4 good things

4 little things that have brought me small pleasures so far this week:

1) Starbuck's cool lime refresher. Tastes like a mojito, minus the rum. 100 calories for the trenta size (but I got smaller). A nice treat in this nasty hot weather. It's my new craveable (move over popsicles!)

2) TIGI Bed Head Moisture Maniac shampoo. Smells like white gummy bears. Makes we want to take more showers. Everyone wins with this one.

3) My mom. When we are together, we laugh so much. She is my number one fan and makes me feel so good about myself. I'm so incredibly grateful we are so very close. I'd put a picture up of use being silly, but she would kill me if she ever read this!

4) My new classroom. Now I am officially in the Math building, I feel like I am in the cool teacher's club. Being in the same building as the refrigerator is going to be dangerous! Maybe pictures will come when I finally get my keys!

Why I keep slacking on the good things posts, I don't know. Even when things are bad, there are always good things to smile about, and I need not forget that!

What's putting a smile on your face this week?

Monsoon Moisture YUCK!!!!!

Like a good girl, I set the alarm and got up at the weee crack of dawn so I could do my 12 miles. Even when the alarm went off and I was laying in bed, I was ALREADY covered in sweat. Big nasty monsoonal moisture clouds have been attacking the region, making it terribly uncomfortable to be outside and flash flooding some areas. Beautiful but scary. Where did my friendly marine layer go? WAHHHHHHH!

So, because it was already in the 80's and 80% humidity, I did not go out for a run. The last thing I need is to pass out and die alone on some country back road, found only when some hillbilly looking for roadkill follows the vultures circling my dead body. Instead, I kicked out some amazing work for the next school year, working on a classroom webpage as well as researching some alternative grade books.

I am not a big fan of the educational system and a lot of the decisions that are being made way above my head, but I do love teaching.  Even though the state of public education is quickly spinning down the crapper, I am so excited to get back in the classroom and try to make a small difference. I have a new classroom in the main building (yay!) an have a new class (geometry), and I am very excited to take my Standards Based Grading to the next level. I think this is going to be a very good year.

So, as far as training goes, this is probably going to be a pitiful week. I missed last week's long run (the 12 miles) and MOVING AGAIN, I doubt I am going to be getting in a lot of miles. But, I do want to make the gym membership a priority, so no matter where I am living for the first few weeks of transition, I can at least get my fitness on after/before work. I am hoping I can hit a really good streak once I get back north; if I don't I am probably going to fall a little short of my 5 hour goal (but still PR).

Most importantly, I need to get back into shape and get ready for vegas. I really hope my work clothes still fit me when school starts, yikes. So, once I get back up in Northern California, all this indulgent eating is going to have to come to an end! Fitness is a mindset, so for the 8 hours I am driving back, I am going to program my brain into a fitness and healthy eating machine!

It's moving season

A year ago today, I was offered the position at VHS and accepted my first teaching job. I was so excited to have a job, after 40+ applications and tons of rejection letters, it was the peace I had been desperately praying for. I was headed down south to wait out the interviews and low and behold, the offer came when I was on the road. Two offers, actually. Within an hour of each other. I felt so blessed!

365 days, 15 applications, and 1 pink slip later, it's moving time! A week from tomorrow the parents come up and i'll try to cram all my stuff into the back of the truck so I can move back down south and play the waiting game. Although I have had an offer, the salary was much too low for me to support myself on, so I had to say no. Now to cross my fingers and patiently wait for an interview.

To occupy myself in the interim, I registered for the 13.1 Heartbreak Ridge on Camp Pendleton early September. I hope there are lots of handsome Marines there to cheer me on! Having my marathon training plan really helped me get through the stress of job applications, moving, and starting a new job. Although it also caused me to spread myself a little thin last year, I think the absence of grad school will make it a little easier to meet the goals I am setting for myself. Being that my stepdad is a Marine, it would be cool to do a race on his own training grounds. Plus, a goal of 2011 was to set a new PR for the half, which I think I might be able to do with some training. However, this is a hard course so we'll have to see how that goes. My other half marathons were flat, so I am really setting myself up for a challenge!

