A good week!  Ran 5 days for a total of 20.91 miles.  Pleased with how this week went.  

Wednesday’s workout was 2 sets of 3×3 minutes with 90 seconds recovery.  I did this later in the evening.  I thought about doing it the following day but I realized that if I did, I would lose the RunBet Challenge.  Talk about motivation!  🙂

My first set was all positive splits but the second one was all negative splits.  I will confess that I did stop my watch to quickly catch my breath.  Then I kept going.  It still counts, right?  

On Saturday I ran my longest run since the Atlanta Half Marathon in March.  It was tough.  It was the first day of summer and it was HOT.  My overall pace was 12:36 and I thought that was pretty good since it was hot and an easy run.  It was fun running around my neighborhood seeing all of the graduation signs.  

I’ve mentioned that I have way too many pairs of shoes.  I knew it was time to wear a new pair and could not decide between the Ghost 12 (NYC Marathon) or Launch 7 (Brave like Gabe).  I checked out what other pairs I had and found the Launch 5 Tie Dye.  Yes, Launch 5.  I bought these in Denver when I ran the RnR Denver Half Marathon.  I wore them 3 times and then put them aside since at that time I was running in a different pair.

I saw on Facebook that the lakefront will be open tomorrow.  It’s been months since I’ve run there so I am excited to go there.  I won’t be able to make it tomorrow but my plan is to go on Saturday for a long run.  I did get annoyed that they mentioned joggers instead of runners.  Isn’t it the same thing?

This week was my first week of Summer School.  It is going well with my 16 kids.  On a daily basis, about 13 or 14 log in my Google Meet session.  I like them all a lot.  They’re smart and excited to learn.  I made a postcard for them and was ready to mail it yesterday but the envelopes I had ordered were the wrong size.  I ordered more and should get them today.

Summer is not my favorite season for running.  I prefer Fall.  I will try not to complain too much about the weather.  I do need to make sure to get out there before it gets too sunny and warm.  🙂

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Ran 4 days for a total of 13.64 miles and did 1 virtual race for the Uncanceled Project.  These past few weeks I’ve had some great run but this week they were OK.  Still, it is better than no miles.  🙂

This week was about staying home and decluttering.  I cleaned the pantry and took out so much stuff.  Baking pans?  I had a Bundt cake pan.  I don’t remember the last time I baked and don’t think I will.  Time to get rid of all of it.

I had some good runs on Monday and Tuesday.  On Thursday I had to run 5 miles using a run/walk method (3 minutes/90 seconds).  I procrastinated and then decided to run Friday morning.  At the last minute I told myself “Why wait?  Just go.” and I did.  However, it did not go well.  There was a school issue that was bothering me.  I sent a text to a coworker and then that ended up with several other text messages with another coworker.  No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake it off and it kept bothering me.  I decided to go home.  I honestly thought I was about to get fired or moved to another school.  I had anxiety for two days.  The email system was down on Friday so you can imagine my anxiety level that day (I thought it was the first step in letting me go.  Now I know how ridiculous that sounds).  I hate being vague but right now I cannot say more as I don’t want to get in trouble if I provide specific details.  

Earlier that day I went to school to pick up a few things that I need for Summer School.  I was there for 40 minutes and it was sad to walk in my room.  It looks just how I left it on Friday, March 13.  🙁  

I almost skipped Sunday’s race.  The weather was perfect but I was still not up for running.  What got me out the door was Deborah’s RunBet Challenge and the California Coast 500 Virtual Challenge.  Ran 3 miles and then walked the rest home for a total of 3.57 miles.  Total miles for the challenge is 13.64 and have 236.36 miles to go.

Saw this by my house and it made me laugh!  I guess he had a rough night!

You all know how much I love my Brooks shoes.  Did you see these?  Aren’t they adorable?

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer School.  I am almost ready.  I spent a few days working on lesson plans and assignments.  Wish me luck!

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Another great week for me!  Ran 5 days for a total of 20.84 miles and did 2 virtual races for the Uncanceled Project.  I was hoping to do 3 but needed a little over quarter of a mile for an 8K.  Oh well.

Last week was my last week of school.  While in a way I am glad it is over, it was sad.  I know this isn’t the way it was supposed to be.  I did the best I could with the tools I had.  I had mentioned in another post that the camera in my students’ Chromebooks were not “working properly”.  Due to security reasons, they could see me but I could not see them.  Thursday morning we got an email that the cameras were now (we knew they would for Summer School).  It felt so good to hold a Google Meets session on Thursday and Friday to see my kids!!

I mailed a certificate for those students that did some of the work these past couple of weeks.  A few did NOTHING so no certificate.  I did mail the “o-FISH-ally” gift to everyone.  Mailing wasn’t cheap and someone told me that I could have just delivered to save some money.  Umm, no.  That is 18 envelopes.  One of my kids received it yesterday and the mom sent me a picture thanking me.  

Marcia and I are doing The Great Run Across Illinois.  We signed up for the 210 miles challenge and each of us is planning to 105 miles.  I am happy to report that I have run 92.88 miles since May 1st.  I need 12.12 miles, but of course will continue running to complete the challenge with Marcia.  I know virtual races isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it wasn’t mine either.  However, they have motivated me to keep running.

I also signed up for the California Coast 500 Virtual Challenge.  This challenge offers different distances – 100, 250, 400, or 500 miles and you have 3 months to complete it.  I am doing 250 miles.  Run Local will donate 5% of every registration fee to Team No Kid Hungry.   Make sure to sign up!

