December 28. 2009

I LOVE reading other family members blogs, but can't seem to keep up with mine... hmmmm....
OK, so here's what's been going on in my life.

December 15, 2009 - that was our 25th wedding anniversary! I have a hard time believing it.... 25 years! Really??? I actually didn't know this until we received a card from Dennis and Sheila. I mean, I knew it was our anniversary, but didn't know it was 25 years. I was really surprised! Nigel and I did our usual "thing"... We took a day off of work, bought Christmas presents (although most of it is done online now, so not much to buy), then went to lunch at Macaroni Grill. mmmmmmm! We love that place! Afterwards, we split up and go buy each others' Christmas presents. At least "stocking stuffers". :-) This year, Dennis and Sheila gave us some money for our anniversary present. We usually buy something together that we really want, so this year was no exception - and we had some extra money too. :-) So, we decided to get some 'silver' for our silver wedding anniversary. We picked out some nice silver flatware and a box to store it in. Oneida has the best stuff ever! We love it! So the next time any of you come to visit, you will get to use it with us! :-)

Christmas, 2009 - Our tradition starts on Christmas Eve. Nigel and I go to the 8:00 service at church, then we come home and watch "A Christmas Carol" - the 1951 version with Alistair Sim. It's Nigel's favorite. :-) The girls go to the 11:00 service, but I can't stay up that late anymore. I'm afraid I would fall asleep during the sermon! hahaha!
We had a wonderful Christmas day with the girls. They were both excited about their presents this year. It's always great fun to watch their expressions when they open their gifts. :-) Chelsea was really surprised to get her new phone. We had convinced her she wouldn't be getting one until the spring. hahahaha! I love when a plan comes together.... hehehehe! Kirsten and Chelseas got tickets to see John Mayer in concert when he comes to Memphis is March - they both REALLY REALLY liked that gift from Santa! I think Kirsten's favorite gift would be her Nintendo DS. She's even shared it with me.... :-0 We have had fun playing the Brain Age game..... it says I have a brain of an 80 year old!!!! I guess I have some work to do!!!!!
I got a really nice watch, some great looking clothes, a Sansa Clip (to listen to music while I run - thanks Kirsten!), a RAZORBACK jacket (thanks Chelsea!) and some new muffin tins for our blueberry muffins. It was a "good haul"!!!
We had a great dinner with our traditional Christmas Crackers, music, Cadbury's chocolate cookies, and general dinner conversation. I think that is my favorite part. Just "real time" family time. It's the best!!! :-)

The rest of the Christmas vacation has been spent on swim practice (1 1/2 hours Mon through Thurs), taking Chelsea places, enjoying our presents, watching movies, and just generally being lazy! Although I have been keeping up with my running... :-)

Looking forward to 2010.... :-)

Decorating our tree....


The final product....


Me and Nigel...


The girls in their Christmas outfits...


Christmas dinner - or what's left of it....

My first Half Marathon

My half marathon story
I woke up at 3:00am and dozed and tossed and turned for a couple of hours…. UGH!!! I wasn’t really nervous, but just excited that I was about to do something I had never tried before. So, I finally just got up at 5:30, ate, got dressed and checked out the weather…COLD. Mark said that is a good thing. :-)

Clothes – this was a major undertaking – what to wear. After reading Mark’s suggestions I decided on tights, a short sleeve “wicking” shirt and my long sleeve dry fit shirt, a head band and gloves. At the last minute I wasn’t sure I would be warm enough so I took my Nike sweats jacket. I also had a trash bag to “snuggle” into at the starting line.

Pre-race – We met up at the Peabody Hotel, I got my packet from Mark (had to walk back to the car to put the extra stuff away), took group pictures and then Mark showed us his “secret weapon”!!! It was awesome!!!! Thanks Mark!

After that I felt kind of lost – not sure where to go or what to do…. But I’m a big girl and can figure things out for myself. :-) I started following my fellow MIMers to the starting line, but they were actually running to warm up. I definitely DID NOT want to run more than I was about to. So I quit following them and figured I could catch up to them at the starting line – HA!!!!! I had no idea….

So many people – There were about 8,000 runners signed up for the half and about 4,000 signed up for the full marathon! I don’t really know how many signed up for the 5K that ran earlier… But let’s just say A LOT of PEOPLE were downtown on Saturday!!! There are these ‘corrals’ down the street from the starting line. Each one “houses” a group of runners according to their pace time. I found mine - #13. I think there was one more after mine. Wow, that made me feel kind of slow, but no matter. I was there to finish my first half marathon! We were so far back from the starting line, I didn’t even hear when the race started! But that was OK. I found Jackie’s group standing just in front of me – whew! Someone I actually recognized!!!! I knew they would help me start off at the right pace. They were going to run 3/1’s but I knew their warm up would be easy for me to follow. I figured I would follow them for as long as possible and then start on my 2/1’s. Slowly each ‘corral’ made its way up to the starting line. They started us off about a minute apart. After 20 minutes, it was our turn to start! YAY!!! The cheering and excitement was AWESOME!!!!!! I decided it was time to start my Garmin…..OK, why is this darn thing not coming on???? Oh No!!!! What the heck is going on???? Obviously, that battery has decided to die… CRAP!!!! Well, I was determined to not let ANYTHING ruin my day, so I said, “OK, now what should I do? I know, I will count in my head…” And that is what I did for the next 3 hours…. 1,2,3,4,5….118,119,120 – ok now walk…. 1,2,3,4,5….58,59,60 – ok now jog. What a way to run a half marathon!!! Hahaha! It worked pretty well for me!!! I followed Jackie and her group for about 2 miles, then they were getting too far ahead of me, so I just started doing my own thing.

