The Hill

My new arch nemesis is the hill at the end of my road. It is about a quarter mile long and is at least a ten-percent grade. It is a monster. On Monday, I was able to tackle about a third of the hill before I felt like I was going to keel over and die. Today, I would conservatively say I made it half way--at least I made it to the small plateau about half-way up. I know that being able to run up that hill will feel like a real accomplishment, and I know I will be a better runner for trying to do it.

Ponderings

 

 Today, by all accounts, was a good day. I woke up to darkness thanks to Daylight Savings (bleh), enjoyed Atkins-friendly crustless broccoli quiche for breakfast, got to work without incident, prepared my materials for the day, had an uneventful CAPT proctoring experience, and taught all of classes a little more about closely and carefully reading a novel. Once home, I got to run in the neighborhood and even used the MapMyRun app on my phone with success since it would indeed run in the background of my C25K app. I spent some time in the kitchen making Atkins-friendly stuffed peppers and lunches for tomorrow. All-in-all, it was a good day.

Still, my mind was elsewhere during my run today. A student quite innocently asked me a question today. I can't recall exactly what lead to the question, but I do recall my answer. The student asked why I become a teacher. My answer was that I wanted to change the world. When I was attending the university, I thought that it would be simple and straightforward. I thought I would know right away I had done it because my students would tell me before the year was out. Five years into the profession, I have no doubt that I am changing the world, but I have learned that it will happen in small, subtle ways I may not even realize. My clues come from quick hellos from former students, the occasional "I hope I have you again next years," the even more occasional display of caring after I've been absent, and the rare and often sought thank yous from parents and students.

In the meantime, the world I want to change lies outside of the classroom. I want my world to change--I want to feel better and have more energy and to not get sick. Hopefully, despite daylight savings, the diet and renewed zeal for running will do the trick.

Oh, Weather...

Living in the Northeast has been a real challenge this year. Just when the snow starts to melt, another six-inches arrives. I managed to run twice this past week, once at the gym and once around the neighborhood. I have just eight weeks before the first 5k I want to run this year, which means I can't fall behind anymore on my training. The weather is making that really difficult though. Since rolling my car over last month, driving when it's cold, icy, and snowy isn't really my cup of tea. And of course running in those conditions isn't very much fun either--especially since my road is just slightly too busy for me to do so with absolute safety. There is a little cul-de-sac about and 1/8 of a mile from my house, so during my run on Wednesday, I did laps--about eight of them. I'm sure if anyone was home, they thought I was absolutely nuts: running up one way, walking down the other...But, I didn't have to worry about anyone running me over. Now, the roads are slippery and snowy and slushy. Hopefully the fifty-degree weather they are predicting this upcoming week makes all the snow melt, and we can start seeing some green again!