I made it!

The train I was just on kept saying "service to cockfosters." I am super tired so that may have made it extra funny. I'm not mature enough for London. 

So, the flight. 

I was super cool and put on a pair of pro compression socks in the middle of the airport. 

We were supposed to board at 9:45 and leave at ten, but we didn't end up boarding until around 10:30. Then we sat on the plane for over an hour because they took our flight crew for another (somehow more important) flight. We had to wait for a standby pilot to arrive at the airport. 

Anyway, we ended up leaving around midnight. I slept some, but I felt like I woke up every few minutes to try to get comfortable.

I made it through customs/immigration with no trouble and then walked forever to get to the train. 

Fortunately, the place Tom is staying only required me to take one train with no transfers so I managed just fine in my sleep deprived and mildly dehydrated state. 

Now I'm off to shower and possibly nap. Tom is at work for a bit still today, so I have some time to kill, relaxing and people watching from the window. 

Leaving on a jet plane!

Hello from the airport! 

I managed to get through work without too much drama today. Then I dashed home to get the dog and my stuff. I was pretty much packed so I just did a quick double check and then we were on our way. 

Buddy was psyched to go for a ride in the car and still seemed pretty happy when they took him to the back (I'm boarding him with our vet). Hopefully he still loves me when I come home. I told them he would be pretty happy as long as there was food. :)

Then I was off on the grand adventure of driving to the Newark airport. Luckily I had plenty of time so I didn't worry too much when I hit traffic. 

I made it, found the lot I had prepaid to park at and was at the check in before I knew it. 

Security took longer than I ever remember security taking, and I was super hungry. 

After wandering all the gates available in my wing, I settled on a panini and a beer at a Sam Adams brew club. All I really wanted was beer and a burger, but this airport is dumb. (I spent a lot of time in this airport when I travelled in college, I already thought it was dumb)

I have a little over an hour before I board and then I'm off on my adventure! Hopefully I can sleep on the plane. I'm almost positive that I have a window seat, which is the best. 

I'll check in when I have internet! :)

Packing, eventually

I should really be packing, or taking out the kitchen trash, or taking a shower. Instead I am watching The Big Bang Theory and blogging. That's close, right?

We had a busy day at work with all 11 kiddos (most of them napped today) and then I had a few more conferences in the afternoon. I really wish I could show you some of the cute things that happen in my classroom sometimes. Two of my kiddos were dancing together with one arm around each other's waist and holding hands. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

When I got home I moved the Jeep into the driveway so we aren't taking up three parking spaces when no one is here.

Since I got home later than usual, I did a short, but tough run. I did a quick warm up followed by 1 mile @ 8:34, 800m jog, and 1 mile @ 8:00. I was a giant puddle of sweat at the end, but it felt pretty awesome. I just kept thinking about the fact that I will be taking a few days off from running while I'm on my trip. Even if I'm sore, I'll have time to recover.

This is what Buddy looks like when he gets yelled at for tripping me.

And even though he has a bed on each floor of the house, this is where Buddy has been sleeping lately.

I'm currently charging my iPod and Kindle and thinking very seriously about getting up and packing.

Eventually.

A freak out of monstrous proportions

I keep alternating between "it's only Monday?" and "oh good, it's only Monday."

I have a lot of little things I need to get done before I leave for London, but I'm also itching to go!

We had a fun day with the kiddos until we hit nap time. Then the mood shifted and one of my generally low maintenance kids had a freak out out of monstrous proportions (we still have zero idea why) and kept pretty much everyone else from falling asleep. 

I had to work later than usual today so I didn't get a run in. I'm shooting for a good, hard run tomorrow since I probably won't be running on my trip. I had a big debate about bringing my gear and trying to run while I am there, but since I don't have a race coming up I think I'm going to just take it easy. I'm sure I'll get plenty of walking in at least.

Now I'm doing laundry so I can actually pack.

And here are few more flowers from the side yard:

No power? No problem.

Yesterday I told my running group that I wouldn't be there this morning because it's my one morning to sleep in. So, naturally, I woke up at 5 this morning. I refused to get up and dozed on and off until around 6:30 when I finally admitted defeat. I could have met up with them after all, but I had a long run planned.

Buddy and I got an early start and headed to the dog park.

He loves being in the car.

He was wiped out pretty quickly by a great dane "puppy" that really like playing with/jumping on him.

When we got home we were surprised to find the power was out. Rather than sit in the dark house, we headed for the back deck. I did a little umbrella wrangling to make a shady spot and did some lounging and reading. It actually ended up being a nice break because I didn't feel like I should be doing something. And when the power came back on around 11:30, I finished my chapter before heading inside.

I suppose I could have worked on my lesson plans, though I usually need the internet for some of that, but it was nice to have a little forced quiet time.

With the power back, we headed to the basement for my long run for the week. 10 miles at an easy pace. It felt easy until about mile 7 and then it was just hot and sweaty.

Buddy was laying like this about half the time I was running.

He's kind of a weirdo.

Keeping up with the mid-pack

I met up with the group this morning. I wasn't even almost late! The speedy speedsters decided they were going to run the ridge (a 12 mile run) and the rest of us stuck to the usual 6-7 mile path. Everyone started off really fast today, but luckily there was another slow person - for part of it anyway. 

This was my thought process during my run:

Mile 1-2: Oh man, I am slow today. Thank goodness there's another slow person.

Mile 2.5: No! He's running the ridge, I'm on my own. One pair of shoes sounds really lonely on the gravel. I have to catch up. If I skip the first ear (side loop), I'll be able to meet them at the halfway point.

Mile 2.5-3.5: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Around 3.5 miles is the midway point. There's water and bathrooms and everyone waits to regroup.

Mile 3.5-5: I have to keep up or I won't be able to find my car for a while. Oh look at me! I'm keeping up and I don't feel like dying!

Mile 5: Oh no, the killer hill. They're getting away! It's ok, I can still see them. No, it's fine, I can find the car from here. Just keep them in sight, then it's almost like keeping up. 

This is what the numbers look like:

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 53:51.1 5.86 9:12 1 9:33.5 1.00 9:34 2 9:32.4 1.00 9:33 3 9:14.1 1.00 9:14 4 8:45.0 1.00 8:45 5 9:03.2 1.00 9:03 6 7:42.9 0.86 9:01

I'm pretty impressed with myself that I kept up with the mid-pack runners of the group. When we got back one of them asked, "Did we run faster than usual?" They all agreed that they had.

Running with this group has really made me push myself, and I'm getting much faster than I ever thought I was!

After I got home I finally tackled the mountain of dishes that I have been pretending weren't there.

Then Buddy and I went for a walk before it got too hot out for my fair-weather pooch.

All that and it's not even noon. Feeling pretty productive this morning!

They're purple, so I win

Happy Friday!

This has been a longer than usual week for some reason. Maybe because I get to go to London next week?

I had a nice (relatively) mellow day at work, we only had 7 kiddos the whole day.

My poppy opened up today!

And then some really impressive storm clouds rolled in.

Buddy was unconcerned by the storm.

He's laying on top of my new shoes. I ordered them last night and they were on the porch this afternoon. Man, Zappos is good!

I swear I'm not addicted to shoes (except maybe running shoes). My super comfy black ones seem to make my weird popping foot issue come back and my old shoes that I love have a hole in them. I needed to get something so when I'm walking around London next week I don't feel like my shoes are falling apart or hurting my feet.

Plus, they're purple, so I win.