First Day Jitters

16 May

It’s been one year since I’ve been in a classroom, two years since I’ve been in an elementary school classroom. So naturally, when I got a phone call last night asking me to substitute teach this week, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. I held my breath as I waited to hear which grade I was needed in, and felt myself relax when the caller said the one word that I wanted to hear – “kindergarten.”

Tomorrow, I will be going back to school as a (substitute) kindergarten teacher. When I was an elementary education major, I spent half of a semester observing in a kindergarten classroom, and it is one of my favorite age groups, so I am very excited. I am also very nervous.

So nervous, that I was almost tempted to say, “No, I’m not available,” when I got the call last night. Of course, I didn’t. I chose to quit my job. I chose to follow this new career path. I can’t let fear get in my way.

Starting a new job is always scary — it’s the fear of the unknown, I suppose. But with this job, I will have 20 or so little lives in my hands. It’s a big responsibility!

I will probably lay out my clothes tonight, pack my lunch before I go to bed, throw a couple of books into my bag just in case we run out of things to do tomorrow (you never know?); and I will pretend to be as confident as I can be.

I wonder if the kids know that adults get first day jitters too :) ?

If you’re a teacher, what do you expect from your subs? Have you ever subbed?

Do you get nervous on the first day of a new job?



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I’m Officially a “Dirty Girl”

15 May

Over the weekend, I had to let go of my girly girl ways and prepare to get down and dirty. I must admit, when FitFluential and Dirty Girl offered me the opportunity to participate in the Dirty Girl 5k Mud Run weeks ago, I was a little nervous — but it ended up being one of the best race experiences I’ve ever had.

Over 4,000 girls were signed up for the race, and to avoid too much congestion along the course, we ran in different waves. I signed up for the 10:15am wave, and it was suggested that I arrive 90 minutes early. I soon learned why.

The check-in line was long! This was Indy’s first year to host the Dirty Girl event, so I knew that there might be a few hiccups throughout the day. Luckily, I only noticed the long lines, and it’s nothing that would keep me from running the race again! After waiting in line to get my race bib and other goodies, I spotted fellow FitFluential Ambassadors and bloggers, Heidi and Julie, and stopped to chat.

Unfortunately, we separated before the start of the race and couldn’t find each other at the start line, but in the little time that I spent with them, they both seemed very friendly!

After checking my gear, my mom and Jordan (also my photographers for the day) walked me to the start line to see me off. At that time, my nerves were really getting to me, but before I could think about it too much, we were off! We ran a few feet before running into the first obstacle, the “Barn Burner” (aka the hay bale climb).

This obstacle was fairly easy and helped me gain a little confidence. Oh — that look on my face? Yeah, I almost slipped; but don’t worry, I caught myself and kept on running!

The entire course was in the grass, which kind of caught me off guard. Running on the pavement is nothing compared to running on an uneven, soft surface — my legs were working hard! After completing a couple of obstacles not visible to the crowd, including sloshes through mud pits (aka “H2OMG”), a couple of crawls through muddy tubes (aka “Utopian Tubes”), and one crawl in the mud under a cargo net (aka “PMS” – Pretty Muddy Stuff), I could see fans cheering in the distance as I arrived at my most feared obstacle of the course — “Get a Grip” (aka the cargo net).

I’m not too afraid of heights, but I am afraid of climbing over tall things without a safety harness. Thankfully, I made it over the wall just fine. I was proud of myself!

Feeling relieved that I had two feet on the ground, I ran to the next obstacle, the “Tire Pump” (aka the tire high step).

This obstacle was easy enough, and I thought that I was in the home stretch…until I saw another wall that I needed to climb over — the “Just Get Over It” wall climb obstacle! After climbing the cargo net, I felt confident that I could do it, but my nerves were also kicking in. This climb was straight up, and I had nothing but tiny wood pegs to hold onto. For about two seconds, I contemplated climbing over the shorter wall (we had three heights to choose from), or skipping the obstacle altogether — until I looked over and saw Jordan and my mom cheering me on. With shaking hands, I went for it.

As soon as I was back on the ground, I couldn’t help but scream to Jordan, “See, I did it, Jordan!,” in a not-so-nice tone. Before the race, he told me that he didn’t think I could climb the tall wall. He said it in a way that let me know that he was only teasing, of course, because he knows how competitive I can get — if someone tells me I can’t do something, it makes me want to do it even more. And so I did :) .

