Home Run

I found Bobby Cox!

So, how's summer going, you ask? We are now more than halfway through June, also known as the month I don't think about school at all. Come July, it starts creeping in. But June is held sacred. Professional Development books to read? July. Open House materials to make? July. Thinking about school in general? July. This year had a slight exception, in that I went to the school's Leadership Retreat a couple weeks ago. We gathered at the new Braves stadium conference center, worked hard, played some hilarious team-building games (there were blindfolds involved - but no trust falls!), and then got to enjoy dinner and the ballgame afterwards. And if you must work in the summer, it's good to be amongst some of nicest, dedicated, top-notch teachers at the school.

We are now two weeks out from the famed Peachtree Road Race 10k happening on July 4. My training has been... varied. See, it turns out my knees start hurting if I run to much. Every time I increase distance (example: first time I broke four miles), I pay for it afterwards, often putting me in a no-run recovery period for up to a week or more. Stupid knees! When it happened for the first time back in May, I was super bummed. So I started doing a bunch of workouts focused on building leg strength (I use the Nike+ Training app). Slowly I added in some runs, most around one to two miles. I've worked out a little system where I take the girls to swim practice and in the 30 minute window while they're both in the water with their instructors, I run around the neighborhood. I've noticed this method has been increasing my pace as well, since I'm so paranoid about getting back to the pool before they're out of the water! My goal has been to do some type of workout/run/both every day leading up to the Big Day (I'm also a little obsessed with closing all my Apple Watch circles). I ran 5k on Saturday while Matt had the girls at the playground, and I figure if I can pound out that distance without too much struggle, I can probably go the full distance on the Fourth, even if I have to grit my teeth and blow out the knees to get there. I've found, as I've gotten better at it, I actually enjoy running. But I'm already wondering how on earth I'll be able to keep it up once the school schedule starts again. Short of getting up at four in the morning, there's no way to squeeze in a run before work. Ah well, it's still June. I don't have to worry about that yet!