Motivated to Succeed

1:00 PM - Have been super busy sending out applications for jobs for social studies teachers. Emmy called yesterday with an ad in her local paper The Berkshire Eagle about a long term sub for social studies teacher that opened up just a half hour from her house. I wrote up a cover letter yesterday, got a copy of my references and resume and took it to the post office this morning. Then went food shopping with my mom and decided I needed to get a jog in because I haven't exercised in a while. I have been so busy trying to get my stuff in order to get a job!

Tried to read a bit from Larson's A Magnificent Catastrophe about the election of 1800, but was too tired to concentrate on reading. Instead I rigged up my laptop and watched a couple episodes of "The Cleveland Show". Felt good. I did 3.15 miles in about 30:02 and then stopped and changed into my Vibrams, stretched out the legs and then finished the run in the Vibrams. I feel much stronger in the Vibrams lately. I think I am finally starting to develop some of those muscles that might atrophy in conventional shoes. Oh, finished reading Dean Karnazes's 50/50 again last night. Really like reading his two books. I might read Ultramarathon Man for about a 5th time in the near future.

Total Time: 52:54 Total Distance: 5.55 miles Average Pace: 9:32

11:30 AM - Went with Su and Mom to the YMCA. It's my dad's secretary's 50th birthday today so we had to stop at get a card and some leftover things on his list. I guess when she went out on a coffee break today he ran around painting the windows writing "AARP" in big letters and "You're really over the hill now!". Then her boyfriend had sent her flowers, and my dad crossed off his name and wrote his own! HAHA. Then my mom brought the two St. Bernards in to school with 2 dozen black helium filled balloons. Hilarious!

At the YMCA, I hadn't swam in a while. My arms were little tired, but I still managed to do over a mile. Ended with 1850 yards of freestyle, despite a cramp in my right foot only three laps from the end. Took a twenty second break and then finished up. Fifteen minutes in the hottub afterwards.

Total Time: 43:42 Total Yards Swam: 1850 (1.0511 miles)

1:30 PM - After getting home, I decided to do a jog. Hopped on the treadmill. Was really cranking out the sweat. Probably a bit dehydrated from swimming too, despite eating and drinking a ton as soon as I got home! Kept the treadmill at about 6.3mph the whole time. Everything feeling good. Going to stretch now and grab a shower.

Total Time: 33:21 Total Distance: 3.5 miles Average Pace:  9:32

1:00 PM - Went and did taxes with my mom today. Since I paid for a semester of grad school out of pocket I'm getting more money back than usual. I get something like $83 back from NYS (huge because usually I owe them money) and $595 from the feds. This is great because I am broke beyond brokeness and still can't get hours at work.

Hopped on the treadmill and just relaxed and took it easy. Weight is down to 193 today. It's okay. I really need to lose 15 lbs or so more though. Ended up going 5.6 miles in 52:59.

Total Time: 52:59 Total Distance: 5.6 miles Average Pace:  9:27

5:00 PM - I subbed in Schuylerville again. Saw most of my seniors that I student taught with. Today I subbed for Physics and 8th grade life science. I was a bit nervous because I hadn't done either of these subjects since the last time I took them in high school! Everything went fine though. The last period of the day, the entire school went to the high school gym for a pep rally. It was spirit week and the students raised close to 2,000 dollars for the relief for Haiti. It was great to see grades 7 through 12 get involved. All the kids were shouting, yelling, clapping, laughing. Such a great time. And then after the classes were yelling across the gym to each other about which grade was the best, the seniors started shouting, "Mr. Griffin! Mr. Griffin!" HAHA . I think I went about 10 different shades of red!

Tonight I tried to watch a bit of "Running on the Sun" which is a DVD I own about Badwater. I have been toying with the idea of just trying to go for it and run a 50k. My heart and soul want to. Just have to convince these legs to want to go the distance!

