From a young age, I have always loved running even if I have not been doing it as regularly as I would like to and as I used to. I ran every day in college, still worked out in the gym every day while pregnant and life has ‘just gotten in my way’ so it has been on the bottom of my priority list for a while now…

And here I was, one night up way too late and registering for the Columbus Marathon in the fall… It started with a conversation I had with a friend who is a runner and participates in marathons all the time. She told me to just sign up and start training and that is what I did! Except that I knew the sign-up part was easy but now the ‘real work’ would start.

In addition, the severe winter this year certainly did not invite for runs outside-I have been taking every chance I got. Every half-way decent day in the past months during the weekend I would bundle up my youngest and start running in the park. I knew I had to do more! I started looking at gyms nearby and even though I had never considered taking classes before school and getting up at a time when I would generally still be in a warm bed sleeping, I knew I had to give it a try! Surprisingly, I am so glad I did-I love my spinning, TRX, Pump and Spin and Boot Camp classes! Who would have known that it is NOT a big deal to get up quite a bit earlier to enjoy a great workout and be fully awake and ready for the day?

As I am still getting used to some classes, especially the ones that I am taken out of my comfort zone (yoga!), I love feeling the effects of getting up earlier, starting to feel healthier and stronger and cannot wait for the warmer spring days ahead when I get to push myself and tackle longer and longer distances moving toward my big goal! 

Two loves of my life

This is my first day of blogging and I really have been thinking hard all day what I would write about. I wanted it to be something important, something that is near and dear to my heart and something that I have a lot to say about. For most of today, I wanted to write about teaching, how much I love this profession that I spend so many hours of my day doing, how much I look forward to walking into the classroom to try something new, to spark my students' interests and to see their faces-these young adolescents who teach ME so much without even knowing it.

And now as I was looking at this white screen, I decided to instead write about both loves of my life-my teaching and my own children, my life. One of the hardest things for me in my life was to find a 'middle ground', to be a good teacher, formerly spending the majority of my time on working on creative plans for the students, looking for interesting resources and usually spending late hours at school. How could I continue to do this with a baby? Now I wanted to be with my child, spend time with him, hold him and play with him as soon as I was able to get him when school got out. I remember many evenings, holding and snuggling with my little boy as I saw my grading piling up from across the room. I was torn between giving it 100% for my students but cherishing every second with my precious family.

I had to learn that grading can, has to wait and that my wonderful students would understand not getting the tests back right the next day but maybe the day after. I had to learn that I will never get the time back once it passes and it is okay to embrace these precious, valuable moments. Twelve years of teaching and three children have taught me that I can do this-finding a 'middle ground', and do it well. So now I take the time to drop everything and be with them until they go to bed, even if it is late. I can do this because I know that there is also a time after my kids are in bed and because I know I can be giving it 100% for my own children as well as my students at the same time.