The race – I felt really good the whole way. It was so cool to run through downtown and then past St Jude. At mile 7 I heard the crowd ahead cheering and did not know what was going on – it turns out they were cheering for the Kenyans who were on their way back to finish their full marathon!!! OK, now I felt really, really slow, but hey, I’m not here to race – just to finish this thing!! Then in front of Rhodes I saw Nigel. :-) That made me feel really awesome!!! I gave him my “stupid Garmin” and muttered a few things about the watch to him. He took it all in stride, and told me how proud he was of me. :-) He took my picture, gave me some snacks, and then I was off again.
I started to feel a little sore as I was running through the park. I stopped and stretched a couple of times. I saw Mark riding his bike along this stretch of the race. He stopped to check on me, showed me a couple of different stretches to do. He took my picture - :-) - then I was off again to finish the last 4 miles. This seemed to last forever! Running down Poplar Ave is really long…..
I began to pass people who were walking and that gave me some added energy! I stopped and stretched one more time, then found mile 12!!!! I was really pumped then!!!!
The last mile was great!!! My legs felt good and I had a smile on my face, at least most of the time. People kept saying “you’re almost there!” “The finish line is just a couple of blocks away” - that was very encouraging! I saw a big sign that pointed one way for the half and the other way for the full….. I remember thinking “there is NO WAY I could go another 13 miles today!!!” And then I saw the baseball stadium and the finish line. Wooooo Hoooooo!!!!!!
My goal was to finish in under 3 hours. I figured that was an appropriate time for me, knowing how my training had been going the last 3 weeks. Since I didn’t have my watch on I was guessing… the time said 3:23:42… so I assumed I had just missed it by 3 minutes and 42 seconds. I was kind of disappointed, but not really – I had just completed my first half marathon (without my watch)!!!! How could I really be upset with that???? Well, it turns out my OFFICIAL time was 3:00:02 – 2 seconds over!!! Ok, I could have run faster at the end…. That will be my goal for next time. :-) Here are my numbers: 5821 – my place overall out of maybe 7000 finishers (don’t know the exact number),190th in my age group out of 282 women, average pace 13:45.


I had a fantastic experience! I accomplished a goal that I never thought I would, or could in a million years! Thanks, Mark, you are an awesome coach!!! I like your positive outlook and encouragement. There is NO WAY I would ever have done this without you!!!!!

So, now I have two goals for my next half:
1. Under 3 hours
2. Meet some new people to train with so I don’t have to do it on my own next time. :-)

Hey everyone! I am a MIM half marathon STUETTE now!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! :-)

Casey Kasem

This is what I listened to on Saturday during my long run....
Do you remember these tunes?

You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling Daryl Hall and John Oates
Out here on my own Irene Cara
Dreamer Supertramp
Lovely one Jacksons
Whip it Devo
Just like starting over John Lennon
Dreaming Cliff Richard
Another one bites the dust Queen
More than I can say Leo Sayer
Master Blaster Stevie Wonder
I’m coming out Diana Ross
Never knew love like this before Stephanie Mills
Woman in love Barbara Streisand
The wanderer Donna Summer
Lady Kenny Rogers

Gotta love the '80's.... :-)

My Saturday Run

Another long run yesterday.... I think I did a pretty good job, too! :-) I'm trying to learn pacing for my mile splits. I was never good at long distance in swimming, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it for running. So here are my numbers for yesterday:
Warm-up
4.03 miles - 57.52 mins - 14.21 av pace - 131 av HR

Mile 1
13.53 mins - 144 av HR

Mile 2
15.08 mins - 146 av HR (I went a little over a mile on this one, so I thought I was running too slow. I decided to go a little faster on mile 3)

Mile 3
12.55 mins - 150 av HR (This was faster than I intended, so I decided to go a bit slower....)

Mile 4
12.59 mins - 149 av HR (... well, that wasn't much slower. So, I decided to try a different strategy... jog slower, but walk faster)

Mile 5
12.45 mins - 153 av HR (I was still going what I thought was too fast - I was sure I would die the last mile...)

Mile 6
12.52 mins - 155 av HR (But, I did not die too badly.)

Cool down
.69 miles 11.44 mins 17.05 av pace 133 av HR
My legs were a little sore after this workout, but not as bad as I thought they might be after running faster than I was planning... :-)

I guess I am getting faster. :-))))

Me and Casey again...

My last post was a couple of weeks ago. After discussing my last long run with Mark (my coach) we decided I should just try and stick with 2min jog and 1 min walk. He seems to think my legs would last longer with the extra walk breaks. So that is what I did today. Here was the plan that Mark sent out to the group. We were to warm up for about 50 - 60 mins, then "run" for 6 miles - keeping track of our "splits" for each mile, then do a 1 mile cool down. So that is what I did today....
I put on my headphones and headed out the door - me and Casey Casem from 1987! :-)
I did an 'out and back' run for my warm up: 2 miles out and 2 miles back - It took me 58 mins with an av mile time of 14:40; Average HR 134, Max HR 163 (lots of hills on this part of the run!!!). Then I took a short break to stretch, grab a granola bar and drink some gatorade.
My 6 miler was OK. My right deltoid gets a cramp in in sometimes and today was no different! UGH!!! So I had to stretch it out quite a bit. My legs were not as "jello" as the last time I did a long run, but they still were tired at the end! I did stretch them along the way though and that seems to help out (mental note for next time...). Here are my numbers for this part of the run: 6.03 miles with an av mile time of 14:12; Average HR 146, Max HR 166. Not really much faster than my warm up - but that's OK - I'm not really racing - except against myself. :-)
My cool down wasn't very long... only .5 miles - oh well, I did stretch when I got back to the house. Average HR 125, Max HR 137.
So there you go.... I'll see how I feel later today....
Some notes to remember for next time:
1. Don't eat a large mexican meal the night before....UGH!
2. I liked eating the granola bar in the middle of my run. Seems to keep my energy up
3. I wear too many clothes, but it's cold when I start out.... I'll have to keep experimenting with that...
4. I need to find a new running bra....
5. and some new socks... I think my feet will be more comfortable than just wearing my regular short cotton socks.
6. I remember why I like 80's music - :-)hahaha!