Total Time: 1:00:02 Total Distance: 6.33 miles Average Pace: 9:29

6:30 PM - The last few days have been a whirlwind. I enjoyed the Super Bowl. Emmy came up for a couple days before her mom left for California to go see her kiddos and her granddaughter (my soon to be niece! Janey). Got a call yesterday (Monday 2/8) morning at about 8:30am from the Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter School (one of two that I applied to since graduation). They want an interview! They gave me a time and topic (Wed., 2/10 @ 830am). So I spent all yesterday typing up a lesson plan at Emma's house. See the funny thing is that in the middle of the Super Bowl we decided I should take Mary Rose's (Emma's mom) offer and move into the basement at her house. We packed up all my stuff within an hour and then I got the phone call the next day. Got here to Emma's, wrote up the lesson plan on the Bill of Rights, and then unpacked and set up my new room. I absolutely love it! It only took about 1.5 hrs to set up.

Today Emm and I ran errand after errand. We hit up several grocery stores to get the food situation squared away, printed off some stuff for my interview tomorrow, and then after a yummy lunch decided we would frame my h.s., undergrad, and grad diplomas as well as my NYS teaching certification and put it in my new room! They look awesome! She is so helpful!

We had an exercise date afterwards. I went jogging on the treadmill while she did the elliptical because her foot is still bothering her. With the wood stove going though it was like a sauna down there! We watched an episode of "The Office", although I had to take my shirt and glasses off after fifteen minutes because I was dying of sweat! Felt good. Her treadmill is locked at 2% grade and can't go any lower so it was a real challenge to keep up the pace. Left knee hurt for about a minute, but no pain in the hip that had the bursitis last month! Yay! Kept it around 6.5-6.6 mph, though last .33 I bumped it up to the 7.2-8.0 mph range with the last .10 miles @ 7:30 pace. A strong run, especially while blind and sweaty on the 'mill.

Total Time: 37:01 Total Distance: 4.05 miles Average Pace:  9:08

5:00 PM - So today I was supposed to have an interview for the opening for a long term substitute history teacher at Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter School (BArT), only I got there early and Emmy drove me around Adams for about twenty minutes. My appointment was for 8:30, so I aimed to get there somewhere around 8:10 or 8:15. I ended up having an interview with the principal, also named Ben. Things went pretty well. It's a really great school. There are about 220 students from 12 different municipalities throughout the county, some kids driving nearly an hour to get there. It has longer school days (8am to 330pm) each day, and teachers stay after at least two days a week to be there for students. I also was given a tour of the school. All the rooms were really great. The school even has its own dentist office! Ha! But however, there was a snowday and alas, no students. I have to go back tomorrow to do my lesson plan. They told me I have to do a 20-25 minute lesson on the Bill of Rights. I was really nervous this morning, and when I was leaving Ben's office I saw that there were about 5 or 6 other applications and resumes on his desk. I am hoping for the best. I hope that I can get the job! Wish me luck tomorrow!

Tonight, before making dinner I organized my filing cabinet and everything in it. I really like my room in the basement at Emmy's! It's getting to be quiet the little bachelor pad! Then we went to the bank to look into getting a checking/savings account. All the money we've saved for the wedding needs to be spent soon!

Went on the treadmill in the fiery furnace basement of doom. Did 30:00 in my Brooks's Addictions and then switched to the Vibrams for about 20:00. Felt really good. The last .25 I opened it up a bit and did about 7:25 pace.

Total Time: 50:46 Total Distance: 5.55 miles Average Pace:  9:09

7:50 PM - So yesterday I was supposed to give my lesson, but the school had a snow day. Today, I had an appointment at 1pm at BArT to give my lesson. I was exhausted last night and fell asleep on the couch at about 8:30pm. I ended up waking up and going downstairs and slept straight through to 7:30am this morning. I woke up had some yogurt, banana, and a couple cups of coffee and then went over my lesson again.

Emmy drove me to the school and I got there a little early. Waited in the office and then Ben with one n met me and took me upstairs to the history room. They had told me Monday to prep a lesson on the Bill of Rights for 15-20 students. I walked in and there were 4, two 9th grade boys and two 10th grade boys. In addition Ben (the principal), the executive director/superintendent, and the current teacher were all in the room. So there I was ready to teach, but had to change my lesson on the fly since there were so few students. It went well though. I opened talking about what are "RIGHTS" and what do they mean? Then went into talking about what types of rights do we have today and why? Did some history from Magna Charta (1215), into John Locke and the English Bill of Rights (1689), to the Articles of Confederation (1777), and then the Constitution (1787) and our own Bill of Rights (1791). I think the lesson went well. They really enjoyed it. I gave them a handout of the actual Bill of Rights, and went over it with them, and then gave them a "cheat sheet" I had made up of all the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. Then we looked at newspaper articles I had come across, including a local one and they had to choose which amendments each article pertained to. (One article had to do with a school board and citizens allowed to speak out, the other about bringing Michael Jackson's doctor to trial for manslaughter, and the last was about a drug dealer who got convicted because cops looked through his cell phone contacts without a warrant.) I really had a great time and they were great kids.

