Run with your heart ...

It's been awhile and I have not had time to blog. I've tried several times but other things took precedence. Work has been positively insane and there does not seem to be an end in sight. October is usually my busiest month due to CELDT so while that is not too unusual, other work has kept me from getting CELDT done in the time span I had planned and it has put me behind. I may have to ask for a short extension. I have also had late meetings that have kept me after school hours and that has interfered with my running schedule to some extent.

I broke up a fight this week between a Hispanic kid and a black kid. When I came upon them in the quad the black kid was throwing punches at the Hispanic's face. My assistant and I yelled a them to stop. There were Hispanics and blacks standing around instigating the whole thing so I yelled at them them to back off. School policy is that if anyone stands around either watching or instigating a fight they will be suspended too. When we started yelling at them to stop a couple of the Hispanic kids grabbed their friend who was fighting and pulled him away; the black kid on the other hand took off and when I told him to stop he ran off while giving me the finger. Had I not had heels on that day and my expensive bag with all my papers in it I would have run after him and tackled him. I could have outrun him any day. Later the AP asked me why I didn't at least take off my heels and throw them at him. I love San Martin! One of the best APs we have. Takes crap from no kid. I guess that would have worked too. Next time perhaps... I took the Hispanic kid to the office and they said they would track down the black kid..... Life in the day of a high school teacher. ......... Actually that doesn't happen very often. Our school gets a bad rap but it's really not that bad.

I seem to be keeping up my mileage pretty well and I am averaging 25 - 30 miles a week. My long runs are are increasing and still strong. I did 15 miles Sunday before last and 17 miles this last Sunday. Our running group has become tighter now and our training has intensified. We ran hills this last weekend (17 miles of them) and it felt awesome. While I was tired after the 17 miles, I was invigorated and by the next day I was completely back to normal. No pain at all anywhere.

This Sunday I'm doing the half in Folsom. I'm packed and ready to go. My Garmin is already in my bag and so is my Ipod. My Garmin has been amazing! I swear by it and have been able to improve my pace and consistency. I can't imagine running without it now. I have not hooked up the heart rate monitor yet due to lack of time but I will definitely train with it before CIM.

I feel great. The pain in my right foot is still there but not too bothersome and my spirits are high. I am much more focused now than I have been in months and that has made a real difference. I am also getting more sleep which has worked wonders for my training. Carmichael wasn't kidding. Listen to the experts.......

Can't wait for this race. It's a half with a relatively flat course and the only hill is at the end of the race (that's always a killer). I vow to not go out too fast and to pace myself the entire way. This will be my first race with the Garmin and I am excited about my potential results. My best half time so far has been 2:10 (Santa Cruz, 4/2007) soI want to come as close to 2:00 as I can. I would love to break 2:00 but I don't see that happening right now. Thanks for all the support everyone!

Thanks Jim for the encouragement .... it will be great to see you...

Cesar, thanks for the best wishes. Can't wait for Sunday night.... Good luck on your game ....

Betty, I will miss you. Don't forget it's you and me on December 2nd. Remember there's a burger with our name on it.

LB - Thanks for tonight - you have always been true to me. That is so rare these days ....

So.... after stopping at REI to get some PowerGels my next stop is Folsom.

Stay tuned fellow runners ....

What's up with all the divorced runners?

Ever notice how many divorced people are in these running groups? A couple more joined our group this week .... Hey, at least there not out there drinking themselves to death .... I know I'd rather be runnin'.

It's been awhile. I know. As always, I have been extremely busy. Busy. Productive. Happy. I like all three but perhaps the latter is the best. I've been running quite a bit just not long miles. I have mapped out two 5K courses near my house and I run those in the afternoon before going to my second job. I don't have time for much else. This way, I am getting my run in and doing a bit of pacing/interval training as well. I do my long runs on the weekends with the running group and while not receiving the best training ever, I have made quite a few friends and for that I am always grateful. I have learned a lot from them and not necessarily running stuff. It's funny how people come into ones life at the oddest of times....

I went and ran the Cowtown 5K last weekend and am very proud of the fact that I ran it in 26:40:01. That's an 8:36 pace and I am thrilled with my progress. I have been having trouble breaking the 10 min/mile and I may be able to run CIM at a 9:40 pace.

This weekend I ran 7 miles on Saturday just for fun and then went and ran 15.5 today. I feel awesome! The closer it gets to CIM, the more excited I get. The gang is all going to be there and I haven't seen them in awhile so it will be great catching up. I'm being careful not to get injured and am watching what I put in my mouth. With the amount of running that I do I find that I don't have to worry about what I eat as much as when I don't run, but I do find that what I eat definitely affects how I run so I'm watchin'. I'm also getting more sleep which has been a huge benefit.

I'm feeling energized. I ran 22 miles this weekend and both my feet and my legs feel great. A friend and I are going to take our bikes out this week and do some crosstraining. Next weekend we're doing hill training and life is looking pretty good right now. I am also now the proud owner of a Garmin 305 and as soon as I charge it I will be putting it to good use.

Tahoe already had some snow fall and unless it warms up and melts all away we may have a pretty good snowboarding season too. Can't wait to get back on my snowboard ...

Stay tuned ....