After one more obstacle, ‘The Hangover” (aka a run through hanging tires), a quick slide into a creek and a short climb up a grassy hill, the final obstacle was in sight. The course ended with a splash through a mud pit, and then I was done!

At the finish line, I met up with another FitFluential Ambassador and blogger, Stephanie. Stephanie recognized me just seconds before the race started, and kindly invited me to stick with her group throughout the course. After the first obstacle, I lost sight of her, but we ran into each other a couple of more times throughout the race, and had the opportunity to talk for a few minutes at the end.

In the short time that I got to know her, Stephanie seemed really personable and sweet. Our original plan was to meet up before the race and run as a FitFluential team (several more ambassadors were participating), but we didn’t realize how crowded it was going to be! I hope that I have the opportunity to hang out with these girls in the future, because I’m sure we’d have plenty of things to talk about!

After going our separate ways, I went back to gear check to clean up my dirty self.

I decided to skip the hour-long garden hose (err, shower) line, and instead used wet paper towels in the bathroom. Hey, it worked. Before leaving, I made sure to get a little post-race snack.

By the time we left, temperatures were inching their way into the high 70s, so this did a great job of keeping me cool on the car ride home.

At the end of the day, I realized that all of the anxiety I felt prior to the race was silly. The Dirty Girl Run is truly a race for all ages and fitness levels, and I never should have doubted myself! My mom and Jordan even said, multiple times, that it was really fun to watch — I don’t think that can be said for every race.

If Dirty Girl comes to town next year, I will be signing up, and you can bet that I will recruit some friends (or my sisters, or my cousin) to do it with me — read that, girls ;) ?

I wouldn’t have wanted any other mud run to be my first. I am proud to say that I am officially a “Dirty Girl” (who would’ve thought?).

To find out if a race is coming to your area, check out the Dirty Girl website.

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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In a Good Place

14 May

These past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. I’ve conquered fears and accomplished things that I never thought I could.

I quit my job.

I signed up to run my first half marathon.

I ran my first mud run.

I climbed to heights I’d never thought I’d reach — literally (more on that later this week).

I did it. And accomplishing those things makes me realize that I can get through just about anything.

Exactly two months from now, I will be getting married. Nerves and stress are beginning to kick in. Jordan and I are meeting with the pastor of our church to go over the ceremony tonight, and I’m sending out the majority of our invitations today. My final bridal shower is this Saturday, and my bachelorette party is only a little over a month away. It’s finally beginning to feel real!

Despite the fact that I don’t have a permanent job lined up for the fall, or a house to move into yet, I know that things will work out. I’m thankful for this little bit of time off, because it gives me time to discover what it is that I want to do with my life, while finalizing all of the important details for the wedding.

As unknown as my future is right now, I’m in a good place.

Are you in a good place?

 

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My Last Day

11 May

One year ago yesterday, I was finishing my last day at my internship. After saying goodbye at the office, I went to school to pick up my cap and gown, and then I went to a local high school to watch Jordan’s sisters compete in their last track meet of the year. It was a day that marked the end of several chapters in all of our lives. And funny enough, yesterday looked almost identical.

Yesterday was my last day of my first “real” job out of college. I went through the day as usual, getting as much work done as I possibly could. I had an exit interview with HR, and was able to tell her the positive and negative aspects of my time spent there. At lunch, I went for a walk around the office, did a little shopping (my office was located in a mall) and ate at Qdoba, one last time. And at the end of the day, I turned in my laptop and key, said a very generic “goodbye” to my team, and walked out without looking back. It was a strange feeling. After work, I drove straight to Jordan’s sisters’ last track meet of the year, the same exact one I went to last year after finishing up my college career — and it felt like everything had come full circle.

Last year at this time, I felt a little lost — confused about what direction my life was going in. I’d been interviewing, but didn’t have a job lined up yet. I was sad that I was leaving school for good, but happy that I would no longer have the stress of homework. I was in limbo. The same place that I am in now.

I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past 10 months. I’ve learned that a 9-5 ‘”stare at the computer all day long” desk job is not for me. I’ve learned that I will go crazy if I eat all of my lunches at my desk. I’ve learned that a person should never go 10 months without so much as one personal or vacation day. I’ve learned that I’m still not exactly sure what I want to do with my life (career-wise, anyway).

