gretchen says

One of my twitter contacts (@jswiatek) put the call out earlier this week for people that could skype in to a professional development session for some of his teachers at Crystal River High School, in Crystal River, FL. I had the time available, so I volunteered, and planned to talk about the Brewer schools’ use of Skype in the classroom.

When it was time, I introduced myself and gave a brief bio of what I do and where I live, and then we chatted about Skype, and at the end, one of the teachers raised his hand and said “My name is George, and I grew up in Hampden, attended the University of Maine, and my family is good friends with the Husson family! How much snow do you have? ” George even knew of my hometown!

This is part of why I love technology — my connection with Jerry originated when we both blogged for LearnNC at Instructify, and then we have connected on Twitter as well, and the skype call was borne of that — but how cool that that connection would lead all the way around to finding someone from my own neighborhood! 

Resources for Jerry:

Brewer 4th graders Skype Across America

Brewer High

Ingrid inventorying her haul. Best part is she was looking for stuff to give to Willa, who didn’t ToT. (Taken with Instagram at )

Instagram filter used: X-Pro II

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Horse riding set
Barbie doll house
Expository book about princesses
Barbie camping set

(on her last list she had “baby bunnies that are real” and crossed it out, and just now said “well what about a real kitten?” oh boy. )

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Willa’s daycare had a fall party, and you can see here how she just loves her daycare director, Kelly. They are blurry, but you can see the adoration! She is always soooo excited to go to school in the morning, and never gives me a second glance when I drop her off! We are so lucky that she is loved and cared for so well.

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While mama made dinner, the girls played in their room. Ingrid hauled Willa onto the bed, pulled down aaaall of the stuffed animals, tore off the blanket and made a pile for jumping on. Then while daddy gave Willa a haircut, Ingrid was busy turning an amazon box into a Rocit Ship — “a 4 eyed dog rocket ship” She said, and then feeling more literal she spelled out that it had aliens inside. Kids are fun.

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My second race report! (Really?)

So, I did Race for the Cure and was so proud of myself, I immediately started considering doing another one. On Twitter, I mentioned this:

Almost as a dare, not to the others, but to myself. And wouldn’t you know it, they bit! Over the last month, we quickly organizes a logo (thanks BFF!), a Facebook group, and a plan for our team — made up of basically people who know each other best via Twitter. A week before our race, I even ran with Diana, which was also the first time I’d met her in real life! And only about ten days ago, after hearing they’d be headed this way from southern Maine, I told a friend to join us (Dave’s middle/high school best friend’s wife just did her first 5k two weeks ago!) and we ended up with a team of six. One had to bail due to illness, so today it was five strong women meeting in Waterville for a good cause — for me, Tami, and Bev, it was our second race ever. For Tanya, it was her zillionth race — but her first in more than 8 years. For Diana, it was her very first 5k!

Last night I put together the goodie bags for the car ride, healthy snacks and bottles of water and bananas for the drive, and I put all the things I’d need in the tote bag so I wouldn’t forget it, made sure my iphone was charged, and ate a small bowl of oatmeal and had a small cup of coffee. Diana and Bev showed up at the same time, just before 8, and we picked up Tanya down the road a piece, and we were off!

Picking up our info was easy, and it was great to have Tami there with Aaron, who was deemed team manager and given all our stuff to hold, and told to take pictures. We had to walk to the starting line, and it was timed, but not chip timed so they basically said “go!” and we went. 

The first part I walked while I started my app and got it secured in my SPIbelt, and then I started to run. I caught up with Diana and we were at the same pace for a while and then I inched ahead. My goal was to A) have fun, B) finish, and C) do my best while listening to my body. I should have started out slower, my shins started to hurt, so I alternated running and walking (which was my plan anyway — I am nowhere NEAR being able to RUN the whole thing!) and my app would tell me every 5 minutes how I was doing. I’d also made a playlist to help me — so instead of timing intervals, I’d measure them out, like “I will run until I get to that street/telephone pole/crack in the road” or “I will run til the end of this song” and that helped. The course was a downhill that then cut across and headed alongside the city soccer fields, and that was a highlight — while there were Colby cross country team members directing people, by the time they saw the “penguins,” they were sort of bored and yawning out a “good job!” as people went by. (They were very nice, but not at all impressed by ME! A super geek/non athlete/wrong-side of 35 MOM shuffling by!) But at the soccer fields, there were some passionate little kids, probably 8-10 years old, Hardy Girls, I’m sure, who were lined up on the sidewalk giving us high fives as we ran by, so excited to be seeing RACERS, that it was totally inspiring. To those Hardy Girls, this was a BIG DEAL! And it was great.

