Zenaida Arroyo

How is it that it is already Sunday and I am going back to work tomorrow?  I worked Monday and Tuesday and then was off the rest of the week.  It was lovely!  My mom was here so it was nice to spend time with her.  I watched a few episodes of The West Wing (I need to hurry up because they won’t be available after December 24th).  Thanks to Janelle’s Holiday Gift Ideas post,  I signed up for a one month free trial of Audibles and am listening to A Promised Land by Barack Obama.  I love Barack’s voice!  So far I am liking it.

We got a little bit of snow this week.  Not a big deal.  Let’s hope we don’t get more of that ugly, white stuff.  I don’t like snow at all.  I hate it. 

It was another good week of running.  I did all of my runs and hit the required paces.  Saturday morning it was cold (for me) and I struggled during my 3 mile run.  I was feeling a bit more tired than usual.  Sunday was a little cold too with some wind.  I ran almost 5 miles.  I did good but the wind wore me out.

Next Saturday is when I will “race” and run my own 5k.  The goal is to finish it in 33:30.  I think it is doable but a part of me is also nervous and scared.  Since I began training for the 5k, the closest I’ve come to that goal was on 11/6 when I finished in 34:24.  Prior to that it was 34:40 on 10/29.

Thanksgiving was very low key.  My mother made pozole and my sister and nephew came over for lunch.  They stayed a few hours and left after 6pm.  It was very different than previous years.  I am sure that’s how it will be for Christmas too.

My goal for November was to run more miles than October (103.71).  As of today I have run 102.03 miles.  I am pleased that I will make that goal.  So far total for this year is 754.45 miles.  In 2019 I finished the year with 730.71 miles.  I had a rocky start to 2020 with running but it has been going so well these past few months.  Excited for 2021!

I had lunch with my students on Tuesday.  Only 5 girls showed up.  I was happy but also a little disappointed because I thought more students would show up.  I mean, it’s not like they had to be somewhere else for lunch.  The girls and I had a good time anyway.  I was thinking that maybe I could have lunch with them on a weekly or bimonthly basis.  Maybe it could be a reward for those that do the assignments, participate, behave in class, etc.  I need to think about it some more.

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

How is it that the days/weeks are going by so fast?   Every day it is the same routine.  Get up, drink coffee, go run, and start work.  As much as I am tired of working from home, gosh, I am also saving so much time and money.  

This week I got my new watch.  I thought the paces were off in my 225 so I ordered the 235 from Amazon.  It turns out the paces were correct.  This new watch gives me new features such as race predictors, run indoors, and VO2 Max.  I love the color too.  Not sure how accurate the race predictors are but they gave me hope for some nice PRs next year.

This week I had some easy runs along with a mix of half mile intervals and another progressive run.  Oh and I ran 4.8 miles on Friday for my birthday.  It was actually warm on Friday and I even ran in shorts.  In previous years it’s either been cold or I’ve run in the snow.  My coach left it up to me to do whatever workout I wanted to do.  I just chose to run easy and by feel.  

Today’s 4.5 miles went well.  It wasn’t cold and I did get a little too warm.  These past few days I’ve noticed some tightness in my chest which is mostly likely due to anxiety.  I’ve never had this happen to me.  At least I don’t remember.  Let’s hope I can relax and take it easy this week.

Of course this does not help.

Just want to share these pictures because it makes me smile.  I rarely see them together because Lola cannot stand Mateo.  She is always growling and hissing when he comes near her.

Oh and no school drama.  Whew, what a relief.  I kept reminding my students that we only have school on Monday and Tuesday and then we will be off the rest of the week for Thanksgiving.  They had asked me if one day we could have lunch together.  Isn’t that sweet?  So, that is what we will be doing on Tuesday.  We will have lunch together, watch a movie, and play some games.

That is all for this week. The most exciting things were my new watch and my birthday!

If you have not entered my birthday giveaway, do it right now.   There will be one prize for a $48 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 24 at 11:59 pm.  The winner will be selected on November 25th. 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!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

This week was another good week of running.  Today is day #79 of my run streak.  Remember how last week we had some warm weather?  Well, this week it felt like Winter.  Not happy about it but it is what it is.

Easy runs are always my favorite but I also enjoy some speed workouts.  Tuesday was again 6×2 minute intervals with 2 minute recovery.  It went well but I laughed at the end of the workout.  I might have walked for another minute to get past 4 miles.  I blame it on the last recovery because I walked for the whole 2 minutes.  I was really tired.

Friday was another 4 mile progressive run and that felt hard.  Not hard that I could not do it but hard that I had to stop a few times.  Nothing wrong with stopping but for the past progressive runs I’ve been able to run the whole thing without stopping.

I woke up this morning and saw that it was very windy outside.  I had to run 4.5 miles with the last mile at a faster pace.  Honestly, I didn’t want to do it.  It was in the mid 50s which was nice for November.  But that wind.  I made it to 2.51 miles.  I could not keep going.  The wind wore me out.

I did this 20 minute Beyoncé Run.  I am not a big fan of her and I thought it was OK. 

I guess this week I just felt blah.  I woke up Tuesday morning more tired than usual.  I had parent/teacher conferences that day and I wasn’t really looking forward to them.  After my run, I showered, changed, ate, and went to bed for a few minutes.  I thought I had a fever but I didn’t.  

Starting tomorrow we are under another stay-at-home order.  I get the reason.  What I don’t understand is why people are so selfish and don’t wear a mask.  

This made me laugh!

Any Grey’s Anatomy fans?  Derek!!!  I know he isn’t coming back, but it was good to see him.  

I mentioned that Tuesday was Parent/Teacher Conferences.  I have 27 students and was planning to have 26 conferences.  One of my students is new so no point in having a conference at all.  Out of 26 students,  22 parents scheduled a conference.  I sent them several reminders.  The Principal sent several reminders.  However, only 13 parents showed up.  A few mentioned that they got out of work late or had a prior commitment and got out late.  One parent contacted me asking the time of her child’s conference.  I told her that she never scheduled one.  She then said that she was waiting for me to schedule it.  The instructions clearly said to click on the link to schedule an appointment.  Seriously, I just can’t.  I do want to have a good relationship with parents because after all it is a tough time for them and their child, but I am getting tired of them being so irresponsible.

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