I quit my job because I was burnt out. Burnt out to a point where going to work in the morning felt like torture. When you work for a startup company that changes direction every three days, it’s bound to happen. The past seven months of my time there, I hadn’t even really been writing. My job title completely changed overnight, and I felt trapped in position that I hated. So, I started looking for something else.

I did a lot of soul searching, a lot of talking with Jordan to make sure he was okay with this big decision right before we buy a house and get married, and let’s be honest — a lot of crying. Change can be a scary thing. But then, I just took a leap and went for it.

From now until the beginning of June, I will be on the substitute list at a school district nearby. Some of you might remember that I spent two years of college as an Elementary Education major, before I quickly switched back to Communication as a fifth year senior, and graduated. I don’t regret that switch, because I loved my classes, but I do miss interacting with people, especially kids, on a daily basis. I’m nervous, because I haven’t been in a classroom or worked with kids in nearly two years, and I’ve never subbed before, but I’m going to give it a shot. If I like it, it might just lead me to get my teaching license — who knows.

Of course, once the school year is over, my subbing position will be over too. At that time, I will work as a camp counselor at a private school. I was a camp counselor for four summers while I was in college, and I loved it, so I’m really looking forward to this summer.

Summer Camp 2009

The best part is, they are very flexible and willing to work around the wedding and honeymoon — something I’m guessing no other job would be willing to do if I started at this time.

The only problem thing is, as of right now, when I come back from our honeymoon, I will be unemployed. I can continue to sub when the school year starts, of course, but that’s only when they need me, and I was told that I should never expect it to be a full-time job. Which means I’m right back where I was at this time last year — job searching.

But this year, I’m kind of excited. I know what my passions are — writing, fitness, nutrition, and kids — I just have to find a way to turn those passions into a career, somehow. My future is wide open. And for the first time in my life, I’m okay with that.

Now, excuse me while I go enjoy my first relaxing Friday since last summer ;) .

Have you ever chosen to make a big career change?

What do you do for a living?

 

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WIAW #4: Lack of Veggies, Lots of Fro-Yo

9 May

Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments on yesterday’s post. I registered for the race pretty late on Monday night, and was worried that I’d wake up on Tuesday morning in an “I can’t believe I just did that” panic — but no such thing happened. I am actually very excited. I chose to sign up for the November half marathon, because I won’t need to start training until after my honeymoon. This means I can enjoy the summer months and get in all of my favorite workouts without having to worry about committing to anything too time consuming. When I get back from the honeymoon, I’m sure I’ll feel a little overwhelmed with reality, and sad that the wedding planning is over, so it will be the perfect time for me to focus on something else — like running 13.1 miles. And anytime I get discouraged, I will come back to yesterday’s post and read all of your comments. You guys are amazing cheerleaders :) .

Let’s move on to yesterday’s eats, shall we? It’s been a while since I’ve done a WIAW post, but I worked from home yesterday and had the opportunity to document my food. If you’d like to participate, check out Peas and Crayons for more info.

 

Breakfast (8:00 am)

I normally eat breakfast around 6:30, but since I had time to sleep in this morning, I decided to make a more leisurely breakfast a little later. I made a batch of homemade pancakes (1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 cup soy milk, small handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips), topped with a little whipped cream, and strawberries on the side.

Snack (10:00 am)

This was more of a necessary pick me up than a snack, but around 10am, I needed something to sip on while I worked. I made a cup of decaf iced coffee with the Keurig, and mixed in my favorite coconut milk.

Lunch (12:00 pm)

For lunch, I had chicken salad on a toasted whole wheat English muffin, an apple, and a handful of Pretzel Crisps. Simple, but delicious.

Snack (3:30pm)

I worked from home today, because I had a brief orientation at my soon-to-be job in the afternoon. When I left the orientation, it was warm outside, my throat was scratchy, and frozen yogurt sounded like a good afternoon treat. I had chocolate cheesecake and white chocolate fro yo (I promise it’s in there), with a ton of toppings. I might have overdone it a little with the toppings — but can you really ever overdo it with fro-yo? Nah.

