A Story and Accidental Hill Work

Today at work, one of my students called me over because she wanted to read me a story that she had written about me.

This pretty much melted my heart for several reasons. 1. She cared enough about me to write about me in her notebook. 2. She remembered a story I told her a few weeks ago about the time I played Templeton the rat in Charlotte's Web. And 3. Her handwriting and spelling is amazing for a student with her disability. My students amaze me every single day. And I can't imagine doing anything else with my life. We also walked to the park to watch the junior rodeo.

It's rodeo week in the town I work in and it's a really big deal. The kids put together goody bags to hand out at the parade on Saturday and really enjoyed watching the little kids ride horses. And, of course, there were cows too.

I decided to come home to work out today. I feel as though I haven't spent enough time at home lately since I've been going, going, going. I also house sat the other night, so I literally wasn't home at all that day. For a huge homebody, this is way out of my element.

I came upon this huge line of bikers on my way home.

So I headed out around my neighborhood for a 4 mile run. I have been really bored with my usual route which really keeps me from running outside. So, I went a different way. Which was fantastic, except there are A LOT more hills on this route, so what was supposed to be a slow and easy run turned into hill work. This is okay because I need hill work, but my legs were so tired after yesterday's workout that I thought they might fall off during some of those climbs.

I wanted to run purely on feeling and I did. I only looked at my Garmin to check mileage. I slowed down when I needed to. I had absolutely no idea how fast or slow I was going. It felt really freeing, since I am usually obsessed about my pace. I felt like a beast after I finished.

I did my shoulder routine while watching Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition and then had to rush out the door to meet my family for dinner. My other step sister is in town from Arizona, so almost the entire family is here, which is very rare. We went to our local BBQ place where I got the Tri-tip.

You better believe that after all that hill climbing I ate every last bite. I also ran into my running partner who I haven't seen in MONTHS because she is pregnant, and while she is definitely still kicking butt at working out, our fitness levels are different and she said she doesn't want to slow me down. She had just found out that she is having a girl, which I completely guessed correctly!! It was so so nice to run into her because I have been missing her a lot.

How often do you do hill work?

Are you as obsessed with pace as I am?