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I’m Ready

               
This morning, I ran a mile with my husband as usual. And then later this morning, I ran another mile. It’s the first double run day I’ve had since my return to running. And you know what? It was fabulous! Much faster than I thought I was going, and I haven’t run that fast in so long. It was a good minute slower than before injury me, and I don’t care one bit. No pain at all is what I care about.

Hopefully this means I’ll be running the Piece Walk 5k on my birthday. I really really want to.

In the meantime, I’m just going to keep slowly working my way back to normal.

In other news, I spent some time last week talking to my future colleges about what I need to do to get in and have everything that I want. It isn’t going to be easy. But I’m going to pull it off. I feel really good having a plan. I’m ridiculously excited about registering for summer and fall classes soon… and a little bit freaked out at how few semesters I have left before I need to change schools. Summer, fall, and I’ll have a couple of classes to finish up next spring. After that it’s on to the hard stuff. I can’t wait to get there, except I’m not too sure how I’m going to pay for it yet. If you would like to pay for it for me, just let me know…

I’m ready to conquer all of it this week.

Today

Today                

Today I feel like I could just keep going forever.

This morning I had my last class of the semester. My A in Personality Theories is so high that if there was a letter grade above A, I’d have it. I left school in the light, misty rain, with an urge to go run more. Running in the rain has really never been my thing, but I’ve been making myself get up and do it the past couple of mornings. And it was so light, what’s a few sprinkles?

Naturally, I got home and the rain picked up. Out of curiosity, I snagged my rain jacket that I’d given to my daughter to wear and tried it on. It shouldn’t fit me yet, but somehow it does. And the rain lightened up again. So off I went to the park. I kept a slow, comfortable pace and just kept going. I felt like I could keep going like that forever. I’m hoping this is the beginning of a return to more miles. I’ve been wanting this for awhile, but not found the time or the will to make it happen.

Everything just felt right. My breathing was natural instead of being something I needed to think about. The music was making me happy. I wasn’t tired at all until a little into the 3rd mile. After that, I felt the blister coming. And then the rain picked up. I made it home, 3.1 miles in 37 minutes.

I’d like to work on my 5k time and improve it by spring. But I have no complaints about a steady, comfortable run that I enjoyed. If the rain held back and the blister didn’t happen, I’m not sure I’d have stopped running anytime soon. I like that.

How do you feel about running in the rain? 

soundtrack

soundtrack                
My life is so much better with a constant soundtrack of music flowing. Walking around school with my headphones on puts me in a relaxed, confident, comfortable state that I don’t feel without them. Walking around without them I feel exposed and meek and small. Today I’ve placed a positive spin on the entire world around me just by building my own personal soundtrack of comfort and happy vibes. It’s as if I’ve been holding my breath all this time and can finally let it all slowly out, washing away all that tension I’ve been holding onto. Sadly though, all of the anxiety comes rushing right back as soon as I get to class and shut the music off.

The Cosmic Bathroom Closure

The Cosmic Bathroom Closure                

Today at school, we had low water pressure due to some construction nowhere near school. I don’t know, don’t ask me. All I know is that when I got there, I really had to pee, and all of the bathrooms were closed. I walked from one to the next to find that they were all closed. Then I finally found an open one. In the locker room by the pool. I found another near the coffee shop, but they kept closing them to clean them. Rumor has it there was one open in the library, too. These open bathrooms were all on the first floor. My classes? All 2nd and 3rd floor.

I freak out when I’m somewhere without a bathroom. When I used to run as many as 7 miles at a time, it was a huge challenge for me because if there’s a porta-potty? It’s probably nasty. If there’s not? Then I’m in really big trouble, because I drink tons of water when I run. This usually meant I had to pound water on the way to the place I’d be running, stopping along the way at a bathroom or two if there wasn’t going to be one where I’d be. And then immediately heading to one as soon as I finished. Most of the time I could handle it during the run. But not all of the time.

I hate being at events or places of business without a bathroom, or with only one bathroom, or with a broken bathroom. At times when we’ve had a broken toilet at home? I had to leave. And most of the time, that’s what it comes down to.

