Happy Sno--er, I mean Ice Day!

The kids have a snow day today after our area was blanketed in a beautiful coating of ice yesterday. (I say that it's beautiful because I'm not out driving in it ... it looks wonderful, but would be horrible to drive in.) I was planning to go out running errands for the day, but changed plans with this weather and the kids being home. So, today is my big cleaning day. Woohoo!!

It's funny how often old sayings ring true ... and the one that's going through my head so much lately is "when it rains, it pours." I have a crazy list of things to do this week, all leading up to little Miss Maya's birthday party on Saturday. It would be enough to just need to clean the house, buy some groceries, pick up her birthday gifts (finally have been delivered to the store and I just need to go collect them) and wrap them up to look pretty, bake and decorate a cake and throw up some decorations. But, no! This is also the week that we have our karate testing for graduation (which is also Saturday), I have a PTA meeting to go to (I would skip it, but the focus is Safety ... and I'm the Health and Safety Chairperson), an appointment to get my boobs squished (a.k.a. a mammogram ... now that I'm 35, I get to have all that fun on a regular basis), Austin's Christmas program at school and one of Tim's work Christmas celebrations. And all day Thursday I'll be teaching / volunteering at the kids' school. It all just seems to add up to a big bunch of craziness!

I've written it all down and even tried to plot out a schedule for when I'll have time / be able to do all of it between all these commitments. So, it made me laugh this morning when I had planned to get out and about to run lots of errands and saw that school was cancelled for the day. Brings to mind another saying ... "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray."

I guess I'm either a mouse or a man .... :)

teaching ...

So, a few weeks ago, our school district posted a job for an English / Spanish teacher. I called the high school principal and let him know that I would definitely be interested if they were going to fill the position separately--part-time English and part-time Spanish. The kids' principal called him to put in a few good words for me, too. Then I got a call from the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources / Personnel ... asking what the odds were that I'd be able to get certification in English also. Interestingly enough, I started out going to school to be an English teacher, so I did have quite a few classes. I met with him the following week so that we could look over my transcripts and talk about possibilities. He even told me during that meeting that he would like to hire me and that he's heard very good things about me (from the volunteering I've been doing at the kids' elementary teaching Spanish).

I called the University of Akron to see how close I was to being able to get my certification in English ... turns out, not as close as I thought. Okay, next avenue to pursue is to send an application / request to be able to take a test for certification in English through Michigan's State Department of Education. Still waiting to hear on that.

I've been so excited thinking that I might be able to get back to teaching--in my own classroom, with a regular, paying job. I've been kind of giddy ...

The Asst. Superintendent mentioned to me that the high school principal would likely be doing interviews this week, so I called him (the principal) on Monday. He told me that they found someone who is certified English and Spanish ... and that what they really need immediately is the English portion of that certification (because they have an English teacher retiring in January). It looks like they're going to hire her. Sigh. My heart just sank when he told me that. I had allowed myself to get excited about the possibility ... not just to teach again, but to teach English too--that sounds fun to me.

I am frustrated and let down.

I really do believe that things happen for a reason, and there's definitely a reason this didn't work out. I'll likely never know why, but I'm trying to focus on the positive. But I can't help feeling that this just sucks.

pictures from the 5k

This is me with the official finishing place popsicle stick:

Here I am with Jen at the end of the race:

I'm not a virgin!!

So, last Sunday (5k day--University of Toledo's Pi Kappa Something-or-other's Run for the Kids to benefit Children's Miracle Network) started out interestingly enough. When my friend, Jen, and I arrived at the registration / starting area for the 5k, we found nothing more than 5 or 6 other runners. We looked around a bit, talked with some of the other runners and sat in a warm building for a while--it was quite chilly (about 40 degrees). And then, about 30 minutes late, the very official-looking (sarcasm) registration table was set up in the middle of the parking lot between 2 cars. Three or four possibly hungover college guys (clad in jeans, a sweatshirt and FLIP FLOPS, no less ... it was 40 freakin' degrees!!) clumsily scanned the registration papers, handed out t-shirts, signed up a few more people and co-ordinated the start of the race. We were told what the layout of the course would be, that it would be marked and people would be on course to stop traffic as needed ... we were told all this by one guy standing in front of about 75-100 runners talking loudly. Not highly effective. No biggie, we figured there would be plenty of other runners we could follow. We were cold and looking forward to the start ... which was surprisingly official--a starter's pistol.

Bang! We were off and running. Woohoo! My first 5k! I was feeling all fluttery and excited. We started in the back of the pack and passed a few people early as everyone sorted out their pace. At the one mile mark (an orange cone on the side of the course), Jen told me our time was 10:15. Seriously?? That's faster than I've ever run before! Woohoo! At mile 2 (another orange cone and a frat guy with cups of water and a stopwatch) our time was 20:30. Seriously?? I was actually keeping pace at my fastest time ever?? Woohoo! Oh yeah, I had to pee, too. Darn it. That always happens. Just keep running. Third mile, we decided that for the last half mile we'd pick up the pace a bit and then really run the last tenth. Good plan--although I did doubt how much gas I'd have in the tank for either of those said plans. So, 2.6 miles into the 5k, we ran a little faster ... not a lot, but a little faster. I was tired, breathing hard and tired (did I mention that already?), but Jen was awesome. She's a great pep-talker, ego booster and drill sergeant trainer (but the nice kind). She helped me stay focused and encouraged me all the way. When we hit the last tenth, I had a surprising burst of energy / ability to stretch it out and kick it in for the finish. I was the 50th person across the line (no actual line, just the frat guys handing out popsicle sticks with numbers as the official place marker for the time stamp, and a table on the side of the course at the ending point) and my time was 31:36. Woohoo! That's a 10:12 pace ... the fastest I'd ever run before was 10:23, and that was only for one mile. Woohoo!!


So, yippee!! I ran my first 5k, was able to run with one of my best friends, did well and accomplished my goal of finishing in under 33:00 ... and had an adventure of an experience with the uber-professional set up--not! :D It was really a great experience for my first time ... now I'm not a (running) virgin.

Run from the Kids

I am officially signed up to run my first 5k ... it's a Run for the Kids (proceeds go to help the Children's Miracle Network). The first time I saw the tag line, I thought it said Run from the Kids--which, let's admit, is more entertaining. It could be put on like a mini running of the bulls, having a pack of kids all released at one time to run chasing the adult participants. What fun! What excitement! (go ahead with your thought ... you won't hurt my feelings ... I am quite aware that I am one goofy girl!)

I'm really excited about this 5k because I get to run with one of my favorite people and best friends, Jen. We've known each other since I was 11 (right, Jen? or were you 11 and I was 10? ... regardless, about 25 years now). She is quite an accomplished athlete, having completed the Ironman Triathlon in Lake Placid this summer--among other events this year. For those who don't know, an Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run (that's a full marathon to end the event)--all in one day ... consecutively ... without stopping ... and it takes the entire day. Whew! I just got tired and winded thinking about it! :D I think she's amazing and I'm really looking forward to running with her, albeit at a much slower pace than she's used to!!

I'll be sure to post about it after the 5k, which is on the 28th.