My Saturday run

This past Saturday I did my long run - this time I set out to do 2 hours and 30 minutes AND I actually did it!!!! I made myself do an "out and back" run, that way I wouldn't wimp out when I ran past the house, like I did last time..... :-0! I ended up going 10.6 miles total! WOW!!! That is the most I have ever run, ever!!! :-)
The road I ran on is really lovely this time of the year. The leaves are just starting to turn colors and the road is a windy and somewhat hilly type road. I almost made it to the middle school where Chelsea went!
I kept track of my time by 15 minute intervals. I wanted to see what my 'splits' were for each of those intervals. I stayed mostly around the 13 min mark while jogging 3 min and walking 1 min. I felt really good until about 1hour and 50 mins. Then my legs started getting tired. I had to stop more often and stretch, but I knew I was getting close to home, so kept pushing myself. I thought about walking the last mile, but knew if I did that I wouldn't make it back in my allotted time.... It would take me a lot longer!!! So I kept running. My last two "splits" were closer to 14 mins!!! My legs felt like jello all day on Saturday. Yesterday they felt better, but my hips were a little sore. Today I feel almost normal again! It's nice to know I can recover pretty well.
I am running tonight with my group, so I'll see how I feel then. Only 5 miles tonight, but I am going to try and run a little faster - maybe 11 or 12 min mile average.

My long run...

Today I ran 9 miles in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Not bad for an old lady... :-) I did a 12 minute warmup of walking and a little jogging. Then I went into my pacing of 2 minutes jogging and 1 minute walking. I finished with a 15 minute walk as a cool down. That is the furthest (or is it farthest?) I have run so far. My legs were like jello when I was done......
I figured out I have run a total of 20 miles this week. That is the most I've run since I started running a year ago. I'm quite proud of myself. :-) I have run 180 miles since May. And that is only the runs that I wore my Garmin. I could probably add 6 - 10 miles each month for the days I didn't wear my watch. Wow!! I am impressed with myself... hahaha!

Back with the group....

Thursday I got to run with my group again! YAY!!! The last time I ran with them was the beginning of August!! It was kind of strange because my two running buddies have decided to quit the group. :-(
So.... I parked at the Lowes parking lot, and jogged over to the "mother hills" (that's what Mark calls them) - a little over a mile away, by myself. These "mother hills" is actually a neighborhood loop. You run up and down a long hill, then turn around and run back up and around the loop. Then after a short rest, you go again. This time I only did 3 loops. It was starting to get dark and I was concerned about running back to Lowes in the dark! I made it back to the car OK, but felt a little uneasy about running by myself in the dark. I think next time I'll just park by the "hills" and warm up there.
It was great to see Mark again. He is encouraging me to run a 1/2 marathon. There is one in December, but I have a swim meet on the same day. So I'm looking at some runs in Feb or March. He sends out an email newsletter to everyone in the group with tidbits of information on running, eating healthy, updates on who is running in different races, how everyone's training is going, etc... Some of them just got back from running the Chicago marathon last weekend. It's a little intimidating to be part of this group. I'm just someone who is running to stay in shape and maybe participate in some local runs. And here he is trying to get me to do more.... hmmmm. And I'm actually considering it!!! The group does a long, slow (according to Mark) run on Saturday mornings. Today's run is 2 1/2 hours - 3 1/2 hours, depending on where you are in your training. They start their run at 6:00am - are you kidding me???? He has said I am ready to run with them, but, again, it's a little intimidating....and a little early. So for now, I will be running on my own on the weekends and run with the group on Mondays and Thursdays.
Coaching volleyball is over and coaching swimming has begun. Our first meet is a relay meet on Oct 31! Only a couple of weeks away.... Can't wait!!!

another 'almost' long run

Today was my day for a long run. My goal was to "keep in motion" for 2 hours and 15 mins. When I got up at 6:00am I checked the weather map - a BIG GREEN BLOB was almost on top of us. It actually had been raining for about an hour. It must have just been a drizzle here and there, because the driveway was hardly wet. So my dilema was "what should I wear?" I have a rain jacket, but it is long and kind of big on me. And the temperature was 59 degrees. So should I wear shorts and a t-shirt and just get wet??? Or should I wear a long sleeved shirt and take the rain jacket???? Well, that's what I did after much deliberation..... I ended up tying the jacket around my waist for most of the run and just getting somewhat wet. I only ran for 1 hour and 40 mins, though. It was just a little too much rain for me (I'm such a fair weather runner....hahaha). The good thing - I got in 6.5 miles. Not as much as I was supposed to get (8 - 9 miles) but at least I didn't wimp out and not go at all - that was definitely a thought that crossed my mind as I watched the weather channel!! :-) This is the last week for volleyball, so I should be able to get back to my regular running schedule next week.
Today is Nigel's birthday!!! We will have his birthday dinner tonight. I made him his favorite blackberry pie.... mmmm! He's getting a gaming keyboard for his present. He will love it, since he picked it out!!! hahaha!!!