Went afterwards for my second interview with Ben and also with the executive director Julia. We talked for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Afterwards I walked across the street, met Emmy and updated her and we drove to Williamstown, MA and I got a coffee (Organic Ethiopian) and a chocolate chip and peach muffin (interesting and YUMMY combination!). So Ben said I would find out one way or the other by the end of the day tomorrow if I did in fact get the job. It's out of my hands I guess.

Later tonight after errands to Walmart, the food store, and the bank, I had an exercise date with Emmy. She ellipticized while I ran on the 'mill. We watched an episode of "Kitchen Nightmares" (after dinner thankfully!). Felt pretty good. Stretched and then took fastest shower of my life :45 seconds!

Total Time: 41:44 Total Distance: 4.55 miles Average Pace:  9:10

12:00 PM - With the "hard part" done and over with for the interview process yesterday I slept pretty well, though I was still up by 7am. I didn't want to just sit around the house all day waiting for the call, so I went and did errands with Emmy and then decided to go running. I drove over to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail off of Rte. 8 in Landesborough, MA and stretched and started jogging. It was interesting because I noticed that there were a ton of footprints when I first started, and then they became fewer and more sparse until finally there were none and I was left trudging through 8-12" of drift snow that came off the lakes onto the path. It was slow going, but I took it in stride (ha ha stride literally I guess!) and listened to an episode of Car Talk. This must have been my week because my mom called last night and what I thought was a $300 repair on my 2001 Chevy Prizm for a new exhaust system actually only needs a $5 one! Plus I got my tax refund today in my account, 600 bucks!, and also got a 37 dollar check for a 1/2 day of subbing a few weeks ago, and then a 90 dollar check for working at the bookstore. Oh yeah!

So I went out 33:45 and decided that was good. It was cold and windy and I didn't know how my legs would hold up with all the running lately. Trying to maintain and build slow and steady for July! I came back about a minute slower, finishing in 1:08:51, a 35:06 return (coming back INTO the wind though). Got back to the van, stretched and then drove to Emmy's. Had just come over the hill back towards Pittsfield when my phone started ringing. I pulled over and answered it. It was Ben from the BArT school OFFERING ME THE JOB!! It was hard to control myself but I accepted the offer graciously. I start next Wednesday, and first day with the kids is on Monday! How cool is this! I at least have a job until June 23rd anyways. Then who knows what I'm going to do. I think we might get Indian take out from our favorite Indian restaurant to celebrate tonight as we watch the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympiad! 

Total Time: 1:08:51 Total Distance: 7.6 miles Average Pace:  9:03

1:00 PM - Worked Saturday and Sunday at the bookstore in New York. Kind of weird right now working in two states at once! Had a quiet night in last night after work with Emmy for Valentine's Day. We got Chinese take out. I tried the General Tso's Tofu. I am still trying to eliminate meat from my diet. It's been about a week. I am planning on still having fish. Guess this makes me a pescatarian?

Hopped on the treadmill and watched as Charlotte Kalla took the first gold medal for Sweden in nordic skiing since 1968! I loved watching it! And as I'm part Swedish and have a Swedish middle name (mom's maiden), I feel as though I could identify with Kalla as she skiied to gold. Did 4.25 miles in 40:30 on the treadmill in my Brooks, then hopped off and switched t-shirts because it looked as though I'd jumped in a lake, and put on my Vibrams to do the last 2.1 miles Felt really good.