I also was able to convince my mom to do a 5k in Temecula in late October! I am not sure if I am going to do a 5k or half, but I am really excited to do another race with my mom :)

I still haven't selected a Marathon. One of my goals for the year was to run a marathon without having to stop and walk part of it. I am also going to try to PR again, hopefully with a sub 5 hours time! I have narrowed it down to Mailbu International Marathon or the Santa Barbara International Marathon, both the weekend of November 12. There really aren't a lot of races to choose from in the late fall, I am guessing it is because of all the holidays. Here are the pros and cons of each, and maybe you can help me decide:

Malibu International Marathon
Pros:
Only 2 hours from my parent's house
Runs along the coast
Pace team
Beach towel instead of shirt
Coconut water and other hippie stuff on course and at finish
Potential Groupon? (They had one last year around September)

Cons:
Expensive ($145 entry fee)
Pay to park ($8)
Inclines in the end (eerily similar to Boston)
Heard the first half near Camarillo is boring farm land, but flat
Sunday means no rest day before going back to work (if I have a job)

Santa Barbara International Marathon
Pros:
In Santa Barbara, which is amazing and beautiful
On a Saturday, so more rest time after race
Gu on the course, which is my gel of choice
hills are more rolling, less challenging than Malibu
Cheaper than Malibu ($115 Entry Fee)
Cheaper hotel rates for the night before
Cons:
3 hours from the house means Friday night hotel (cha-ching)
Course is difficult to understand

Obviously I am leaning towards Santa Barbara. If anyone wants to run it, we can split a super cheap hotel room from Friday and Saturday nights (I do believe it is a holiday weekend). Whatcha think???

OK, enough typing about running. It's time to get outside and start doing some. I forgot how to like running and need to train myself to like it more than being lazy. Time for some tempo miles!

Twitter makes me feel like a celebrity

Today kicks off the 100 days of summer challenge, which I am optimistically embarking on. I am challenging myself to 30 minutes of purposeful activity a day for the next 100 days. 20 laps in the pool, breast and freestyle taught me two things: first, my form is terrible and my college swim instructor would be terribly upset if she was watching, and second, salt water pools rock. How did I not know that the pool at my apartment was salt water? And heated? If only it was olympic sized, it would be HEAVEN.

This all started last night. I had a dream about swimming laps in a pool, which I haven't done regularly for 2 years (almost to the day). I had a few outings last year, but my aquatic fitness has really gone by the wayside. I love to swim but have never considered myself a swimmer. Someday I would like to change that, just like how I changed the whole "runner" thing. In my dream, it was perfect, gliding through the water for thousands of yards. Every part of me felt good. I knew I had to get in a pool today, and I am glad I did. I hope I can find time to do it more.

I confess, I haven't been exercising at all for the past 3 weeks (I am shamed, hence the lack of blogging). I have been using every ounce of energy just to get through my daily routine. I have worried that I will never run again (not likely) and be stuck in this funk forever. My batteries have needed a major recharge. Big changes are coming my way: I will be moving back to Southern California soon to look for work. The district has laid off so many teachers I have given up hope of being reinstated. The private school was a dream job, except the salary was not high enough for me to pay off my student loans and afford to buy my weekly ramen allotment. I am taking this as an opportunity to return to my roots and have a fresh start. I have been deeply homesick and I am very excited to be able to see my family again on a regular basis instead of just on the major holidays. I had a great training routine last summer, doing speed work on the middle school track and long runs with killer hills. Most of all, my family is looking forward to having me as their personal chef, which makes me feel incredibly special and excited to try out some new ideas on them, including another round of sorbets and ice creams. Everybody needs something that makes them feel incredibly special!

Which brings us back around to the title of this post. I consider myself a mediocre runner who runs slow miles and has yet to finish a marathon without having to take walk breaks in the last 8 miles. Despite the fact I know that there are so many better runners out there, running still makes me feel special. Being a runner attracted my first celebrity follower on Twitter (Bart Yasso), which was the highlight of my month. Running coaches re-tweeting and responding to my tweets makes me feel like a million bucks. Making friends at races and feeling like their insider follower on twitter makes running relationships magical. But what makes me feel the most special, the most important, is friends and family who have experienced my tortoise-like approach while waiting hours at the finish that make me feel special by bragging about accomplishments for me and always cheering me on like I am Kara Goucher or something.

