Running plan, etc.

I did it, as promised.  Saturday morning I had a great four mile run.  Nice and easy.  I hit the driveway listening to a Huey Lewis and the News playlist on Pandora but that just wasn’t working so about five minutes in I switched to Motown.  BEST. PLAYLIST. EVAR.  I had the most cheerful, sunshine-y run.  Running early on a Saturday morning is magical.  The whole weekend lies ahead of me, and I feel like everyone who is out is happy and encouraging.  I could just feel the good energy.

When I hit the road in the morning like that I'm guaranteed to be “done” for the rest of the day--I love that.  It worked like a charm.  One of my Grandpa’s favorite sayings is: Whenever a task is set for you don’t idly sit and view it, nor wish it done, but begin at once… and DO IT!  Grandpa, as usual, is right.  When I have things hanging over my head I turn into a giant wreck.  I wish I could make morning runs a regular thing, but since that day when I fell and was alone in the dark at 5:15 I’ve been too big of a chicken.

In the same vein of crossing things off the list, I made some progress on another front.  This week’s illness set me back on my grading, like way mucho.  The essays that I hoped to finish up by Friday were still in my grading pile, rolling 20 deep.  I knew I had to do those and since my kids turned in another timed essay this past Thursday I figured I’d just do those too.  I’m still a bit unsure about how my grading life is going to work into my ballet life.  Or is it vice versa?  Either way, it gives me a little bit of a twinge in my stomach like I’m about to go onstage.  I decided it was better to do than to plan so I sat at Panera drinking free coffee refills for four hours and finished my entire stack—about 90 essays, three classes of participation rubrics, the entire absent work pile (O, bane of my existence!), and a partridge in a pear tree.  I even made myself sit there and put it all in the grade book before I went home.

By the afternoon I was feeling equal parts jitters (four cups of coffee later) and accomplishment.  I stuffed a hard boiled egg into my face when I got home and took a big fat nap before my scheduled night with friends.  I was lucky enough to have another night with my buddies from my high school dance days—another of the girls, Michelle, is in town so we gathered to catch up and gossip all night.  It was another great night.  I ended up staying to chat with Christina until well after midnight.  I’m tired today, but once again I’m grateful for old friendships and the fact that they’re so comfortable.

This is from the last time we were all together. Of course last night, Sarah was back in TX and Megan was back in San Francisco, but Michelle was here visiting from CO.

Here’s the running plan that I wrote about yesterday.  It’s not set in stone yet.  I’m still trying to think about the order of days (which may change) but the mileage will stay the same.  Enjoy.

I know that my Monday runs are incorrectly labeled Tempo... for now I'm too lazy to change it.

I’m off to meet my mom for a walk.  TTYL.