My long run

This morning I ran for 2 hours!!! My legs feel like jello, but I did it!!! :-)
The plan was to walk for 10 mins to warm up, then jog for 1 min and 45 secs, then walk for 1 min, then repeat for 2 hours. I stuck to the plan pretty well for the whole time. The last 12 mins I walked to cool down. I felt good throughout the whole run and the best part was the temperature was only in the low 60's. aaaahhhhhhh! Much better than the humid and rainy mid 80's we've been having for the past 3 weeks!
While running, listened to Casey Casem's top forty - rerun from 1980. What a blast from the past...hahaha! I still remember skating to Xanado.... or is it Zanado? :-) Anyway, fun times listening and trying to remember what I was doing in September 1980. I believe I was in England with my parents meeting Nigel for the first time. :-))))

This week is homecoming at school. The kids get to dress up each day, culminating in spirit day on Friday, where everyone wears red, white and blue (our school colors). The best part for the kids is they get to wear jeans on Friday!!! woohoo!!! The highlight of any private school kid who wears a uniform the rest of the year! :-)

Volleyball is winding down. We have our biggest game of the season on Tuesday - against Briarcrest - then our last freshmen tournament on Saturday. The girls have been playing very well, despite the fact that some of our team is out with the flu. A couple get sick, then they come back, then a couple more get sick, etc... Hopefully by Saturday we will have a whole team!!!

Swimming starts up on Oct 12th.... Can't wait!!! :-)

Catholic Mass?????

A Presbyterian view of a Catholic Mass....
In my mind I see tradition, incense, candles, very stark and staunch priests.... well, that is not exactly what I experienced yesterday!
Father Dennis Schenkel, son of my co-worker Jack Schenkel, was the "priest of the day" at our first all-school Mass. His message was awesome - "Can I get an Amen?" That statement is not in my narrow vision of what a priest would say! His message was very "come to Jesus" - "You need to have a personal relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit". Father Dennis says, "We've got spirit yes we do, we've got spirit, and God does too!" hahaha!!! I thought that was great! He also said, "Jesus loves you, Karl, and you, Anna, and you Josh, and you Ben" - as he pointed to kids and called them by their names. Wow. Pretty awesome!!!
My view of Catholic priests are ever changing...... :-)

Happy to be in the gym!

After 3 long weeks in the classroom teaching Health, I am finally in the gym for 3 weeks. I know these weeks will fly by... :-0. I have enjoyed the experience in the classroom: using a board, watching videos, having the girls come up with some skits, etc... But my heart lies in the gym - I guess it always will. :-)
We have started out with conditioning and will move into playing flag football by the end of the week. The girls were very excited about this and wanted to know when they get to start tackling!!! Hahaha! I very gently reminded them it is FLAG football and you can only "tackle" by pulling a flag. It will be a blast just being outside everyday! Hopefully, the weather will cooperate....
My running ocntinues to go well. I ran in a 5k race yesterday with Kirsten! We ran 1:45, then walked 1:00. I felt really good, but I'm not sure Kirsten felt the same. :-) However, it was really nice to have her with me!!!! I wonder if she is sore this morning???
I have been invited by my coach, Mark, to join the "marathon" group that trains on Saturday mornings. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.... hmmmm. He says if I'm able to run/walk for at least 1hour and 45 mins, then I would be "good to go" with this group. I just don't want to "bite off more than I can chew!" I think I will give it 2 more weeks running on my own, or with my buddy, Cheryl, then decide. I would like to get to where I can run 2 mins/ walk 1 min. I think I would feel like I was actually getting somewhere. Mark is a great believer in taking things very slowly and building up my fitness level. Less stress on the body, less injuries, staying more motivated to contiue. I kind of like this philosophy - it seems to fit where I am in my life right now. :-)

A long run!!!

My training runs during August have been very steady and consistent - I am quite proud of myself! :-) I have had to quit running with my Memphis In Motion group,(for a short time) since school and volleyball started up at the beginning of Aug. So, staying motivated to run 3 days a week has been an accomplishment for me!

My Aug has gone something like this:
Take Chelsea to school, go to my school, Volleyball practice, Volleyball matches, then run twice a week for 45mins - 1 hour either on Mon, Tues, or Friday. On the weekends, I've been doing longer runs with my running buddies, Cheryl and Mark. It's been harder some weeks to plan a time to run. Sometimes I don't plan very well.... then I don't get my 3 runs in....
Our weekend runs started out at 1 hour, with 1:30 running, 1:00 walking. The next Saturday, we upped that to 1 hour and 20 mins. The third Saturday we went 1 hour and 30 mins. That was a week ago - we actually ran a 10K course that is in our neighborhood.
Yesterday, Mark and Cheryl couldn't make it so I went by myself. This time I went 1:45 and 1:00 for 7 miles - 1 hour and 40 mins. That is the longest I have run in a long time!!! My legs were not too happy with me yesterday afternoon!!!!

I am feeling pretty good today, but not sure how I will fit in my runs this week...We have "back to school" night this week, plus two VB matches! It will be busy!!! I'm ready for swim season and a slower pace - hahaha!!

My vacation with Nigel

We had a great time in Maine!
We flew out on Wednesday to Portland, Maine (with a stop over in Atlanta). The flights were very smooth and uneventful. However, when we arrived in Portland, it took them an hour to get our bags off the plane!
We picked up our rental car and drove 3 hours to Bar Harbor, Maine. This has been a vacation destination for over 150 years! It is actually an island with many small communities on it and many very large vacation homes. Apparently, lots of New Yorkers come up for the summer. It is also home to Acadia National Park - Cadillac Mountain is the highest point along the coast.
We spent 3 days there, enjoying the scenery. We walked around Bar Harbor, shopped, did some sea kayaking, drove to the top of the mountain, drove around the whole island, visited the Atlantic Brewing Company brewery (Nigel's favorite activity). We stayed in a nice bed and breakfast with some other very nice people.
After Bar Harbor we drove to Freeport, Maine - home of L.L.Bean! (and a LOTS of other outlet stores!!!) We had fun just going from store to store and spending lots of money. :-)
After the day at Freeport we drove to Old Orchard Beach. We walked down to the pier. It reminded Nigel of Blackpool in England. It reminded me of a State Fair atmosphere, but located on the beach! The was a fun fair right next to the pier. It was very interesting. We spent the following day in Portland walking along the old harbor. We visited a narrow guage railway museum, which of course had a train to ride in also. :-) We ate lunch at a restaurant called Duckfat. The make panini sandwiches and also serve french fries that have been fried in duckfat. They were pretty good! We drove over to the Portland Head lighthouse, but it was so foggy, we really didn't see much of anything. So headed back to Old Orchard Beach for our last night in Maine. We found a nice pub type restaurant for dinner - that made Nigel happy. :-)
We flew back to Memphis on Monday with a 3 1/2 hour layover at JFK in New York.
It was a very restful and enjoyable vacation. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Maine is a really beautiful state - at least the part we went to.
Here are a couple of pictures:

Summertime!