I'll close with a senior quote from a student in the dance department, which I think really hits on why life is bringing me back home:

"We're not here to impress those who judge us, we're here to make those who will never judge us proud"

The power of positive thinking

Today almost ended in me picking up teenagers and through them through the windows. Which would be amazing, because many of them are twice my size. I was at wit's end and seriously considering whether or not I had chosen the right profession. Thank goodness my department chair took me aside and told me my worries over their success (or lack of) are bringing bad energy into the classroom. I thought the world was going to end, that hell had opened up in the center of my classroom and all Satan's demons had come to torture me. That could be why they are so reluctant and combative, because they are sensing their potential failure, and it is scaring them. So for 6th period, my rowdiest little devils, I took every ounce of energy, started with a smile, and didn't let the lack of homework turned in, gross amount of tardies, or blatant electronic violations bother me. Like a miracle, the kids actually suited up and got some work done. Not as much as I would have liked, but way more than my other classes. The biggest difference was me, and that is why it went well.

So, I made a point to log some miles. Since I got home late, I jumped on the treadmill and tried this whole positive thinking thing. I decided that today I was going to run 4 miles on the treadmill (I have never been able to tolerate more than 3). Of course, the TV was broken and I had ipod difficulties, but I made it through. I am still shocked I was able to run indoors for that long without letting my thoughts drive me crazy. I am so proud of myself! I even did some upper body weights to make a point to myself that I am back in the swing of things!!!!! Today could have just been up there as my top 5 crappiest days of teaching, but in the end, I made it an OK day.

I am going to be in marathon shape before the summer is here. Hello Tahiti!

Good Things...

This Friday blog is so easy when things are fast, fun, and exciting. But when things are fast and frightening, these Friday blogs become that bag of saline hooked into your arm when you are in the ER. Or a road map when you are lost. I'll let you pick how dramatic you want to be today :)

Good things are that my classroom is pretty much good to go for the first day of school and all my policies, procedures, syllabi and nearing completion. By the end of the weekend the second week of school will be planned, and I should have a website up and going. If you are not a teacher, you have no idea what a seriously good thing is when you are a neophyte like me.

The good thing that will carry me through today is waking up to Bob Marley singing to ME "Don't worry about a thing every little things gonna be alright". Ok, not in person, in my head, but someone sent three little birds to my mind's doorstep telling me the chill out. Much appreciated Bob, much appreciated.

Lastly, having good friends who will help me talk stuff through without judging me too harshly is what is going to make it beyond the next week. There are so many path right now, and silly me, I have chosen the hardest one with IEDs and snipers all along the way. But if I can properly navigate things, everything might just turn out happily every after.

Happy Friday everyone! I'm off to find my belly laugh for the day so I don't turn into psycho first year teacher. Big run this weekend, with a new hill (or dare I say MOUNTAIN!) so there should be much to complain share with you soon!

Good Things!

I have kinda been slacking on posting good things every Friday, but this week I will not let you down.

This morning I had the best run I have had in a long time. A new route and I felt AMAZING the entire run.  Usually I have to fight through the three mile funk before I warm up the exhilaration of running, but not today! I might have even been SMILING while running. Imagine that! I didn't get the hills in as much as I was craving, but I found a spur off this new route that is going to promise some very sweet climbs. This is the second wind I really needed to get for the last 2 months of marathon training. Three runs already this week and I am going to try to squeeze in one more. Hooray!

More good news? The Bestie is starting a book club. I am stoked. I swear, she knows exactly what I need and delivers just when I need it! I doubt she did it because of me, but I am going to give her credit for it anyways. She is amazing. I never been in a book club before. Another first to add to the list in this new chapter of my life!

The cat has finally calmed down and stop mauling me and all the people near and dear to me. Dare I say she is happy?  (Dare!Dare!). I haven't had one problem with her since we got to Napa, and I am relieved. If she didn't shape up, we were going to have to explore other options, which wasn't looking so good for her. Guess she just doesn't work well under stress. Or perhaps it is the fact that now I have my classroom keys and curriculum, I am finally settled into my place, and I am starting to meet new people, I am no longer wallowing in my own stress, bringing her down with me. I hope she is not a barometer of myself, because she was really terrible the last 2 months. I'd like to think I was not that bad.

...and not so much

So, I thought I was going to have tons of trash talk about The Bachelorette season finale, but instead I just wept throughout the entire 2 hour episode. Right.

Instead we will discuss less pitiful things, like my new classroom and getting my fitness back on. Yes, I started working on my fitness and I am loving my new fitness room. I love love LOVE watching trashy TV while I am running, even though I read some health report that said watching TV when running makes you work less hard and burn less calories. But I know my abs are getting a work out when I am laughing out loud. It also helps to drown out the animalistic grunting of men using the weight machines. I am a single lady, I can't handle hearing men grunt or seeing them all sexy sweaty when they are working out. It is like I am 13 and boy crazy all over again. Help!!!!!!!

