Running went well this week but going back to work left me tired and exhausted.  And like the title of this post, I do feel like quitting.

Our first day was on Monday.  I was up late Saturday and Sunday preparing and I though I was ready.  I mean I was ready in that I had lessons/activities ready to go but not ready to do online teaching to 27 students.  The most I’ve had in a room was 29 but that was in the classroom and not all 29 were in my room since the beginning of the year.

On Monday I ran 3 miles.  I came home and wrote a few messages on the sidewalk with chalk.  That was fun!

I was doing OK till about 11:10am and then my power went out.  Yep.  I could not believe it.  I used my phone to check ComEd’s website and sure enough there was an outage that would not get resolved till 6pm.  There was nothing else for me to do so I went to Wendy’s to get lunch and then went to Target to some some blue light filtering glasses.  I’ve heard pros and cons about wearing blue filtering glasses so who knows.

Tuesday went much better in that the power did not go off but it was very chaotic.  So many students.  I think that it when I got a new student.  Total 28 now.  I was furious!  Why in the world would I have 28 students in my classroom…especially during this time?!?!?!?  My sister went to the store and I asked her to get me wine.  I didn’t care which one but just to get me wine.  I made some instant mashed potatoes and had that with wine.  Not the best meal, I know.

On Wednesday I was in a bad mood.  I was so tired and exhausted.  Maybe the wine had something to do with it.  I was mentally exhausted.  I did not think I could keep doing this.  I honestly did feel like quitting.  It is harder and more work than I anticipated and I don’t think the District really cares.  I cried.  I posted the quote on the left on Facebook and many people replied to “hang in there” and that “it will get better”.  A friend posted the one on the right and it made me cry.

By Thursday morning I was very tired and did not want to run.  I told myself to do the workout but not do it exactly as I was supposed to (2 sets of 3:15/80).  I like doing this workout but did not want to do 2 sets.  I did the best I could.  I was very shocked with how I did.  It wan’t “fast” but better than I thought it was going to be.

Oh how I love Fridays!  My favorite day of the week.  It was payday too.  I ran 2 miles with a great 80s playlist.  I sang and smiled.  Isn’t it an awesome playlist?  Oh and the school day went so much better.  🙂  That evening my sister and I watched “A Madea Family Funeral”.  I laughed so much and felt better.

You know what I am going to say about Saturday, right?  Yep.  Woke up even more tired.  I had to run 6 miles but I did not want to do it.  I stayed in pajamas and watched TV.  I needed to laugh some more and watched 2 more Madea movies/plays.  They were different but still funny.  That evening I ran 2 miles (Sunday’s workout) and then did laundry.

Today I ran 6.20 miles and completed the California Coast 500 Virtual Challenge.  Ran 250 miles in 3 months.  Yay!

Well that was my fun and interesting week.  Thank you for reading.  Running went well but work did not.  I am tired of working so many hours and having all of the technology issues.  One of my students transferred to GE (English classroom) so now I have 27.  Not all of the students log on or log on on time.  I find myself always repeating instructions which is distracting to the rest of the students.  Some parents don’t let the students do the work.  A sibling was doing it for him and I told her to stop and let him do it.  (I also wondered why wasn’t she in class?)  I am so happy we are off tomorrow.  I know I will spend most of the day working but at least I can concentrate and will not be logging in with the students.

I am glad the cameras are on for the students.  I can see what they are doing.  I’ve had conversations with a few parents to let them know what their child is doing (they’re not doing what they are supposed to).  Hopefully I can get their permission to take pictures so I can send it to them.  

Anyone wear blue filtering glasses?  Do they work?

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Thank you so much for your comments, thoughts, prayers, and support.  I was in tears reading them.  It was a difficult and scary time (still is but not as much) but now I feel better.  Now what is stressing me out is going back to work.  It is still remote but there is so much work to do and I am not ready for tomorrow. 

