Seasonal Outlook

Layla:

She has so many new phrases...and her little personality is showing in some very interesting ways.  Can I just say that she isn't a whiner? YAY!  I don't think I could deal with a whiny little girl...She's pretty explicit when she wants or doesn't want something and kind of bypasses the whining and goes straight to a strong "No" or "move, please".  I love that she's assertive.  I hope she stays that way.  

So my favorite phrase this week...

We were at my grandmothers for our normal Monday lunch and my grandma was complaining about her knees to Layla.  Layla looked at her with knitted eyebrows--like she felt my grandmother's pain and said, "Bless your heart"...HA!  I nearly fell over.

School:

Ahhh....school has started back for me.  I have a full class this semester--28 students.  Interestingly enough, 8 of those students are somewhere between the ages of 40 and 72.  CRAZY.  They are all back in school for the first time in years because of unemployment.  I have never seen such an interesting demographic shift since I started teaching.  I'm thrilled and excited to hear each persons' unique input--from my two veterans to my fellas with multiple (and painful looking) facial piercings.  Should be a fun semester??  Now back to putting on my bi-partisan mask...HA HA!

Running:

Finally...I have decided to opt out of the United Healthcare Marathon in May.  It was supposed to be a Boston Qualifier, but they have moved the race from Greensboro to High Point.  There were several factors that played into my decision (1) I hate changes like that...they freak my freak a little (2) I don't know at this stage of the game that they will be able to get certified in time to be a BQ race--and I'm not paying $80 to  just run 26.2 miles around High Point. (3) I kind of like the idea of playing around with my running...doing some 10K and half-marathon speed work (4) I really want to run the Marine Corps with dad in October...its a BQ marathon.

SO--decision made.  I'm running the Marine Corps in October to qualify for Boston.  Between now and early summer, when I'll start gearing up for October, I'm playing around with some two a day runs during the week (because I can afford to take some risks)...do some fun hill workouts (HELLO Caraway Mountain)...and play with speed work (ie-wetting myself) at the track.  I think I may do the United Healthcare half marathon and just see how fast I can do it?  We'll see.

Boy its going to be a fun winter and spring.  I have a new runner on my hands...my best friend Tiffanie is starting her running career this week...YAY!  She's training for a 10K in March...and she's going to be great!  Maybe she'll start a blog so we can all keep up with her successes...HINT HINT :-)