Total Time: 1:00:00 Total Distance: 6.35 Average Pace:  9:27

6:30 PM - My mom, Jonn and Harry all came up last night to see Emmy and me and my new room! Drove them up to Adams today to see BArT (I start tomorrow!). Then we went to House of India for the lunch buffet. Watched a little bit of the Olympics, including the women's biathlon. Then all five of us went out on the hill and went sledding. This was fun because I cannot remember the last time I went sledding and believe it or not it was the first time I've ever gone sledding with Emmy (in nearly five years!!). Came in for yummy tea and then my brothers and mom had to go because Jonny and my sister Su had a soccer game in Clifton Park tonight.

While we were out sledding, I had the bright idea to both get extra runs down the hill behind Emmy's and also get an impromptu workout in. Ran up the hill with my sled between runs for 5 runs. Probably about .15-.2 mile hill. Was winded needless to say. 

Hopped on the treadmill and I think I tasted Indian food every four or five steps. Oii. Pushed through it though! Felt good. Stretched afterwards. A good tired.

Total Time: 41:00 Total Distance: 4.32 miles Average Pace:  9:29

6:00 PM - Today was my first official day at BArT. I got there at 9am and did all the paperwork, got a tour and got to meet Sue Moore, the lady who I am am subbing for. I settled in to the room (Four other teachers share the same planning room I guess.) and got to work. Ben, the principal, suggested I get about two weeks worth of plans in order before Monday. Oii. I am teaching two different history classes, two sections of American History I (Columbus to 1877), and two sections of American History II (1877 to now). I stayed and worked until a little after four. Everyone else in the building was already gone. 

Drove back to Emmy's house and made sure to check on Ruby Gato. Emma is in Boston for doctor's appointments and to see her sister until tomorrow night. HA, as I'm writing this the cat is massaging my stomach. She needs it like a baker making dough. So funny!

Went running on the treadmill before dinner. Needed to relax a bit. Ran 3.30 miles in my Brooks and then switched to my Vibrams for the last 19 or 20 minutes. Legs feel pretty good.

Total Time: 51:12 Total Distance: 5.55 miles Average Pace:  9:13

6:20 PM - Had a long day at work. Wide awake at 5am and then did some chores, fed the cat and went into work. Got there right before 8am. I stayed until about 3:40 PM. Spent all day doing lesson plans. Oii. I'm exhausted. It was nice though because some of the students were in prepping for a Mock Trial debate tomorrow. Met one of the teachers I share a prep room with, April. She was really nice. There are 8 teachers with desks in a single room. Talk about harnessing brain power, eh?

Afterwards I met Emmy and we went to Walmart so I could pick up some school supplies I needed and then we went to the food store. Finally got home around 5pm, had a snack and then went on the treadmill. Ran 3.5 miles in my normal Brooks's and then switched to the Vibrams for the last 2.1 miles. 200 crunches before the run.

Total Time: 50:16 Total Distance: 5.6 miles Average Pace: 8:59

7:00 PM - Had a really long week. Still trying to plan for Monday. Kind of hard to do because I still am not sure what is expected of me when the kids come in. We shall see. I am feeling this next week will really be a doozy. I had to wake up at 630 this morning and I drove to New York to work at the bookstore. Kind of sucks working in two states at once. It's about 1h30m drive to the bookstore. I got out and drove back to Emmy's (might of sped a little but what are you going to do!). As soon as I got in I gave her a hug and kiss and then got changed and we had an exercise date. Little did I know... that I'd be 

 RUNNING IN DANTE'S INFERNO!!!

I ran on the treadmill and Emmy ran on the elliptical. I did about two miles before picking up the pace, and when I got to 28:00 in I decided to do a bit of a workout. I alternated 1min "on" at about 6.7-6.9mph and 5% grade to 1 min "off" at same speed but only 2% grade. Did 4 x this and ten eased into the end. Could have gone farther but I have to do some homework before bed tonight. Blargh! Cool Factoid: At the end of the run, I asked Emmy as I was stretching if the treadmill looked weird. I had moved it backwards on the floor almost 3 feet during my run tonight! Legs of Steel?!

Total Time: 41:15 Total Distance: 4.6 miles Average Pace: 8:58

12:00 PM - Woke up and did some work on school stuff. Getting nervous and such about meeting all of the kids tomorrow. First days (or weeks for that matter) are always tough. Thankfully the curriculum coordinator of the school is allowing me to send her ideas and she is helping me refine ideas to make sure they are good.

