Zenaida Arroyo

11
Jul
2021

Weekly Run Down: Feeling better and end of summer school

categories: Running, Weekly Recap, Weekly Run Down

Hello there! I hope everyone is doing well. I am back running (well I never really stopped) and will continue since I got the OK from my doctor. He also runs so he understands me. 🙂

I began feeling better on Monday. I ran/walked with minimal pain. The rest of the week I kept the runs easy and “slow” for about 20-30 minutes. On Thursday I ran with no pain. I was very happy! My appointment was the next day and I debated on whether I should still go. What convinced me to go is that it was too late to cancel my appointment. My copayment is $30 and if I cancelled with less than 24 hours then I would incur a $25 fee. Might as well go and I am so glad I did!!

My doctor diagnosed me with strain of medial head of gastrocnemius and tibialis posterior and mild plantar fasciitis. He sent me a few YouTube videos of exercises/stretches to do. I also need to do calf stretches with hands against the wall every day and use Bengay/Icy Hot/Biofreeze on area of discomfort. Finally, he said to use the foam roller to roll out my calf and the bottom of my foot. I am glad it is nothing more serious!

I know July 4th is a special day but it is even more special day for my family. On that day in 1978 my mom, sister, and brother emigrated from Mexico (my father was already living here). Once in Chicago I remember being in a car and seeing the Sears Tower. I think I also remember being on Lake Shore Drive. I will always be grateful for my parents for bringing us to this country to have better opportunities. And we did!!

Saw this on my run last week. Cute!

I am done with Summer School. How did the time go by fast? I applied for another job (Jumpstart to Kindergarten) which starts July 26th but don’t know if I’ve been hired or not. Regardless, I turned on my Out of Office and will not respond to emails till August 23rd (the first day of school). I know I will still check my email and might respond to a few. I signed up for a few PD sessions to get ready for the new school.

One of the things I did to get ready for next year is I purchased a fun email signature. I could not decide which one to keep so I ended up with both. The girl that designed it for me and did not charge me extra. She also told me that if any of the information changes (name, school, title, etc) that she will make the changes free of charge.

This week my students did some fun art projects. They need a lot of practice to cut, color, and glue pieces of paper. They still had fun! For sure I will do these with my new students next year.

Excited to know what my coach will have me do this week!

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

06
Jul
2021

Tuesday Topics: My 2021 mid year review

categories: Monthly Review, Tuesday Topics

Hello there and Happy Tuesday! I took a week off from blogging. I think this is the first time I miss all 3 linkups (Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday). My mind went blank for Tuesday and Friday’s linkups and then on Sunday I started to write my post but then was busy with my niece who is visiting from Mexico, so no post from me. But here I am and hopefully will not miss many more linkups.

This week’s Tuesday Topic is a FREE topic. 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!

How is it that we are already in July? These past 6 months have gone by fast. So many words to describe it along with many emotions to go with it. Regardless, it was a good 6 months. Let me tell you all about it.

Mileage: Total is 503.03 miles. My goal to run this year is 1,200 miles. I had a feeling I was not going to meet my goal and was thinking of changing it to 1000 miles. However, I told myself that if by June 30th I’ve run at least 600, then I would leave it. Someone told me that my mileage could increase during the Summer. Well, time to change that goal.

Highest Mileage Month: 118.12 in June. May was the 2nd highest with 111.79 miles.

Peloton: In November I paused my membership and renewed it in February. I don’t know exactly how many classes I took since February, but I have reached a few milestones.

I was actually surprised that I made it to 5K minutes. At the rate I am going then for sure I will get to 10K by then end of the year.

Current Challenge: My running streak. Today is day #312.

Current Shoes: Since January 1 I’ve run in the Launch 5 and Brooks Levitate 1.

2021 Running Goal: My new goal is to run 1,000 miles. I am at 50 percent done with it with 503.03 miles.

Pain/aches/injury: All was going well. I had my usual aches/soreness but nothing painful. On Friday during my run (I realize it was already July) I had some pain on my lower left leg. I ran/walked the rest of the way home. I knew I was in trouble. Once home I made an appointment with a sports doctor for Friday. I know better than to check Google but I did anyway. Looks like it could be achilles tendonitis but I’ll know for sure on Friday. I did a short run/walk (20 minutes) on Saturday and it wasn’t painful. I did the same on Sunday and Monday (30 minutes) with hardly any pain. I plan to continue doing this till Friday but might increase the time to 45 minutes.

What am I looking forward to the next 6 months? To run all of the miles! Haha, JK. Hopefully I get good news on Friday and can continue running. I will be happy with at least running/walking. Getting out in the morning is good for me. I need it.

I also want to continue my run streak. The stubborn runner in me does not want to stop. I am so close to one year. It will be one year in August. Will I continue after? Who knows? I would like to train for a half marathon or maybe a marathon. Also, I would like to incorporate cross training and strength classes to my schedule. We’ll see.

Tuesday Topics

27
Jun
2021

Weekly Run Down: Rain, humidity, and a haircut

categories: Running, Weekly Recap, Weekly Run Down

This week I had 5 days of easy runs and 2 speed workout days. On Tuesday I ran 3 miles and then 4-1 minute intervals. All negative splits! Then on Thursday it was the same workout but with 4 miles and 4-1 minute intervals. Almost negative splits again but faster times!

