It's just not that important in the long run.

I figured I should probably post today, as much of the interwebs will be black tomorrow. At least the sites I care about.

My son & I have been doing the Jillian Michaels Shred. It kicks my ass. Seriously. The first week in December I had my varicose vein surgery - ablation & stripping. Hurt like a bitch. My point to telling you that is I got two weeks off work (just before the break...how was that for planning?!) & haven't been able to run. So...pretty out of shape. What bit of fitness I had. But that's OK - it makes me enjoy feeling the burn all that much more. Honestly.

I'm sick of students that don't give a shit. I give them time in class, extended time, take late assignments, make extra work for myself & they still just don't care & don't complete their crap. Add that to the parents that contact me asking what their child can do to make up a failing grade...um...they can DO THEIR FREAKING WORK & STUDY!! Sorry to yell at you. But what happened to the respect & high expectations? I know I expect both from my son. And he's doing quite well, thankyouverymuch.

I am in DIRE NEED of some live music. A concert. I love summertime and going to concerts, and am missing that. Quite a bit.

Hoping for a snow day tomorrow. Well...an ice day, really. Haven't really had snow here yet. And I LOVE that! But it is kinda dicey out there right now.

Thanks, CarrieAnn for the kind comment...I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one feeling this way about blogging!!

I think I'm just going to quit caring.

I liked blogging. I liked having a place to put my thoughts into words, have a place to document what is going well & not so well. What I didn't like was feeling like I had an obligation to blog. Not that anybody MADE me blog or made me feel bad if I didn't. This feeling was totally self-inflicted. But. Anyhow.

I also didn't like the fact I shared my blog with IRL people. Then I felt like I had a filter. Filters aren't always honest.

I also didn't like the fact that sometimes stories aren't mine to share. But sometimes I couldn't write what was on my mind because THAT STORY THAT WASN'T MINE WAS ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT.

But I like blogging. So I shall start again. If I want to say something and it pisses somebody off, so be it. On some of the other blogs I read, those are my favorite posts. The pissing me off kind.

And as far as IRL people go, I guess if they are offended too fucking bad. It is what it is.

I still won't tell other people's stories. But I will be honest and let you know if there is something on my mind I can't share.

And this isn't a niche blog. It's about me. And I am all over the place - this blog is my place to document that. It's not a fitness blog, nor a nutrition blog, nor a mommy blog, it's just my blog.

So. I know how it's been for many of you - I've still been reading. Now to get back to talking about me. As it should be.

Oh...and I just might quit re-reading and editing & redoing & all that shit I always did before I hit the publish button. Sometimes you just have to take what you get.

Damn Heat.

Just a quick post to let you know what kind of loser I am.

I haven't run in a week. Before that, it was another week.

I was on vacation 2 weeks ago, and it's been upper 80s & 90s this week & I just don't want to run with either of those situations.

So there.

And...for those of you keeping track...yes, the HM is three weeks away. No, I'm not properly prepared.

Next time I want to train for a fucking SUMMER HM (or full, for that matter!), remind me how much it sucks. Just send me back to this post as a reminder.

Geez.

Concert Update #1 - Rick Springfield

On the weekend of July 4th a town near me has an annual festival called the "Stars and Stripes Fest" (at least that's what my son told me it was named). I went last year and had a great time, so kind of planned on going again this year. Kind of. Then - I heard my ALL TIME favorite artist would be performing - Rick Springfield.

So I was pretty pumped - but then I discovered it wasn't a free concert as I had originally thought. I gave up the idea of seeing him, but still wanted to go to see the other bands (there are 3 stages with bands playing all day). As an added bonus - a high school friend recently opened a used book store & I wanted to check it out and see her.

However. Before we went I decided to go to Detroit and do a 5K with Ben of bendoeslife.tumbler.com fame (click the link for video). I met my friend Rachel (the one that lives in Chicago and is gracious enough to open her home to my son and I when we visit the Windy City) at the event, as she was in town for the weekend.

We decided to walk the 5k as it was HOT out & I just wasn't feeling a run.

After the 5K we went to the festival. Upon arriving, we went to my friends bookstore (Used on New in Mt. Clemens if you're interested - GREAT prices!). And...are you ready for this...SHE HAD FREE VIP TICKETS FOR ME!! Awww yeah...

I got to go to the concert after all. We were 5 rows from the stage. Following I shall share some pics of how freaking good Rick looks at 61. He is still hot & still puts on an amazing show. If you ever get a chance to see him, I HIGHLY recommend it. My friend's husband (who was NOT a R.S. fan) even enjoyed himself.

Yeah...That would be Rick without his shirt on. Did I mention he's 61?

Rick came out into the audience - I was shaking so bad

I had to give my son my camera to take a picture.

I could've touched him, but that just seemed weird.

Instead, I just stood and smiled from ear to ear.

Now...the title says "Concert Update #1." I'm assuming you're all smart enough to figure out there will be another concert update. The next one is for a festival I went to this last weekend - the DMB Caravan. It really requires it's own post.

In exercise news...I'm a total slacker. I've taken 9 days off. I'm worried about the half. I sucked before - after 9 days how much will I suck now? Ah, well - it's not as if I'm in contention to win or anything! As long as I meet all the time cut-offs I'll be OK. Might as well get the most for my entry fee, right? I'll be on the course as LONG AS IT TAKES!!