I continued with my Peloton cycling classes.  I had been doing the 45 minute classes but on Thursday I couldn’t do another one.  I was just so T-I-R-E-D and did a 20 minute class.  On Wednesday I did the Billy Joel Ride and was excited for the playlist but it was disappointing.  There were 11 songs and I knew 2 of the songs.  Not the lyrics but at least I had heard the songs before.  It is my fault because I should have paid more attention to the playlist.

The rest of the week was busy getting ready for school.  We had three Institute Days and I was very annoyed that we got so little time to work on our stuff for school.  I mean do we need to know about grading NOW?  No, that could have waited since grades are not due till October. 

I am still not ready for tomorrow or this week.  The rest of the day today I will be working on my Google Classroom and figure out what exactly I will be doing.  My teammates decided that we will spend the first week going over rules, expectations, assignments, etc.  Also, I have no idea how many students will join me in the morning.  I have 27 students and only 13 are in my Classroom.  Today I will I reach out to parents again to have their child join my  room.  I know, I know.  I need to be patient with them.  🙂 

I went to the doctor on Friday for my yearly physical exam.  She told me I could run outside and no bloodwork would be needed to check my glucose, cholesterol, and all the other fun stuff.  She said that last year’s numbers were really good so I can skip it this year.  I did get a Tetanus shot and a referral for a mammogram.

I went out on Saturday for a run.  It had been almost 2 weeks since my last run.  It felt HARD.  Could have been the wind or the fact that I was very tired.  I have not been sleeping well these past couple of weeks.  Regardless I was very happy to run outside.  I was supposed to run 4 miles but stopped at 3.25.  I simply could not keep going.  Mentally I was done.  

Today I ran 3 miles.  It did not feel as hard as yesterday but it didn’t feel easy either.  Did I lose that much fitness while running and I were on a break?

Remember how last week I wrote about how I didn’t think I would complete the California Coast Challenge?  Well, before I knew I could run outside I got the following message from the race organizers.  Good to know I have the extra time!

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

There was no running for this week.  I’ve been in quarantine.  My mother was with me for a few days and someone she had been in contact with tested positive.  We went to get tested and my mother tested positive.  I am negative.  Another sibling tested positive too.  My mother is now with her.  I keep hearing different versions of what to do and what not to do.  I don’t have any symptoms and feel fine. 

Mateo must have known something was wrong.  He was all cuddly with my mother.

I don’t have a treadmill, but can I go outside to run?  I run by my house and don’t see many people and when I do I simply move over to the street.  Now I regret not buying one years ago.  

How could this happen?  We were careful.  I know that without a vaccine sooner or later we would get infected.  Is that really true?  So many questions.

I am behind on reading blog posts and haven’t even read all of the ones from Tuesday’s Linkup.  I will.  I promise.

This past week I was angry, sad, and confused.  I feel helpless.  I finally broke down and cried on Thursday.  I was holding it in and trying to show a brave face but then simply lost it.  I was checking work email and saw one that I had questions about.  I replied to the sender.  I guess I wasn’t supposed to do that because minutes later I received a phone call from my Principal.  That person told on me instead of responding to my email.  I should have asked the questions to my administrators instead of responding to the person that sent the email.  I was so angry.  Childish, right?  No, not me.  The person that told on me.

With no running I did the next best thing – Peloton!  I took a cycling class each day and man were they hard!  I did a few of the Epic Sing along and those were fun.  Check out this playlist.  So far this is the best one.  I could have sworn that Jenn mentioned someone in the class was taking their 4,100th class? 

I did one upper body strength class with Matty and then on the other days did wall pushups and kettlebell swings.  Sometimes I am not motivated at all.

With all of my Peloton workouts I have lots of stinky workout clothes.  I don’t have access to a washing machine so I’ve had to hand wash my clothes.  It isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  At least it isn’t work clothes.  🙂

So that’s my week.  Obviously very different from the other ones.  I am trying to stay positive but I am just tired of all of this..I know many of you are too!

