Time

I swear, the more free time I have, the worse I get with time management.

When I'm super busy I somehow manage to get tons of things done. When I only have work until 11am and have nothing else to schedule around, somehow I end up spending a lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing.

Today was busy. I taught classes at two different schools instead of just one. I spent a ton of time in the car, but I also put gas in the car, did some grocery shopping, and somehow convinced myself to go for a run and do some yoga when I finally got home.

Other days I teach and then can barely get myself to run. I'm super productive.

Buddy and I spent a little time outside at lunch. It is warming up around here - it's supposed to hit 70 on Wednesday, which is probably going to feel weird.

I was running as the sun went down, which made for some pretty views. 

My run wasn't fast today, but after having to cut a run short last week, I'm just happy that I hit my mileage without much trouble.

Looking back and Looking ahead

A few weeks ago, I actually won a blog giveaway! I was really excited because I pretty much never win anything. I know everyone says that, but it's totally true.

Anyway, I won a bunch of smoothie making goodies from Jamie and Puritan's Pride and it came in the mail today!

Hooray! I know what I'm making tomorrow!

It feels like this every year, but I can't believe it's the end of December already! (Also: I just typed September...)

Everyone seems to be doing some kind of running year in review post, so I thought I would join in.

In 2014, I:

• Bought a treadmill - best decision ever
• Joined Rivertown Runners - my Saturday group
• Ran 3 half marathons - the most I have run in a single year
• Improved my PR at each race
• Broke 2 hours at the Fall Foliage Half Marathon
• Took 18:21 off my half marathon time - between March and October
• Had my first DNS - because of the threat of snow and my own laziness
• Ran over 1,000 miles! - I'm currently at 1,022

As far as 2015 goes, I want to:

• Run my first full marathon - which one is currently up in the air
• Run at least 2 half marathons - 3 was a good number, but I'm not sure how it will play out if I'm doing a full
• Actually strength train - I say it every year, it's gotta stick sometime!

I'm also thinking about running a few shorter races next year, but don't hold me to it.

It's hard to plan too far ahead when we have some big changes in the works. At some point in the near(ish) future we will be moving and remodeling a house, and I'll be starting a new job (more on that later).

Are you happy with your 2014? What changes are you going to make in 2015?

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. :)

All Pumpkin Spice, All the Time

I have 4 work days left. Yes, I'm definitely counting.

I was going to run when I got off work today, but instead I put in a sweatshirt and did the dishes.

I got off work too late to run on Tuesday, so now I'm feeling lazy and behind on my miles. But it still wasn't enough to get me to run tonight.

In happier news, Tom brought these home tonight:

You should go buy some. They're really good. Not crazy pumpkin-y, and not too sweet.

Tom bought a pull-up bar a while ago and I have been haphazardly working on being able to do a chin-up (because it's easier than a pull-up). I managed to do one from standing today (almost a whole one) which was pretty exciting.

It's going to be an early night at our house - sleep has been a little hard to come by this week for some reason. I can't wait for the weekend!

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!

Not too shabby

It was another long, long day at work today. More than 10 hours is too many with 12 toddlers.

I managed to convince myself to head to the basement for 4 easy miles after I got home. And then I didn't want to spend too much of my limited evening in the basement, so I ran faster than my training plan called for.

4 miles in 37:18 - not too shabby.

33 days until my race. I can already tell that I am going to be very nervous/excited when it gets closer. I've never really had a time goal other than faster than my last race, so declaring a goal is a little intimidating.

Tom sent me this picture of Buddy while I was at work - he was ready for Tom to stop working so he could play with him.

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.

A silly dog and a race goal

My Monday was pretty uneventful. I worked late, didn't run, and convinced Tom to make giant burgers with onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese for dinner.

Today started early (5:30, because I take forever to wake up) because I needed to be at work at 7. And then there were no kiddos until 7:30. Oh well. I did somehow get off work on time today, rather than getting stuck for another 10 hour shift.

My training plan called for 4 easy miles today. I watched the final episode of True Blood (I don't think I've ever been really happy with how a show ended) and ended up running 5 miles instead. I'm going to end up short on miles this week since we are going out of town for the weekend. I'm certainly not going to get my 13 mile long run in while we're at the lake house, and I'm ok with that.

I cut my finger at work and got this sweet hologram band-aid. It was that or Spider Man.

This is Buddy's go-to spot out on the deck.

Silly dog.

I have been able to do most of my runs lately at a faster pace than my training plan calls for, and it claims I should be able to run my half in 2:00:39. I'm hoping that means I will be able to break 2 hours (which I haven't done yet). I haven't seen the course, but I know there are plenty of hills. I guess we'll see in 47 days.

Don't mind if we do

Art today was "popcorn" - they turned out pretty cute, so I naturally didn't take a picture of any of them when they were finished.

