Buddy The Running Dog

Have you seen my motivation anywhere? I seem to have lost it.

The last couple of days I have just NOT been feeling my runs/workouts for some reason. I have mostly been getting some decent workouts in, but I just don't want to.

I took a total rest day yesterday, and was well on my way to saying goodbye to today's run too when I saw this face:

Ooooookay, fine.

We hit the road and ended up having a nice, if slow, run. Buddy was doing really well, and every time I tried to let him take a walk break he would just keep running. He hit a new distance today - 4 miles!

He's a little tired now.

A kiddo in one of my classes gave me chocolate covered pretzels and holiday scented hand sanitizer today. Sweet.

I sent most of my Christmas presents off in the mail today. The woman at the post office was not very friendly (there's a guy who works there who is much nicer), but the end result was the same.

Oh, and if you need/want anything from PRO Compression, they're having their year end sale right now - 42% off (and free shipping!) with code: YEAREND

The code is good until the 31st - go get some socks!

The Best of Both Worlds

One of the preschoolers I teach has decided that my name is Miss Betty. I tried correcting her the first few times, but have since given up.

Miss Betty at your service.

Buddy is a ridiculously good dog when it comes to food.

That chewy box behind his bed is his food, there's another bag of food behind it, and his new favorite bone on top. He leaves all of it alone, even when we're not home.

I did pretty much all of my marathon training without my iPod. People in our neighborhood drive like maniacs (even though the speed limit is 30mph) and I like to be able to hear if they're coming. Since my runs lately have been a little depressing, I decided to see if having some music would keep my mind busy so I could actually get more than a few miles in. The music definitely helped (I only had one headphone in so I could still hear cars) and I got a pretty good 5 miles in.

I used to tell my running friends that I wasn't happy until mile 4. Maybe I just haven't been running long enough lately.

I'm loving the new Pro Marathon Elite socks that Tom bought me for my birthday! They're the best of both worlds, cushy on the feet and tight on my calves. 

It was WARM and I ran in shorts and a tank top - what is happening November?

My TomTom decided I didn't nee to worry about my pace and refused to track anything other than the running time and my heart rate. The distance/pace showed 0.00 the entire time. Thanks watch.

Buddy and I spent some time working on his fetch game this afternoon.

He still prefers keep away to fetch.

Only a few days left to enter my hemp hearts giveaway - get over there and click on some things!

Last Day of Work

I was almost late for my last day of work today. My alarm went off, and rather than hitting snooze, I turned it off. Fortunately, I woke up about ten minutes later with that "I slept through my alarm" panic. Quickest way to wake up.

We had all 12 kiddos today, so we were pretty busy. I managed to visit with most of the other teachers a bit during the day and got to enjoy a ridiculous amount of sweets. There were doughnut holes, brownie bites, and best of all, a strawberry and Nutella crepe. With sprinkles. And whipped cream.

There was a letter B in Nutella in the sprinkles - naturally I didn't take a picture until I had already eaten some.

As a nice sendoff, all the munchkins even napped for me today!

This came on Pandora during nap time.

I was supposed to get off work when we dropped down to ratio (7 kids), but as was the norm at this job, I didn't get to leave until later than planned. Right when I was about to head out, we had a sick kiddo, so between that and talking with parents, I didn't end up leaving until almost 6:30. It seemed fitting somehow to end my time there cleaning vomit up off the floor an hour after I was supposed to be off.

But now I'm done!

Tom made pulled pork tacos with honey mustard Brussels sprout slaw for dinner. It sounds a little weird when I type that out, but it was really good!

I'm really excited to not wake up at 5:30 tomorrow.

This guy probably won't mind sleeping in either. :)

Changes

You may have noticed a lack of whining about lesson plans lately. Or maybe you feel like you haven't been seeing adorable toddler art projects for the last month or so. There's a reason for that.

The short version of the story: I gave my notice at work back in the middle of August, but have been sticking around to help while they find a new teacher.

The longer version of the story: To be a toddler teacher at my center you have to hold a bachelor's degree. If it is not in Early Childhood Education (ECE), you have to have a certain number of credits in education, specifically ECE.

My degree is in history.

The last time the state came through they decided not to count some of my credits from college because they were elementary education and not early childhood. They said I could remain in my position if I immediately started the process of getting my Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. The only qualification you need to get a CDA is a GED. It's expensive, time consuming, and, quite frankly, a little insulting.

I have been thinking about making a change at work for a while anyway, but this was the deciding factor.

My last day will be September 30th, and I'm still trying to figure out my next plan. The timing works out well as my mom is coming to visit for a couple of weeks in October. Now we'll have more time to hang out! :)

I will definitely miss my little munchkins, but I'm also looking forward to the change.

(Not)Sneaky Dog

It has been a long week at work so far. We had picture day and back to school night this week, and all the excitement has made the kids a little squirrelly.

Because of back to school night, I was basically at work from 7am-7:25pm, so I missed my run yesterday. I hate missing runs this close to a race.

Today I managed to leave work at a reasonable hour and inhaled some some chips and hummus before heading to the basement for an easy 5 miles.

