All posts by hannahviolin

I am a violinist. I also enjoy running, working out, reading, and hanging with my friends and cat.
Running

Tour De Grove 5k

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I was waiting to write a race recap until I could find the results online, but you know what, it doesn’t matter. It wasn’t a PR, it was a slow race for me…and that’s what you all expect anyway, right? Plus…the results ARE online…except not my time, for some reason. Too slow I guess? They gave up? Whatever.

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Tour de Grove 5k

My friend April asked me about this race one day when there was a deal to get the entry for $15 (half price). We figured, might as well!

The race was a 5k along a course that later would be used for the “Tour de Grove” which is a professional bike race. The 5k course was a double loop with a little spur out to the side, I’m guessing to make it 5k.

The Grove is a neighborhood not too far from where I live. According to the website, “The Grove is a growing vibrant business and entertainment district along Manchester between Kingshighway and Vandeventer in St. Louis City. In the Grove you can find a diversity of independently owned restaurants, nightlife, retail, and services. It is also home to the premier nightlife in the area, and is a thriving center for the LGBT, artist, and cycling communities in the St. Louis area.”

All of that is true. It’s also the neighborhood where Chris got punched in the face randomly walking with a friend going to a bar. Things he learned that night: he can really take a punch. But that’s not really a race recap story now, is it? That’s just your normal, “the night I almost got mugged but then they ran away because they didn’t realize that I would keep standing” story. But that’s really quite unrelated.

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April and I, pre race

Anyway, we met super early because we needed to register the morning of and we weren’t sure how easy that would be. Answer: really easy. We both arrived 30 minutes before our planned time and parking was a breeze (plenty of parking near Vandeventer and Chouteau). Registration took about two minutes and then we found ourselves with about an hour to kill. Oops.

It turned out there were less than 100 runners in the race. If we had been fast runners we might have been excited by the chance to do well. But instead we were nervous about coming in last. We decided it didn’t matter. Because once you’ve come in last in a race, it’s okay. Plus last in a tiny race like this would be no big deal.

Anyway, we agreed to just stay together unless we got really annoyed. And we didn’t. We ran the whole first loop and then the heat started to get to us and we took a few short walk breaks. I think our time would have been around 38 minutes which seems really slow…and maybe it was…or maybe the course was long because both of our running apps clocked in at 3.4 to 3.45 miles. But I hate people who say that, and they claim the course was certified. But then again, they claimed they’d have results online and neither of us seemed to show up.

It was a nice race though. Great, well marked course, though the double loop is kind of boring, at least you know where you are going the second half. We almost got run down by the 2nd place male at one point…but we didn’t. It was a fairly flat course and the T-shirt was good (I’m actually wearing it right now.)

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Other plusses: nice volunteers and staff who handed us bottles of water as soon as we finished—none of that dazed wandering around looking for water while trying not to pass out. So I’d totally recommend this race. It was a fun way to spend the morning.

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April and I, post race! Proud and sweaty.

Teaching

Sometimes teaching is a wonderful thing

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Teaching violin often feels like a thankless, worthless job. (Like all teachers, I imagine.) Underpaid, often overworked, tired, and feeling like it just doesn’t matter. I mean, who needs violinists anyway? (Answer: we all do, but that’s for another day.)

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As you may know, the school I teach three afternoon/evenings a week is closing at the end of the school year (beginning of June.) We had our last studio recital on Saturday. I’d been working hard, the kids had been working hard, and it’s a stressful thing for some of them—getting up in front of everybody, playing their piece from memory (some, at least). Performing is a tough thing! (and excellent preparation for the future…)

I always get really stressed out. Will people remember to show up? Will they bring their violins? Will they mess up and make me look bad? Will the other teachers judge me for having students with bad posture?

And as always, none of those things mattered or happened. It was a great day. My students did their best, and I was a proud teacher.

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And at the end, one of my students, after finishing a very musical and exciting performance of the third movement of Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor…after that, she gave a speech about how much the school has meant to her over the past years (she’s been there since she was 4, I believe) and how much she will miss it. And I got teary. And then she gave me flowers and the above note.

Sometimes that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Making a difference to one person. And I think, at least I hope, that I mean that to most if not all of my students.

Underpaid and often undervalued by society, yes. Thankless and worthless, no.

These next few weeks at the school will be bittersweet.

Cat

Catuesday

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Catuesday is the new Caturday, right?

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It’s her favorite cat nip toy. It was a Christmas Present, I believe.

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Though the fatness doesn’t actually celebrate Christmas, she is still happy to have toys other than fake stuffed sardines and stolen ponytail holders.

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I challenge you to look at these pictures and not have the urge to squeeze her around the middle.

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Over the weekend I got some flowers at our studio recital. Here she is trying to eat one.

She did eat a leaf. Am I a bad pet owner for taking this picture rather than moving her? (Don’t answer). This happened on Saturday night though, and she’s absolutely fine, so I think we’re okay. Probably a little salad won’t hurt her.

Product Reviews

How is it Monday already?

