20 two year olds

I had a dream right before I woke up this morning that I was at work, and more and more kids kept getting dropped off. My assistant and I were alone with 20 two year olds. When I called my boss, all she said was, "Oh, I meant to tell you..." It was very stressful. 

We have several kids who have one or more parents out of town right now. This makes them a little extra crazy. Lots of toy stealing, climbing on furniture, and generally over-emotional kiddos. Maybe that's what has me a little more stressed out?

At least I'm done with lesson plans for a little while, I really need to get better about doing them earlier.

After work I took my bag of jelly beans Buddy for a walk in the sunshine.

I think it's a successful walk when he just tips over when we get home.

 

I especially like the ears.

I was strangely motivated to make some real food for dinner tonight so I made some salmon (thanks Mom!), broccoli, and rice. It was really good!

I'm really bad about having actual meals (not just snacking) and especially bad about making any kind of meat/fish when Tom isn't around - that's his area.

I even washed ALL the dishes after I was done. Even the fish pan. Crazy, right?

What's for dinner at your house?

New running goal

I actually managed to sleep past 7 this morning. I've really lost the ability to sleep in.

I was possessed by someone more productive than myself this morning and tackled the dishes I let pile up during the week. Before I had coffee. Crazy, right?

After cooking up a thoroughly tasty breakfast of sausages, eggs, and hashbrowns, I finally got down to business and finished up my lesson plans.

My reward? Start my laundry and hop on the treadmill for 6 miles. It was a really good run, a little slow perhaps, but it hasn't been that long since the race.

Since I'm not currently training for a race, I needed to come up with a weekly mileage goal to keep myself motivated. I'm going to shoot for 20 miles a week, which is doable, if I'm not working 50 hour weeks. So, we'll see. For long work weeks I'm going to still try to get in around 15 miles.

The weekend always goes so quickly! Why can't the weekdays move so fast? Time to fold the laundry and get ready for Monday!

I don't know how I go through so many clothes in a week!

 

Do you have an entire drawer in your dresser devoted to running clothes? That's normal, right?

So Funny

The Apple TV thought it would be funny to update the whole time I was running this afternoon (I wanted to get a few more miles in since Buddy was so anti-rain).

I apparently thought it would be funny to run without drinking enough water today.

We're pretty hilarious, the Apple TV and I.

I tried this out today from the RunnerBox:

Buddy thinks anything in my hand is meant for him.

No part of this little waffle tasted like lemon. If I hadn't read the packaging there is no way I would have known that was the alleged flavor. There isn't even lemon anything listed in the ingredients. I know a lot of people really like these, but they're not really my cup of tea. It was pretty sweet and a strange texture (the only way I can describe it is if a soggy graham cracker was somehow chewy).  So, not my favorite.

I decided that 9:30 on Saturday night was an excellent time to do my grocery shopping. It was nice, very quiet, and no lines at the check out!

I have grand plans for tomorrow - making a big breakfast, finishing up lesson plans, running, and doing laundry.

What's your Sunday look like?

I drove old-lady slow

Happy Saturday!

I spent my morning cleaning glass off the driver's seat of the Jeep and driving it to the shop.

I drove up with no window, which was a little breezy, but at least it wasn't raining.

According to the guys at the shop, I don't look like the kind of person who drives a lifted Jeep. Shocking, I know.

They put "crash wrap" on the windows (with a little less finesse than I would have done), which made my drive home a little more exciting. You see, the thing about crash wrap is that you can't really see through it very well.

So I avoided left-hand turns like the plague, and only changed lanes when I absolutely had to. There were also a lot of police about so I drove old-lady slow.

On the bright side, the crash wrap should keep out the crazy amount of rain we're supposed to get this weekend. 

I (finally) started working on my lesson plans when I got home. Then Buddy and I decided to go for a run in the rain so I could get away from my lesson plans because we're cool like that.

Buddy was very excited to go, until he saw that it was raining. He lasted a little less than a mile before he was behind me and it looked like my dog was taking me for a run. We headed for home at that point and ended up at a little over a mile and a half.

