running: the dawn

If I wasn’t a teacher, I would still be acutely aware that it is back to school time.  Most of my girlfriends have school aged children who are experiencing (for the first time) what its like to send the boys and girls off to school for part or all of the day.  My facebook news feed is full with pictures of little girls in skirts with their sparkly backpacks or boys giving a confident thumbs up to the camera.  It’s all very cute and sentimental.

I however, as a teacher, have a completely different reaction to the first day(s) of school.  There’s an eagerness and apprehension that the students all bring with them these first few weeks that doesn’t sit well with me.  I understand that they don’t know me and similarly I don’t know them, but I cannot wait until mid-September when everyone calms down and settles in for the duration.  There’s too much peacocking and jockeying for social position here at the beginning.  Without the anchor of routine and consistency, everyone just seems to float around bumping into each other and causing chaos.

Also, I do more talking on the first day of classes then on any other day.  I like to involve the students and get them invested in the learning process, so a lot of my class times are dedicated to group learning and open problem solving.  Basically, I don’t like to hear myself talk.  So the first day is especially annoying to me.

But, it’s over and done with.  In just another week or so the newness of it all will have rubbed off and we can all sink our teeth into the 2010-2011 school year with vigor!

Meanwhile, on the running front…I am so pleased that I was able to get in all 17 miles on Sunday thanks to my running BFF Andi.  She was willing to wake up early, load up her camelback and three other water bottles, and ride along with me for the humid sweaty miles.  I’m discovering that I really enjoy the bike-along running partners.  They are fabulous for conversation, especially when I’m feeling worn out and dragging.  They are able to carry so much water it’s amazing!  They seem to never tire out.

It was a good run for two specific reasons.  One: I was able to run without stopping at all.  Over the past few weeks with the heat and humidity so high I’ve started walking while taking gu and/or water.  I’ve noticed that this makes it even tougher mentally to keep going later in my run when I’m feeling tired.  Then I start walking even when I’m not consuming anything.  I’ve been scared that I was starting to develop a bad habit or dependency on walking.  So, to be able to run my longest distance (this training round) in the humidity and not stop was a huge success!  Two: I was able to keep my pace reasonably low.  I’ve been seeing my average pace numbers creep higher and higher and it has started to really freak me out.  Now, I never saw any marathon goal pace miles, but I did run the second half faster than the first and my fastest mile was my last one.

So, not huge amounts of progress, but enough to keep me going forward.  Hurray!