Tomorrow AM, when that cozy foggy marine layer is hanging in the trees, I am going to hit the pavement and log some miles. I want to log a decent double digit long run this weekend, so I need to build up right. No injuries!

Speaking of injuries, I look like Nancy Kerrigan. I fell on the stairs AGAIN and my knees look battered. Didn't hurt on the treadmill, which is good to know. My body is trying to sabotage me, but it will not win!

This week I will sanitize my classroom (even though it will be filthy by the end of second period on the first day of school) and hopefully get some stuff up on the walls. Maybe even start some curriculum planning. I am trying to come up with clever ways to make my classroom inviting and lighthearted for high school students. I teach Algebra this year. I hate corny stuff (like that poster with that kitten about to fall out of a tree that says hang in there) but love dry humor. What do you remember in your high school math classes and what would you have liked to look at?

Here are some highlights from the winery, for your amusement. More running updates later this week as I get back on the bandwagon :) 

Older lady comes in to buy a glass of wine on live music night. Asks for the cheapest glass, I list the bottom 3. She goes for the pinot. Keep in mind she has a wine list with tasting notes in front of her. I pour the glass of Pinot Grigio (the only pinot we serve), slide it across the bar. She slides it back, and with 100% attitude, says "Sweetheart. Pinot is a red wine". She also thought the music was too loud.

Guys at bar: Come to Vegas with us. We'll comp everything: room, drinks, shows.

Me: Vegas huh? I've always wanted to go. My bestie goes all the time.

Guys at bar: Then come. We are going to invite 10 of our guy friends. It is going to be great.

Me: Am I going to have a sign a video release for this? I'm not sure I am that kinda girl.

Old man at table: Your shirt is sparkly. Reminds me of a go go dancer I picked up off the side of the road in the 60's. I think you are doing a little better than she was. You are working inside, after all.

Me: (Laughing nervously) Oh, I had a feeling you were going to say something like that.

Old Man: I'm 74. Stop bending over, my wife is here and I can't handle the excitement. 

This will be my last week behind the bar before I pack up and move out. Hopefully my students will give me clever but less sexual things to post in my blog. I am sure this week there will be more love from the patrons to share here.

Tending the Bar

This summer I am pouring in the tasting room of a Temecula winery. I make wage plus tips and commission. The money is FREAKING AMAZING. I only work 3 days a week. Which leads me to wonder if I am really the right line of work. I mean, wine makes the world a better place, am I right? Especially with how education is being funded in California.....

I can see why people get into this industry and stay. The people are fun, the money is good, etc. You can make the starting salary of a teacher in some districts just working behind the bar. You make way more than subbing. How are people supposed to be motivated to pursue an education (or work in education) when it is so tempting to just stay put?

Good thing I love teaching. The work is rewarding and I know I am helping to make a positive impact on my community. But, I would also love to pour wine as a summer job anywhere they will take me. I love meeting new people, talking about wine, and being able to just be a fun twenty something. And the extra spending money is nice to.

Good Things? No, GREAT THINGS!!!!

Out of chaos comes the best week ever. 2 job offers from two amazing schools. Good move out from the apartment. And coming home to see my nephew, who has the best laugh and smile I have ever seen. I can't imagine how life gets better than this!

I am very excited to be the newest Math teacher at Vintage High School in Napa, CA. The people working in Napa Valley Unified School District are great and I am very excited to move to Napa and become part of the community. I feel like so many things have come together to get me here. Hard work really does pay off. I AM SO FREAKIN HAPPY!!!!!!!

So, I will celebrate tonight by going to the wineries for music, picnic, and lots of the good red stuff. I think this is going to be the best summer ever!

Burning Out!

"Hello, my name is Stephanie. Here is a some stuff I have put together to prove to you I can be a hard working teacher slave even in the summer months. I eat, sleep, and breathe education. HIRE ME."

Today I spent 12 hours putting together an inter-thematic unit map (ITU), a detailed unit plan for the math unit that integrates into the ITU, and a summary of the lesson plans that would be included in the ITU, resulting in a 8 page document. I hope this is the golden ticket to employment. I haven't work this hard since my content area tasks for my credential performance assessment. If I get the job, do you think I'll get retro pay for this? With the sweltering heat, I feel like I have been trapped in a lesson planning sweatshop today.

