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April 03, 2005
I'm Back (for real this time)
It has been MONTHS since my last post. Where do I even begin to explain myself? I will start with my life. I think it is obvious that teaching has been an extremely difficult addition to my life. I absolutely love my students, and while I originally thought I was going to have a tough group, I got lucky. Only one of my students has been non-responsive. As a teacher, I have done everything possible to keep him alive in class - including a 3 hour conference where I laid everything on the line. He responded at first, but he is hibernating again. I am at my wits end on this one. I am still throwing down some crazy hours, but I have decided - for some sadistic reason that I cannot explain - to make my life even more complicated.
On top of teaching and getting my MA, I have taken a part-time job in my local Alderman's office as the Director of Community Affairs. When school ends in May I will take on this job full-time, and so long as my Alderman gets re-elected in November 2006, I will have a job! This means that I will not be pursuing my PhD or teaching for a few years. It's too complicated to explain how all of this came about, but I think I made the right decision. I am terribly overwhelmed by my new job - but I think that is the nature of any new job. It is going to be a 7 day/week job, BUT I WILL FINALLY HAVE MY MORNING HOURS AGAIN TO RUN! (instead of planning lessons, catching up on and writing papers, reading, etc . . . I am craving a routine).
As for my running life, it has been AWFUL. I have been existing off of 3-5 days/week of running, but I am simply grateful for the 20-35 miles/week I have been able to squeeze in. I ran the Shamrock Shuffle 8K this morning - it was a gorgeous morning in Chicago!! Deena demolished the American Record . . . I think she ran 24:36. Unbelievable. A lot of people ran well today.
My race report: I wanted to break 33:00 today, but I really didn't think that it would be possible given my inconsistent training of late. I thought I started off conservatively, but I ran through the mile in 6:11 (and that is fast for me . . . but it didn't feel terribly fast). I decided to pull back the reigns a bit because I was afraid of bonking. I ran through mile 2 in under 12:40. I still felt good at this point so I continued to roll with it. I hit mile 3 in 19:26 (I must have slowed down a bit). I started to feel a little sick at this point, but I kept it strong through mile 4 in 25:55 - a PR for me). AND THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. I was shocked to find myself on my way to a PR, but then I spent the final mile choking up and down the street as I perpetually slowed down to throw up water. Maybe that was a sign that I need to start training harder. But I never felt like I was running particularly hard throughout the race - just comfortably hard. Anyway, I crossed the line in 32:51. My summer goal is to break 32:00 and run 31:59 (just as my long term goal is a 2:59 in the marathon). On a positive note, I had never broken 33:00 before I ran 3:04 in the marathon so maybe this is a good omen for the upcoming racing season.
Goals and resolutions: run 6 days/week and get my miles into the magnificent 50s. Then I think some magic will begin to happen.
I miss everyone and I am going to make an effort to post weekly through the end of the semester. I have too much work ahead of me to think beyond the 23 papers I have to comment on tonight (not to mention the work I have to do for my own classes), but I need to reawken this community in my own life . . . you are quite the motivating bunch.
Alison - you rock! I will be in Boston to cheer you on :)
Posted by bridget at April 3, 2005 03:16 PM