This is pretty much the only hummus we ever buy.

Buddy was not invited on the couch after dinner, so he tried to sneak up (as much as an 80lb dog can sneak).

He didn't quite make it, but he stayed that way until we kicked him off the couch.

I have been super tired all week because I'm apparently incapable of going to bed early. That, and I'm working crazy hours again. Maybe someday I'll get to bed on time. Or maybe I'll keep staying up too late and try to catch up on some sleep on the weekend.

Probably the second one.

Mean teacher, a tempo run, and some tasty food

There was a lot of screaming at work today. A lot. 

I even had to be the mean teacher and take Tiger away from a kiddo at nap time. They were playing instead of sleeping, which isn't really a choice - especially after all the screaming.

After work it was time for a little tempo run.

It looked like this: 1 mile warm up, 5 miles @ 9:14, 1 mile cool down. I finished my cool down with some strides. Nothing like running super fast on tired legs.

7 miles in 1:05:44 - not bad for an after work run.

The basement was very sweaty.

Buddy was there to help me stretch when I was finished.

He's so helpful.

Tom is so good to me and makes sure I eat things other than cereal and english muffins when all I'm doing is working and running. He made some delicious fish tacos for dinner.

And then I finished up my night with some limited edition deliciousness.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday, I'm ready to get some sleep this weekend. Of course, I never seem to actually sleep in anymore, but there's always hope!

Watermelon Peeps and some race pace running

The kiddos were surprisingly mellow switching classrooms today. We only had to explain a few times that we would not be going back to the other classroom. They were used to just visiting the new room for a few hours and didn't quite understand that the change was for real this time.

I keep seeing these sour watermelon mini Peeps at the store. I have so far managed to not buy any, but they had individually packaged ones today, so I couldn't help myself.

It was actually pretty tasty and it's probably good that I didn't buy a bigger package, because I would have eaten them all.

I didn't run at all over the weekend, so I did a couple of easy miles in my Minimus shoes yesterday. And then I realized that those shoes are about a half size too small.

Today was supposed to be 4 easy miles, but I felt like going faster. I am trying to do more runs at my goal pace. It's way faster in my mind and I have been psyching myself out when I think too much about. The more I run at pace (or faster), the easier it will be to maintain on race day.

At least, that's the theory.

The room switching at work has also led to an unfortunate schedule change - I'm back to starting at 7am, which means my alarm is set for 5:30. That's too early.

Some kiddo stories from the day

This morning I had three kiddos in the classroom and I was trying to get some cleaning done before they got too crazy. They were sitting in our library area looking at books. I had music on. They told me my music was too loud.

Three two year olds reading books told me my music was too loud.

One kiddo almost always wakes up first at nap time. He's pretty good at keeping quiet so his friends can sleep, and he's one of the only ones who can actually whisper instead of just stage whispering. We end up having some random conversations. His favorite question is "what is magic?"

Today's conversation was pretty cute:

Kiddo: Why do we have a ceiling?

Me: Because otherwise we would pretty much be outside. And what would we do if it rained?

Kiddo: I know what we would do if it rained. If it rained we would go to the toy store.

Me: Because they have a ceiling?

Kiddo: Yeah

I bribed the munchkins to nap today. Generally speaking, all things Frozen are not allowed in my classroom. I can't handle hearing "Let it go" anymore, and the kids know that they're not supposed to sing it all day long. So, today I told them that if they ALL napped, that we could listen to Frozen.

They all napped. It was beautiful.

Then we listened to "Let it go," which was less beautiful, but it made them happy.

My assistant is back from vacation tomorrow, so that means I shouldn't have to work over 10 hours again tomorrow. It's going to be amazing! :)

It's only Wednesday?

While yesterday felt like Thursday, today felt like it would never end. For some reason my kiddos arrived early today and I ended up being out of ratio (too many kids!) by 7:45. On top of that, they all seemed hell-bent on killing each other today. There was a lot of pushing, hair pulling, scratching, and screaming.

It was exhausting.

And then most of them didn't nap.

And then I had to work late.

I was very happy when it was finally time to head home.

A couple of my pear tomatoes were ready to be eaten today!

I had an easy 2 miles on my training plan for today. I have a hard time doing 2 miles at an "easy" pace. I really like doing it a little faster than I'm really supposed to. Oh well. Tomorrow is a tempo run, so I will have plenty of faster paced running to do then.

Tom threw together a tasty tray for a nice, light dinner. So good.

Olives, roasted garlic bread, pepperoncini, salami, sopressata, sharp provolone, some greens and a pile o mustard.

Also: I'm in the assessment part of Anatomy for Runners, and I have "failed" almost every test. It's kind of depressing. Apparently, I need to work on some things.

My little lap dog

Happy Friday!

I spotted this pretty purple flower this morning when Buddy and I were out on his morning stroll.

Purple is my favorite.

I really enjoyed my kiddos at work today, but it was a very long day. About half of them didn't nap, which made the afternoon a little crazy. As all over the place as toddlers normally are, a class of exhausted toddlers is nuts. Plus I didn't get to leave until after 5:30.

