« December 2004 | Main | April 2005 »

January 30, 2005

The Running Goddesses Have Officially Cursed Me

I know I refer often to my running gods and goddesses - I suppose I believe in positive energy and running prayers. Well, I haven't been saying my thanks lately, and I suddenly find myself digging my legs out of another cursed ditch.

First, let me recap the past few weeks that I have been suspiciously quiet. First, I am having a particularly hard time balancing school and teaching. I can understand why universities throw unexperienced TAs into classrooms to teach 24 unsuspecting minds, but it is KILLING me. I have no concept of time management and I tend to throw all of my energy into one basket: the one for my students. For example, last week I slept a total of 12 hours from Monday - Friday. I had a TON of coursework, but I also had some really awful papers that needed some serious attention; they took me 12 hours to grade! YIKES. And then - because I always feel horribly under-prepared - I totally over-prepared my lessons. All of this resulted in a terrible day on Friday when I had 4 students walk in 17 minutes late and declare that they could care less about my class or the book that I am teaching. Ouch. THAT HURT. Why do I still love them? Anyway, I am staring at 9 more final drafts that I have to grade tonight before I get around to my own readings for my classes. I am dying inside - a slow and painful intellectual death.

On to running. Running - what running? My running has virtually disappeared. I was keeping up until this week . . . when I decided to shovel and I ended up on the floor in back pain. I considered going to the ER, but my friend, M., had some muscle relaxers (I DO NOT recommend this, but I was desperate, in tremendous pain, and I had to teach in a hour!). I barely ran this week. In fact, Alision put in more miles in one day than I managed to put in this entire week.

I am exhausted - mentally and emotionally. I finally feel like my running has to go until I can figure out how to balance all of this. I am so sad. Any advice on how to figure this out? I considered running at 4:30 AM, but considering the fact that I do not hit the pillow until 2-3AM every night, I don't think that is a viable option.

I want to cry. Off to grade papers . . . until 2AM.

Posted by bridget at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2005

I Never Knew . . .

that teaching would be so hard. I have to mimic Lily and confess that I periodically subscribe to delinquent blogging habits. I started my second semester January 10th and I do not think I have slept more than 4 hours/night since last week. I practically pulled an all-nighter last night because I had a paper to write on rhetoric. So much fun! I do love what I do, but the teaching aspect - sans any experience - has totally shocked my system. I will go into further analysis on all of that later!

My running is still on the rebound; I managed to clock 40 miles last week, and I am on a pretty good track this week. I am 3 miles behind my shedule, but I am quite proud to be that close!! Running is starting to feel more "natural" and fun again - but tonight is going to be a surfing endeavor since Chicago is currently getting 4-8 inches of snow. My friend, C., is coming over in a few minutes . . . and we are going to surf 8-9 miles :)

This weekend I plan to increase my long run to 14 miles and catch up on sleep - which seems hopeless these days. I just feel so under prepared to teach that I end up totally over prepared. For anyone who has ever taught, the silence is awful. I don't think I have my method figured out - it all feels very awkward and contrived to me. I hate being in a position of authority because it is the antithesis to my personality. But some of the kids in my room are not exactly easy to teach - I have my work cut out for me.

I better get dressed for the cold and hit the roads before I get too comfortable in my toasty house :)

Posted by bridget at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)

January 08, 2005

12 Mile "Long" Run!

I cannot believe it!! It has been over 4 months since I have run 12 miles without stopping. I have recently been talking with someone much more knowledgable than me about all of this training and running stuff, and she has been more than helpful and encouraging! I think we make a pretty good team. She is helping me to get back into the swing of things with some actual schedules. I cannot believe I have never run with a schedule on a more consistent basis. It has made this one week much easier; I no longer expend unnecessary amounts of mental energy and stress trying to decide if I should 4 miles or 6 miles. It's great!

So today I ran 12 miles. My old running buddy and sometimes training partner, C. called at 8:00AM and asked me if I wanted to run. I was excited when she called because I was a little weary of running on the lakefront for 12 miles with no company! For anyone who lives in Chicago - or any city for that matter - the paths are deserted as soon as the snow and ice move in. I was beyond happy to find the lake paths shoveled, salted and de-iced! Running anywhere else right now is quite dangerous . . . I think I need cross country skies or snow-shoes just to walk the dog :)

I felt AWFUL the first 5 miles and seriously considered bailing on the run, but C. and I just kept going. And I am glad that we did. As soon as we hit the 6 mile mark my body woke up and I felt a giant burst of energy. We cruised the rest of the way home, but "cruising" doesn't mean fast - just slow and steady.

I have a million things to get done before I walk into class on Monday so I better get started (have I mentioned that I am probably the world record holder in procrastination???).

Happy snow running!!

Posted by bridget at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)

January 06, 2005

Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

WOW - I woke up this morning and any delusions I had of running outside were quickly erased. Chicago has about a foot of snow on the ground, and since I live a few miles from the lakefront, my options are to cross country ski my miles (just kidding) or to hop on what James has rightly dubbed the "TT" (terrible treadmill). I actually admit to liking the Treadmill, but not more than 3 times in a week!