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Before I start talking about my runs, let me tell you about the news I received on Monday.  I found out that I will be moving to another classroom.  I still cannot believe it.  In a way I am happy that I am not going to another school leaving behind a lot of wonderful coworkers.  I am upset that I will be separated from two other 2nd grade teachers.  They are both AMAZING!  We’ve shared so many wonderful moments along with learning experiences that have helped us improve.  My room is on the 1st floor and I will be moving to the 2nd floor.  I will also have to pack ALL OF MY stuff in boxes.  Do you have any idea how much stuff I have in my classroom?  The idea of packing everything AGAIN is giving me anxiety.  No, I am not happy at all.

Another good week for me.  I felt good with no pain at all.  I did several Glutes & Legs Strength workouts with Matty.  I also did Arms & Strength with Matty too.  Each is 10 minutes but I think soon I will increase it to 20 minutes.  I also took the 30 mini Prince Ride and it was AWESOME!!!  No picture because I left my phone in my room, but it still happened.  Wow, it was so good that I would like to take it again.  Ally and Emma looked so cute in their purple outfits.  

My best run was on Thursday.  I did 1 mile warmup and cooldown with a few strides along with intervals of 3:30/75.  This week it was only 1 set instead of 2.  Almost negative splits and I ran each interval without stopping at all.  It was a wonderful feeling!  

Yesterday I did my longest run since March.  I did not go to the lakefront but instead ran the 9 miles by my house.  I didn’t want to drive and I wanted to be close to see if there were more houses for sale.  There was none.  🙁  I felt tired and it was hot.  I didn’t care about pace (and sometimes ignored the high HR alerts) because I wanted to be done.

I had a great week and am pleased with my runs and mileage.  I am happy that I am also including more cycling and strength workouts.  I have big goals for next year and all of this is going to help me achieve them.  

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

This week’s weather was PERFECT.  It was in the 60s and I even turned the AC off.  We had the windows open at night and it felt so good.  It was nice to have a couple of days like that because the hot weather is back.

I had some really great runs this week.  On Tuesday I ran 3.10 and my pace was so much faster.  I even stayed in HR zones 1-3 like I am supposed to.  Last Friday I did the same distance and finished in 39:02, but on Tuesday my finish time was 36:19.  That is about 1 minute faster for each mile and they were all under 12:00!!  As you know, I am not at all a “fast” runner so seeing these numbers sure made me happy.

Thursday’s run also went well.  I did 2 sets of 3:15/80.  The last time I did this workout was July 16 with an average pace of 12:19.  On Thursday it was 12:05.  What was exciting about it is that I ran without stopping the first two intervals of each set and actually felt really good.  It was a big confidence booster and makes me even more excited for the next couple of months.

Saturday’s run was 8.01 miles along the lakefront.  During the week I had calculated my total mileage and it would have been 26.99 miles.  Now you know why I had to run that extra .01 to get an even 27 miles.

I also did 3 Glutes and Legs Strength workouts.  The first one I did was on Tuesday.  I was very sore for about 2 days.  Let’s just say that it was hard to sit down to use the toilet.  I did another one on Friday but wasn’t sore afterwards.  Today I did the same workout that I did on Tuesday and so far am feeling OK.  Next week I want to add include Arms Toning workouts.

I posted this in Instagram but it makes me laugh so much so I will share it here.  It is from this morning during my workout.  I’ve mentioned that Mateo is a very dramatic cat.

School update:  We got an email from the Superintendent that our first day of school is August 26 (it was supposed to be the 24th) and the students’ first day is the 31st.  We will have 3 days of Teacher Institute to give us time to collaborate and plan with our colleagues.  Some school districts are allowing teachers to go in the classroom to do their remote learning.  I am hoping our District does the same (at least 1 or 2 days per week).  Crossing my fingers!

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.