OK, so I have not been so good about keeping up with this blog.... I'll blame it on summertime! :-)
June seemed to fly by - I coach a summer league swim team at Rhodes College. The college setting is beautiful, the buildings are made of stone - really pretty. The pool is a 25 meter pool, with 6 lanes and is located right in the middle of this campus. I have the privledge of coaching the 5, 6, 7 & 8 year olds. There are about 30 of them although they don't show up all on the same day! It's really fun working with these little kids - quite a change from high schoolers that I teach all winter!
I got to go to Colorado with our church youth group a couple of weeks ago. We went backpacking for 6 days in the Powderhorn Wilderness area, just south of Gunnison. We started our hike at about 8000ft and on day 5 "peaked" at 12600ft. The scenery was breathtaking! I felt very slow compared to the teens I was with, but was quite proud of myself for making it to the top!!! They were encouraging me the whole way up! :-) People keep asking me if I would do it again.... I think I would, if the group I was with didn't mind going slow...

Here I am at the top...


I'm still running, but have not been able to do it as often as I want. I'm not sure my schedule will get any better any time soon....

Volleyball starts up July 28 and we practice in the evenings from 6 - 8. I'm excited to get going with this again. I have a new group of girls - 12 of them. We are having a skills camp next week at school, so I'll be able to evaluate them and hopefully decide what position they should play. I always find that the most difficult thing to do...

Lastly, Nigel and I are going to Portland and Bar Harbor Maine on July 22. We went to the northwest last summer so decided we would "try out" the northeast this time. I am REALLY looking forward to spending time with him and checking out a new place. :-)

I LOVE summertime!!! :-)

Weather Weekend

Typical Friday: Sleep in (no swim practice - yay!), eat a leisurely breakfast, check my email, FB, etc.., Kirsten gets up and we go shopping for a father's day present. The afternoon was very laid back - watch TV, read and relax. About 3:00pm I notice there is a line of thunderstorms in Arkansas headed our way. I was hoping for some rain so I wouldn't have to water the grass!!! :-) Many times we watch these line of storms coming towards us only to have them disappear by the time they reach Memphis. So I wasn't too worried.
HOWEVER......
About 4:00 I realised these storms were not going to go away! I quickly drove over to the church to pick up Chelsea and her friends, Danielle and Kayla. They had been swimming at a friend's house. We got home about 4:45 - just as VERY LARGE rain drops began to fall. Nigel had come home at noon to work from home. So we were all there as the wind began to pick up and the rain fell more violently. At one point it was raining so hard I could not see the house across the street! The trees were blowing around - it was very scary. Of course, by this time the tornado sirens are blaring and I'm wondering if we should actually go into the bathroom. But no, we stand looking out the windows in awe of the storm. (yes, we are idiots) About 5:00 the lights flicker and go out. At this point I look out the front door and the tiny little creek in front of our house has grown into a raging river! I could hardly believe it! I had seen it swell before, but this was up into our yard!
Very quickly, the rain began to subside, the creek began to recede back to normal, but the lights were still out (and, more importantly, the AC). Of course, now that the "danger" was over, the girls started asking, "What's for dinner?" HA!!! We decide the best idea was to go out to eat. So the 6 of us ate at McAlisters Deli. They have 2 TV's there so we could catch up on the weather and what has happened in the rest of Memphis. After eating Nigel and I think the power has probably come back on so we venture back to our house....
NO POWER.... So we decide to have family game night by candle light! :-) Actually, candles, flashlights and a propane lantern. We played Blurt and Uno until 9:30pm then took Chelsea and her friends over to Danielle's house to spend the night. I'm not sure why they just didn't stay with us.....
It turned out to be a good decision: Danielle's power came back on about 5:00am - ours did not... :-( When I woke up on Saturday morning, I went running to check out the 'damage' to our neighborhood. Lots of limbs and small trees down in many yards. We were one of the lucky ones: no trees down, only small limbs and leaves. So when I came back from my run I started cleaning up. Kirsten came out to help me, so we made quick work of the whole thing. Still no power.....
Kirsten began house sitting on Saturday for a neighbor and luckily they did have power!!! (and a pool!!!):-) We knew we had a place to go to cool off! So we went and picked up Chelsea and her 2 friends and stayed the afternoon by the pool and in the air conditioned house! About 5:45pm the power came back on at our house!!! YAY!!!

Now for Round Two....
Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of thunder.... So I got up and turned on the TV... yes, another line of storms almost on us! It was not quite as windy, but LOTS of rain in a short amount of time (2.5 inches). I watched in amazement again as our little creek became a raging river again! Only this time one our our trees fell over!!!!!!! AND the water came up A WHOLE LOT CLOSER to our house this time!!! I guess after all the rain on Friday night (2.5 inches also) this water had no where to go.... Again, luckily, this rain sped through very quickly and left us cleaning up the yard again. We have a chain saw and Nigel cut up most of the small branches, but we will need to call a tree service to get the large trunk removed.
I'm thankful for two things:
1. We have power (and AC!!)
2. I'm thinking I will not have to water the grass for a while.... :-)




These first two picks show the creek when it was up in our yard. The second on shows the downed tree and how the water is coming up over the trunk!


