Hello blog!

It has been a long, long time since I last posted on my blog. What can I say? My return to the classroom comes with its share of sacrifices, including free time (what is that, anyway?) I have no regrets about leaving higher ed to return to the more intense grind of classroom teaching. While I really enjoyed my colleagues @ UR, I hardly ever saw them. We were like independent contractors sharing a hall. It was lonely for me. Yes, I like people. Now, I share a room with twenty first graders. There is nothing quiet or lonely about an elementary school - that is for sure. The energy, creativity and support at Collegiate are exceptional. It's quite a place - and I just love being there.

What about working out and triathlons? You may (or may not) be asking. Well, I fit my workouts in the only way that works. Usually, this means getting up very, very, very early....as in 4:30 a.m. It helps that Rick gets up at the same time. (We are obviously deranged, but we knew that already). Sadly, I am not running at all anymore. I have tried. In fact, I have tried just about everything from surgery to knee injections to stretching to lots of Aleve. If it's not my knees swelling like balloons, it's some secondary injury caused by running. Case in point: I developed a terrible case of plantar fasciitis last fall. It was so debilitating that I could barely stand on my feet to teach. Now that is just ridiculous. I need to be active and move around (a LOT) to keep up with seven-year old children.  After a lovely cortisone shot and some major anti-inflammatories, the pain settled down. But, I can only wear Dansko clogs or running shoes right now. I'm okay with that, but I would like to have the option to wear some sassy little shoes every now and then.

So...I have signed up for a few races - two are aquabikes and one is a Olympic distance triathlon. However, I probably won't do the run in the Olympic distance race. Yup - I'll DNF it. (Side note: if Set Up events would add the aquabike option to their Olympic distance events, I wouldn't have to DNF now would I? I don't know why they don't have that option).

In the grand scheme of life, giving up running isn't the end of the world. The truth is that it has lost its allure to me. After I run, I end up hobbling around. Isn't exercise supposed to make you feel better? I think so. So, I'll stick to things that make me happy without causing injury...like swimming...and biking....and teaching....and of course...wine drinking.