Imagine That

Last week I warmly greeted a colleague before the beginning of the school day.  He responded with, "I am trying to imagine you overweight."  Huh?  Then, realization set in.  Pop (my father-in-law) has been wearing a black Danier leather jacket to school to ward off the cool mornings we have been experiencing lately.  The jacket used to be mine, but it was passed on to Pop before the our family moved north.  Several staff members had complimented Pop on his jacket and he mentioned that it used to be worn by his son-in-law (yours truly).  Worn in my pre-running, overweight (250+ pounds) days.  The colleagues were surprised, and thus the comment above.  I guess I look slimmer than I imagine.  I often still feel like the 250 pound person on the inside, though the comment from the colleague helped me feel this a little less that morning.  It also gave me a much needed impetus to keep running, especially now that the dark and cool mornings make it more difficult to rise early to pull on the running shoes and head out the door.

Running With The (Insert Animal Here)

Surprised, I slowed my run to a jog.  Hidden by the vegetation, a young female moose was consuming its morning meal on the slope of the ditch.  Startled by my presence, she leaped out onto the road in front of me.  With a frightened look, the moose began trotting ahead of me on her long spindly legs, hooves clip-clopping on the asphalt.  After a minute or so the cow turned sharply to her right, and, with a combined look of fear and relief, leaped back into the bush, crashing her way through the underbrush to safety.

In the past few weeks, during my early morning runs, I have had various wildlife encounters.  A black bear has crossed my path, more frightened of me than I of her, a small curious fox has followed me a number of times (with locals pulling up beside me in their vehicles asking "Did you know that a fox is following you?"), and now a moose (of which sightings have been rare of late).

I've heard of running with the deer, running with the wolves, running with the bulls, but ... running with (well, behind) the moose?  That's an encounter that I had to write down (or rather, type out).

Goal

My motivation for running has been lacklustre of late, so I need a goal.

The Goal: 1/2 Marathon (just over 21 km)
When: May, 2012
Where: Air Force Run, Winnipeg, Manitoba
The obstacle: Six months of Ol' Man Winter (I'm taking you down!)

I've participated in a 1/2 as well as a runway run in TO, so to combine the two in Winnipeg next year should be pretty awesome!

Daylight Savings

My favourite time of day to run is early morning (6 AM or earlier).  Yet for the past three weeks I have had to run after school because it has been too dark to run.  There are no streetlights, and the moon and stars don't give enough light to even see my shuffling feet.  But this morning was a blessing thanks to daylight savings time.  I laced up my Sauconies, put on my Nike cap and gloves, and stepped outside.  Though it was dark, the hint of a glow from a rising sun helped point my way down our driveway, up the lane, down the big hill and out into the "wild".  I love running.  It's my alone time, my exercise time, my thinking time, my praying time, my de-stressing time, my admiring the beauty of early morning time, my "get pumped up for the day" time.  Early morning runs help me find focus for the day.  Often I come back into the house looking for paper and pencil to write down thoughts and ideas that have jostled loose during my run.  When I miss a morning run, it impacts my whole day.  In just two weeks I will once again have to run in the early evening (the sun is already setting at 4:30 PM!).  So, for now, I will enjoy thoroughly running at 6 AM, feet pounding the pavement (or gravel), watching the sun peek its head over the horizon.

You Are a Runner When...

a downpour of rain does not stop you from completing a 60 minute run.

Christ is Risen!

Christ is risen! Shout hosanna! Celebrate this day of days!
Christ is risen! Hush in wonder; all creation is amazed.
In the desert all-surrounding, see, a spreading tree has grown.
Healing leaves of grace abounding bring a taste of love unknown.

Christ is risen! Raise your spirits from the caverns of despair.
Walk with gladness in the morning. See what love can do and dare.
Drink the wine of resurrection, not a servant, but a friend.
Jesus is our strong companion. Joy and peace shall never end.

Christ is risen! Earth and heaven nevermore shall be the same.
Break the bread of new creation where the world is still in pain.
Tell its grim, demonic chorus: "Christ is risen! Get you gone!"
God the First and Last is with us. Sing hosanna everyone!