Needed to get a long run in because I'm not sure how much I'll be able to run in the next week, and I needed it to relieve some stress and feel better about myself. Hopped on the treadmill with a CamelBak on with 2L of water in it. I drank it all before the end of the run! Ran at 2% incline and about 9:40 pace I believe the whole time. Watched the Olympics. Ran with the lights off to imagine some coolness. Didn't help much. I was sweating like crazy! Ended up running just over 10 miles.

Total Time: 1:35:15 Total Distance: 10.10 miles Average Pace: 9:25

6:20 PM - Went to bed at 8pm last night; Tired from the run and also today (Monday) was the first day at BArT with students. I was nervous and up at about 5:45am. Had to get dressed, shower and be in the car by 6:40 to drive the 35-40 mins to the school. What a day! I was very happy to meet all of the kids and they were very nice. I really like them already! Had a really hectic day however, and didn't even get a lunch break until nearly 3pm! Every day starts with a faculty meeting at 7:40 am where I was introduced today. Then I had a 1 hour class called Math Boost which had two very find gentlemen (seniors) that are cramming to take and hopefully pass the MCAS state math exams in a few weeks. From there I had to go right upstairs to W.E.B. DuBois (all their rooms are named after famous artists/writers, etc. where I had 2 history classes (1 9th grade AH1 and 1 10th grade AH 2). Had 11th grade advisory after that, a half hour break for lunch which went too fast, and then 2 more 1 hour classes teaching history, followed by a supervised study period. The school operates on 16 periods a day! It's crazy. Students get there at 7:45 and leave at 3:40. I stayed until 5pm, and then drove home. I am exhausted.

Emmy did a lot of errands today, including a somewhat amusing car story trying to get it inspected. She is truly the greatest! She went grocery shopping and got some of my favorites for lunches! :D Am excited! Is it the weekend yet? Oi! Going to try to do some more planning and such now.

When I got home, Emmy had tilapia and rice and some Baked Lays ready. I ate dinner with her and we opted to "share" the treadmill. I went first and did 36:00 minutes on the 'mill. Started slow. Wanted to see how the legs felt. No real soreness or anything though! Felt good! Ended with a couple laps around 8:00 pace and the last lap I did at 6:40 pace. Did 200 crunches afterwards.

Total Time: 36:00 Total Distance: 4.16 miles Average Pace: 8:39

6:20 PM - Oii. Long day. Slept well last night. I was exhausted. Today seemed to fly by. I was supposed to have time to plan and such, but it slipped away from me and before I knew it it was the end of the day :(. To make matters worse we are in the middle of our first big winter storm of the year. It made the buses late and the kids were still getting on the bus at 4pm about 20 minutes after "dismissal". I decided it was better to head home, so I headed out to the car and swept off all the snow. I drove across the street to the McDonald's and bought a large coffee for only $1.06! Woot! Then began a harrowing drive home...

I had a lot of trouble in my Chevy Prizm going up hills. Long lines of cars going both directions. Average speed was only about 20 or 25. What is usually a 35 minute commute to BArT became a 1h30m ordeal from Hades! I barely got into Lanesborough, and then I have to go around the mall road and up over the huge mountain into Pittsfield. I got about 1/3 of the way up and I went slower, slower, slower to the point where my car stopped. Thankfully no one was behind me. I was able to somehow go in reverse and kind of sling shot around to the other side of the road. Then came the long way through the city of Pittsfield. Then ran into another problem. Emmy lives on a hill and I ended up having a lot of problems getting up her hill. There are 3 possible ways up to Emma's house. The first was blocked because of snow from a snowplow, the second road was blocked by two snowplows facing each other (drivers were talking). 3rd time was the charm - barely. Barely made it over the hill. Thankfully Emmy is a gem and shoveled the driveway for me including writing a huge "I <3 U" in the snow :D. She is so adorable :). 

Jog on the treadmill before trying to do hw. Would be nice if there were a snow day tomorrow. I am super tired and struggling to stay afloat right now. Felt pretty good. Just forgot a water bottle so I started to get really thirsty. Surprisingly no real pain anywhere. Just tired.

