Last day of school is this Friday!  I spent this week packing up more things in boxes and lockers.  If I could, I would finish packing up (would take me less than one hour) everything else, and I’ll be done.  🙂

Tuesday’s run was back at Lake Katherine.   I was at my mom’s and it was raining on and off.  I was cold too.  I asked myself how hard can 3 miles be?  🙂  I went out and got it done.  It was a beautiful evening.

Wednesday was 5 miles around my house.  It was quiet and peaceful but HUMID!  I made the mistake of overdressing.

Thursday’s workout was a hard one.  I had to do 1.5 miles warmup, 3 miles, 3×2 minutes, and 1 mile cool down.  I was out the door at 4:40 am and it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get it done.  

For this run I decided to take a water bottle with a BottleBand.  I left it once in the bushes in front of the airport because I did not want to carry it with me during my whole run.  I did pick it up on my way back.  There are some train tracks about .86 mile from my house.  Before getting to the train tracks I try to pick up the pace to beat any trains that might pass through.  Today I wasn’t lucky.  I decided to run the opposite way for a bit.  I left my water bottle and started running.  A guy in a car stopped me and asked why I had left my water bottle when there was a garbage can “there” (pointing to it).  I replied that I had every intention of picking it up.  I explained that there was a holder with it and I wanted to get that too.  I was at loss for words because I was shocked with his question.  But in a way am glad he did because it would bother me too if I saw someone leaving a water bottle on the floor.  It truly amazes me how people can be so inconsiderate and leave so much garbage on the floor.

I had to run 10 miles on Saturday and I was actually looking forward to it.  These past 3 Saturdays I’ve done really great so what could go wrong?  My plan was to go to The Arboretum but at the last minute decided to go to Waterfall Glen.  I’ve been there before so it wasn’t a new place to me.

It was during mile 1 that I knew it was not going to go well.  I stopped various times.  I felt hot and tired but still kept going.  I also struggled during the next mile and still kept going.  I finally stopped at 2.8 miles.  I sent a text to my coach, stopped my watch, and walked back to my car.  I felt a bit sorry for me but then got over it.  Lola and I spent the rest of the day in bed relaxing.

Sunday morning I went out again to run 10 miles.  The weather was great, cloudy with a chance of rain.  It has been a LONG time since I ran along the lakefront.  Loved it!  Mile 9 is when I was struggling but kept going knowing that I would be done soon.

Overall, pleased with this week.  My run yesterday didn’t go as expected but did good today.  Let’s see how it goes this coming week.

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

I am so happy that I got my 5 runs done this week!  But boy was I tired.  

As usual the weather has been changing almost every single day.  I was cold on Tuesday when I ran 5 miles.

Wednesday’s workout was 3×3 minutes and 6×1 minute intervals with 2 minutes recovery.  I love how light it is earlier in the morning.  I can leave my house without wearing a headlamp.  I ran in shorts and compression socks.  Great workout but I was tired at the end.

I had to run 3 miles on Thursday but woke up very tired.  I slept in and felt much better.  I did my run on Friday morning.  Picture below is using the portrait filter in my iPhone.  🙂

Friday we went to The Field Museum.  It has been years since I’ve been there.  We thought the students would be bored but in fact they loved it!

Saturday morning was back at The Arboretum.  I had to run 8 miles with 6 miles warmup and 2 at a faster pace.  I will admit that I didn’t think I could do it with the hills.  I did 4 and then turned around to do another 4.  Mile 4 is mostly downhill so I struggled with mile 5 since it was uphill.  Mile 6 was mostly trying to recover.  I took a Huma Gel at mile 4 and it must have kicked in after mile 6 because miles 7 and 8 were my fastest!  Definitely a GREAT feeling!

Sunday was back at Lake Katherine.  It was cloudy and humid but still very pretty and peaceful.

Overall almost 25 miles for the week.  Pretty pleased with how I did.  Excited to see how I do next week.

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

I hope everyone is having a GREAT Mother’s Day!  I feel like everyday should be Mother’s Day.  You are are AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL!!

This week was just one of those weeks!  I was EXHAUSTED.  I spent the beginning of the week with my sister and mother and each day came home late and ready for bed (they live about 30-40 minutes away).  I didn’t run on Wednesday (5 miles) and almost skipped my run on Thursday.

So much rain in the Chicago area.  That really dampens the mood.  It was gorgeous on Monday and then rain and more rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.  There was a little rain yesterday afternoon, but thankfully none today.

On Wednesday the students made some Mother’s Day gifts.  So cute!  They also made a certificate and wrote a letter for mom.  I was a bit sad for one of my students because her mom died the last week of March.  I did talk to her (and dad) before to let her know what we were going to do and gave her the option of participating or going to another classroom.  She decided to do the activities with the rest of us.  I also asked again each time we did something new to make sure she was still OK with it.

For Teacher Appreciation Week the students made cards for me.  Love each single one!  I love that some of them talk about Lola.  🙂

This week consisted of 3 runs.  I ran 4 miles on Thursday (in another new to me place), 6.78 on Saturday, and 3 on Sunday.   Also, I ran at Lake Katherine, really close to where my mom and sister live.  Very pretty!