Doesn't he look irritated with me?

Then it was back to planning. I hate planning - and by extension, this book:

There are an awful lot of empty squares.

And that's just one week.

Time to fill in some squares!

Do you like to run in the rain?

Random Friday things

I haven't seen the official tally, but I'm confident that I worked over 50 hours this week. That's a lot of hours, especially working with kids.

Buddy wasn't happy that I had to work later than usual today. He expressed this frustration by shredding some recycling.

This is his I'm-guilty-but-please-forgive-me face:

Please disregard the clutter on my table. I haven't been home long enough to care what it looks like.

This picture is dark (I took it during nap time), but I'm very excited to start this with my kiddos when the weather starts getting warmer.

I just looked at the little girl on the box - terrifying.

I learned yesterday that my fitbit matches my jacket.

Tomorrow morning I will be clearing glass out of the Jeep. I am driving it to get looked at and I'm hoping it isn't raining for the drive - I can't very well drive with a trash bag covering the driver's side window.

For now, I'm off to bed. Maybe with a little rest I can finally kick this month-long cold I've been battling.

Tell me something random about your day!

Sugar high

I'm looking forward to the days when I don't have to be at work before the sun is up.

We have been talking about our five senses during circle time at work this month. Today we used all five to explore marshmallows. The kids were pretty excited. I had them look while the marshmallows were still in the bag so they couldn't instantly pop them in their mouths. We smelled them through the bag and then again after I passed them out. Only a few chowed down right away, the others humored me by shaking their marshmallows to see if they made a sound and squishing them to feel them properly. They all enjoyed the tasting part the best (of course) and I had to cut them off.

Then we ran them around outside for half an hour before music so we didn't have them going on a sugar high rampage through the classroom.

I had over 18 hours of overtime on this paycheck, so I don't feel guilty at all that these came today:

They were on sale and I wanted to make sure I got another pair of PureFlow 2s before they were all gone. I am going to try my best to not wear them until I need to retire my purple PureFlows, but we'll see how that goes!

I actually get to go in at 7:30 again tomorrow (instead of 7), so I'm pretty excited for that extra half hour.

I'm really happy that tomorrow is Friday. Fridays are my low number days (only 8 munchkins), and they're more laid back than the rest of the week. They're also the only day I get to work with my other assistant (they're both part time), and she is super high energy and a lot of fun to work with.

What makes your Friday great?

Play silks!

I used to have play silks in my old classroom, and I really wanted some for my kiddos. They're crazy expensive though! I did some research and found that the only way to get them at a semi-reasonable price was to buy blanks and dye them myself.

I told Tom I wasn't that crazy.

It turns out I am.

I took some blanks, and some kool-aid, and made myself some playsilks.

There are instructions all over the internet, but basically I took my silk:

And put in into a simmering pot of water, kool-aid and a splash of vinegar.

Once the silk had sucked up most of the dye (the water turns almost clear), I rinsed them, and hung them up to dry.

Then they were ready for the kiddos!

I took them in yesterday and they were quickly snatched up to become superhero capes, dancing dresses, and baby blankets. I love having open-ended toys like this in my class, it is fun to see what the kids come up with.

In running news, I am in the research phase of looking for my next race. I'm checking out what's coming up in the next few months/this fall and is semi-nearby. I know myself well enough to know I will start to slack off if I don't have a race coming up.

How do you choose your races? Location? Sweet race swag? Do tell!

This is not a drill

Today was a little crazy at work. Toward the end up nap time (when 4 kids were still sleeping) the fire alarm went off. We just had a fire drill last week, so we knew it wasn't a drill. So, we woke everyone up, and paraded our 10 crying kiddos out into the cold.

We were outside for about 15 minutes, and, other than some chilly munchkins, everything was fine. The highlight for my boys were the two police cars, two fire trucks and an ambulance that came to make sure everything was under control.