Today was one of my kiddo's last day before they change classrooms in September. They brought presents.

I like presents.

A while ago, I bought a Groupon for Keenan House. We went for dinner tonight and got beer flights, mussels and sliders for half price. Don't mind if we do.

Also, I bought these at the store today.

I am a sucker for limited edition flavors of pretty much anything. And these are actually really good too.

Somewhere between work and dinner I hit the treadmill for 4 easy miles and an episode of The Walking Dead. I'm finally caught up and now I have to wait until October to see what happens. I hate watching shows that are still on the air - I'm not a fan of waiting for new episodes!

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! :)

Back to life

I'm back in the land of the living today.

I wasn't quite sure if I was going to make it through the work day when I got to work this morning. I couldn't even stomach my coffee! It makes me sad how much coffee I wasted today.

On the bright side, I did survive the day and have even eaten some real (not just applesauce and juice) food. Apparently, a bunch of people at work were sick over the weekend with the same thing - thanks germy little kiddos!

Buddy and I went for a short stroll after work. He was on high alert looking for Tom's car so he was jumping at every little sound.

Tonight I'm catching up on the laundry that I didn't do this weekend and hopefully getting to bed on time. Lofty goals, right?

Faster and shorter

I know I said this before, but I have no idea how I used to work so many hours. With my assistant out of town, I worked 7:30-6:10 today. Then it took me a little while to decide what I was going to do for my run.

My training plan called for 6 miles - a warm up, 4 miles at 9:19 and a cool down. There was no way that was happening, but I wanted to get some speedwork done, so I went with faster and shorter instead.

I ran .25 miles @ 10:00 pace (that's almost like a warm up, right?), 2 miles @ 8:34 and another .25 miles @ 8:00 pace. I ended up at 2.5 miles in 21:39.

Gross.

Much better than the not running at all that I wanted to do.

When Tom leaves the house, Buddy runs upstairs to look out the window in the office to see if he can see where Tom is going.

Tom made a pizza on the grill for dinner.

I didn't manage to take a picture until we'd eaten half of it. Pepperoni and banana peppers, yes.

Tomorrow is finally Friday, and I can't wait! It has been a long week with crazy kiddos. They will be changing classrooms at the end of the month, and I think they're starting to get a little anxious about the upcoming change.

Some circus art, a hot run, and a spoiled dog

I'm just going to erase nap time from my memory for the rest of the week. I have a kiddo that will not be quiet/calm/still at all and has been keeping pretty much everyone up lately. Her family recently moved, so her last day is Friday. I can make it to Friday.

Here are a couple of our circus crafts from the week.

I actually ran outside after work today. Tom was doing some home improvement stuff and the power to the treadmill was off, so I braved the heat. It wasn't as hot out as I thought it was going to be, which was nice.

3 easy miles around the neighborhood, ignoring the pinched nerve I woke up with this morning.

I was feeling pretty runner-y when I got home.

There are worse places to come home to.

Buddy has such a hard life. He hung out with me on the back deck while I cooled off after my run. The hardship.

We wanted something easy for dinner, so I made BLTs and we inhaled some of our favorite avocado salsa along with our sandwiches.

I'm hoping to get to bed early, my assistant is on vacation until the middle of next week, which basically means I have to work all. day. long.  I'm not super happy about the situation.

House hunting and sushi

Oh hey, it's Monday again. 

We had a really nice Sunday, starting with coffee, pancakes, and generally relaxing. 

Buddy and I went for a walk in the sunshine. He was pretty much exhausted for the rest of the day.

Then, Tom and I headed out to check out some houses.

The first place we went was cute, but way too small. It had a really pretty yard though, and a little shed/chicken coop.

The second place we saw was really cute.

Really cute.

It also had a creek/brook in the front yard, and you have to drive over a little bridge to go up the driveway.

Then we were off to the last place, which felt really cramped. I didn't even take any pictures there.

We have a few more that we want to check out, it doesn't feel like we've found the right one yet. 

Today was fairly uneventful, just a very long day at work because my assistant called out. Then, Tom and I had sushi for dinner. I don't think I've had sushi since we left Kodiak. It's been a while.

Do you like sushi? What's your favorite roll? 

Pretty new shoes

I was kicked in the sternum by a child today. It was kind of a long day, and I'm still pretty irritated/frustrated by some things that are going on, but hey - if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, right?

I came home to the welcome sight of a box from Zappos! I "accidentally" ordered some new running shoes the other day.

Hello my pretties!

I pretty much instantly changed into my running gear and went to run off some stress down in the basement.

It was supposed to be 3 easy miles, but I took it a little faster than I would normally do an easy run. Oh well. Running is the best therapy.

Now I'm relaxing with a beer, and Tom is grilling some burgers. We're planning on picking out some houses to go check out soon, which is pretty exciting! :)

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.