On Saturday I ran 7 miles in the rain. It wasn’t that bad because it wasn’t raining the entire time but it was humid. I was soaking wet when I got home but overall felt good on my run.

I was about to head out with my mother to get a haircut when my phone went off with a weather alert. There was another tornado watch. This time it was much closer to where I live. My sister, mother, and I watched the news and put together a basket with basic necessities in case we had to take refuge in the basement. We didn’t. It stopped raining and it was sunny again. My mother and I ate lunch and then went to get a haircut. The last time I got one was in December and it felt good to get another one. Mateo wasn’t too excited with what was happening.

I wished I had taken a picture before my haircut. It could be the humidity or age but sometimes my hair isn’t all straight.

I mentioned in Friday’s post (still catching up on reading everyone’s post) that now that I have students in the classroom, I can see how much schooling they lost last year. Most of my students are 1st graders going to 2nd grade and they are struggling in reading, math, and writing. Next year I feel like we will spend a few months reviewing that with them. As of now I have 20 students in my roster and that number could change. Let’s hope I don’t have 28 again!

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

25
Jun
2021

Fit Five Friday and June 2021 Runfessions

categories: Fit Five Friday, Runfessions

It’s the last Friday of the month which means Marcia has opened the Runfessional! It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by Darlene, Renée, Jenn, Michelle, and me! Let’s get started, shall we?!

I runfess…
That I am halfway done with Summer School. It is going by fast. While I am very happy to have students in my room, it is shocking to see exactly how much they missed out on last year. My students are struggling in reading, math, and writing. I know there isn’t anything I can do about it now and don’t want to worry about it either but I just cannot stop thinking about it. Every morning I go in ready to teach but end up modifying so much of it because the material is just too hard for them.

I runfess…
That I have no idea why I get so much spam email. One day I had 35 and another day 4! How? It cracks me up that many of them are for pornography. Lately I’ve also been unsubscribing more from newsletters and companies that I am no longer interested. But seriously how does one get that much spam email? Thank goodness for Gmail for filtering them and putting them in a different folder so I can delete them all at once.

I runfess…
That I have the iPhone X but have been thinking of upgrading. I’ve had it since January 2019 and I like it. It does what it is supposed to do and haven’t had any issue with it. The thought of paying more each month isn’t appealing. I think I already spend too much on my phone bill (who doesn’t?) and do not want to switch. I’ve been with the same company for about 20 years and according to them I already get a good deal from them.

I runfess…
That I almost signed up for a 4-mile race next week. It is one of my favorite races! Is it weird to say that I do not feel ready for a race? I don’t even know why I feel that way. Based on my training, I am ready. How hard can 4 miles be? I’ll wait and see how I feel next week. I do know that it i supposed to rain on Sunday. Actually it is supposed to rain all next week.

I runfess…
That I cannot believe June is almost over. July will be here soon and then August. Then we know what happens next. I know I shouldn’t be complaining since I did sign up to teach Summer School. I also signed up to teach in a Jumpstart program for students entering Kindergarten in the Fall. It is for 4 weeks, 4 days a week, and 3 hours each day. I don’t have the job yet but cannot imagine not getting it since I know there is a lack of teachers that do not want to work this Summer (and I do not blame them).

Thanks for linking up with us again this week! We’ve got FIVE incredible co-hosts, and we are ready to link up every Friday to share YOUR weekly fitness favorites! Join hosts My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Please add your link below. I am also linking up with Marcia for Runfessions.

22
Jun
2021

Tuesday Topics: Things I saw on my last run

categories: Tuesday Topics

This week’s Tuesday Topic is: Things you saw on your last run. 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!

Last night the phone alert woke me up and scared me. It was loud! There was a storm coming my way. I looked out the window and all was calm. Another alert went off. There was a tornado warning in the suburbs. A few minutes later there was rain, wind, and thunder. I was now wide awake and checking out the weather app and the TV to get more information. Still raining with thunder and rain. Eventually it calmed down and I went back to sleep.

The tornado was devastating. It was an EF3 and destroyed many houses. Fortunately no one died but a few were critically injured and were taken to the hospital. I cannot imagine what those that lost their homes ~~and/or family members~~ are going through right now.

This morning I did my run with Matty to celebrate my 250th run. It was a fun run! I took it really easy and walked too. The weather was pleasant but it was windy and humid.

I did not see too many interesting things along the way. There was more trash than usual. Lately I have noticed there is a lot of it in my neighborhood. The trash could have been from the storm or from Father’s Day celebrations.

I did see the following:

👀 Flowers

👀 Little Free Library

👀 Fallen branches

Some random things I’ve seen on other runs are pigeons, squirrels, bunnies, condoms, and bottles with yellow liquid. The last two gross me out. Well, more the bottles with the liquid. Some people are just plain gross.

Surprisingly I did not see any dogs walking their humans. 😀 It was actually very calm. Matty made me laugh (as usual) during the run. He talked about how in his parent’s house in RI they don’t lock the bathroom door. Whatever business you have to do there, make sure to do it fast before someone opens the door!

Not running related but before I left for work I checked again on the mama pigeon. One of the eggs has hatched but there is still another one in the nest. I also checked on Mateo. It was another exhausting night for him. He was in the same spot during the storm.

Tuesday Topics