Total Time: 40:30 Total Distance: 4.30 Average Pace: 9:25

6:00 PM - Long day at BArT but a fun one! Today was the school's Science Fair and I was an honorary judge and got to judge about 11 or 12 of the 130ish presentations. Grades 7, 9, 10, and 11 competed (determined based on what course you were in for science), and a lot of the presentations I graded were my own kiddos. I had about 5 supported study periods today, and the last one was the only one that really tried my nerves. But it was expected with such a disrupted schedule today and the rest of this week. I stayed at work until about 5pm and then headed home for a quick jog. Tomorrow is a half day and then a half day of personal development time. Switched after 30 minutes into Vibrams to finish the run.

Total Time: 50:13 Total Distance: 5.60 miles Average Pace: 8:58

6:35 PM - Finished my first week at BArT today. The students had a half day. It was a crazy week with a snowday on Wednesday, Science Fair on Thursday, and then a 1/2 day today. I am exhausted! After the kids left I had lunch and then had meetings all afternoon. One of the great things about BArT is that they stress horizontal team meetings (all the teachers in the grade level), as well as vertical team meetings, which is in my case all the history teachers meeting together. 

After school I drove home and got there around 5. Yet another storm is dumping snow on the Berkshires tonight. We already had over a foot and a half the other day, and then 2 or 3 inches of rain yesterday and today. Oi. I guess it is winter!

Emmy made us Mexican dip and we had a fiesta snack/dinner and then I got changed into running clothes while she was doing crunches on the mat. I opted for a Vibrams workout even though I was tired. Felt fine except for some hot spots on the balls of my feet towards the end. I really need to invest in a pair of those toe socks! I did 1.50 miles and then did 3 x .5 miles "on" with .25 miles "off". The first 2 800s I did at 7:30 pace, and the last 800 was at 6:58 pace. Felt pretty good. Now going to rest and watch some Olympics. Have to drive and work in New York tomorrow. :(

Total Time: 33:00 Total Distance: 4.05 miles Average Pace: 8:09

2:30 PM - Went running while I watched the last 3 x 5k loops in the Men's 50k Classic XC ski race today. Was wearing my SWEDEN t-shirt with pride. I do like rooting on my Swedes! This has been a great Olympics for us. Was great to see Peter Nortug of Norway finally break into stride. His closing speed is amazing! Swedes got in there for Bronze though! My favorite race to watch this entire Olympiad!

So, anyone want to hear about my crappy day yesterday?

Woke up with 8" of fresh snow and I had to shovel out at 6am to drive 1.5 hours to Saratoga Springs, NY for work.  On the way there, snow still falling. I had to pass a plow truck on the 3 lane highway. I moved out into the 3rd lane and slowed to about 45mph and the plow was in lane 1. Well a truck decided to blow past us in the middle lane and it shot up rock salt and BAM BAM BAM! 4 new divits in my windshield. Oii. Got to work and worked til 1pm. Saw my mom and sister. Went to the bank and wanted to deposit checks in the ATM room since the bank was closed. But I found that I was LOCKED IN! I waited about ten minutes and was thinking about calling 9-1-1 but then a guy showed up and let me out! Went over to Jiffy Lube and spent $200 bucks! I was originally just getting an oil change and tire rotation but then they said I had a dead battery! (100 bucks to replace) My mom told me later on that that was probably a gimmick. The car has been starting alright the last couple weeks so it probably would have been okay. Then I had to drive to get pants and shirts for work, but they didn't have my size so had to drive to Albany to get some. Then on the way home, right about where I got pulled over for the headlight out (and only 2 hrs after the JiffyLube experience mind you) I heard a clink-clank-clunk and saw cars behind me changing lanes. I pulled over and found that my exhaust system was dragging on the road! Called my mom and Emma. And they couldn't believe the day I was having! Haha. I pulled over and listened to some NPR and waited about 1.5 hrs for mom to get there and she helped tie it up and we switched cars so I have a car to get to work. Maybe this is a sign I need to quit my job in NY at the bookstore? Finally got home 14 hrs after leaving, just before 8pm. Oi.

On a plus, today's run was fun and besides sweating a bunch the only pain I had was inside of my left knee, a bruise that looks like it's from kneeling on the road yesterday. 

Total Time: 1:05:00 Total Distance: 7.27 miles Average Pace: 8:56