My legs were feeling infinitely better today so I decided to do a few easy miles on the treadmill after Buddy and I went on our walk. It felt good to move again, even if it has only been a few days.

For dinner I made my favorite combo of kale, rice, and black beans.

Covered in hot sauce. Yum.

Tomorrow (last week, if I'm being honest) I need to work on my lesson plans. For real. April is very soon!

How soon after a race do you usually run again?

More snacks please

All I did today was eat. I mean, I was at work and did all the things I needed to do (for 10 hours), but otherwise all I did was eat. And drink TONS of water. I get hungry every 20 minutes.

Since I knew I would need some extra snacks today, I brought some from my RunnerBox.

These were almost too crunchy, but the flavor was really good! I would totally eat these again.

I was sad when this was gone:

It was really good, chewy with lots of good coconut flavor, which I love. If I see these in the store I will not hesitate to buy them again.

My fitbit tells me that my normal day (work and walks with Buddy) is a little over 16,000 steps. And that's not even with any running! It allegedly translates to around 7 miles.

It's really a fun little gadget.

I'm off to feed the mutt and myself. I'm trying to get to bed early tonight - my boss told me I looked tired about 4 times today.

Are you insanely hungry for days after a race?

I'm not very fast at stairs today.

I tried these from my RunnerBox yesterday:

These look and taste like they should be cereal instead of a snack. I almost dumped them into a bowl and poured milk over them. And there's no way I would ever call them "cookie" bites. The flavor was good, but mild, and I wanted them to be sweeter.

I like candy healthy food, but I don't really like "diet" food. I like things to be full fat and real if I'm going to eat them. I know they're made with all-natural ingredients, but I don't worry about gluten or the glycemic index of my foods, I just care about the taste.

I probably wouldn't ever buy these, but they weren't bad (I ate them all). I would definitely eat them like cereal if I had them again.

Today was surprisingly productive considering my sore quads. I (finally) cleaned out the fridge. Tom and I have been avoiding some of these tupperwares for longer than I care to admit. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and now there's so much more space in the fridge!

I did two loads of laundry (one was art smocks from work) and the dishes! I also finally got fed up with Buddy's rope shreds that were all over the living room carpet. I even had to bring the vacuum down from upstairs to do it. I'm not very fast at stairs today.

Buddy and I walked/hobbled on our normal route, and it really helped loosen up my legs, even if it hurt at first.

I managed to track down a couple of finish line photos from the race yesterday:

 

 

And here comes Monday again. It came a lot faster than usual this weekend!

When was the last time you cleaned out your fridge? 

What was something fun you did this weekend?

Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon Recap

It was colder than I planned when I woke up this morning so I had to do some last minute outfit changes. I settled on my favorite capris and what Tom calls my chain mail shirt.

 

Buddy was very confused by all this early morning activity.

I got a lot of compliments on my shirt and it kept me just the right temperature the whole race! I of course wore my PureFlows, because they are the best.

I knew from the course map that it was going to be a hilly race and I was hoping to finish at around 2 1/2 hours. I didn't check my pace very often and ran based on effort instead.

The race starts right by the Hudson river, which was beautiful, but not enough to distract me from the freezing wind.

I started the race with a side cramp. Awesome. It was so cold/windy at the start that it took me a bit to get going and the side cramp did not help. The first mile was by far my slowest mile (11:45), but once I was warmed up I started to feel a lot better.

They make you run past the finish line right at the start, which I think is cruel.

Mile 4 I took my first GU and it definitely gave me a pick-me-up. My fastest miles were 5-9, all of which were under ten minutes each. My fastest mile was mile 7 (9:22), which had a decent amount of level and downhill running.

There were SO many hills. Some of them felt like they would never end!

 There were some really funny signs along the course:

And some very pretty views:

There was an absolutely killer hill right around mile 9. It was the only part of the course that was gravel and I almost wiped out tripping over a stick on the way back down the hill. It didn't help that I was trying to unpin my GU from my pants at the time. Trail running and I are not the best of friends.