This one shows the tree after it stopped raining...




These last two show the creek from our driveway bridge: the second picture is a more "normal" view of our creek. You can see that Nigel would have been swallowed up by the water....!

Mother Nature is really very amazing!!!!!

Saturday run

It was hard this morning!! Not sure why. Maybe my body is still trying to get used to the heat and humidity. I felt like I was walking an awful lot! And I thought this was supposed to be a 'running' group!!! My coach, Mark, says the summer is the time to slow down and train aerobically. So I am trying very hard to keep my heart rate below 150. That is pretty hard to do and still run around my neighborhood! But I am determined to follow his advice and keep going slowly. Just to give you an idea: I "ran" 5 miles in 1:15. Of course, there are lots of hills to navigate - that gets my heart rate up just walking up those things!
I think next time I will run 1:30 and walk 1:00 and see if I can still keep my heart rate down.
This summer we are training using what Mark calls GRIT. It stands for something, but I really can't remember it right now... :-0 We run and then do some muscular strengthening exercises, then run some more, then some more exercises. That's on Mondays. Then on Thursdays, we are running hills - not very steep ones. All the time he is encouraging us to keep our heart rates down. Again, very difficult!!! Sometimes very frustrating!!! He expects us to run long and slow on the weekends on our own. So, that is what I did today.
I keep reminding myself to keep looking to the future - I want to be a strong, fit, healthy runner. So, don't worry about today - just "git er done" :-)

The last day of school...

... you remember it, don't you? The excitement of the last day. Tests are done. Your locker is cleaned out. Looking forward to summer... Sleeping in... Swimming everyday... Looking forward to VACATION! Well, that's where I am right now. :-) For all you non-school teachers - are you jealous???? :-)
Actually, most of us teachers don't really take the summer off. For example, I will be getting up every morning and going to coach a summer league swim team at Rhodes College. I also get to wake up Kirsten and Chelsea to go with me. :-) :-) Chelsea is one of the swimmers on the team and Kirsten and I will be coaching the 8 & unders again this summer. They are a blast - so cute and full of energy! More later about these kids...
Anyway, summer is here and I am ready for it!!! I hope all of you have great summer plans.

The best kept secret...

We are not known for keeping secrets around my house. I'm probably THE WORST at it. However, this time we did it!!! We kept a BIG secret for about 3 months! Nigel's brother and sister-in-law decided to travel from England to attend Kirsten's graduation and we thought it would be fun to surprise her. :-) We wanted to surprise Chelsea too - of course that would keep our secret even safer... for those of you that know how Chelsea likes to talk...hahaha!
Anyway, Thursday night when Nigel came home from work, he walked in the door with Stephen and Lynne in tow. Chelsea's mouth dropped open - it was a great reaction! She was totally surprised! "Oh my gosh, what are YOU doing here?!?!?!?!" We didn't really need to explain, she figured out pretty quickly we wanted to surprise Kirsten for her graduation.
So, yesterday (Friday) we all drove up to Evansville. During that 5 hour drive we were thinking of ways to get Kirsten to come out to the car to meet us. In the end, I just called her to come out "because I can't remember how to get to your apartment". Well, she "fell" for that lame excuse and came out. When she got to the parking lot Stephen and Lynne hopped out of the car. Kirsten just kind of stopped, and with this blank look on her face said, "What the crap?" It was really pretty funny. She was sooooo surprised. It was great fun to watch it all unfold.
It will be a great graduation weekend and a fun week with Stephen and Lynne. :-)

Youth Villages 5k

So here is my first race report - hopefully, the first of the year!!! :-)
Saturday, April 18, 2009, I woke up to the sound of RAIN!!! ARG! My first 5k in a long time...and it was raining! That didn't dampen my spirits as my excitement of running in a race far exceeded the thought of running wet. However, by the time I began running - the rain stopped. YAY!!!!
I met Cheryl, my running buddy, and her son Kenneth at the starting area and we got our timing chips. (I felt so much like a 'real runner' then!) We took part in the aerobic warmup lead by some guy from the military - a real "boot camp" warm up! About 5 minutes before the start of the race, we headed over to the starting line. Alexis Grace - from American Idol - sang the national anthem. Very Cool! Then we heard the sound of the horn - we were off!!!
Our goal was to stick to our training plan: run 1:30 walk 1:30. Mark, our coach, was very adamant about that! We did and the run was great! I felt wonderful! The neighborhood we ran through had some very humongous houses. Some very rich people live around there!!!!! We talked, admired the view, laughed alot and we even stopped to take a picture at mile 2 - just for the fun of it. :-) My time was 41:11, which is REALLY SLOW, but I really don't care right now. I feel like I'm back into running now. :-)
Here are some pictures from the day....

Here we are at the finish line


Mile 2 :-)


This is Cheryl.

More family traditions

This time at Easter!
We dye eggs and then the "Easter Bunny" hides them for the girls to find. They also get Easter baskets from the "Easter Bunny". It's one of those traditions that we just keep on enjoying! :-)
Here are a few pics from yesterday.

A few days in Tampa

One of the things I really LOVE about teaching PE is the great conferences I get to go to. In the past I have been to: Atlanta, St Louis, Reno, Orlando, New Orleans, Mobile, Salt Lake City, Baltimore, Ft Worth and now Tampa. It's like a mini vacation, but I get to go to these awesome workshops taught by some of the best PE teachers in the country. I usually take away 3 -4 great ideas to try in my classes.

Seeing old friends is another thing I love about it. Since moving from Tulsa, I get together with the Oklahoma crowd at the conventions every year. And now I have my Tennessee friends to hang out with too! :-) I'll put some pictures up here later...