After the soccer fields, I thought “hmm, I remember there being a hill when I street viewed the course” (because HELLO, we are the geek girls, of COURSE we streetviewed the course!) so maybe this is it?”… and then I saw The Hill, which reminded me of 14th St Extension here in Bangor, only maybe longer. I knew I’d be walking up that mother. So I did, I walked as fast as I could up the hill, and in the distance, I could see my teammates! Cheering and waving, and it was SO FRIGGING GREAT. They pointed me to the finish lane, and that was after the hill flattened out, so I ran across the finish and beat my Komen time by 2:33! My teammates who finished first had gotten us all water bottles (I was really hoping for a water stop on the course!) and it was very welcome, I pounded some water and then we went and waited for Diana to come in, and she did 2 minutes better than our (much flatter) personal 5k we’d done the week before! It was awesome to have cheerleaders, and to cheer someone on.

At Komen, I had just had Dave drop me off and I did the thing all by myself and then had to wait for him to come find me to take me home. I had no cheering section, no team, no one to hand me water and say “yay!” and having a team this time was so, so awesome. And truly, our common thread, aside from wanting to be healthier and fitter and believing in the Hardy Girls, Healthy Women org, is that we are Twitter friends. (The Internet Is Real Life!)

And now we are looking at the Turkey Trot, in November! I kind of love the challenge of racing against myself — I was 15/15 for my division, but I improved on my own time, on a (I think, with that ending hill) harder course, and I love imagining what these races could look like next year, once I learn to run the whole thing!

I can’t embed the map, but here’s a link!

In eleven days, I do my next 5k! Holy carp! And this time, I have a vanload of people and an official team shirt. Gulp.

And! AND! We are talking about doing one in November. Double carp.

Lest you think this is impetuous, let me just tell you, it is not. There is serious research that goes into choosing an event, especially for a new runner.

At this point I am only looking at 5ks, but I’m sure it will apply if I were looking at different race times, too. Here’s my criteria:

Look for a Run/Walk. I am not even at the point that I can run the whole 5k, but I know I can walk it. I like the idea of a Run/Walk event because when I need to stop to walk, I feel like I still fit in. 

Find past results. I know, for instance, that I can cover a 5k in under an hour. I don’t necessarily want to be last, of course, but more than that I don’t want to hold other people up. If the event shows the last finisher of a 5k clocking in at under 40 minutes, I don’t want to be there. Yet.

Find a cause. Race for the Cure helped me rationalize the idea of a race, and get over my fear of public exercise, because HELL-O, I am so goddamn lucky to have the health I do, and being surrounded by reminders of that good fortune makes my anxiety seem ridiculous. (Rightfully so.) This next event I am rationalizing as setting an example for the girls like me out there, that they can turn into an athlete whenever they want, that a Hardy Girl can be a Healthy Woman, even after senior year of high school. 

Look for a shorter race within a longer race. I’m not there yet, but when I daydream about what a good next goal would be, I like to fantasize about the Sugarloaf 15k that happens at the same time as the Sugarloaf Marathon. Or a half-marathon that happens during a full marathon. (That is way, way, way in the future. Way. But it will be my strategy for the next level.)

And on to my ‘training’ for this 5k, instead of doing the C25K workouts, I have set my own intervals for 30 minutes via RunKeeper, and doing them on a 5k course. So, the first 30 minutes are scripted, and then I play it by ear as I finish the 5k distance. I feel like this builds my strength, but more importantly, builds my confidence to cover 5k at once. As fall settles in, I know I won’t care for running in the snow, so I am hoping to get some treadmill time in at the gym at work, or to join a gym, because I’d like to set some springtime goals for this crazy running thing, too.

Sooooo high!

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