I knew what to expect for the last two miles of the race as the 10K that I ran in October follows the same course. I knew we were getting close and I wanted to keep my pace up, but I also knew that right at mile 13 was going to be the steepest hill of the entire race.

I chugged up the hill, managed to gather myself up, and once I had the finish line in sight I started sprinting. The time on the clock was close to my best half marathon time and I realized there was a chance that I could beat that time. Not only that, I love finishing a race in a dead sprint, it makes me feel strong and awesome. It doesn't hurt that I passed three people in the last few yards.

My clock time ended up being 2:17:04 and my chip time was 2:16:26 - both of which are faster than my previous PR!

Tom's mom found me at the finish line with flowers from Tom, and I completely forgot to have her take a picture of me with my medal! I took one in the car when I remembered. It was really fun having someone at the finish line though - I've never had that at a race before!

We'll see if I can track myself down in any official photos when they have them out.

For now I'll just enjoy my flowers, watch both Hunger Games movies, relax on the couch, and order Chinese food. 

And start thinking about my next race... :)

Do you start thinking about what you want your next race to be right after you finish a race?

New PR!

You guys! I got a new PR!

A full play by play later, but I just wanted you to be excited with me!

I'm not very organized.

Some things about today:

• Someone called me at 2:30am and 5:00am. I did not answer because I didn't want to talk to anyone at either of those times. They didn't leave a message so I have no idea who it was.
• Work was pretty mellow, only 7 kids and way less crazy than earlier in the week. We made astronaut pudding (basically instant pudding in a ziplock), they had a lot of fun squishing it around in the bag. I squeezed the pudding into a bowl for them, I think it would have been a disaster to let them eat it out of the bag!
• I had just settled in for a relaxing after work time when the doorbell rang. The neighbors stopped by to let me know that the windows were broken in Tom's Jeep. It clearly looks like something backed into it, breaking both the driver's side windows and the side mirror. So my relaxing evening was spent taping trash bags over the windows and talking to a police officer. 
• While I was outside talking to the police man, Buddy ate the chicken that I as going to have for dinner. Thanks, dude.
• I still haven't decided what I'm wearing for the race tomorrow, or even what time I am going to wake up. I'm not very organized.
• I got my fitbit in the mail today. I'm really excited to play with use it, once I figure out what all the different flashing lights mean...

Time to start thinking about my game plan for the race tomorrow.

How far in advance do you plan for race morning?

Any race day routines?

The RunnerBox

I'm sure you've seen all those monthly boxes around, they have TONS, with different things in them.

I found this the other day and decided to treat myself to it. It arrived today!

The RunnerBox is pretty cute, and I'm very impressed with their box stuffing skills!

Everything in the box is something I haven't tried (I've had Chia Bars before (and love them), but I haven't tried the apple cinnamon flavor yet), so it will be fun to check it all out.

They also include a card with info about each item:

I'm really excited to try everything out! It was a fun little treat to get in the mail - and I definitely needed it when I got home today. Let's just say that Buddy lost his Wonder Mutt status for the day. Hopefully tomorrow goes better!

I decided not to run today. I'm on my feet all day and I go on two walks a day with Buddy. My legs need to feel rested for Saturday, and they don't right now.

Have you gotten any subscription boxes?

Packet pickup!

Another long day at work, another short night before bed.

The sky was really pretty this morning:

I drove out to Westchester Road Runner to pick up my race packet and shirt after work. It's a smallish race, so mostly the packet is my number and a bunch of flyers for other races. The shirt is really soft, and I might actually wear it! I have all of my race tees but I never really wear any of them.

They give you 20% off anything you buy when you pick up your packet, so naturally I had to buy some things.

I managed to not buy any shoes or clothing (other than the socks) since I have bought both fairly recently.

As I was on the way out the door my boss let me know that I have to go in at 7 for the next week (instead of my beloved 7:30), which means I should be getting to bed soon.

Do you keep your race tees? Do you ever wear them?