I love teaching. I love planning really cool experiences for my kids. I love working with them to discover new things. I love it a lot. I however, hate report cards. I hate assessing my kids. I hate grading. I feel like in so many ways it is a moot point. That putting a letter or a number to something and making it fit into a box is so against what I hope my kids can see.

Plus, I think that we all realize that elementary school grades are inconsequential once you reach the sixth grade (and then middle school grades are inconsequential once you leave 8th and so on….)

But alas, the next three days will be less about teaching and more about report cards. And I will once again kick myself in the rear for not being a better taskmaster of reporting….

You all get A+’s today dear reader, for being one of my readers.

So I finally gained momentum on Saturday to get out of my woolies and get in gear. (ha ha, a bike joke) I rode 30 beautiful miles with my dear friend IronCasey through the back roads of W. Howard Co. It was a very slow but excellent ride. She is very strong and motivating for me, as well as a wise teacher about all things Ironman.

I definitely engaged my hamstrings in a good way thanks to an improved position on the bike, so I felt the push and pull much better.

Then Sunday, with the help of amazing RP MM, I managed to eek out 10.5 miles of running before having to hurry onto 8am church to coach a youth grouper in reading the prayers.

Then off to work which was tiring. And along the day came the creeping pains in the right hamstring/knee. Great….

I suppose my lesson learned is days of sedentary life are not healed by two days of pushing, rather consistentcy is the key. Duh. Will I ever overcome this cycle of lazy? I’m not quite sure, but something must change….and soon.

Today is definitely a lazy Saturday. I had all best laid plans to jump out of bed, run to the bagel run, run 12 miles, and come home. But when the rain drops were coming down at 6am, all I could do was snuggle back under the covers and ignore my plans.

My legs are in this weird state lately as if they are wondering when they are going to move consistently again. But I’m just not there right now. This, of course, takes me through the evolution of mental panic about upcoming races, the future of my own fitness, etc. But I have to give myself a constant reminder that running (and exercise) is a process and a journey. Perhaps this is a cop-out, but I hope rather that it is my realization that time off, in the long run, will not be detrimental.

I am envious of those people who can run 40+ miles a week (or even 20) or have a six-day a week workout schedule that they hold religiously. I’m just not that girl. Even right now, the looming prospect of another marathon does not seem to faze my sincere desire to sit and rest. Literally.

So for at least a few minutes I am going to attempt to relieve myself of the guilt of not running today. Of embracing a lazy Saturday.  Do regular people have days like this? I know that I feel like I’m the only “runner” who feels like this and am somehow less worthy of the runner title.

So again, I hold my coffee and gaze out at the last dwindles of yellow, orange and red at the Broken Land Creek and try to remain at peace with this short period of being sedentary.

Any affirmations to my decision would be greatly appreciated….

Peace.

I need motivation. I’m not finding the drive to get out and hit the roads. It just isn’t there. In the meantime, the days click by until I am supposed to run Philadelphia. But that alone does not seem to be a catalyst.

Any ideas?

As I ventured into line this morning at 6:15am, I was overwhelmed with pride. Pride to see so many of my nameless neighbors in line, preparing to cast their ballots in our nation’s election. I was overwhelmed to see the civility and kindness displayed from person to person. Smiles being exchanged and knowing looks sent amongst strangers, “I know how you’re voting; me too.” Mothers and Fathers bringing their children and educating them on the process, showing them sample ballots and explaining how it works. The grandma in front of me who planned to receive assistance from her granddaughter to help her see the electronic machine. The woman yelling into her cell phone, “Bootsie, who cares if the lines are long, get out of your house and get here to vote.” (I’m not making that up, at all….)

This is what is best about America. Yes, it matters to me who you vote for, of course I want my guys to win. But at the end of the day, if you are a citizen over 18, it is most important that you vote. Join your fellow Americans and take part in a privilege that many do not have across the globe.

Perhaps you will not be as enraptured by the process as I have been this fall. Even now, several hours later, I feel a rumble of anticipation at tonight’s announcements of results from across the country. But, I hope that you will spend just a bit of time relishing the freedom you have to choose your leaders and to amend your state’s constitutions.

God Bless you today. God Bless America and all of her people.

