookwood Highschool). During track I learned what hard work and dedication really was, not just trying hard, but really killing yourself out there day in and day out, and this is when I began to dream of running at the Colligate level. With only starting this sport recently and having the work ethic and Love with the Sport I had and still have, I knew that I was capable of achieving it.
But that is not the true reason why I have this dream. The reason I want to run in college is because of what the sport did for me. It helped me become the person I am today. I used to be painfully shy and unconfident, but now, its the complete opposite. My little brother looks up to me as well; he said I am an inspiration to him. I want to be able to make him proud and see that with consistent hard work, dedication, and faith in God, that so many things are possible. I want him to see that if he has a dream, to hold on to it, and to work towards it. Thats what I've learned, and thats what I want him to learn through me doing what I am doing.
Last paragraph before I go, sorry I know I'm rambling.
After track I kept training, I ran though the summer and took about 2-3 weeks off when I got to school due to club rugby( I know...) and then started back up again. I spoke with coach Franks many times and he gave me the teams winter training schedule and he was going to set-up a trial for when I got back. It was great, my training was going so well. I was averaging about 50-55 miles a week before I got the schedule but then it went up to 60-65 (the highest I have ever been) and I was killing it in the workouts. I was in the best shape ever after winter of 2012, but being how this sport is, when I got back from break, I got a stress reaction in the 3rd metatarsal in my foot and had to take 3 weeks off. I was so close to making it so it was a huge disappointment, but I have had set backs like these before and I know that with patience and faith, you'll recover, and usually come back faster than before. Its now my 6th week back and I feel great, I had my fastest longrun last monday (13.5 miles at 6:40 pace acording to my watch, but Nike GPS watches aren't  inaccurate on cloudy days so it was faster) and my mileage is slowly building. I should be back at 50 mpw by the end of spring break. Best of all, I talked to coach and told him I'm gonna take my time to get back into it and he told me no rush, to come back in the spring and  I could get the summer schedule from him. So, as long as I can stay healthy, I know I will be ok. The easy part is the training, the hard part is staying healthy.

There is so much more I want to say but I will save it for other posts.
Anyways, time to go to class and then I'm off on my longrun later. Until next time

-Lucas-