Sidewalk Hogs

I think I am a fairly courteous person. I try to be aware of other people around me when I am out and about. I don't block the aisle at the grocery store, and I don't dawdle around when I'm shopping. Over the past two weeks, there have been at least three times, however, when I have wanted to stop and shout not-so-nice words at complete strangers, and yes, once, I even wanted to just run headlong into someone.

Over the past two weeks, I have encountered people I like to call Sidewalk Hogs. While they can be found travelling alone, they most often travel in pairs or threes. These are people who walk so that they are taking up the entire width of the sidewalk. While this is annoying when you are coming up behind them, I don't mind so much because they can't see that you are coming. When you are coming towards them, that is when I get upset. See, these people don't move over when they see someone running towards them. They just keep walking. It means that I am forced to run off the sidewalk into the grass, or the snowbank, or the mud, or the puddle, depending on the weather. A few times I have actually had to stop and jump over, because I have waited too long to see if these people will extend me the courtesy of moving over so I can stay on the sidewalk. I notice this phenomenon mostly in the Winter, but it does happen all year around. I am sad to say that I really only notice this in Toronto. Up until now I have been patient, as in, I have mostly just sighed and muttered under my breath. Pretty soon, I'm just going to hipcheck someone out of my way.

I miss my students. I'm glad that I miss them, but am still a bit surprised. I think its because I'm 'used to them'. I'm used to seeing them everyday, listening to their crazy banter, watching them shove stuff into their lockers, trying to be patient as they tell me that they forgot we had Math now (even though we have Math EVERY DAY AFTER RECESS). Its sorta like that song from My Fair Lady, "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face". I didn't really ever get this song before. But I understand it, in part now. I've grown accustomed to my students. I spend so much time with them that when I don't see them five days a week for two weeks, I miss them. I will try to remember this on Monday morning as I drag myself into my classroom.

A lesson in humility

Today I ran the Angus Glen Half Marathon. I didn't train much for this race, I will admit. To be honest, I was riding on my ego which kept telling me that I ran a marathon without enough preparation, so I could certainly run a half. Little did I know what lay ahead of me. 21.1km of rolling hills in Markham in the country on a windy day. It was difficult. I didn't think I would finish. I dragged myself across the finish in 2:05, a full 12 minutes over my personal best for this distance. It felt like the hardest race I've done, following closely behind the last 10km of the marathon in May. I was thrilled to cross that finish line. It was a reminder and testament to me about hard work, determination, and perserverance. And I will take those things with me into the classroom tomorrow. I just might not be able to walk.

More than I could chew

Tonight my goal was to run 15km. I decided I would do three loops around the 5km course we have mapped out near our apartment. I made sure that I was well-hydrated (yesterday, I was woefully dehydrated...), had a snack with some protein about an hour before I left, and then I set out. Well, 20 mins in I was feeling horrible. I told myself it would go away. It didn't. I ran the first 5km in just over 30 mins and had to pause for a minute as I began the second 5km loop. After the wave of nausea passed, I continued on at a much slower pace, finishing the second 5km loop in 32 mins. I knew I could not handle doing the third loop, but knew that I HAD to keep running. Heck, if people always stopped when something was hard, nothing would get done. (Certainly no one would run 42km consecutively). So I left the park and started on a short loop around our neighbourhood. I knew it wasn't going to be 5km, but I was determined to run for at least 1:30. At about 1:11, it was as if my body suddenly remembered that it had done this kind of thing before. The strides became a little easier, my focus got sharper. The last 4km was better, not easy mind you, but better and I finished at 1:28 feeling like I had accomplished something. I have a LONG way to go to get to the Half Marathon distance I'm going to run on Nov. 4, but at least its a start.

Meet the Creature

Tonight was Meet the Teacher night. I was somewhat intimidated by this earlier in the day as I thought about all these parents who would be coming to meet me. I had a difficult afternoon and was feeling frustrated by my perceived ineffectiveness as a teacher. I was feeling discouraged and that, in somewhat, I had let my students down by my inability to keep my frustration to myself. And then the first parent came in, and then another and another. And as I talked to these parents and heard about my class from my student's perspective, I was encouraged. I left feeling uplifted and ready to face next week, armed with a bunch of new ideas to try.

Empowerment

I made a discovery today. I've been struggling with one of my classes so far, so I decided to try a different approach today. I asked them to tell me what their experience had been, and what they were looking for in class. I noticed many of them had a negative attitude towards my subject, so I set about to discover why. I let their voices be heard. I considered what they had to say and I let them know I took what they had to say seriously. The difference was remarkable. Sometimes as a teacher, I forget that my students want to be heard as well. It bothers me that I needed to be reminded of that. I'm nervous to let my students have 'control' over things, because I don't expect them to take anything seriously. And then, I take the risk and they surprise me. Oh me of little faith.

I ran 13km tonight. Its been a long time since I ran that distance. Since the marathon, I've maybe run 10km as a long run about 4 times, and have been content with just putting in 5 or maybe 6km at a time. I realized that I felt like I had lost my motivation to do the distance runs, so I decided that I would just bite the bullet and do it. I made myself plan a 13km run, and mentally said to myself that no matter how horrible it felt, I was doing the 13km. Many times I have planned to do a longer run, only to get through 5 km and say, well, that's good enough. I was proud of myself when I pressed the stop button on the watch after 1 hour and 18 minutes. It had felt good to feel the soreness in my legs again that only comes from running past an hour. The air was cool and crisp and I felt strong. I think I've found my motivation again. I'm not sure I'll ever run a marathon again, but I think the half-marathon distance is within my reach again. There's just something exhilirating to feel your body working together while your legs power you through the distance, up and down the hills, around the corners and down the straightaways.