Alarm, Coffee, Run, Repeat

I know that strength training combined with running is an important factor in avoiding injury, building lean muscle, and preventing bone loss, but if given the choice between finding time to strength train or run, I always choose the run as I feel it gives me the biggest bang for my buck…so to speak. However, I am reminded once a year, after the gradual accumulation of my winter coat (that layer of adipose tissue that develops from hibernation during the cooler months here in SoCal) that strength training combined with running is the most effective way to lose that coat, FAST! So the regimen has begun! Running happens four days a week and a boot camp style workout the other two (every girl has to take a day off sometime!). Today was a run, yesterday was a boot camp. Today’s run felt like moving through quicksand. My legs were heavy, my arms hurt, I had no spring in my step, and my mile time was 30 seconds slower than I am  used to. UGH! Why do I stop cross training in the first pl...

We, a team of three other teachers and I, are defending a 21st Century Grant proposal tomorrow afternoon. I am little stressed out about this. We will be asked clarifying questions about our proposal, certain members of the panel do not want to hear from a certain member of our group at all (he is to be silenced with my gentle punch to his leg when he tries to be long winded with an answer), and other members may be targeted for questions because of their suspicions about who the driving personality was for the grant idea. All of this because they want us to be a united front; a team of individuals who are working toward a common goal of increasing student achievement through systematic integration of technology and 21st century skills into our curriculum. Would they do this to their students? I certainly hope not! And so I am trying to strike a balance. I have been working on this grant for three months, with my team members: late nights researching that cut into my morning run time ...

I don’t usually ask for much on Mothers Day but for a bit of piece and quiet and for us to spend time together outdoors. This year; however, I decided to do something absolutely for me and involved a good friend of mine in the process. We ran the RLAM inaugural Mothers Day 5K race in San Marcos, CA. What a great event! CSU San Marcos was a great host, the music before the race was low key and the sponsor booths were high quality. They had plenty of volunteers and aid stations and the course was challenging but fun! Before the race, the energy was infectious with all of the other mother runners around and, with all of the husbands and kids there, it really was a family event. Thanks Jean, for being crazy enough to run it, too! And…we both did better than we thought we would so by the end of the race we were both beaming from ear to ear. The smiles we were generating showed me that we had earned this moment! Looking back on all of the running I have done, and all of the races I have ru...

I prefer to run outside, in fresh air, moving by the objects rather than staying in one place staring at the same thing on a treadmill. The time goes by faster, I am logging actual mileage rather than picking my feet up and putting them down, and my legs feel stronger after an outdoor run. It is; however, an unavoidable fact that when you have children often your time is not your own and you have to fit in a run on the ‘mill or forget about running at all. So I play a game with myself…not those kind! I reward myself on the weekends with an outdoor run or hike, one mile for every mile logged on the indoor hamster trainer. This assures me that I will get outside and it determines the length of time I get some peace and quiet; the time that keeps me from wanting to run away! Try it, I encourage you to find a way to make the treadmill a game you play. I will be including more posts on how to make it less mundane (I don’t promise excitement but I do promise ideas). If you have any ideas ...

Friday, May 4th, started out like any other day. I was up before dawn to drink my coffee, do my run and get ready to attack what turned out to be a great College Bowl with my junior high leadership team. The students had a blast, the teachers even enjoyed themselves and I felt like another accomplishment was hard fought and won! The afternoon; however, didn’t go quite as smoothly. I had bathrooms to clean and that was uneventful…little boys don’t aim well so there was more than the standard amount of gunk around the kids bathroom toilet but, otherwise, cleaning was cathartic and motivated me to do some other little things that had been bugging me. That’s when all Hades broke loose. I decided to fix the kids shower faucet. The single lever was loose and hard to adjust so I thought I would take it apart to see how it ticked…I am pretty handy and have reverse engineered my way around many household items in successful attempts to correct issues, but plumbing and electricity are new rea...

A gangly kid, all knees and elbows, I also carried “baby fat” until well into high school. I also had no reason to exercise because no one in my family exercised for health or fun; instead, we had a herd of goats and a couple of horses to take care of. I might have been a strong kid from wielding shovels full of manure into a wheelbarrow, or lifting 60 pound hay bales, or even throwing the saddle on my horse, but I was not a fit kid. I would run the Jr. Olympics at my elementary school every year because we had to, but I came to enjoy the 50 yard dash…I never won the 50, or any other race for that matter but I started to see the joy and feel the freedom of running. Running in earnest didn’t start for me until High School and even though we still had livestock and I had absolutely no time for after school sports practice or events, I ran in PE when track came up in the rotation. I use the term ‘run’ lightly here. I fast walked because I always felt like my shoes had concrete glued t...

There once was a time when I would scoff at people who listened to music while running. A purist to the core, I wanted nothing to listen to but the sound of my own two feet thumping out their own rhythm. I would count my steps, check my cadence, and count again. What was I, nuts?! When I discovered the amazing attributes and engaging nature music offers, I was running my first half marathon post kids, the Carlsbad Half in San Diego. I had purchased an iPod Nano and filled it with a playlist I had named, “Running,” creative, huh? Anyway, the playlist is still on my iPod 6 years later in almost it’s original form due the fact that it propelled me to my first ever sub 2 hour half. I was so stoked that I have sworn by musical motivation ever since. As I mentioned before, when I have to run on the hamster mill I use Pandora radio because of the variety it allows me: when I am frustrated I listen to “Rage Against Radio,” when I need pick me up it’s, “Black Eyed Peas,” and ...