Running No Matter How Warm

So even though training was not exactly what I had wanted for my most recent half marathon, I said I will still run it and see how I do.

Rich and I had decided we wanted to run it together, to give us both motivation to push through. The weather that Sunday morning in Rhode Island was pushing mid 80's so not the weather had practiced in.

By mile 4, after pushing 7:45 miles, things were getting difficult and we decided to split up to benefit us both for our runs.

The course was a good half marathon course, with not much repeating miles and a good amount of shade (great for this race) and flat areas. After the first 6 miles of splits ever mile, I went the next 6 without knowing where I was in the course.

As my cross country training kicked in, I just focused on reaching the next person in front of me, and passing them and just continuing to slowly pull people in.

When we got to the final push, a nice head wind met me and I actually said to the runner next to me, who had been running next to me the last 2.5 miles, that I was not a huge fan of this. As I approached the last straightaway, I was hoping to be under 1 hour 40 minutes, and right as I could see the clock it hit 1 hour 40 minutes.

Oh well, I still finished with a personal best and a time of 1:41:10, 30 seconds better then my last half. I was 4th in my division and 8th overall for women, so not a bad showing. Rich finished under 2 hours but not near his goal.... Hartford Half here we come.

Here are some good before and after race photos. Gotta love what the sun does to you on a long race!

 Before

 Before

 And after :)

We did it :)

Thanking Mom

This has been a crazy month but I wanted to try to get in as much as I can.

Mother's Day is the time when we all realize how truly special our relationships with our mothers are. Not only would I have probably gone back to school to be a teacher, but had enough faith in myself to reach for my goals. Each person has a different type of relationship with their mom, but that is what makes all of feel we have "the best mom ever."
My mother is far away from me in distance but very close in my heart. I think about her everyday and think about what she has taught me throughout my life. I wish I was distance wise closer to her, but her relationship has strengthened me to be able to be up in Connecticut further from my family knowing that they truly love me and care for me no matter what happens.
My mom has been with me my whole life, and I know she will continue to be. This year I was able to make her a special Mother's Day Brunch and just show her hopefully that she has impacted me in more ways then she will ever know.

I love you mom!

Graduation

In 2008, when I participated in graduation... I thought there was no way I would go back to school. I was ready for a new career, a new lifestyle, and I thought I had spent enough time in a classroom. Little did I know that in 3 years I would be back in the classroom and 4 years later I would be back in Gampel Pavilion receiving another degree.

Getting my Masters was different.. I had more on the line, I had gone back to school for myself and not just because everyone goes to college or higher education. I wanted to change my career, and pretty much my track for the rest of my life. It was special in terms of I really figured out what I wanted to do with my life and how I wanted to actually be in a classroom for the rest of my life :)

As I sat around some of my best friends that I have met, and looked up at my family there, I realized that education is something that everyone has to pursue themselves, and cannot always be pushed upon you. As I embark on a career as an educator myself, I have fully realized that one person can only push students so far, there has to be that drive in them to explore and learn on their own. And when that is found then there can be true knowledge learned.

It was hard to give up what I had to go back to school, but my advice to anyone thinking about it, if you are driven and you know it is what you want, do not let anything get in your way. Your time is short and you should take advantage of any opportunity you have.

Now to my classmates, the future of Educators and anyone else graduating this May... take this new step of your life in stride. Understand that things might not always go the way you planned, but we all will get to where we want to be as long as you stay focused and driven. Conrgats on your accomplishments, to me I hope to see my name outside a middle school classroom come August. We will see where the summer takes me :)