This year - with it being in Tampa - we had to go to the beach!!! Yay! So Thursday afternoon I went with my Memphis buddies and Friday afternoon I went with my Tulsa buddies. The sand was awesome!!!! It was white, soft, and did not burn your feet!!! The water was actually warm enough to swim in! I love just sitting, listening to the waves and smelling the salt air. I could have stayed all day!

Here's a game that I will try next week with my PE classes. It's called 3 team kickball. It's very crazy!!! Basically it's two games being played at the same time. You play in a gym (or on the field) with one team on defense and the other two teams are kicking.
1. Divide all students into 3 teams.
2. 2 Fields set up on a basketball court.
3. 1 team will be in the out-field, playing both fields at the same time, while 2 teams are up to bat.
4. The pitcher of one field is the left fielder for the other field, etc.
5. Each team will get 5 outs, then rotate to the outfield. Teams rotate quickly once the game gets started.
6. Facility rules (various per gym) Example:
• Ball hits the ceiling, (basketball hoops, speakers) automatic out.
• Unlimited fouls, or 3 foul balls is an out, allow kicker to kick a
stationery ball.
• No bunting, unless the facilitators allows.
• NO CHUCKING the ball at a runner, MUST TAG with ball in HAND for an out
(baseball rules).

The cool thing about this game is how the kids have to work together to get anything done. I'll try and video the game during my classes and post it here for anyone to watch...... Should be a blast! :-)

running update

I have been training now for 4 1/2 months. Some weeks are better than others, but the goal has always been 3 days a week to become more fit and more healthy. I have begun to realise that I can't beat myself up if I miss a day or two - or even a week for that matter. The objective is to be healthy for the future by training now.
So here is what I have been doing for the past few months... Mondays I jog/walk with my running group. We have a loop that we follow 4 times around which makes 4 miles. According to my Garmin, we started off averaging 16 min/mile - NOW we average 14 min/mile. YAY!! That is jogging 1 min then walking 1 min. I am ready to increase that to 1:30 jog and 1:00 walk, but my running buddies don't seem to think they can handle that. I am slowly convincing them that we are ready!
Thursdays my running group does stair training. We go to a building that is 24 floors up and navigate our way up and down. We go up 6 flights, then rest, another 6 then rest, etc... Many people in the group actually RUN up and down. I, on the other hand, only walk. Although last Thursday I actually jogged a few steps here and there! :-) I started in January with 1 time up and down. Last week I made 3 1/2 times up and down! My calves were hurting on Saturday, so maybe that last 1/2 was too much... I will say, that it is a very demanding workout. It's one of those kinds that you dread doing, but feel really good about accomplishing when you are finished!
On Saturdays or Sundays I run on my own. I've been trying to keep my heartrate in my aerobic zone, but I get very frustrated doing that.... too much walking! So I think my max heartrate is higher than other people my age. At least that is what I am telling myself. But I am listening to my "coach", knowing that he has been doing this longer than I have, and trusting him to keep me headed in the right direction - that is to be a fit and healthy person! :-)
My short term goal is to take part in a 5k on April 18. My two running buddies are up for it too, so we will do our 1 min jog/1 min walk for the 5k. My competitiveness may take over and I will start RUNNING! We shall see....
So that's it for the training update - I am quite proud of myself for sticking to it! :-)

End of the swim season

I always end the swim season with a team banquet - or in this case a potluck. The parents and swimmers come together for a meal and then a recap of the season. We also honor our Seniors. I really enjoyed the 6 Seniors this year. They were a pretty good group. They have good leadership skills - and each one took some responsibility for the team at one time or another. Ususally, at the meets they would lead the team cheers or the team prayer. I make them all give speeches at the banquet - something they want the younger swimmers to remember.... some words of wisdom. Those are always filled with good memories. :-)




One really nice thing that happened this year - our principal, Mr Valadie, came to one of our meets!! I was in shock!! I don't think I have ever had a principal come watch a meet before. The kids were VERY EXCITED!!!!!!! So, of course, we had to take a picture....


I had a really great time this season! The kids worked hard, swam some great times, and they are starting to be a "team". They enjoy hanging out with each other.

I'm trying to start a new tradition for this team - an annual canoe trip. We had one last year, but only 5 girls came. I'm hoping this year that will increase to at least 10! One of the dad's came to cook for us last year and he has already committed to cooking again!!! YUM!!!! The date is set for the last weekend in April and we will be going to the Spring River in Arkansas.... Pray for sunshine!!!! :-)

I love my job...

...most days. This school is probably the most incredible school ever! The kids are pretty good - I ususally only have to ask them once to do something, and it is done. The parents are normally pretty decent. They liked to be involved in their kids education and extracurricular activities. Sometimes, I even get emails or cards thanking me for what I have done for their kids!! :-) Most of the time I receive these from my swimmers parents. I REALLY APPRECIATE these. As most of you know, I put my heart and soul into swimming. It is my passion - coaching these kids. I just love it! So, when a parent notices that - well, it just makes me proud. :-)
Here is an example of an email I received yesterday:

I did not get to come to the last swim meet so I didn't get a chance to thank you for all the hard work you put in to make the team so successful.
Alexander has never been able to excel in any sport due to his back problems. I have seen him so hurt that he could not apply himself well enough to do well in the sport he was trying out for. With your encouragement and praise he has been so very
confident and happy with his swimming. He has even signed up for swimming at
the Germantown Centre and is on a swim team there. I know all this has come
from your love for the sport and your love for the kids. May God bless you
always for sharing your special gift of encouragement to so many kids and
especially for Alexander.
Thank you again for being in this life at the right time and giving him the encouragement he needed at this time in his life. When he looks back in life I am sure he will remember you as an important mentor for his life.

