Home

I subbed in my class today after being gone for a week and a half.  That doesn't sound long, but when you're out of your element, it's forever.  I seriously felt like I was home.  The drive to work, the actual work, and the drive to the gym all felt exactly like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.  I've been feeling like a foreigner for the last week and a half and finally I returned home.  It was so wonderful.  That and the fact that I was getting paid as a teacher really helped.  It was also really, really nice to have the kids excited to see me.  One student even brought me a flower.  It was very sweet.  Tomorrow it's back to the classroom south of here.  While it's not home, it's a very good second second home.

I brought my gym clothes with me, as I usually do, fully intending on running until circuit and then doing circuit.  Well, my errands took a lot less time than I expected and I got to the gym 2 hours earlier than class and I wasn't about to run a half marathon and then do circuit.  So I decided to just run for however long I felt like and go home.  Well, after 6.5 miles, I decided to call it quits.

I tried doing the negative split thing because it's one of my goals as a runner to start slower in races and go faster at the end.  I'm really good at going out way too fast and then losing steam about half way.  My run today ended up being more of a tempo run and I only went faster for one mile at the end.  I guess you could call me lazy?  I also should have ran outside, but after running outside so many days, my feet and legs are so happy to be on the treadmill.  Then I came home and did some ab exercises before cleaning the kitchen and my bedroom.

Love my kettlebells.

I can shamelessly take pictures of myself at my home gym.

I also took a picture of my runner's feet, just in case anyone was feeling alone in the fact that their feet aren't too pretty.  The middle toe on my left food is totally disgusting and isn't grown in correctly and it has fallen off multiple times.  I hide it with nail polish.  I also have several popped blisters and you should see the underside of my feet.  If I weren't so embarrassed by my feet, I'd be proud of them.

Speaking of being proud, I am incredibly proud of my mother and my boyfriend.  My mom told me today that she ran a mile in 10 minutes!  That's incredible for a woman who used to say she wouldn't even run if someone mugged her.  And the boyfriend has run the past two days in a row while he's been at work.  He used to wrestle in high school, and as most people know, wrestlers have to run to keep up their endurance and keep down their weight.  But he has run maybe three times in the year we have been dating, so this new running boyfriend is amazing.  I told him that he will be running half marathons with me soon enough.  After his run, he sent me this.

My year of brainwashing him is finally working!  I'm a proud girlfriend.  And because I'm so proud, I leave you with this fantastic photo that popped up on Facebook this afternoon of the show we went to last weekend.  I'm the one in white looking casual.  My boyfriend would be the one who looks as though he might be having a seizure.