Running, Teaching

Thursday teaching marathon

I made it through another Thursday!  They are getting easier…today was 7 students at the school then 5 at home.  Two cancellations today (yes, I have 14 on Thursday’s schedule.  Yes.)  Now I’m done teaching for the week, except for a teaching “interview” I have tomorrow afternoon at a school. A couple of my students really impressed me today with their practicing during the week–some practiced 5 or 6 days, yay!  A couple did none though 🙁  Perhaps someday I will have only students who practice 5 to 7 days a week…

After all that teaching I even managed to get to the gym.  I wanted to do a three mile run tonight, and I managed (wasn’t sure how I would feel as I’m still recovering from Sunday’s race).   I am  trying to run more without having to take walk breaks.  I did intervals of 9 minutes running/1 minute walking until I hit the 3 mile goal, then I walked another mile waiting for Chris to finish up.  It occurred to me last night driving home from the gym (walked 3 miles) that most folks don’t work out 6 days a week.  I didn’t until this year.  It feels great!

 

Weddings

Washington, MO

From my recent posts, a reader might think all I had been doing recently was running.  I’ve actually been quite busy with teaching and weddings as well.  The race was my most exciting weekend event, but not the only thing.

Saturday I played for two weddings.  The first was at the Piper Palm House, which is a wonderful venue.  I’ve played several weddings there, both inside and out.  I’ve also attended a reception there, and in a few weeks Chris is playing a chamber music concert there as part of the Symphony.

The second was in Washington, Missouri, about 1 hour west of St. Louis.  It is a beautiful drive, and a beautiful town on the banks of the Missouri River.  I had played a wedding in nearby Krakow and remembered that I really enjoyed the drive there.  Today’s wedding was at St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church.  The church was VERY tall, lots of steps to climb, and had great views.  My friend Ranya and I took a few pictures.

Looking up at the steeple of the church
Beautiful inside!
The organ pipes were blue!
View from the church. The sun was just starting to set.
Running

One last L & C post

I’ve been walking on air all day!  I am just so excited that I completed my race, and faster than I thought.  I remember when I looked at my watch and thought, “hey, I bet I can do this in under 3 hours”, and that kept me running much more than I wanted to for the last couple of miles.  So happy to have reached that goal (though impromptu 😉 ). 2:57:33.

Tomorrow is my first meeting with my new trainer.  I’m still a bit sore from the race (legs improving, left shoulder hurting a ton for no apparent reason but must be related) so I’m hoping it’s a fairly easy session…I learned that he ran the race as well (a bit faster than me, I looked it up and he was under 1:30) so at least he’ll understand.

I’m planning a couple shorter races to finish out the year, and then it’ll be Phoenix Rock n Roll Time.  I am so amused by myself–a few months ago I was laughing (kindly of course 🙂 ) at people who were crazy enough to run and now I’m totally psyched to keep going.  Funny how that works!!

One thing I forgot:  Here’s an up close photo of the medal I received for finishing the race (now hanging on my bedroom dresser mirror).

Go me!!

(The “One Final Journey” refers to the fact that the race was bought out by the Rock n Roll people and will be elsewhere next fall, so it was my first and last Lewis and Clark Half.)

A
Running

Lewis and Clark

1 Comment

I did it!  I completed my first half-marathon.  I don’t know my official time yet–right around 3:00, I think. (Edit:  Chip time was 2:57:33.)

It was an early start.  I arrived at the site by 6:00 am, and it was very cold out, about 40 degrees.  I met up with my (former) trainer Joe, his wife Michelle, and a couple of other clients of his.  We lined up together, and the race officially started at 7:15 am.  I don’t exactly remember, but I think it took 10 to 15 minutes before we were really moving.

I ran/walked the first 7 1/2 miles with Michelle.  The course was nice and flat for the most part, and once we were moving the weather felt great.  There were just a couple hills, one in particular which took us up to Highway 364 and across the Missouri River.  I left Michelle behind then and it was downhill or flat the rest of the way.  After the tenth mile I started to get excited–I had never run so far before, but I was still feeling good and I knew I would make it.  I pushed ahead and even managed to sprint for the finish line.  I didn’t get my official time when I finished–I think several other people were finishing at the same time and things were really hectic.  The results should be posted online in a day or two.

Proud to be done!

I’m incredibly sore right now, but I am feeling great that I made it through the race.  I was really doubting my ability the past few weeks but I did it!

Running

Lewis and Clark Half-Marathon

I am so nervous!  Tomorrow is my first race ever, and I’m feeling completely overwhelmed and underprepared.  I feel a bit like a fraud as I will probably not be running more than half of it (walking the rest, not driving or something 😉 ) but I need to focus on the positive:  it’s still a long walk, great exercise, and will be a big accomplishment.

It’s been a crazy week leading up to this.  My personal trainer got a new job as a car salesman, so I will be switching trainers.  I am so sad to lose him as I have accomplished so much with his help (including this race, which was entirely Joe’s idea.)  I have an appointment with a new trainer on Tuesday–if I don’t like him there are many other options at the gym.  I have about four months left on the contract, so that’s plenty of time to work with another person.  I am eager to be challenged in a new and different way.

So, before the race you pick up what is called a “race packet.”  For this race, it is a drawstring plastic bag that was filled with fliers, burt’s bees samples, a long sleeve “tech” t-shirt (which Joe decided to decorate for me…a parting gift I suppose!  Picture will come later, after the race as I am told  it is bad form to wear the shirt beforehand), and my race number.  My number is 5001.  I guess that means at least 5000 people are in the race!

I am supposed to arrive by 6:00 am tomorrow…that’s VERY early for me.  I will need to leave the house by 5:30 to do that, so I’m not only stressed about the actual race, I’m totally stressed about getting up early!  Also, it’s supposed to be in the 30’s at that time, in the low 40’s by the race start, so I think I need to add a jacket over my outfit.  I hope that doesn’t get too annoying–I am able to double tie the sleeves around my waist, so I think that should work…

My time won’t be anything impressive.  My goal is to keep ahead of 15 minutes for each mile, so 13.1 x 15 minutes is 3 hours and approximately 16 minutes.  My longest training run/walk was 10 miles, and I finished in just under 2:30, so it’s just a bit longer then.

Wish me luck!  I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow 🙂

Random thoughts

Parents are teachers

2 Comments

I just wanted to vent for a bit.  We’ve all been hearing a lot recently on the news about how our schools are failing our children and how the teachers are to blame.  Where do the parents fall in the blame?

My parents taught me most everything I know, encouraged me every step of the way through school, helped with homework and projects, took me to lessons, made me practice, made me go to bed early, woke me up in the morning, made me eat a good breakfast, took me to the library for books, took me on educational family trips, taught me how to read at a young age, and more.  They did this for my siblings as well.  We were all expected to work hard and to hold ourselves to very high standards on our schoolwork, music lessons, and other activities.

Today in class I asked my students to repeat a piece and to try to get better intonation (fingers on tapes).  One student raised her hand and said that they always have that problem.  She said it in a tone that implied that since this was their weakness, I should just let it slide, that it would never be better.  I was shocked!  I told the class that even if they might never accomplish perfect intonation, we would always be striving for it.  We should always have high standards for ourselves!  The second time through WAS a bit better.

My point is this:  not all children are so lucky to have great parents.  We as a nation are quick to judge the teachers.  What about the other adults who see our nation’s children even more?

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.