Priorities

I used to be such a devoted blogger. How times have changed!
I am enjoying my first summer off....ever. I know that most people think teachers lead the life of leisure in the summer (and some do). But, until this (blessedly peaceful) summer, I either taught, worked in a summer camp or took grad school classes. To stay out of trouble, I will do a little teaching at the end of July. I'm working with teachers brand-spankin' new to the culture of independent schools. This should be interesting as we have to stay in dorm rooms - not really looking forward to that whole scene. Oh well - it's not forever, just 5 nights. I'm also (with a colleague) revamping my entire writing curriculum. My teaching buddy and I meet every other week to discuss and plan how to improve our approach to teaching the little ones writing skills. I will admit to being ambivalent to recent trends like No Child Left Behind (not sure that did one thing to help schools) but I am huge believer in teaching children how to read, write, and think critically (and I guess math skills are important, too). Our schools spend far too much time and money on testing kids - it makes me crazy.
Anyway....
I traveled with Rick (and half of the Richmond triathlon community) to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to cheer him on in his 9th Ironman race (and his second go-round @ that particular race). While he didn't have a great day (he was more than 2 hours slower than the last time he did CDA), he did finish the darn race. The weather was perfect for biking and running, but not so kind for swimming (way too cold!). We did stay in a completely fantastic house (with a large contingent of friends) that sat right on the lake and the run course. We could stroll into the quaint town of CDA from our house.  While it was kind of fun to have so many familiar faces doing the big race, it was also kind of strange. I had heard there were 50+ athletes in the race from Richmond. I'm not sure what unusual forces conspired to make CDA "the" race for Richmonders, but it was. Sometimes it felt like too many people were worrying about how they did compared to this person or that person. Whatever.  I'm all about the effort at doing something big/scary/difficult, the training sacrifices and breakthroughs - at simply trying. Just attempting (and hopefully finishing) an Ironman is huge. Sometimes people forget that. And for Pete's sake,
don't take yourselves too seriously, folks. That is almost as annoying as No Child Left Behind.
As for triathlons and me - I have a few short races on the calendar this summer. I'm really looking forward to traveling to NH at the end of August to do the Timberman sprint with Rick and my brother Matt. We'll be able to cheer on the cool chicks from Richmond doing the half IM the next day. Now that should be a fun weekend. Please note how we opted for the Saturday race so we can eat, drink and be merry on Saturday night. I think I have my priorities straight.