ASK 5 K

Yesterday I participated in the ASK 5K for one of my students. She is in first grade and this is her second battle with Leukemia. Unfortunately she was not there because she had to go into the hospital for chemo but she did face time with us right after we started the run. Although it is terrible and every single one of us wishes this was not happening and no child should ever have to go through what she has and is going through, she has an amazing and supportive family on her side. She made it through this once, she will beat it again. I pray that after that it never comes back.

Teachers are not supposed to play favorites, but E is one of my favorites. Her aunt and I have been friends since third grade so I've known E before there was an E. She's a bright and happy little girl who makes my day better every time I see her at school. We joke around a lot. She loves art. I miss seeing her happy face and can't wait to give her a big hug when she comes back to school. 

I had to push B in the stroller and since there were no starting waves, I spent most of the time walking with the group. Initially I had wanted to run but it was such a huge cluster of people and since I started with the walkers, there was no way I was going to be running unless I knocked people out of my way. When we hit the start of mile 3, the crowd did clear enough for me to get through and run a bit, so I ran most of the last mile. From this experience I learned that I will not be running with the jogger in a race if I can avoid it. It's tough to dodge people and the stroller is pretty heavy and takes that much more effort. But I had fun and I am glad I did it. It was for E.

B man got his own medal at the end! It's that yellow ribbon in his hand. He put it around his neck all by himself! He promptly wanted to take it off five minutes later though.

I don't know what race I will do next yet, but I do know that I need to keep up with the running. The pollen has been horrible this past week and has kept me indoors and I can tell that my legs are losing all I gained while training for the 10K. A few gym trips and dates with the treadmill may be in my future this week.

Summer Kickoff 2014

Summer time and the livings easy!

So happy that it is finally summer once again. It is my favorite season of all time for so many reasons: it's warm (hot) out, I can swim at the river, I can wear flip flops and shorts everyday, no work...it's so fun. 

This weekend we went to the river and although I was unable to get a run in there I made up for it today. This summer is going to be a little trickier than I thought with not having B in day care and also not having him on my gym membership. I'm not going to get to use the gym like I thought I would and that makes me sad but I'm going to do the best I can. Anyways today I actually got up early and went for a quick run. The picture above is of the trail that I run almost every time I go out because it is at the end of my street. I got up early because it was going to be so hot today. Not only did I want to keep the kiddo out of the heat, I didn't really want to be in it either. The weather was great and it was getting pretty hot by the time I finished around 7:20AM. Unfortunately my hip decided to act up. It hurt to run on it about half way through and I had to stop and walk a bit. Then I decided to limp-run which I'm sure was a sight. After a few minutes of that I was able to run again without pain. Not really sure what changed or why it worked but it did. Now the outside of my hip is really hurting. I guess it's time to really start taking those PT exercises seriously again. 

On another note, last Thursday night the hubby and I had a quick date night at a place down in the bottom called On The Rox. It is right across the street from Tiki Bob's and is owned by the same people. It is a bar though, not a club. They were having a special that night and they had Sly Fox beers on tap. Sly Fox is a micro brewery in Pottstown, Pa which is where my husband lived and grew up. One of the times I was visiting him we ate there and had a good time. On Thursday I had a beer with raspberries and blackberries and it was really good. If you are looking for a quiet scene though, Rox is probably not your place. It is more of a bar than a restaurant but we had a good time even though it was a bit noisy for us-I guess we are getting old??? 

My 2 guys over the weekend. Happy Father's Day!!

The end of the school year is always a little bittersweet, especially when you teach a resource in elementary school. As an art teacher I have the same students for 6 years. I get to see them grow from 5 year old babies to 11 year old big kids ready to tackle middle school. It is fun to see how they change and to get to know them. These flowers were from a student who came to us just last year from China. He quickly became one of my favorites. He learned English extremely quickly and is an amazing artist. He came up to me during his last art class and asked if he could come back and visit me in 10 years. I had to laugh, of course! 

I survived my first year as a working mom and now I get to enjoy this view for the next 3 months. It is going to be a great summer.