This evening has consisted of beer, tacos, tv, and hanging out with my little lap dog.

It is really nice to just sit and relax for a while. I'll be up and running in the morning, so I plan to enjoy this moment of stillness.

Critters

Happy Thursday!

Every day closer to the weekend is extra exciting this week because Tom comes home on Saturday!

We found this little guy (Tom informs me that it is a toad) in our play yard this morning. Once they stopped screaming at him, the munchkins were really fascinated by him.

This was on the wall by the back door this afternoon. Tom said he would kill it if it was still there on Saturday, but I managed to take it out with minimal girly squealing noises.

Bugs and I are not friends.

Buddy assumed his usual upside down position while I hit the treadmill for my 4 miles.

Look how big my tomato plant has gotten!

Ignore the sun-scorched leaves at the bottom and focus on the fact that I almost have a couple of tomatoes ready to eat!

Yellow pear tomatoes are the best.

It was a nice night, so I grilled a burger and some zucchini for dinner. Grilling the zucchini was a really good idea.

Knife skills are not high on my list of priorities, so yes, those zucchini slices are all over the place.

Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Dog toy time out and veggie overload

Turns out a mellow day at work moves pretty slowly. We only had six kiddos for the day, so it was pretty relaxed. The stars aligned and they all napped too!

I came home to find I forgot to put the gate up this morning and had a Buddy mess to clean up upstairs.

His Kong is in time out.

I had a big debate about making a lazy dinner or actually cooking tonight.

Cooking won.

My veggie prep got a little out of control.

And my veggies to noodles ratio was a little off.

I topped it with a spicy peanut sauce and tried to not eat myself sick. It was kind of delicious.

The rest of my Friday will be spent relaxing with some bad tv, ice cream, and hopefully going to bed at a reasonable hour so I will be ready to run in the morning.

Hope you're having a great Friday!

Pudding pops and a tempo run

We try to do some form of cooking with the munchkins at least once a month. We've made cookies, strawberry muffins, banana bread, dirt cupcakes, and a few others. Sometimes the project is more involved, sometimes it's super quick and easy.

This month was quick and easy.

We made chocolate pudding pops!

Pudding Pops
(recipe found here)

1 pkg Instant Pudding
2 cups milk
1 cup cool whip

Mix ingredients together, pour into paper cups, add a wooden popsicle stick or plastic spoon, and freeze!

Super easy, and the kids loved them! They also made a huge mess eating them, but they were happy, so that's really what matters.

My assistant had the day off, so I ended up working late again. I'm not used to these long days anymore, I was getting really tired this afternoon.

It took a little extra effort to convince myself to do my tempo run for the day. I ended up doing a warm up, 4 miles @ 9:23, and a cool down, 6 miles total. And, as usual, I felt way better when I was finished.

You would think I would know by now that running always makes me feel better, but I still forget somehow.

Weirdly excited

I managed to get at least 8 hours of sleep last night and the night before. I don't know if it's the cough my munchkins have given me, but I don't feel much better than when I get much less sleep. I'm trying to not just use this as an excuse to stay up way too late.

Work was more of the usual, only I managed to get off work on time today!

This doughnut somehow got into my basket at the grocery store. Oops.

I did  a couple of easy, if extremely sweaty miles on the treadmill.

And Buddy waited patiently to go upstairs.

I actually cooked dinner tonight! Well, breakfast for dinner anyway. I made some sweet potatoes with black beans, eggs, and avocado. 

One whole avocado is obviously the correct serving size. 

I have been reading Anatomy for Runners a lot this week - I'm weirdly excited to get to the assessment part so I can see what areas I should work on. I also find myself thinking more about how I'm running since I have been reading it.

What's your most recent grocery store impulse buy?

Kid's music and a run I didn't want to do

While I love my munchkins and can tolerate some kid music, I can't handle it all day long. Instead, I do my best to expose them to different types of music. Lucky for me, they have some pretty eclectic taste, even if they do like to listen to the same songs over and over (and over) again. Again!

So, while they would love it if I played music from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the Frozen soundtrack all. day. long. (which I won't), they also love a lot of other, much better music.

I thought I would share with you the top music requests in my classroom lately (in no particular order), followed in quotes by what the munchkins call them. I wish you could see their dance moves!

KC and the Sunshine Band - Shake Your Bootie - "Shake Booty"
Queen - We Will Rock You - "Rock A To You"
David Bowie - The Labyrinth Soundtrack - "Goblin King"
The Fray/The Muppets - Mahna Mahna - "M&Ms"
The Beatles - Yellow Submarine - "Yellow Submarine"

I am clearly an excellent influence.

I had to work later than usual today and when I got home I just did not want to run. At all. I don't know how I trained for the last two races when I was working late all the time, but I had to seriously dig deep for some motivation today.

I somehow managed to drag myself to the basement for a respectable 3 miles, and, of course, was glad that I did. Aside from when I have been sick or injured, I can't think of a run that I finished and thought, "Man, I wish I hadn't run today."

I'll leave you to wonder what on earth my neighbors bought. There were at least 6 of these boxes in the recycling the other day and they were about 3 feet tall.

Tombstones? :)