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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Progress

It's a sunny day and I'm headed out with my books to study in the sunshine. I'm preparing for yet another standardized teaching test. This is another biggie - 4 hours long and it cost $190 so I'd like very much not to fail it and have to take it again. The areas of testing are: language arts, social science, art, mathematics, science, health, and physical education. I know. I'm nervous about it.

My goal has been to get in 6 - 8 hours of study each day, although I admit that I only did that three days this week. (I know.) I hope to do that every day for the next two weeks (test is on April 10th) with hopefully one day off for surfing if the waves calm down. Speaking of calming down, I am stressed about this damn test. I am loving the material - just loving it. I am retaining it and I can picture myself teaching it. Learning is so exciting. But I just feel a lot of pressure to pass this one, so my schedule is very open for the next two weeks and I have to stick to my plan.

I've been keeping up with my jogging and it's going well. This week I hit 3 miles twice! I haven't done that since last summer. Over the fall and winter I developed this nasty smoker's hack that we first thought was bronchitis and then the doc said it was whooping cough and now it looks like I've developed adult-onset asthma. Wha? Very frustrating and not at all sexy. So I've had to deal with this short-of-breath feeling (explains why I couldn't even carry my own board last time Jules and I went out surfing) and relearn how to pace myself when I jog. I was stuck at one mile for-ev-er and felt like I'd never again be able to go further, but I've s-l-o-w-l-y built back up to where I can consistently run 2 good miles and occasionally more. It feels great! I don't want to make anyone throw up, but today is my "off" day where I take a break and it's hard to keep myself from going running! This is a perfect visual for how it helps with . . . everything.

8 comments:

  1. I just puked in my mouth.

    Just kidding! It's great that you have your running mojo going. Totally proud of you. If you find extra, mail me some.

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  2. Love the vid! I will be thinking of all the sh!t I am tossing off the next time I run.

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  3. I do hope you realize that you've officially reached Ninja status.

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  4. I was just talking about running with Vahid. We were trying to out-wait some people at the pool so we could swim laps and I told him that I want to build up to running because my lungs are super poor and I get winded really easy.

    Glad you are hitting that 3 mile marker!

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  5. Way to go on the running. I am trying to find my running mojo. Thanks for the inspiration...

    Here's mine:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA

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  6. Nat - I love that one! I think I blogged about it a few years ago. Incredibly inspiring, isn't it?

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  7. There is this cool invention that you might consider when it comes to exercise. It's called a bicycle and it's really great. It's easier on the body, as long as you don't fall, you can coast every now and then, and you can go longer distances.

    Food for thought =)

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  8. Wow, I never got to 3 miles regularly (rarely, if ever), even when I was running about every other day, and was in the best shape of my life. You're my hero. :) And awesome commercial, haven't seen that one... Looking at finally coming up in the next few weeks... I'll email you a few potential weekends, and you can (please) let me know what works best (or worst) for you. :)

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