partial race report

Step Toward a Cure 5K, benefiting the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation

My daughter's best friend was having her Bat Mitzvah at 10:30 am almost an hour away. So I knew a race starting at 8:30 am was marginal, but it started half a mile from my house and was for a good cause so I signed up. I rode around on my mountain bike for a while to warm up and then left my bike at the top of a steep hill near the park where the race started.

The really really frustrating thing was that the race started 10 minutes late. It was a hilly course and started up hill, but by half a mile or so I had the feel of keeping running up hill and speeding up down hill. The miles weren't marked (this was very much a local race, no numbers or chips) but it was 8:56 am when I got to the place where the route turned away from my home, so I decided I had to go home a shorter way. I ran back to my bicycle, though I slowed down a bit after I left the race. I got to my bicycle in 38:36 and hurried home to shower and throw on a dress.

I was ready to leave at 9:30 am, as I had planned, and I got very angry when my husband wasn't ready to go. I had told him that I needed him to be in the car waiting impatiently for me at 9:30. We actually got to the Bat Mitzvah in time, so I feel guilty for how angry I was.

But I was very disappointed not to be able to finish the race, so it was very frustrating to sacrifice what I wanted to do in order to be on time and then have to wait for him. When we got home again after the Bat Mitzvah I drove the route I ran to see how long it was. To my surprise it was 3.1 miles, according to my car odometer. I don't know if the race route was long or whether I was wrong in thinking my route would be shorter. My fastest race pace yet, and on a hillier course: 12.4 minute miles.

It was actually the first real 5 K race I have entered, running only instead of a triathlon. I started in the back of the group of runners (there were walkers too) and I think I passed more people than passed me. I felt like I belonged.

moving forward

It is still just such a shock to have my son away. But I'm also very busy with classes starting and needing to move forward with Science, Technology, and Society organizing. I didn't run today because I'm running at least part of a 5K race tomorrow. I have to be home and ready to go out to a Bat Mitzvah an hour after the start time, so depending on whether it starts on time I may cut off for home before the finish. I should have ridden my bike this evening, but I just felt so tired. I hadn't taken a day off from my training in more than a week, so maybe that was what I needed.

various

My son has called several times to ask me to send things he needs and to report that he signed up to do volunteer work at a wolf park. No complaints (he's not a complainer). I feel better having heard from him and that he is managing things well enough to know what he needs (though a couple of things I told him he could buy himself).

My classes started today. I can't tell much yet about how the new general education requirements will change the students and their expectations in my course, beyond that I have a full classroom (125 students).

experts

I suspect that the people who wrote this church sign only meant that with God all things are possible. But it strikes me that the deeper meaning is that it is hubris, particularly technological hubris, that does us in. We do much better when we admit that we are not in control.

transition

My son is at boarding school--my husband and daughter and I drove him up to Asheville yesterday so we could be there bright and early this morning. Everything went smoothly but it was a long day. It is hard now imagining him on his own. Thanks to those who sent support; it is a big scary transition.

last minute panics

My son's new school sent lists of "what a student needs" and "what a student may bring." The list of needs includes 3-4 pairs of dress pants and 6-8 Oxford-style long-sleeved shirts. The list of what a student may bring includes "Cargo pants or shorts (NOT to be worn to class)." Nowhere on the lists is there any other mention of shorts or any mention of short-sleeved dress shirts.

I grew up in the northeast where men like my father wore long-sleeved dress shirts all summer, so it didn't even occur to me to think the lists unreasonable. At this school some days the boys wear polo shirts to class, and other days they have to wear dress shirts and tie. When another mother told me that the boys are allowed to wear dress shorts to class I figured that might be on the days when they can wear polo shirts. So only after I thought about it some more did I email my son's advisor to ask if the boys are allowed to wear short-sleeved dress shirts. She wrote: "The boys may wear 'dressy' khaki or dark colored shorts to class in the fall and spring. Short sleeved shirts with ties are also okay on tie days, and the shorts may be worn with them.... Most of the classrooms are not air-conditioned, so he will want some short sleeved shirts for the first few weeks, for sure."

I happened to have bought some dress shorts because I saw boys size 18 slim on sale. But I had to go to three department stores today to find short-sleeved Oxford cloth shirts in both white and blue, and the six shirts that I bought were all that the stores had in boys size 18 and 20 (I did also look for men's size 14 1/2 but there was very little available in that size). I would rather have ordered from Lands End, as the fabric is more comfortable, but it is too late for that. We take my son to school Saturday.

Be thinking of me Saturday. I was in tears of frustration after I succeeded in buying the shirts. It is going to be so hard to see my son go off to school.

workshop

I'm in a workshop all week on teaching online courses. It doesn't leave me much time, plus last night there was a long meeting at my daughter's school. In what time I have I'm organizing my son's clothing to take to school. I'm frustrated with the list I'm following. I talked to another parent last night and was told kids can wear dress shorts to class until Fall Break, which the list says isn't allowed.

My main conclusion so far is that online couses are a lot of work. But that's why I'm taking the time to sit in this workshop, because that means I get part of the work done for next summer. I do already have a lot of online material I use in my classroom classes. And I hope what I develop for an online course can be useful in the classroom courses too.

Yesterday I went back to swimming. I thought I would just do the kick set and leave, but the coach is working on basic skills so I was able to do pretty much the whole workout. I couldn't use my arms much but I could do a drill swimming three strokes and then 6 kicks without using my arms. I was very happy to be back to swimming.