Dinner (8:30pm)

Normally, I eat dinner pretty late. By the time I get home from work, to the gym, and drive back home, it’s almost 8:00. Last night, I was supposed to take a Body Toning class at the gym, but I fell asleep after work and completely missed my class. Fail. It’s actually probably a good thing — my allergies have been bugging me, and I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately. So instead of going to the gym, Jordan came over and we went for a 2 mile walk, before I was finally hungry (that fro-yo filled me up!).

I had a BL ST (that’s a BLT with spinach, in case the picture’s not obvious enough :) ) on rye bread, with chips and strawberries on the side. Can you guess what my favorite fruit is ;) ?

As you can see, I still need to work on sneaking more veggies into my diet. The thing is, I filled up on tons of them during lunch on Monday, and my stomach was burning for the rest of the day. Yet, acidic fruits don’t usually bother me — weird. Maybe I should invest in some V8 juice?

Do you like your veggies?

When are your usual meal times?

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I Might Be Crazy

8 May

 

Remember that goal that I set out to achieve this year?

Well… on November 3, I will be making it happen.

Source

There’s no turning back now.

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Indy Mini-Marathon & 5K Recap 2012

7 May

Sleep deprived — that is what I am. But I had a wonderful weekend, and the lack of sleep is totally worth it.

This weekend was a race weekend for my family — the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon and 5K, to be exact. On Friday night, we went downtown to pick up our race packets and check out the expo. It was pretty crowded, so we headed straight for the packet pick-up area, where I got my bib number and bag of goodies.

After picking up our bags, we looked around the expo for a little while. I bought a pair of pink running shorts for $10 — not bad at all! After checking out the expo, it was time to go home, eat dinner and go to bed. We had an early wake-up call.

My alarm went off at 4:40am on Saturday morning. Since I’d laid my clothes out the night before, all I had to do was get dressed, eat my peanut butter sandwich, and go.

The Indy Mini is one of the largest half marathons in the country, so we were a little worried about the traffic and parking situation. Thankfully, we had no problems at all! We were able to find a spot on the second floor of a very empty parking garage, and since we were early, we had plenty of time to take pictures, go to the bathroom and get lined up.

Just a little tired…

My dad and I were running the 5K before the Mini, so we needed to be lined up by 6:45am. We dropped my sister off at her corral (she ran the half), and headed to the front of the crowd for the 5K. This was the most organized race that I’ve been to — precisely at 7:00 am, we were off.

For the first mile, I was running on people’s heels. A lot of people were speed walking, and it was hard to get around them. By the second mile, it’d thinned out a bit so I could find a good pace. I had to stop to walk twice, just for a few seconds — it was unseasonably warm, and my face felt like it was on fire.

3.1 miles later, I had finished the race in 32 minutes! My goal was to finish in 30 minutes or under, but for not training properly, I’ll take 32. My dad finished just two minutes behind me — it was difficult to stick together in that crowd!

After completing the 5K, my dad and I walked back to the starting line so we could see my sister take off. We waited for a while before realizing that she must’ve already crossed the start line. Since we had some time to kill, we walked back to the car to grab more water and my camera, then made our way to the finish line where we waited for my sister to finish.

By that time, the temps were inching higher into the 80s, and the sun was beating down on us. The announcer said that there was a “yellow” warning — meaning that the runners were asked to slow down, walk, or take an extra water break. At that time, we saw at least three people being driven away on stretchers, and I started to get a nervous when my sister wasn’t in sight. Finally, we spotted her, and she looked like she was still going strong!

She finished her first half marathon in 2:32!

After the race, we pushed through the crowd to meet her.

We took pictures, drank more water, and headed to Panera for lunch. By the time we got home, it was close to 1pm, and I was in dire need of a nap — which is just what I did for a few hours that afternoon.

Looking back on the Mini-Marathon, I learned a lot. It was inspiring, really. I saw little kids crossing the finish line, an older man crossing the finish line, new moms, dads and teenagers crossing the finish line. It just made me realize that there’s no excuse not to get up and move. No excuse not to push ourselves to achieve something we’d never thought we’d be able to achieve. Because if a 70-year-old man can run 13.1 miles, I can surely run a mud run. Or maybe someday, a half marathon.We will see :) .

On that note, it’s now time for me to get ready for the first day of my last week of work! Let’s make it a good week…

Have you completed a half marathon? Would you?

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