Spreading my wings

As I was riding in the car the other day I got to thinking about my blog...how in my profile I say that this is about my my life - my life as a wife, a mother, a MeMaw, a teacher, and a runner - yet all I ever write about is my running. I think I'm going to try to change that a little. I'm going to spread my wings and write about Life...as well as the marathon!


You know teaching is so filled with contradictions.

There is of course the issue of testing - you know THE TEST! As a 5th grade Science teacher, of course the test I am talking about is the TAKS Science test. My students completed the testing last month and the results are due back sometime this next week or so and we are all anxiously awaiting the scores...the teachers at least as much as the students! There is a lot of stress and pressure associated with the test...it is one of my least favorite parts of what I do.

On the upside...there are those moments that touch your heat. They don't happen every day, so now that I have a place where I can "write" them down, I thought - why not!

Friday morning, during one of my Science classes we were working on an experiment. The kids were spread out all over the room pushing cars with pencils, marking down distance, taking turns nicely - discussing results...it was awesome. I travelled around the room listening to the discussions, pointing out ways to make the data more accurate - helping them check their results, etc. On one of the trips around the room one of my students glanced up at me and asked, "Can I tell you something?" (Always a dangerous question!) "Did you know that you are the main reason I'm thinking about becoming a teacher when I grow up?"

Wow! Out of the blue, no warning, no preparation...such a statement. It was one of those moments in teaching that you don't ever want to lose. I hope she stays with it...I hope she dreams big. I don't know what will happen to her in her future, but I do know the impact that her simple comment had on me! A simple moment I don't ever want to let go of!

Don't worry - I'll still be telling you about running...but I will be posting more about life in general as well.

White Rock in December

It's offical. We registered. We will be trying to run the Rock in December...no, let me rephrase that. We WILL run the rock in December! I'm excited. This is my goal for the year. I KNOW if I put my mind to it I can do it. I look forward to posting how my runs and training are going...follow along with me!

Lovejoy Country Run 5K

Today was a good day for a run. We got up early to get ready. We were both really tired for some odd reason, but we had paid our money and we were going to go run darn it! We strapped on the ipods and the garmin and we were off! After a quick stop for energy drinks it was up the road to Lovejoy. It was really close to the house, and that alone was nice - but seeing the organization of the race made it even nicer!
When we drove up there must have been 8 - 10 people directing traffic through the parking lot making sure everyone got parked in the correct area. Then it was off to the center courtyard where pre- and post- race activities would be held. It was nicely set up - and made for an ease of race day registration, listening to music and announcements, etc.
When it came time for our run to start (after the 1 mile run) it was a very efficient start. There was someone at the start line reminding everyone that the very start was for the elite runners who would be running a 6:30 or less time, and to place yourself accordingly - to stay on the sidewalk until the elite runners got into place. Rick and I walked to the middle of the pack - which is about where I need to be :) .
The gun went off right on time and we were off! The course took us across the parking lot to the main road, up a mild hill to the turn, along this country road where you could see lots of trees, a pond, a few houses, etc. and back the same way. There was a good water stop with lots of volunteers placed about 1.25 miles in on both sides of the road so you could stop both going out and coming back. The course was pretty flat.
I started out a little faster than I normally do - probably because of the cooler temps. My first mile was completed in 9:33! This is one of my fastest mile times since we came back to running! The other nice part of this was that when I got close to the turn-around Rick wasn't too far ahead of me. I think he was really surprised to see me that close to the turn-around. We high fived as he went by and I just tried to keep my pace going. My second mile was done in 10:27 - and that was with a slow walk through the water stop...by that time I was starting to feel the run, but I was pretty determined that I was going to have a better time this race. I was still feeling it the last 1/2 mile, but I was plugging along when out of nowhere I got the "heaves"...I thought I was going to lose it on the track. within .2 miles of the finish I had to stop and walk...Rick caught sight of me and urged me on and I did jog over the finish and had a respectable 31:34 finish to take 5th in my age group. After I caught my breath we took our stuff back to the car. I asked how he had done because I lost him after mile 2. He finished with a great 28:27! He just keeps getting better and better - I am soooo proud of him! After we checked our times we headed to the cafeteria for a wonderful pancake breakfast that was paid for by our entry fee.
This was a well organized, very enjoyable race. Everything had been thought out in advance, the signage was well placed, but most important EVERYONE, from the folks in the parking lot to the volunteers serving the pancakes were very friendly and helpful! This is for sure a race I will look forward to doing again next year to see if I can get that time down a little more!

DRC Rock and Roll 5 mile run

Today was a pretty good day to run. A little warm - a LOT humid, but OK. At 73 degrees it was warm for me - I do best in the mid 60's. There were a couple of glitches along the way but we made it!

We got there in plenty of time, but the parking lot was full and because of the rain they weren't letting anyone park on the grass - so we parked in the church lot on Garland road where they club had gotten permission for overflow parking. We walked on down to the clubhouse and picked up our numbers and shirts. Then it was to the porta-potty line. With three minutes to the start I gave up! (They had THREE potties for 600 people!) We went on down to the start line only to find that they had delayed the start of the race 15 minutes! I was about 6 people back in the line when I left - had ANYONE bothered to send word up to the potties then I could have stayed in line. I was NOT a happy camper! I really wasn't happy after the race when we got back to where we left our bag of goodies and someone had stolen it! Yeah - we had to leave the bag because the car was about a 1/2 mile away and we couldn't walk back and put the stuff away and then walk back to the start line again. There has GOT to be a better way to do that!!!

We finally got started and I tried to just run and not worry about anyone or anything around me. I looked down when Garmin beeped at me and I had completed the first mile in 9:57! This was my first under 10:00 mile in FOREVER! I couldn't believe it.. I just kept on going at about the same pace and figured I'd see what happened.

Well, hills are what happened! We came to this big hill and I ran up it, then we had to make a right turn and there was MORE hill. My legs were not happy, and I was having trouble breathing - so I walked to the top and then took off again. It seems I always have trouble breathing in the heat - so my strategy became run as much of the hill as I could then walk to the top and start running again. Finallly at the three mile mark we were pretty much done with the hills....that is a mile and a half of hills!

Back on the flats and I was good to go again. I felt OK, but I could tell I was wearing out. The last mile was really tough...at about .25 to go I had to go back into walk run mode. At about .10 this gal passed me up and I struggled to get back by her. I was successful and I was pretty proud that I had enough steam to pass at that point. Just at the finish line this guy came running out to her to tell her to "finish strong" and he was going to run with her...well I wasn't going to let her pass me - so I put on the after burners and took off. I DID IT....I beat her and passed another 1 or 2 before the line as well. Whoo hoo! My Garmin time was 54:50. Not incredibly fast - but about my average. I think if the course had been a little less hilly I would have made my 52:00 goal time...ah well, there is always next year, right?