Coming up with neat ways to bring different curriculum strands together is very engaging for me. I like doing it, and thats how I know I am going to the right career field. Just not when it is 103 degrees in the apartment, I have a whole other interview to prepare for (HS Math in Napa, YAY!), and an apartment to move out of in less than 48 hours. I feel like a crazy person! I don't know if I would make it through this without teacher friends calling to check in on my sanity and best friends pitching in to help move me and house me through the transition.

Mom's words of wisdom on the situation: When it rains, it pours. I wish it was raining cool refreshing water from the sky along with all the opportunities and obligations that are stacking on top of each other. Let's hope I get the job and can use all this planning next year with my students.

More Good Things :)

This week has been great now that I have started on my new training schedule and my ITB troubles seemed to have faded away . It is really going to improve my running; today I did my first tempo run and it really pushed me to push myself to run at my best, and I did! Today I ran a new personal best for the mile (8:24.4) and ran my usual 5 mile loop in under 50 minutes, averaging 9:57 per mile. Tempo runs are not easy for me, I have trouble regulating my speed when I am paying attention to it. My first mile, I completely missed my target time by nearly a minute. So as I pushed myself, I ended us cutting nearly 3 minutes off my time (surprise!  A new personal best!) and then finally I was able to drop down and run my last 3 miles at a steady pace of 9:24. I was huffing and puffing like a crazy person out there, especially when I had to run down a narrow path past probation workers doing landscaping stuff (scary!). One just kept doing his thing as I ran past, launching little pebble missiles at my legs with his lawnmower on the gravel path. I felt like I was being shot by a bb gun! Maybe his probation has to do with a domestic violence charge...

More good things: two intermediate jobs were posted in Davis today, and my master teacher tells me he is going to put a good word in for me. So far they are both 4th grade, which would be so much fun! I am also hopeful that a 5th grade job in the district will open up. I would love to be able to stay in Davis for a while, It is such a safe place to run. And next week I have interview #2 in Loomis for a dream job combining upper elementary and math, my two favorite things. I am pumped!

I am also very thankful to have been able to take some great hikes with some of my favorite teacher friends.  This week we hiked at Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve at Lake Berryessa, so beautiful, but definitely tough! This whole week has been full of fun and good times. I am excited to go home and see my family, but I will most certainly be looking forward to seeing all my good people again in August.

{So thanks for sticking with me on my blogging journey. Now I am reading more blogs (read: too much time on my hands), I am starting to play with mine a little more. Is the large text annoying? I am trying to highlight significant or humorous parts. Give me your feedback!}

Good Things: Keeping That Chin Up

The purpose of the original good things was bring the good juju and keep a positive frame of mind. Looking forward or reflecting back, keeping sight of what is good makes life better.

This week we are going to look forward to the good things that are coming up this week: three of my favorite people will be spending some time in Davis next week to help celebrate the completion of my teaching credential, a faculty member is going to recommend me for a job/put in a good word for me, and the last of day of school for my favorite little people will be here in no time.

My Supervisor gave me a book of poetry today by Francisco X. Alarcon titled Laughing Tomatoes (Jitomates Risuenos). The boom concludes with the following poem written in both English and Spanish:

Universal Spiral              Espiral universal

there are                          no hay
no endings                      finales

just new                          solo nuevos
beginnings                      principios

And that pretty much sums up good things for this week.

A Year For New Things

Resolving to take 2010 by storm, I have begun to comprise my personal objectives for the year. I realize that I have set the bar for the start of the new decade ridiculously high, and I am pretty sure I will look at this list 12 months from now and laugh my fanny off. However, in an effort towards self improvement, the bar will stay at its unattainable altitude, and we'll just have see how much progress I am motivated to make:

1. Complete a half marathon in 2:00:59 or less. That would be about 26 minutes faster than last year. Ridiculous.

2. Complete a full marathon. Ideally, the Nike Marathon, but I can't put all my eggs in one raffle basket. I'll probably end up dragging myself around Sacramento. Then I can get my one and only tattoo, 26.2, in an undecided location.

3. Get a full time teaching job. Even more ridiculous than the idea of me running for over 4 hours straight, unless the economy bucks up and gets off life support.

Progress towards these objectives should minimize crazy female syndrome over the year. By crazy female syndrome, I obviously mean lack of self esteem and faith in society. My paranoia has me convinced that if I don't become a world class athlete, I'll probably get diabetes and be forced to live my life from the discomfort of a rascal scooter. And if I don't get a job, the credit card companies will repossess everything I own, including my malicious cat. Scooting around town mumbling about my lost cat only contributes to crazy female syndrome.