Motivated to Succeed

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