If there’s no bathroom here I’m going to have to leave.

I really considered blowing off the rest of my 2 hour math class after taking my test today because the thought of being stuck on a floor with no bathroom for that long was almost too much to bear. And the weird part about that? I rarely ever have to go to the bathroom during that class. Just the idea that I couldn’t go made me have to go.

So what does this say about me from a psychological standpoint? I have absolutely no idea. My best guesses? I have a tiny bladder, I worry too much over everything, and I’m a little bit crazy.

The plus side of the bathroom situation today? I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen since last semester. Because my journey to an open bathroom landed me in a totally different place to study than usual, and her journey to an open bathroom took her right to me.

And while that’s really pretty awesome and cosmic… they’d better have all the toilets working on Friday or I’m going to have to go home.

The Tuesday Experiment

The Tuesday Experiment                

I decided last week to try something new. Since the semester started, I’ve spent much of my 2 days a week off up at school trying to get all my work done because it’s been harder to focus at home. I did this especially for the couple of weeks of nonstop construction at the bottom of my driveway. There’s still construction on the other side of our street, but there’s less of it and it isn’t interfering with my life as much as it was. Getting my work done is a great thing, but I have other goals, and I hadn’t been working towards them at all. So last week I made the decision that if I’m going to do things like run more miles, I’m going to need at least one day off a week. A day to myself, to both get my homework done and work toward other goals. To work at my own comfortable, relaxed pace, without so many looming deadlines or strict times I need to be finished.

This is week two of Tuesday being mine. I ran 2 extra miles after taking my daughter to school. I’m getting ready to run some errands with a happy smile on my face for a fast mile that broke my recent best time. After that, I’ll come home and do some homework. Maybe even find time for a nap. Maybe exercise some more. Maybe do something completely different. The point is, I’m making Tuesdays about my own personal wellness. Getting my work done reduces my stress level, but it also leaves me feeling like I’m leaving so many other things unfinished. Thursdays if I need to, I can go to school to study, or just sit here until it’s all done. But today is just for me.

How do you make time for yourself in your busy schedule?

lifesaver 5k

lifesaver 5k                

This past Saturday I ran the Lifesaver 5k at my college. The purpose? Scholarship money for our nursing students. I didn’t really see anyone I knew there. I’m just a runner who goes to school there and thought it would be fun. It was my first 5k event in over a year. I didn’t really train for it, and have really only been running a mile at a time for the past several months. I’m ready for that to change, and wanted to see how I would do. And it sounded like fun to me.

It was REALLY windy out Saturday morning. I kept telling myself I’d be hot once I was running. I was right, but I froze until then. They brought out the zumba teachers to warm up the crowd with some pre-race zumba. That’s how my kid kept warm, by dancing. She had a blast. They also had fun kid friendly stuff like face painting.

Oh, and did I mention there was a race there, too? Right. The race. This was the most pleasant event I’ve been to yet. Nice and small. Most people were there because they wanted to support the nursing students, not just to spread their egos around. The amazing volunteers that cheered everyone on had the best signs to get us through it. I smiled through a good portion of my 3 miles. That isn’t typical for me. The weather was perfect and the sky was amazing. I’ve been known to start snapping pictures of the sky when pulling out of that parking lot after my classes, because the clouds are often quite perfect there. Running with that view was incredible.

No one ran over me or shoved me. I didn’t feel compelled to outrun anyone around me or compare myself to them. I only needed to walk through one water stop to re-hydrate. I set a nice, steady pace and stuck with it. In the end it turned out to be my best ever time at a 5k event. 36:25. I was the 50th female, 12th in my age group, and 100th runner overall. This may not sound like a big deal to some of you, but it’s very good for me. I was more than pleased.

I will definitely run this event again next year, I think it’s my new favorite! I’m feeling a renewed sense of longing to run that I hadn’t been feeling as strongly for awhile. Feeling the ache in my muscles this weekend reminded me of how badly I want to get out there and run like that more than just once in awhile. Looking forward to adding in some more miles this fall.