Coffeehouse and running

     Had a  very interesting day. It started with a jump back into running. As I have posted before, Beth and I had started a couch to 5K program at the tail end of the summer and it was going pretty well for both of us. In fact I had gotten through week 7 and was about to finish up. That's when the running hit a roadblock. First Beth got sick.Then I "thought" I was getting sick. This created a really good excuse each day why I should NOT run. It amazes me how even after making such strides, that decision came so easily. And let me make this clear so Beth doesn't feel bad... her being sick did not stop me from running, it was just my convenient excuse not to run. Well needless to say after 16 days of inactivity, I finally said to myself," Enough. It's time to go running again." So yesterday I laced up the shoes, headed out to the fields and began running. I figured I would have lost where I was at so I dialed in a run from earlier in the program and told myself to not push it. To just go with what felt right. After the first 10 minutes I felt great so I kept going. After 20 minutes I still felt great so I kept going. Finally made myself stop after 30 minutes. I did not run fast at all, probably did 2.25 miles in that 30 min. but I was amazed at how easy it was. I even had the energy to get home and do the yardwork I have been neglecting. The ironic part of this is that I just got up about 25 minutes ago and my nose is stuffed up. yeesh.

     Now on to the other news. Last night was the first coffeehouse of the year. Over this past week I had decided to do a song with Chris (science teacher), Will (science teacher) and Evan (music teacher). We were going to do "Little Lion Man" by Mumford and Son. I was planning on playing my mandolin (I think I am becoming the mandolin guy at the coffeehouses). This is a really good song and I highly recommend listening to it if you get a chance. Anyhow, Will ended up not being able to attend so Chris, Evan and I decided to perform Crosby, Stills, and Nash's "Teach Your Children Well". Unfortunately Jerry Garcia is dead and couldn't provide the lap steel guitar intro. I chose to try playing my banjo ukulele that I got in Nashville Indiana two summers ago. I think it came out pretty good. We had virtually no practice time so I was experimenting with my strumming patterns a bit in the song. I wish we had more practice time because at some points I really like how I was counterstrumming to the guitar. Here is a link to the performance on my Youtube channel:  Under New Management

You may wonder what the Under New Management is all about. When the Coffeehouse program started at CHS it was run by our history teacher Bob Damon. It ran for a few years and then he had to move to the Boston area. He passed the torch over to Chris and Will. This is the point when I was first learning to play guitar and mandolin. In my first performance the teacher group that performed started calling themselves "under new management" and we have stuck with that.(note that they may have started calling themselves this BEFORE I started playing with them, I wasn't there to tell...."

On a final note, we have started having interest from a few students and quite a number of faculty to start a ukulele club at school. I love this idea and can anticipate some awesome performances in the future.

Today Beth and I plan on getting away to do some leaf peeping and visit Quechee Vt for a little bit of antique shopping. Maybe I can find an old gibson mandolin for cheap :)

Hmmmmmmm :}

I heard somebody is finally getting serious about winning the EFL this year   :) 

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.