Zenaida Arroyo

What an exhausting week.  I survived my first week of school and I completed my running streak!  

Not too many running pictures except for Saturday’s run.  I went to the lakefront to celebrate the end of my run streak.  I got there a little before 6 and it was still dark.  It was the perfect time to reflect on this running adventure that would end that day.

I was there for an hour.  It was hot but felt good being out there.  I saw many runners and it reminded me of when I was training for the Chicago Marathon.  Yeah, do not miss it at all.  OK, maybe a teeny tiny bit.  

Total mileage for this run streak is 1,068.95!

So what is next?  My coach and I will be working together again.  The plan first is to get back to build a good, strong base and then train for a race.  Maybe a half marathon.  I would like to pick up where I left off and finish my goal of running a half marathon in each state.  I still need 8 states (South Carolina, Kansas, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho, New Mexico, and Hawaii).  I would also like to PR in the smaller distances.  I do know I will not be running everyday anymore.  It is time to get serious now and incorporate strength training in my workouts.

I had two days of meetings and PD.  Our new Superintendent went to our school on Tuesday.  He encouraged all of us to reach out and email him.  I have emailed him a few times and he has responded.  It made me happy when he said “Your voice matters”.  Let’s hope he and his team really mean it.  

All 21 students showed up this week.  It was chaos but I know it will get better.  These students left school on March 13, 2020, but don’t know if any returned when parents were given the opportunity to send them back to school.  All I know is that I have A LOT of work to do.  And it requires so much patience.  It was hard to get them to follow directions; simple directions is not simple for them.  A few left the room (more like ran) to go to the bathroom.  I told them that they cannot just leave the room and that they needed to let me know.

I am on the 2nd floor and somehow during dismissal I “lost” a few students on the way out.  We practiced the next day and it went better.  And we practiced again on Friday, but one girl left and I didn’t see who she left with.  One of my students said she left with her mom.  I don’t know all of the parents yet but in the past sometimes a sibling, another family member, neighbor, or babysitter picks up a student.

I understand the reason for wearing a mask, but it is so hard to wear it all day.  I told my students that I would be speaking loud because of the mask.  I also asked me to talk louder (they have to wear masks too).  Fun times, right?

I was very late in responding to posts from Sunday and Tuesday.  So sorry but it was hectic this week.  Better late than never, right?  I am not sure if I will read posts today because I need to do a few things for my students and work on my lesson plans.  But I promise I will read and respond.

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

It’s the same song this week.  Running and more running.  It was also humid and yucky.  Honestly, I do not remember too much about them so this post will be short.  It is day #359 of my run streak.

Friday morning I was thinking about how it was my last Friday of summer break.  I didn’t do everything I had on my list but that is OK.  The main thing is I enjoyed it and relaxed.  I was also frustrated and annoyed because of some school stuff.  A fun run with Matty did make me laugh.  I have taken this class before but there aren’t a lot of classes left to take (with the instructors and music that I like) so I will be repeating a few of them.

I did feel better on Saturday during my run.  It was warm and humid and I walked the rest of the way home after the 4th mile.  My last mile was my fastest which surprised me.  

I went back to school on Monday to finish setting up.  There was nothing more I can do there since I don’t have a printer that works.  Plus, I am not sure what to expect this year with various new curriculums, rules, and expectations.  

The most exciting thing that happened this week was that on Wednesday they were filming Chicago PD very close to my house.  Some of the streets were closed off beginning Tuesday night for the crew to park their vans.  I did go out the next day to check it out and saw Jay and Hailey.

Mateo rarely hangs out with me (he prefers my mother) so it was nice to have him cuddle with me.

I also got a haircut!  I asked the hairdresser to cut off 2 inches and to make some layers.  My last haircut was during the end of June.  My hair grows fast!  Left photo is from June and right is from Friday.

Wish me luck this week!  Monday and Tuesday are all meetings and then the students start on Wednesday.

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

Another easy and relaxing week of running.  No plan to follow but just run whatever I wanted.  The heat and humidity was not fun at all.  Thankfully it cooled down and made the runs feel much better.  We opened the windows and turned off the AC.  

Most of my runs this week were done in the afternoon.  Not sure why I didn’t go in the morning before going to school to set up my room.  I did a bike class Monday and Tuesday but then had no energy the rest of the week.  I took the Elvis run but didn’t like it too much.  I like his music but I think I recognized 1 or 2 songs.  I did enjoy the 90s Run and definitely the 80s pop ride!  His class had a 12 minute warmup which I thought was strange.  Denis is another favorite after Cody.

I don’t know what happened but I swear I took a run class on Friday, but it does not show up on my list.  My goal was to take at least one class for one year (beginning in February when I renewed my membership).  Well, at least it still counts for the streak.

This week I will continue running however long I want to.  August 28th will be 365 days so that will be the last day of my run streak.  Maybe I should just finish the month!  I did good these past 3 days running between 45 minutes to an hour.  We are supposed to have cooler weather so I am happy about that.

This week I went to set up my room (Monday-Wednesday).  I am not done and will go tomorrow just to finish up some last minute things.  The rest will have to wait the following week.  We start on the 23rd and students start on the 25th.  I do not feel ready because I will have a new language arts curriculum (for dual language) and a new math curriculum.  I am supposed to have a wall for Spanish items/ words, another one for English, and a third one for both English and Spanish.  I am happy that Math will be taught in English but now will need to get resources in English since a lot of what I have are in Spanish.  <<No problem with my TpT donations!

We were told that the District will not allow us to have individual student barriers.  However, the office staff has them and the library has them as well.  I asked the Principal if teachers could have one and she has not responded.  You know I hate it when people do not respond to emails.  With one week to go before school starts, there are still many questions that need to be answered.  I received a summons for jury duty for September 1st.  I want to know if another teacher can take my class or will the District get a substitute teacher for me.  I am hoping that I do not have to go at all.  

Thanks for reading and I will leave you with some photos of my cats.  Mateo enjoys being in the balcony more than Lola.  Check out his tongue!  

Guess who was first on the bed?  With so many places in the apartment, I don’t know why they chose to sleep on my bed.

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