Text: Brian Wren

The runner in me wants to change the second line of verse 2 to "Run with gladness in the morning...". It was a beautiful Easter Sunday morning to go for a long run!

Humour

There are different types of humour. There is sophisticated and witty humour written by Stephen Leacock, Garrison Keillor and Stuart McLean (and dare I say Calvin and Hobbes?). There is quirky humour a la Monty Python. There is silly humour like puns (such as the ones I put on the top of Math reviews which make students' eyes roll: What do you get when you cross a dinosaur and a pig? Jurassic Pork!) and those knock-knock jokes we as parents hear from our six year old in the backseat on the way to town (Knock, knock. Who's there? Tank. Tank who? You're very welcome.).

There is something infectious about laughter. We laugh a lot as a family, especially when Papa gets mocked for being old:

FK: I wish I knew more history.
Mama: You know who to talk to about history? Papa. He knows a lot about history.
FK: That's because he lived way back then.
(hilarious laughter ensues)

My students like to laugh a lot, too. A lot of students were away Friday, so I took what small class I had to the computer lab to google and answer questions raised during the week during lessons and discussions. After the real work was done, I told my students to go to http://www.multiplication.com/ and play some interactive math games. Now you might think that 12-15 year olds would balk at playing these less than mature games in a Xbox, Wii and Nintendo world. No, not on Friday. They were giggling and laughing at the antics of plucky penguins and grizzly wheelchair-bound grannies all the while solving multiplication problems. Who knew?

Then there are those times you don't know whether to laugh or to be annoyed. Those of you who know us know we live an long hour's drive north of the nearest metropolis town. As I was wheezing and huffing my way up a hill this morning, all the while muttering under my breath "There are no hills in ____, there are no hills in ___", along comes a red Chevy van. The driver pulls the van up beside me, rolls down the window, and with a large grin, asks, "You runnin' all the way to town or do you wanna a ride?"

Ha-Ha.

Uh-oh

Two or three times a week I run home after school. Running home after work not only keeps me active and allows me to breathe in fresh air, it also helps me to think about the school day and how to make the next day even better for my students. Ultimately, the successes and failures in the classroom are the responsibility of the teacher, so an after school run enables me to think through possible solutions to problems and enjoy those moments that can be called successes.

Today a young, black dog joined me for part of the run home. It was a refreshing change to have a running partner accompany me as I slowly ran up and down the hills of the community to our home. The dog seemed to enjoy the run, too, tongue hanging out, as if this was a regular routine in its life. "Hmm..." I thought. "Something about having a four-legged running partner feels right, somehow."

Uh-oh.

McDonald's Squared

Today was the first day in awhile in which we had to go to town on a Saturday for a grocery/library run. Of course, being the morning person that I am, I suggested getting up early so that we could have breakfast in town. All agreed, so we piled into the car at 7 AM this morning, drove to town and had breakfast at McDonald's at FK's insistence. This was ok by me, even though I prefer Tim Horton's breakfasts, because McD's has televisions which are showing Olympic coverage (and they also have coffee; definately need coffee in the morning). As we don't have satellite TV, to watch clips and reports from Vancouver was a welcome luxury. I even got a little verklempt watching a clip of speed skater Charles Hamelin skating to a gold medal finish, his girlfriend (silver medalist Marianne St-Gelais) jumping up and down, screaming and finally running down the stands jumping into his arms. Yes, I'm a) a proud Canadian and b) a hopeless romantic (but don't tell anyone).

So, filled with eggs and English muffins (and coffee, did I mention coffee?), we set off to do errands and visit the library. As we drove away from the library, it was once again decided that we would go to McD's for lunch. Sigh. And double sigh when the kids didn't even eat their food. And I, who feels guilty when there are leftovers, had plenty of delicious, scrumptious, McD's French fries. Triple sigh.

This afternoon I went for a run, burned off calories from two of the aforementioned French fries, and at least felt a little human again. And for supper, a delicious fruit smoothie to end the day on a healthy eating note.