Birthday PR

The pre-race selfie...Dodd meant to make a funny face {mine is just because my face is funny}  The the post-race PR picture was photo-bombed by an expert photo-bomber!  My first Grape Jamboree ~ Run for the Grapes 5k was a GREAT experience.  So, here are my secrets:  I used a pre-race energy pack {Advocare SPARK energy pack ~ which I added to water & drank 30 minutes pre-race.  Bought it at the Grape Jamboree yesterday because ~ and I will quote ~ "If you take that, you will PR.  But you have to run fast too."}  I also ran a short warm up {just around the hospital}  I ran with Kelly for about 500 meters & then she took off ~ she was in sight the whole race, but I was not catching her.  Some young man wearing pink hooked himself to my hip & ran with me.  {running a tad closer to me than I would have liked, but I did it right back to him}  It helped so much that he was breathing harder than I was & he was the one trying to keep up with me.  What a motivation!  I lost him at one point, but he fought back.  Being only 17 or so, he had a sprint & finished a few people ahead of me, but he was a great help to me the whole race.

So my official 5k PR time {can't count the 20:01 at the Brewfest} is 22:30!  a 7:15 minute pace. 

Madison XC coaches ~ both placed first
in our age groups!

My obnoxious runner story:  The bib were NOT ripping off well & the guy totally just got the little corner of mine with the number.  I just knew the scorer wouldn't see it on the ring, so I went to the table & she was so very nice in the middle of her working on the scoring to check my number, which was there.{Kelly's wasn't, so it's a very good thing I checked  She says, "Becky?  You were fifth."  My face dropped, because I am aiming for #1 in my age group.  I go back & report to Brenda {also in my age group} that I placed fifth.  We can't figure out how that can be...so she goes to check.  Yeah, I'm such a dork.  I was fifth woman overall!  Not too shabby on my 46th birthday.

a little ADPi love in Geneva, Ohio

I did not run negative splits like I wanted to.  I did not check my watch for pace AT ALL and only looked at it once when I was needing to see that I was past the halfway mark {I was at 1.88 at that point}  I just ran.  Felt good the whole time.  Just wonder if there isn't something I'm leaving in the tank.  I really should start to run sprints...maybe next spring?

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	22:30.6	3.03	7:26
1	7:06.2	1.00	7:06
2	7:39.8	1.00	7:40
3	7:33.1	1.00	7:33
4	:11.6	0.03	6:33

  After looking at these splits, they were negative from 2 to 3, but that first mile was fast.  Would to nice to maintain THAT speed.

I'm getting old.  The time is now to do that.

Other birthday news:  Jacob was my fan at the race today.  And Mike CLEANED the house while we were gone.  AND I found my extra car key {It was in the bin where I keep the dogs' collars & leashes!  I remember thinking, "you want to put that away" and then it must have falling into the bin with the load I had in my hand.}  It is found & now I'm safe if I lock my keys in the car! ~ which I have never done, but was sure to do when I only had one key to the car.

And I have a DQ blizzard cake for dessert tonight. OH JOY

The World We Live In

Today was inservice day at school, so after our meeting we were "free" to work in our rooms {thank GOD, since I still can't seem to get ahead of my workload...feeling a little breathing room after today, but it was more catch-up than get-ahead}.
While we were working, the Fine Men-in-Blue were doing their own training.  Disturbing to the core of my being to have the reality of school violence brought into my day.  The announcement by Mr. Brady, "The police are doing a training today so you may hear loud noises that may sound similar to gunshots."  And then I hear laughter from the police in the cyber cafe {right outside my door}.  I peek out and they say, "It may sound similar to gunshots because it will be gunshots."
Sure enough, they are practicing many different scenarios of a live shooter in the building.  The sound of gunshots resounding through my place of employment.  A place where innocent children are every single day.  The fact that we need these men to know what they would do if...
There are no words to express that if.

And I come home to the news that there is one dead, a shooting victim,  on the campus of Purdue University.

Pray.

HP 7.2

Back in 2001 Jacob, being 3, was too young to see the first Harry Potter.  Patrick, being 6, might have been young too, but he loved the book and really wanted to go, so Anita and I took him.  Thus began the tradition.  Patrick read each book as it came out.  Jacob had the first three (maybe four) read to him.  (not so much into reading them himself)  He finally saw the movies on DVD and began to come see them around movie four.

Last night the four of us went to see the last one ~ HP 7.2.  In 3D.  Anita won the screening tickets and we saw it 3 days before the US release!  Fun to be the first.  It was really good and I have to admit that I was a little teary at the end.  The end of it all.  My kids were babies when this started and now they are teenagers.  Harry Potter has been their childhood.

