Skip to main content

Running Streak: Month One

  • Ran in four states (Idaho, Kentucky, Washington, and Oregon)
  • Ran in five cities (Meridian, Louisville, Kellogg, Vancouver, and Lincoln City)
  • longest run: 4 miles
  • shortest run: 1 mile (minimum requirement to keep the streak alive)
  • total mileage: 47 miles (I almost kept this a secret, as it reveals just how much I resorted to the one-mile run. I am not proud of this total--averaging less than two miles per day. When I was marathon training I once ran nearly this many miles in a week. Yikes! My goal is definitely not to run as little as possible, and I hope to see this number increase over the next two months. On the other hand, with all of my traveling and working in June, I know that I ran more than I would have without the active streak.) 
  • 27 runs were by myself, two runs with my brother, Paul, and one run with my cousin, Tammy. (I really love running by myself, but since most of my runs will be solitary once school starts, I wouldn't mind getting in more partner runs this month and next. I am looking forward to running with my niece, Jenn, who is a new runner. I'd like to do a run with my friend, Fitz, who has inspired so much of what I do as a runner.)
  • slowest mile: 11:16, fastest mile: 8:51 (I'd like to see both of those number go down. The 11:16 came at the end of a 4-miler, early in the month, when I'd gone out way too fast.) 
  • I ran with headaches, body aches, and fatigue. I ran when it was way too hot. I ran in the rain (love this). I ran when I did not want to, and I ran after looking forward to it all day. I ran after 8 and a half hours of essay grading--8 and a half hours of standing so that I'd stay alert. I ran when friends were waiting for me. I ran into an old love who happened to be on the same route. I ran at midnight, because I knew the next day was going to be crazy busy. I ran on sidewalks, pavement, trails, and beaches--next to rivers, creeks, and oceans. I ran with no watch, with an old-school stopwatch, and with a Garmin. I ran because I said I would. I ran because it's good for me. I ran because I am a runner. 
I ran.


Comments

  1. Love everything about this post. Nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, my dear! We should run together sometime. We could even bring Tam along :)

      Delete
    2. In the rain? :) I would enjoy that but I'm beginning to think I'm in a different league than you when it comes to this running thing.

      Delete
    3. I'll bet y'all would love some cool rain right now! I've seen you run, and I know what a natural you are. Plus, every day is different. We should just do a leisurely run through Tuscany one of these days.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On This Day

It was a very busy, long morning. I had back-to-back-to-back conferences with kids and parents and my principal that filled every break. Still, classes went mostly well, and I felt like I sort of knew how to teach. Then I went to cnn.com just as lunch was starting--just 5 minutes to spare before I had to meet parents. Wow. Just wow. I struggled to keep myself together. I didn't want to be crying when I met with the parents. But children--little children--shot and killed . . . . The parents were lovely, by the way, asking great questions about their son and telling me how much he likes my class, which really surprised them, because he's a math/science guy. Turns out he thinks I'm funny. I went straight to the church after work to continue working on our Christmas program. It's a huge undertaking, and I don't know how anyone could do it alone. I left feeling grateful for many hands and heads that make light work. And then I went to the Hungry Onion

Believe in Your Seed

Twenty-five years ago, she was a student in my 10th-grade English class in Kellogg, a small mining town in Idaho’s panhandle. Now, she is an educator herself  — an elementary teacher in the same large district where I teach high school English. And today, she stood in front 3000 employees of the Boise School District and delivered a keynote address. Her speech was, to say the least, inspiring. It was expertly crafted — full of story, wit, insight, and charm. Her delivery was seamless, vivid, funny, and, quite frankly, better than any such talk I have heard in 31 years of opening meetings. (I say this as someone who is particularly passionate about public speaking. In fact, public speaking has become one of my greatest passions — both as a teacher who helps students craft presentations, and as someone who dreams of doing exactly what Sonia Galaviz did today.) As she spoke, I experienced her speech on several levels. I was the veteran teacher inspired by a somewhat younger t

Love: the Ultimate Pedagogy

I did not intend to love them; I did not particularly want to love them. I was never the bright-eyed rookie teacher out to change the world, one student at a time. I thought my job was to do the serious work of scholarship and academia. I was a professional — a high school English teacher. I was Miss Roberts, not your cookie-baking, kid-loving aunt.  But against my will and what I thought was my better judgment, I began to discover that I did love my students. At first I thought it was a surprising, pleasant side-effect of hanging out with the same people every week for nine months, but I did not consider it a valuable part of teaching. It seemed too flaky, too silly to even say out loud. The pivot point came after I changed schools, 15 years into my career. I loved my first job at Kellogg High School, my beloved hometown, but for a variety of reasons, in year 16 I made the move to the big city of Boise, 400 miles away. The transition was excruciating. I might as well have been