This week’s Tuesday Topic is: What did you learn from your worst race? You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post. Remember to link up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!
I am deviating from today’s topic to say “Hello”. I took some time off from blogging to get my life together. 😊 While this school year has been a lot better than last year, it’s still been very challenging. Two new curriculums is kicking my you know what. I have 22 students but many are below grade level (a few are nonreaders). We are expected to teach the curriculum as if it were a “normal” year. Umm, no. Nothing is normal about this year. Everything is so hard for the students. Doing simple things is challenging. I’ve had to teach them to line up quietly, walk, etc. They eat breakfast in my room and many make a mess and do not even know how to clean up. They were home all freakin’ year! What the heck did they do?!?!?!?
Many of my students have been absent because they’re either sick or quarantined. For the latter it is because they’ve shown covid symptoms. They can come back to school after 10 days or with a negative test result. There was a time in which 7 students were quarantined. Right now I have 2 in quarantine. One has been absent for 2 weeks. His brother is in a classroom in which a few students tested positive and the whole class was quarantined. I feel like the guidelines are not clear nor consistent. There are many siblings in our school. One may be sent home to quarantine but yet the other siblings can still go to school.
Last week were parent/teacher conferences. I was expecting to meet with 21 parents (one student came into my room at the beginning of October but was absent for about 3 weeks due to health requirements). Only 12 made an appointment and I met with 8 of them. It wasn’t even in person conference..it was virtual!!!! Ugh, I was even more annoyed because I had to be in school till 7pm.
I had mentioned I want to run a 50k next year. I haven’t written about my training but have been posting on Instagram stories. I like that they’re easy and fast to do. The race I want to do is the Chicago Lakefront 50k. Still no exact date but it usually takes place end of March/beginning of April. So far running is going well. I’ve had some great and bad runs. Don’t we all? I remember in the beginning I had a good week and then a bad week. And by bad I mean that I felt very tired and didn’t want to run. Then around the 3rd week I got the booster shot and flu shot and felt very tired after my 5 mile run (I also had a headache that day). Then the rest of the week and the week after that I was fine but woke up exhausted on Saturday. I didn’t want to get up and stayed in bed till about 11am. It could have been both shots and/or work. Who knows.
I began this training cycle with 3 pairs of Brooks shoes. Recently I purchased the NYC Edition and then added the November/Thanksgiving Edition. I got them from Zappos so I have close to a year to decide if I want to keep them. There was a time in which the Launch was my favorite running shoe but now I am leaning more towards the Ghost.
To date I’ve run 800 miles (80% of my goal). It looks like I might be able to make my goal of running 1,000 miles this year or at least very close to it! Glad I changed my goal from 1,200 miles.
My mother is doing well. I see her on the weekends when she comes to stay with me. She is getting older and has different doctor appointments every few months. My nephew, Ivan, came home from California for a few weeks. It was a surprise! It was great to see him and to hug him. He left again last week and I don’t know when he’ll be home again.
Mateo and Lola are doing well. They still fight but sometimes they have their good days. The photo of Mateo cracks me up. What do you think he is thinking?
Enough about me for now. I am hanging in there. It could definitely be worse. I am taking it day by day and trying not to worry or stress too much. I have some pain in my right hand/wrist. It might be a pinched nerve or carpal tunnel. For now I am wearing a wrist brace to help with the pain. If it doesn’t feel better soon, I will go to the doctor.
Now let’s talk about the giveaway. My birthday is Saturday. There will be one prize for a $49 gift card to one of the following stores: Zappos, Dunkin’ Donuts, Running Warehouse, Amazon, or Starbucks.
Please use the Rafflecopter below to enter. This giveaway will run until November 21st at 11:59 pm. The winner will be selected on November 22nd. The giveaway is open to US residents only. All entries are verified, so please be sure to complete them or a new, random winner will be selected. GOOD LUCK!!!