Remember how last week I wrote about how great one of my runs went?  I did 3×5 minutes and not only did I ran them without stopping but they were all negative splits.  I did the run again yesterday and while it didn’t go as well like last week, I am still proud and happy with how it went.  This time I did stop a couple of times.  🙂

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Another great week for me!  Ran 5 days for a total of 18.33 miles and did another 2 virtual races for the Uncanceled Project.

This week was a HOT one!  I went out too late on Monday and struggled during my 4 miles.  I am sure I was dehydrated because I had a headache and felt some chills towards the end.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing and catching up on blogs.

Apparently I did not learn my lesson on Monday because I went out again too late on Wednesday.  I did 1 mile, then 4-30 second surges, and then ran easy for total 3 miles.  I did pretty good with the surges (8:46/7:57/8:17/8:09)!

I am NOT eating well at all and paid for it on Thursday.  I did 5 miles and it was tough.  My shorts are a bit too tight and moving was not easy.  

Sometimes a run sucks and sometimes it doesn’t.  On Saturday my run did not suck.  I ran 3 sets of 5 minutes.  Couple of things: 1) Ran each set without stopping and that is something that rarely happens.  2) Got negative splits and that rarely happens too.  3) Fastest splits in a long time.  I was very pleased with this run.  I was happy.  I know the weather had something to do with it as it was perfect for running.  

I finished May with 72.05 miles.  That has been my highest this year. 

Sometime in March I removed the Instagram app from my phone.  My last post was March 12.  I downloaded the app again.  At that time I had 900 followers.  Well, I unfollowed everyone because I want to start over.  It’s been interesting to see how many followers I lost.  🙂  I began with 900, then had 883, and ended up with 871.  So I lost 29 followers in a couple of days.  Tomorrow is a new month and I will start following people again.

It was kind of hard to find joy this week with everything that is going on in this country.  Last night we got an alert that the Mayor had imposed a curfew (9pm-6am).  Honestly, it wasn’t till last night that I saw what had been happening in the city.  Now I am watching a Facebook Live of a looting taking place not too far from my house.  I’ve been watching it for over an hour and cannot stop watching it.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Another great week for me!  Ran 5 days for a total of 20.07 miles and did 2 virtual races for the Uncanceled Project.

I have my days when I can easily get up at 6:30 am and am ready to start the day.  There are also days in which it is 8 am and I am feeling so tired and could stay in bed all day.   I  This week was a combo of both.  I did three runs in the morning, 1 in the afternoon, and another one in the evening.  have no idea how I am going to do it when I go back to the classroom in the Fall.

My run on Saturday felt so hard.  I procrastinated and went out at 2pm . I was struggling in the first half mile of the run.  The plan was to run 3.10 miles and then turn around to run another 3.10 miles for a total of 6.20.  At 1.5 miles I wanted to quit but knew I still needed to keep running to get home.  I decided to try a different route to get home.  By the time I was almost home, I was at 4.23 miles.  I asked myself “why quit now?”  I kept on going but stayed close to home because I knew it was going to rain a lot.  It did!!!  And then it was sunny and warm again.

I got on the Peloton one day.  I bought these gym towels to use and I like them.  They’re the perfect size to cover the handlebars.  I had ordered a different kind but that order never got delivered.  After a few emails back and forth with the company, I decided to get my money back and go with Plan B.

The theme this week was Kindness.  I am a kind person.  I do kind things but don’t expect anything in return.  We should all be kind no matter the situation.  We don’t know what people are going through and sometimes all it takes is a smile, a compliment, or just being nice to others.

Last Sunday when I was coming home I stopped at Wendy’s.  I paid for my meal and paid for the order in the car behind me.  Did I have to do that?  No,  I wanted to.  The cashier told me “That is a very nice thing you did”.  I smiled at her and said “Thank You”.  I felt good but more importantly I hoped the people behind me were happy, healthy, and enjoyed their meal.  

My friend, Carolina, set up a GoFund Me page to raise money for the street cart vendors in Little Village.  I grew up in Little Village.  These vendors cannot go out there and sell like they used to.  Like many people in this country, they have no income.  When things get better, who knows if they will be able to sell again.  I donated a couple hundred dollars to give to the vendors.  I was inspired by my nephew.  He donated his stimulus check because he said he did not need it.  I was so proud of him when he said that.  I used Zelle to send the money to Carolina and she told me it was too much money and that I didn’t have to do that.  She was right.  I didn’t but I wanted to.  I told her that right now I am very lucky.  I have a job, a house, and am healthy.  There are other people in worse situations.  

We have two weeks left of school.  Seriously, school should be done this Friday and not the following Friday.  Kids and teachers are burnt out and need a break.  On Thursday I held my last Google Meets session with them.  I would have one Monday-Thursday from 10am-1pm.  I did tell them that I will still be there for them if they have questions or need help.  As a way of saying goodbye to 2nd grade, I made a postcard.  Here is what it says:

Your teacher misses you.
Hi!  The school year is almost over.  You did a good job in the classroom and I am very proud of you.  Thank you for your help and your patience.  I know these past few months were not easy but we did it.  Remember that when we return the following year, you will be a 3rd grader.  Never forget that you are very intelligent.  Take care and I hope you visit me in the classroom when we return to school.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.