Ok, so a little "stroking my ego" can't hurt too much.... :-)

Then there are the parents who seem to come out of nowhere to "bring me back to earth". "Nikki" is one of those kids who just can't seem to "get it together". I have helped her try to get organized to remember her "stuff" for PE and Health. She was always forgetting her book or her PE clothes... We seemed to have 'turned the corner' and then I got this from her father:


This is what I would have conveyed to you had you returned my phone call:

Nikki reports that her clothes are taken from where she leaves them and are scattered about in different lockers on a regular basis.
One of these times her sweatshirt was taken from her locker and was not recovered.
Now her shorts have similarly disappeared.
She also says that you gave her permission to leave her book in a special place to facilitate her getting it to class on time, from where it was later stolen. It was not "misplaced".
Having her harassed in this way is bullying.
Students committing bullying have had criminal proceedings brought against them in modern times as we realize that this kind of behavior is not "normal" and is not "acceptable."
It is my understanding that you were aware of all of these events. You say you were not aware of all of them.
You should now consider yourself aware.
You should make corrective measures to assure that this does not continue.
You should demand that these stolen items reappear or that the students who took them come forward and then deal with them appropriately.
I will continue to monitor the situation and if Nikki continues to feel threatened by other students acting as bullies while you remain passive/oblivious/enabling, I will not take this lightly and we will indeed meet with you and the dean. I consider this a very serious matter in the post-Columbine era and hope you do too.
I hope this is the end of the matter.

So, two different perspectives on what kind of person I am.
Am I a great coach who encourages kids?
Or, am I an oblivious/passive/enabling teacher who doesn't care about my students?

hmmmm....

a little of this and a little of that...

I was quite excited on Thursday when I filled up with gas and paid 87 cents a gallon for gas!!! Yes, that is 87 cents! I love my Schnuck's gas card! I know I pay a little more for food to get the discount, but it sure is fun paying WAY less for gas than I should. :-) $16 to fill my tank!

We had our last regular season meet today. The kids swam pretty well, but not quite as good as on Thursday night. It's tough to swim two meets so close together! Our County Championship Meet is next Saturday. Then 2 weeks until STATE. It's almost done..... the season went by so fast this year!

We decided to buy a new TV. Our old one is starting to go flaky on us, so we "bit the bullet" and ordered a new one on line. Of course it is a flat screen, but I talked Nigel down to a 52 inch! :-) We are expecting it to arrive on Wednesday and will put it up next weekend.

Chelsea is doing so well at track. She is in the distance group, so runs and trains for the 1 mile and 1/2 mile. She has not "made" the team officially yet, but I can't imagine the coach would cut her now. She is very faithful about going to practice EVERYDAY - even over Christmas break! I really think she will at least make the JV team. She finds out for sure on Feb 9.

School is going well. We finished our 3 weeks of health and will begin Basketball on Monday. I will have the girls lift weights 2 days a week also. Some of them have never even seen the weight room - so it should be interesting.... :-)

Oh yes, one more thing about Chelsea. Her birthday is in a few weeks - she could tell you exactly... She will be 15 and will get her driving permit! ARG!!! I'm not sure I'm ready for that!!!!!!!!!

Lastly, I'm still running. I'm quite proud that I am still going. It's been almost 3 months! YAY me! :-)

back to running

After taking a week off I went running last night with my group. It's not exactly running - more like walking then jogging. But I am getting more of the jogging in. My goal last night was 2 min of jogging 1 min of walking. It was kind of sporadic, I think. It ended up being more like 1:45 of jogging and 1:30 of walking. Since I have my new Forerunner (!) I can keep track of my heart rate also. So now I have been trying to keep my heart rate in "the zone", but also trying to jog longer. It hasn't really worked yet. My heart rate goes too high - at least according to all the heart rate training info I have read. I'm supposed to be at 135bpm, but I am more like 155bpm when I jog. I don't really feel bad training that high, but I'm not sure it's "good for me". So I'll keep researching that. I guess I should check with my running coach, Mark. He seems pretty knowledgeable....
So my question is: should I follow my heart rate OR should I try to follow the time? My very experienced sister, Debi, would know.... :-)
The other really cool thing about the Forerunner is it tracks the distance I run. Last night it was 4 miles in 1 hour. Pretty slow, but really cool!!!!! Love it!!!

what's happening around here

I'm back at school, teaching and coaching. It's been a good week for both of these! My classes are going well - the students are great! We did an activity today where each girl has a piece of paper with their name on it. Everyone sits in a cirlce and passes their paper to the right. When you receive a paper you write something positive/encouraging on their paper, then pass it on to the next person. When you get your own paper back you have 20 - 25 positive comments about how great you are. It's a great emotional booster for everyone! Teenagers can be so demeaning to themselves and hopefully this is one thing they can hold on to when they feel like dog doodoo! The girls love this activity. Of course I do too - imagine 60 comments about what a great teacher I am.... :-) It makes me smile all day!!!!
Swimming is going great also! We had our second "B" meet last night and all the kids dropped time - again! It's amazing! They have worked so hard and it is paying off for most of them! One swimmer, Marshall, qualified in the 100 backstroke last night! He was sooooooo excited!! We had been working really hard this week on his technique, turns and start and it payed off - until I went to the scorers table to get his "official" time. When I got there I found out he was disqualified - OH NO!!!! I felt horrible!!! Then I had to go tell him!!!! That was really bad. I thought he was going to cry! That was one of the low points last night..... But he has 2 more meets to "really qualify" so I think after he thought about that - it was all good. He was at weights this morning quite happy again. Way to bounce back, Marshall! I love this team this year. They are great kids, cheer for each other and like spending time with each other. That makes for a very fun season! I have 6 Seniors this year and they have done a great job leading this team. I will miss them next year....
My running has not been good this week - like I haven't done it at all!!! So I'll head out tomorrow for a nice long, slow jog/walk with my new Forerunner (thanks for telling me about that Becca) and try and get back with my running group next Monday and Thursday.
That's it for now....