As I watched I was reminded about how GOOD the message in these books/movies is.  I'm always amazed that people have wanted to ban them because they 'glorify witchcraft' ~ I wish people would actually read before they make a judgment.  I can't find it in the book, but in 7.2, when Harry is in the ghostly Kings Cross Station speaking with the dead Dumbledore ("Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?" ... "Of course this is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"), Dumbledore says something like, "Words.  Ah, words.  The greatest of our magical power.  They have the ability to destroy and they have the ability to repair." Ah, words.  They are the most powerful tool people have.  What power our words have.
He also says, "Do not pity the dead, Harry.  Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love." 
Such threatening messages, don't you think?  Sadly, some people do.

And the new is over ~ we don't have another book or another movie to look forward to.  That is sad, but I am glad that I was caught up in the excitement of Harry Potter while it happened.

Summer Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice

We, once again, celebrated with poetry.

My original creation:

Sunbun

Under

My shirt

Makes

Everything

Red

Sunscren

Use

Must be a part of

Making

Every summer

Remarkable

Gracie's Creation (much better than mine)

Summer

Summer, Summer

It's capital H.O.T. fire outside

What about the s'mores?

Swimming is fun

No more vampire skin

Tan instead

Hair's up

and tank tops

and don't forget the flip flops

S to the U to the MM to the ER

Coffee Inspiration

My mom bought me the best coffee cup in the world.  It speaks the truth of the world.

I am fairly certain that

given a Cape and a nice tiara,

I could save the world.

a new year

Yesterday six teachers in my building were told they do not have a job next year.  Another three are retiring.  My school of just under 50 teachers will be losing 9 of them.  10% of the staff will not be there next year.  Next year.  I don't even want to think about what next year will look like.  We're not losing students, just teachers.
I love my job.  It really is part of who I am.  I do my best for students day in and day out, and I'm not the exception.  All teachers do their best for students, but when we do our best, the school doesn't make more money.  The school's "product" doesn't make the school into a multi-million dollar company.  I am not valuable to my school like a businessman is valuable to his company.  I am valuable to my students, but they don't make the school richer.  Given the chance, schools will get rid of their more experienced teachers.  If they didn't have to follow seniority lists, my school could have let three top-paid, highly-educated, most experienced teachers go instead of six new, lower-paid teachers.  That's a no-brainer ~ but at what cost?
There are flaws in the system.  A union's job is to protect its members.  Even when the member really doesn't deserve protection.  This is wrong.  Administrators should have the ability to let poor-performing teacher go.  But how do we define poor-performing?  There are many problems with answering that question effectively.  The answer can not lie fully with test scores and popularity within the community.  Some of my best teachers were strict and not well liked, but I learned self-discipline and perseverance and, most importantly, I learned that I could achieve way more than I ever thought possible.  Some of my best teachers were kind and loving and supportive and let me know I was a valuable human being.  Students need all types of teachers in their lives; how do we quantify the student-teacher relationship?
I believe that America values teachers, but America is used to getting something for nothing.  America will spend $25/ticket to see a baseball game, but America won't pay $25/student for school fees.  America will buy their 13-year-old a $100 cell phone, but they won't vote to pay $100/year more in school taxes. 
I wish there were easy answers, but destroying the ship is not going to right it.  I will continue to be the best teacher I can be and hope to be part of the solution.

Worry

If worrying were an Olympic event I could be a gold medalist.

I find that 3:00 am is the best time to practice this skill.  If you are interested in honing your worry skills, try this:  Wake up while the rest of the world is peacefully sleeping and dreaming of all sorts of wonderful things.  Figure out what could go wrong in life.  Mull.  Try to think of something else and discover what could go wrong with that.  Mull some more.  Toss.  Turn.  Flip the pillow (I can't do this one anymore, because I have a waterbed for my head, but I highly recommend it).  Finally, look at the clock.  Think about how tired your going to be the next day because you aren't sleeping.  Get up and go to the bathroom.  Crawl back into bed and check that clock again.  It's the constant looking at the clock that really adds to the worry experience.  Whatever you do DON'T get up and do anything.  Don't make a list of things to accomplish in the morning.  Don't read a book or try to distract yourself.  After all you will never fall back asleep if you're not in bed with your eyes closed.

I don't recall a time when anything I worried about came to fruition ~ this can mean one of two things: 
1.  There really is no reason to worry.  Things are never as bad as they seem at 3:00 am ~ and you can't do anything about it at that time anyway.   You might as well get a good night's sleep so you can take care of life in the morning.
or
2.  Worrying works.

What is one thing that you dad was right about?

When my brother got the last piece of bacon, what did I say?

When my choice of restaurant was not the final destination, what did I say?

When my youngest brother got have a later curfew that I did at that age, what did I say?

Yep, "That's not FAAAAIIIIIRRRRR."

And what did Dad reply each and every time?  "Life isn't fair."

Well, ain't that the truth.

I HATED hearing those words when I was a kid.  Absolutly hated them.  Life should be fair ~ translate: I should get my way.  And those words meant that I was not, under any circumstances, getting my way.  Frustrating, yet probably one of the soundest pieces of truth ever received. (once I decided to receive it)