Some thoughts from those wiser than me:

The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.–Franklin D. Roosevelt

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.–H.L. Mencken

The only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worth while. The commonest mistake made about freedom is, I think, to identify it with freedom of movement, or, with the external or physical side of activity.–John Dewey

The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men.–John F. Kennedy

The unconscious democracy of America is a very fine thing. It is a true and deep and instinctive assumption of the equality of citizens, which even voting and elections have not destroyed.–G.K. Chesterton

We preach the virtues of democracy abroad. We must practice its duties here at home. Voting is the first duty of democracy.–Lyndon B. Johnson

V-O-T-E VOTE VOTE VOTE!

I am not a techno-wizard. This is clear. I enjoy web 2.0 tools as “cool stuff” but I realize that these types of tools are user-friendly and for the lay person. So as I sit, locked out of my domain as I try to re-direct it to a new front page….I blog. I bloggggggg…….

Last night I had the best kind of therapy. I realized that once upon a time running was just running. To push the body and be with friends. It wasn’t about PRs. It wasn’t about hassle.

Yesterday I was very blue. Many of you dear readers obviously know why I was blue but to top it off I’m having a plethora of health issues which are effecting my running-gosh darn it!! But I nonetheless went to practice last night to bid my Marine Corps runners farewell and wish them luck this weekend. I just ran. I didn’t do a lot of talking (shocking, I know). I ran hard and enjoyed the crisp red leaves underfoot. I listened as my newbies sounded like veterans after weeks of training; even hearing some of my own mantras repeated.

When it came for loop three to bring us to six miles, I heard “who’s in?”. I added my “I’m in”, and it was good. So good to run, to listen, to enjoy the sunset in each of its final stages as we crested the hill behind OMHS each time. I was reminded of the need to challenge the body when it is weak, from time to time. And to let the mind clear even when it is its most full.

Thank you friends, for allowing me to sit in the pack last night and remember what running can be.

I took 8 days off after my marathon doing absolutely nothing other than watching myself get fat. My legs felt better fairly early in the process, but I just didn’t feel like going out. I wasn’t exactly getting a lot of extra sleep in and motivation was not super high.

I was bound and determined to get out on Monday morning to begin anew as I prepare for Philly. My excitement turned when I flipped on the news at 5:15am and saw that the current outdoor temp was 33 degrees. Really? Already? Ok, ok. I threw open my winter running bin and pulled out some tights and got myself together. Trodding out like a stay-puff marshmallow I started up the hill as my lungs took in the chilled air. It wasn’t terrible, but it was certainly not the ideal way back onto the road. Dark, cold, and to top it off, suffering a bit of gastro discomfort that has yet to subside.

I made it to the top of the hill and past HCC to meet MM. We were able to get most of the way around the reverse wdf course when I saw my apt. complex and was happy to book it home instead of staying with her for the last mile. 3.5 miles is not what I had hoped for on my first round out, but I will accept it and move on.

I will try again tonight and see if I can extend my distance. Speed will come later. For now, it is move the legs and hope they remember what to do.

Where is God among the suffering?
He is here.
He is still at the center.

God of my birth.
God of my earth.
God of my eternity.

You are here among the suffering.
You are the source out of it.

God of my joy.
God of my pain.
God of my being.

Provide release from the suffering.
Break hold and re-take the center of me.

Place: Chicago, IL
Date: Oct. 12, 2008
Time: 8am-12pm
Distance: 26.2 miles

Positives: Finally running a marathon with my dear RP, 13.1 miles with two best friends, seeing old friends, my latina omlette in Andersonville, running in a new city, really easy bag check, a LOT of water stops, lots of cheering crowds, a pink and brown long sleeved running tee, jamba juice at the finish line, pushing hard through a lot of pain in mile 25, beating the creepy guy in red spandex, staying under 4 hours by the hair on my chinny chin chin, three really tasty pints of beer afterwards and going to sleep at 7:30pm!!!

Not-so-positives: 65 deg. at 6am, concrete and pot holes, an odd lime gu incident around mile 20, smelly streets, 80 deg at 11am, no shade ever, really tired feet, mile 25, feeling alone at the finish and really needing a hug, 85 degrees at noon.

At the end of the day it was not my best race (though it was my best time) but it was a good experience. I’m thankful for friends, volunteers, and God for helping me fight through mile 25 when all I wanted was to lay down on the ground and take a nap.

On to Philly. Nov. 23rd