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I think it’s important to moan and groan about Monday as much as possible, right? Especially when, as regular readers know, I don’t really have much on Mondays. It’s the official DAY OFF for the symphony, so Chris never has rehearsal on Mondays (unless it’s an extra gig, of course) and so I TRY to keep it clear to be lazy with him. (Then he goes golfing, which means I end up sleeping in and then guiltily and frantically responding to the masses of emails that I let pile up over the weekend…)

But I digress. As usual.

Okay, business first. I received some free stuff that I need to review. It’s from Vitacost.com which is an online discount site from which you can get all kinds of health and beauty stuff from.

I was sent two different drinks to drink. Celsius Sparkling Orange and Celsius Sparkling Wild Berry. They claim to be calorie reducing drinks. I tried them after runs to rehydrate and refresh, and they were both really tasty. (I love a sparkling beverage of any sort.) Do they, as claimed, burn up to 100 calories? I doubt it, because if that was really true, why, the person who created them would be absolutely rich—burn 100 calories by drinking this tasty drink!—everybody would be on board. But who knows. I did lose a few pounds in the past few weeks.

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The drinks were tasty and made me feel better after my runs (I had four samples) so that’s good enough for me.

(I was provided the product free of charge and not obligated to write a positive review.)

My last post got weird and I don’t know what happened. I’m hoping this post publishes correctly or else I’m going to have to really work to figure out what went wrong (I did make a change in the meantime…). Blogging and computers are indeed hard work!

(Reminds me of the Titanic quote “Women and machinery do not mix.”)

Random thoughts

Oatmeal Por Todos again

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How long since I did an oatmeal post? Years, I think.

In the past, I’d been doing overnight oats. You add milk, yogurt or water to a serving of oats and refrigerate it for a minimum of overnight. That was before we lived in a house with a microwave. Since we have a microwave now, I’ve discovered that regular oats only take about a minute and a half to get to the consistency I like. I still do overnight oats occasionally or (and sorry I’m not sorry) I make OOIAJ (overnight oats in a jar) to use up the last bits of “nut butter.” Chris thinks I’m crazy but it’s a nice treat.

Oatmeal. 3/4 cup. Cover with water. Microwave for 1:30 (yes, I don’t care for it too soggy.) Add spoonful of “nut butter”, scoop of “protein powder” and your choice of fruit. And coffee. WIN.

Pictured below: raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. No banana this week: I ate those plain.

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Are you a creature of habit for your morning meal?

Deep Thoughts

Tacos

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Today was one of those days where I had other plans for my lunch hour which involved authors and lunches…and I ended up deciding that the best thing to do would be to play hooky (as it were) and get Taco Stand with my husband.

Now I’m sleepy and I have to teach in a little over an hour. Coffee is in order.

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(that’s an old picture of coffee, but I think you get the idea. also, I like cows.)

This morning at the gym was chest and back. I was totally bench pressing like, 55 pounds. (Honestly, for upper body, I feel pretty hard core just having any weight on the bar, which weights 45 pounds—so I’m psyched.)

Taco Stand didn’t actually fit into my plan of “lose weight so my muscles actually show” but I’m still down 2 pounds since about a week and 1/2 ago, so that kind of rocks. And I am not willing nor mentally able to do a diet that entirely cuts out my favorite things. I am willing to eat a very light dinner and eat well tomorrow to make up for it though.

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(Taco Bell is different than Taco Stand. Both are amazing. Yes, you’ve seen this picture before, but I’m lazy and sleepy.)

And I’m running. Regularly. Crazy. Runkeeper tells me I’ve run 31 miles since I started using it under a month ago. *takes bow*

Tonight: the final St Louis Symphony regular season concert. Well, they have four shows but it’s the final program of the season. There’s a post-concert party for the musicians and their significant others so I’m excited for Beethoven 9 and a party of sorts. Purple pants and red shoes seem to be in order, though that’s more common than rare.

Before that: teaching. My regular Thursday afternoon schedule. Which is a great group of students. I might be collaborating with Sarah Crowder on a video about me and teaching and she asked me to think about what I love about teaching. I’ve been thinking a lot about that, particularly this week as I’m contemplating my teaching future…it’s hard to pinpoint. The main thing I love is: playing the violin. And I want to SHARE that love with as many people as possible.

It’s tough because playing the violin is hard work and takes a lot of commitment, and there are so many things to worry about while you play, and I’m a firm believer in TECHNIQUE FIRST (this is also why I have a trainer at the gym, in addition to the motivation, but because I don’t know enough weight lifting technique to feel comfortable on my own—I do understand violin technique though!)

So you can see, my brain is all over the place. I’ve got a few professional personal things (personally professional..the lines in life are so blurry, aren’t they?) going on offline and it’s been making me take a hard look at myself and what I want from my career. This is a good thing, but an unfamiliar thing. I am not a “five year plan” type of person, but I’m trying to figure out what I want out of my career here in St Louis. Assuming we end up staying here, which we’d love to do…but…

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(Me, contemplating my five year plan)

And that’s a blog post for another day! Or not, really, as that’s not necessarily about me.

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I’ve been wanting to share that picture for awhile. I love it. Today seems appropriate.