On Saturday I went back to The Morton Arboretum to do 1×8 minutes, 1×4 minutes, and 4×2 minutes with 2 miles warmup and cooldown, and 2 minutes recovery between each interval.  I really wanted to do this close to home because it is flat but want to get into the habit of running every Saturday at the Arboretum.  The workout alone is tough but add in the hills and it is even more tough.  I survived.  🙂  I will admit that I did have to stop a few times during the first interval because I received a few texts that I had to check and respond.  Overall, pleased with how I did.

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

Another month!  I ran 76.83 miles in April.  In April we had a variety of weather conditions – cold, warm, rainy, and snow.  So crazy!  So far April has been my highest mileage this year.

I am back to running 5 days a week.  Well, not 💯 percent yet.  I had 5 runs scheduled for this week.  Would you believe that I skipped Wednesday’s run because of the rain.  Ugh!  It was pouring in the morning.  I didn’t plan properly since I could have gone to the gym. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 🤦🏻‍♀️

I did 4 runs and 2 of them were awesome.  The first one was on Thursday.  I was up at 4:15 to get this done because I knew it was a longer run.  I had to do 1.5 mile warmup, and 2 sets of 5×2 minutes, and 1 mile cool down.  The first set had 90 seconds recovery and the second set had 60 seconds recovery.  It wasn’t cold but it was very foggy.  Each interval had to be done at a 10:01 pace.  Did great but I definitely felt tired during the second set of intervals.  I needed more than one minute to recover.

On Saturday I went to The Morton Arboretum to run 7 miles.  It was my second time there (first time was last year on a field trip with my students) but first time for running.  It is hilly but a gorgeous place to run.  My plan was to run 7 miles and not worry about pace.  I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect so I just wanted to run by feel.  It was tough.  I walked.  I did feel tired but did really good even with the hills.  My plan is to go there every Saturday for my long run.

I am planning the rest of my half marathons.  I want to be done in June 2020.  Below is what I still need to do.  

* Montana-Missoula Half Marathon, July 2019
* Wyoming-Center of the Nation (Mainly Marathons), August 2019
* South Dakota-Center of the Nation (Mainly Marathons), August 2019
* North Dakota-Center of the Nation (Mainly Marathons), August 2019
* Michigan-Detroit Free Press/Chemical Bank Half Marathon, October 2019
* South Carolina-Kiawah Island Golf Resort Half Marathon, December 2019
* Georgia-Publix Atlanta Half Marathon-March 2020
* Kansas-Garmin Half Marathon, April 2020
* Idaho-Famous Idaho Potato Half Marathon, May 2020
* New Mexico-Run for the Zoo Half Marathon, May 2020 or Armed Forces Half Marathon,  May 2020, or Santa Fe Thunder, September 2019
* Hawaii-Kona Half Marathon, June 2020

Notice the 3 in a row in August?  I got the idea from another runner.  She is also running a race in each state.  She asked me which states I still had to do and then proceeded to tell me that I could run in WY, SD, and ND through Mainly Marathons.  I checked it out and am in the process of planning logistics for those three races.  Anyone wants to join me?

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

Does it finally feel like Spring where you live?  Mother Nature is definitely cruel.  While we had some nice weather this week, Chicago got more snow on Saturday.  I was out of town but still couldn’t believe it.

On Thursday we went to the zoo.  Originally we wanted to go on Friday but there weren’t district busses available to take us to the zoo.  It was great on Thursday.  The weather was perfect and it wasn’t crowded.

I was EXHAUSTED by the time we got back to school. We didn’t walk a lot but still.  One of my students told me that it was the best day ever!  🙂  It was so sad to see the polar bears.  One of them was trying to sit but couldn’t.  Walking was another story.  The bear could hardly walk and it was sad. ☹️😞  My coworker sent me this article.  I think it was the bear we saw.  No pictures other than the bear and the gorillas.  Not sure why I didn’t take more pictures.

My best workout this week was on Wednesday.  It was 1.5 miles warm up, 5×2 minutes intervals with 2 minutes recovery, and 1.5 miles cool down for a total of 4.64 miles.

I got some new socks.  How is it that new socks make me happy?

As of Friday, we have 25 days left till summer break.  I am excited!  However, I will have one week off before I start summer school.  I am looking forward to it too.  The hours are great and my last day will be July 6th.

On Saturday I flew to Philadelphia and then took a shuttle to Wilmington, DE for the Delaware Half Marathon.  How is it that one can pack so much for a one day trip?

Once at the hotel, I picked up my bib and went to get something to eat.  The restaurant I went to was about 5 minutes from my hotel.  I had a chicken wrap with fries and a beer flight.  

My coach asked me to do a 20 minute shakeout run.  That didn’t happen.  I was too tired from the trip and the food made me sleepy.  After my nap I met Kim for dinner.

Time to run 13.1 miles!  I will have my race recap on Tuesday.

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