So I have resorted to laziness and I plan to run about 64 minutes SUPER easy tonight. I am convinced that the treadmills at the new gym B. and I just joined are significantly harder than the ones at our old gym (we relinquished our membership at the old gym with the quarter mile track and amazing boob jobs - it got to be too much of a scene and not enough of a guts-driven work-out place!).

Today has been surpringly busy since I have been reading and preparing for the class I am going to teach on Monday - I just printed up my class roster too. I am terribly frightened by this experience. I taught some last semester, but this is actually my own class and, as grad students, we have no formal teacher training. HELP! I am sure I have mentioned this before, but my class is centered around a specific issue and then we spend the semester examining the different rhetorics, discourses, etc. surrounding our "controversial" issue. So we are kicking off the semester with Johnathan Kozol's bestseller, "Amazing Grace." I have my own opinions on poverty in America, but I refuse to impose my ideology onto these fresh minds; I am hoping that they all teach me something!

Okay - I better get back to work.

Posted by bridget at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2005

I Love This Place!

I am in a really good mood this afternoon! I think the New Year is off to a good start, and I am starting to feel hopeful that my running may be strong this year as well. Just a feeling, but it's a good feeling.

There are many exciting things about to happen in 2005! I am confident that we have a few members in our community that are going to have an awesome showing in the Boston Marathon!! There are a few of us shooting for sub 3's and some of us who are aiming to go sub 2:50! This place rocks. I have definitely made some friends here that I feel so lucky to have made - even if I don't know you that well, I still feel a strong connection :)

B. and I are both motivated to work out and he is quickly becoming my workout buddy! We ran 7 miles together yesterday and then I came home and grabbed our dog, Ajax, for the final 2.5-3. Mr. Ajax, as I like to call him, has no concept of pace. I swear we were running faster than I ran in the 5K; in fact, I know we were. He was pulling me along - his big ears were flopping in the breeze and his stride was hoppy and fast. I am obsessed with my dog - I just think he is so wonderful and so amazing! (he slept like a rock last night!).

Anyway, I have a TON to prepare for as I am about to begin another semester. I start teaching on Monday - 24 freshman! HELP ME! I am scared to death. I am also taking 2-3 classes (I might drop one because I do not want to overwhelm myself with too many classes and too many students). I am also the new committee chair of events/communications for Young Democrats (one of the Chicago branches) and I am working out of our Alderman's office a few days/week to produce a community newspaper. I just hope I have time to run!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Posted by bridget at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2005

Resolution Run 5K

So I ran a 5K last night to kick off New Year's Eve! A great little specialty running store in Chicago, Universal Sole (www.universalsole.com), puts on this race every year. B. and I went to the gym around 1PM, but as we were strolling along on our respective treadmills, we made a definitive decision to run the race. So we ran 3 miles, biked for 10 minutes, lifted, and called it a workout.

My twin sister, A., my brother-in-law and B. and I all packed into our purple mini-van and drove to the race around 5PM. The weather was ridicuously warm for Chicago - 48 degress at the lakefront. I wore shorts, a long sleeve T, a hat and gloves - and I was overly toasty.

Anyway, the past 6 weeks that I have been back running, I have been averaging about 15-20 miles/week; as a result, I did not have any real goals. I just wanted to break 21:00! So I started the race and went through the mile in 6:30 - which felt easy! I sort of freaked out, though, because I didn't want to push it. I decided to tuck myself into a pack of 6 men running. The path was pitch black at that point so I was paranoid about tripping and hurting myself.

The 2 mile marker was definitely off so I disregarded that split, but I did assume that I had slowed down a lot and I decided to coast the rest of the race (with my nice pack of men).

BUT, when I came out of the final tunnel and saw the clock about 100 yards ahead, I started to kick myself for taking it easy. If I would have run just a tad harder, I would have broken 20:00 (something I have not done too often because I have never trained specifically for a 5K). According to my marathon time, I should easily be running 18:40s - but I am still running around 19:40-20:00.

I came in around 20:11 and felt soooooo relaxed and fresh. This reminds me that, for me, less is often more. There is no way I should be running that time off of 15 miles/week. I have decided that for 2005, I will not exceed 60 miles per week unless something truly miraculous occurs. I just feel that I am much more successful - and much less injury prone - off of lower mileage. To each their own, right?

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Next up: sub 19:00 in the 5K (it's about time!)

By the way, B. ran awesome - 23:00 and my twin sister, A., ran better than all of us! She claims she is a non-runner, but she ran 21:45 (holy molley!). She surprised me - and I will admit to feelings of slight envy :( She has been better than me at everything we have ever done - I honestly think if she trained for a marathon she would run faster than me too. We have never been competitive, though. I am sooooo proud of her! AND, my brother-in-law, K., who has not run in 2 years, coasted in around 33:00!

Posted by bridget at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)