Weekend

We had a fantastic, low key Labor Day Weekend. It included running, a Saturday Drive around the Northeast of Vermont back roads, a Sunday drive in the Islands, ice cream, some running and a lot of restful time with the pup.
     If only we had a few more days like this.

In running I went for 15 minutes straight today. In this 15 minutes I surpassed the 1 mile mark (barely) so it's clear I am slow moving however I did it. a full mile running. Wed I should be jumping up to 20 minutes yeesh!!!

School.... and running

So here I am sitting in class watching my first study hall of the year. School started yesterday with all the students and I have some wonderful classes. This year my schedule includes two AP Chem classes which meet every day and one Experimental (Honors Level) Introductory Chemistry which meets every other day. So far so good. I am enjoying seeing the students again.
     The science show I help put on every year for the freshmen went well. This year I took a more active role since the head person retired last year. The new physics teacher and I shared top billing for running this. There were many explosions and thrills.

   
 I am continuing my running program and in some ways it is getting easier and in others much harder. The actual running is going great. I am still very slow (almost like a speed walk for most people around a 12-14 min mile) however my lung capacity and energy is not causing a problem. My joints on the other hand are killing me. I have always had issues with my left knee as a result of my guiding at camp with the hiking and canoe carries, as well as all the moguls I used to ski throughout and after college. My knee started hurting right after I began my running at the start of August. In the past week I have also run into some pretty strong pain/weakness in my right hip. I think part of this is associated with compensating for the knee in my runs.
     What I have found is that I tend to be okay once I get into running, but later that night and the next day when I move and put weight on these joints I am having pain issues. Everyone I talk to who runs here at the school agrees that the pain should be temporary and as I get in better shape and lose more weight this will go away... but man is it hard. I am giving it another week or so and then I'll think about contacting my doctor to make sure this is the case. I really don't want to do any permanent damage to my body. I am content with gym work (elliptical, stationary bike and swimming) which are low stress and don't hurt my joints however I do not lose the weight like I do when running, and let's be honest.. I would really like to get to the point where I can run a 5 K. In my program now (The picture is the logo for the app Beth and I are using) I have just gotten to where I run 8 minutes, walk for 5 then run another 8. In the 8 minutes I am going somewhere between a half mile and 3/4 of a mile. Tommorrow this jumps to 10 minutes run 5 walk 10 run. I'm close to running a mile straight. fingers crossed.
     Finally I am trying to fit in time for carving and guitar playing but darn it... there just aren't enough minutes in a day... at least I'm not Beth who has to take classes this semester :)   (sorry Beth I love you!!!).

full day

Okay first things first. Yesterday was rest day which was needed as my left knee was extremely aggravated and swollen. Not sure what happened. So we didn't exercise. Today it was still a bit sore so again we rested, although we did go for about a mile walk. hopefully I can run tomorrow evening. We'll see.
     So today we went for a Lunch Cruise on the Spirit of Ethan Allen. It was great. This is the same cruise we took a couple of summers ago. After getting home, I actually used my carving knives and fleshed out a rudimentary old man spirit figure. not bad for my first go at it and more importantly I didn't cut myself. Then tonight we went for our walk and then a trip out to the lake. We got to see a few deer on the way but no pics... sorry.

Summers end?

As we approach the closing of summer vacation Beth and I have enjoyed visiting with family in Indiana, as well as Beth helping her folks out some more with the deconstruction of the house. Immediately after returning from Indiana we both started a Couch to 5 K in 8 weeks program and we are progressing nicely (two weeks in). I am having some pain issues associated with my knees, feet and ankles due to my planter fasceiitis and my weight, but I am pushing through.

Today we travelled to Lake Placid for the day and enjoyed good food and some shopping. I decided to get a picture of the sign for with Pipe and Book. One of my favorite places in Lake Placid. It went out of business a few years ago and I think is going to be switched over soon. We also saw many little knick knacky things like the little Santa here. I got a picture because this is something I want to try as I begin getting into wood carving. As per Dad's recommendation I started trying carving with soap. Here is a pic of a little bear figurine I whittled out in about an hour. Not great, but it's a start to get a feel for working with shapes.That said, enough for now.....

It's been a long time

So it's been a really long time since I have posted and a ton has happened. Some good, some not so good so here it goes........ As the school year ended I was swamped with work. Between some massive clean-up of the science department which included filling an industrial sized dumpster, to updating the chemical inventory and consolidating and labelling the hazardous waste for pick-up by CSWD, I found myself taking on a leadership role. While doing this I also had to put in the work to complete my portfolio and put together my defense for my capstone action research. I also had to create my speech for class night and announce names for graduation. Graduation and class night went well and finishing my masters program successfully were very strong emotional highs for me. Shortly after this we were able to enjoy the company of Mom, Dad and Aunt Judy as they made a summer trip out East. It was fun playing Euchre again after a very long hiatus.

On the down side, the afternoon that I finished my masters presentation we got a call that Beth's parents house was burning down. It is unimaginable what this means for them. Luckily the family ties are strong and nobody was hurt. We have been helping as much as we can to help support her parents through working with organizing insurance issues and completing house contents lists. As of right now I think things are on track for getting them back into their new house by October (fingers crossed).

In the past few days we were able to get to downtown Burlington and enjooy the waterfront boardwalk, we also got the motorboat out. I was happy to start the motor on the first pull of the cord. Yeah!!!

We have plans to get out to Indiana soon and then see where the rest of the summer takes us.

Thats it for now
Pics to follow soon.

We are the future

Remember that scene in Back to the future where they set the Delorean to the future first. Today is that date.

Done?

Holy Crap!!!! 

I think I'm done.

One more run through on the presentation and check of my portfolio and professional growth notebook but yes.... I think I have everything ready for tomorrow.