Virtual 5K - "Sweat Your Thorns Off"

Today I participated in my first virtual 5K, hosted by The Boring Runner. I'm kind of bummed - I had already printed my bib before the "official" bib was posted. Seeing as I don't have a printer, I did it at work. A couple of days ago. So...first off, here are the obligatory photos:

There's a picture of my son Drew. He "ran" it with

me. I say "ran" because we get out of the car at the same time, we get back in the car at the same time. He leaves me in his dust. Gives me lots of time to think...poor kid has to double back to find me after he's put in his miles. Eh...he'll survive.

And...here I am. Yeah. I think we tried to take about 20 photos and still couldn't get a good

photo of me. So...I decided to just hide behind my bib. I'm actually quite cute (at least I think so), but I take really sucky photos. Except my school id photo - it's usually great. So at least there's that. Hey - like my hat? I won it on a blog - my first "real" running hat. It is awesome. I recently got my hair cut (which I think I hate) and can't wear it back in a ponytail anymore. So it's all headbands and hats. The problem with headbands is the front of my hair is longer than the back - so it's kinda funky looking. The curls - they EXPLODE out of the headband. I need to get a Buff. Drew wears one & it seems to work really well.

Back to the run. As you can see, there is my data ^^^. I had a goal to beat 45 minutes. I've had that same freaking goal for a year now. Lest you get worried I never meet my goals, rest assured - I also had the goal to RUN the whole way & I accomplished that. But look at my first mile - 13:01!!! Fastest (for me) EVER!! I think it ruined me for the rest of the run, quite honestly. So I call the whole thing a win in my books.

Tomorrow I have a long run scheduled (6 miles), so I'm going to pace myself much better. The only goal tomorrow is to run the whole way. Which I'm getting much better at. It truly is all mental at some point - and I'm really working on beating the mental game.

As for Drew, he finished with an estimated 33 minutes. A time he's beat many times before, but it was getting hot. I TOLD him the name of the race was SWEAT YOUR THORNS OFF, but I guess he forgot.

So this was my first virtual race. I guess you could say I was a virtual virgin.

I enjoyed the whole thing - I'd been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks, so it was nice to run it. My next "scheduled" race is a 10K in Frankenmuth, MI - the best part of that race is location. If you've never been to Frankenmuth, it is a tourist town that has a HUGE Christmas store (open 361 days a year!) called Bronners. But that's not all - there is more awesomeness. They also have competing restaurants that serve family style chicken dinners. My favorite is Zehnders. They have chicken pate that is DELICIOUS. As an added bonus - it looks as though my parents will be coming to watch us race. I'm not really sure why, but that's been kind of a big deal to me. I suck at running, but I work hard at it. I'd like them to come see a race.

Thanks again to The Boring Runner for sponsoring the virtual race - I hope to join you again this winter to Freeze my Thorns Off!!

Hey! What's UP????

OK...so it's been awhile. And you know what? I'm not apologizing. Well...maybe I will apologize for that snarky remark. But I'm not apologizing for being gone for a bit.

Life was/is kind of crazy, yet boring to blog...so I took a break. I'm thinking that break is going to bring me back to brilliance. Be ready to be dazzled!!

Quick updates:

I was supposed to have laser on my legs for the varicose veins. They hurt. I went in to have them done, and the vein was too small for the vein. So they need to be removed surgically. They forgot to mention that instead of a 2 week recovery (which I could've still kind of made it up in my training) it's a 4-6 week recovery. And I'd have to miss the last week of school. Um. No. I made the decision to wait until after my half in August and then get the surgery. And...I'm kind of scared. Yeah.

I mentioned the last week of school? Bet you're thinking it's this week, right? Nope - next week is a full week. Damn. And it's hot.

Something cool I did at school - I teach the video production class this year and we did a lip dub. Perhaps I'll post a link to it. It was an all school event and it was f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s. Yeah.

Co-workers aren't pissing me off as much as they have in the years past. There are still some that piss me off, but I'm handling it much better than I ever have before.

I've been tweeting. It's a professional account, but I find I really like my own life type of stuff to tweet out and professional development and running encouragement for my follows. No big deal.

My son got his independent drivers license today. He can go out on his own and drive. A car.

So there you go - short & sweet, but I am back. No promised when I'll be back again, but I missed all of you & sharing what is going on in my life.

March 12

Words for the day:

idle

~or~

concentrically

Well...another NaBloPoMo fail. Eh...that's OK.

Here's what was going on:

The 10th we had our tournament for Quiz Bowl. My team came in 3rd overall, which is pretty awesome. We are a class B school competing against class A schools. I'm very proud of the kids (my son included, he's the captain). We didn't get home late from there, which would explain the lack of posting on that date.

The 11th we had a snow day and I was a lazy bum. Yep. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

Today I was more productive - I made an awesome beef stew, took down some snowman lawn decorations (I'm OVER the snow), and just did odds and ends around the house. Oh...and they had a free electronics recycling thing at my local county park, so I took some old non-working stuff there. If I had taken it to the landfill, it would have cost me $25. I've been holding on to the stuff for quite awhile, so I'm pretty glad to have it gone.

In other news - I am really getting worked up with what's happening in my state government and governments around the country. I will not turn this into a political blog/rant, but geez. Sick of it.

Thanks for reading - I will be back tomorrow. Hopefully. If all goes according to plan.