A List: Things That Make Me Feel Healthy

Another weekly list! (I promise I'll get back to the marathon recap soon, for those who have been asking!)

• running
• sleep
• dates with my hubby
• girlfriend time
• good habits
• helping students get excited about fruit salad!

A List: Ways in Which I Can Love Others

And this week's list...

• listen
• remember their stories
• send a note - snail mail!
• share pictures
• accept them as they are
• start each day fresh

Student connection tip: have you tried Remind? This is a double-blind texting service tailored for education. You set up a class, provide your students with a link, and they sign in to your class with their phone numbers. You can then send them reminders and other messages, without you seeing their number or them seeing your number, and you have a record of all exchanges in one place. It's a great service!

How is this relevant to this week's list? Occasionally I send out a "Throwback Thursday" message to my former students, to connect with them and show them I still think about them and care about them. Often it's just a photo to remind them of fun times past!

A List: Things I Am Grateful For

Taking a pause in the marathon talk for this week's list and a classroom management illustration!

• a wonderful marriage
• a safe, comfortable home
• good health
• great friends
• happy pets
• a job I like
• the electric kettle in my office
• memories like the one below

As we all know, towards the end of the school year there are "one or two" students who like to start trying to play it fast and loose with the rules. This door in the back of my classroom opened up onto a fire escape. Students were not allowed to be on the fire escape, so they were not allowed to even open the door. A few decided that rule wasn't applicable in warmer weather. So, I posted this sign:

Suddenly it was no longer a problem. How about that?

Things I Learned about Team in Training (or "Why if you're going to train for a marathon you should RUN with TNT!")

I'll admit it, the idea of running with a charity and having to meet a fundraising requirement scared me. A LOT. I thought I had nowhere near the social capital needed to raise that kind of money. So I first entered the lottery for the Chicago Marathon... and I wasn't selected... and I was devastated.

It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me, because it gave me the push I needed to join Team in Training. This wasn't just a random charity choice to gain a bib - my husband lost his mother to multiple myeloma while he was in high school, so raising money to fight blood cancer was personally meaningful to us. And hey, their jerseys are purple, my favorite color :).

Here are some things you should know about TNT:

1. It IS a TEAM.
While I joined before the training season began, I wasn't able to attend any of the group runs until more than a month after they began. As you can probably imagine, I was pretty nervous walking up to a group of strangers I'd never met to join them during their sixth or seventh week. But from the very first moment, I was part of the team. I have never been part of an organization with that kind of immediate acceptance, it was amazing.

2. You have oodles of fundraising support.
The Chicago chapter is divided into four teams: City, North, West, and South Suburbs. Just for our team we had two mentors dedicated to fundraising help. They worked with you to draft letters and come up with ideas, and even posted links to team members' fundraisers on their personal Facebook pages. Other team members also offered lots of helpful advice and shared their ideas, and some would even offer to join up if they were doing something they could use help with. You are not alone!

3. The running support is unparalleled.
Oh boy, where to start? First of all, you are given a training calendar with distances and workouts for the entire season. All of the long runs are planned and coordinated for you. The routes are planned out, with water and gatorade stops along the way. Each team has two coaches (and alumni coaches who join in here and there) who pop up constantly along the trail to run alongside, check in on you and talk you through all sorts of running strategies.  Four of the long runs are "All-Team" runs, meaning all four teams meet and run together (meaning you don't get very far at all without running into a coach!). And note, these coaches KNOW what they're talking about. In addition to fluids there are all manner of fuel and supplements provided along the way for you to experiment with at the all-teams, and there is always food at the end of the run. You also receive regular emails from your coaches with tips and advice for running strategies, nutrition, injuries, various "what to expects," etc. there was a private Facebook page for team members to encourage each other, post tips, plan parties and social events (yep!), and so on. Plus everyone of course cheers each other on and encourages each other during the runs. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that I cannot imagine doing this on my own after experiencing this incredible level of support. And as for the marathon itself... well, I'll have to write about that in a separate post!

4. Running for a cause, with a group, takes the experience to a whole new level.
Training for a marathon under any circumstances is amazing, but knowing that you are making a real difference by doing it is an entirely different thing. Each week before the long run there are "Mission Moments," when someone shares their story of why they are/who they are running for. As you fundraise you see your amounts and the team's amounts go higher, every dollar another dollar to fight cancer... and you and your new friends did that together!

5. Your involvement doesn't end at the finish line.
Whether you choose to run again the next year or not, you become a TNT alumni. The events and social outings continue after the season. In December alone we chartered a bus to Lincoln Park for Zoo Lights, and had a Christmas Eve morning run and breakfast. Team members train together for other events, or just meet up for a casual run and coffee. And of course, the fight against cancer carries on.

Want to support me in fighting blood cancer, and gain resources for your classroom at the same time? Check out the fundraiser I'm currently running!

Things I Learned Training for My 1st Marathon

Somehow four months have gone by and I still haven't written about the Chicago Marathon! This ends now. I'll break it down into a few shorter posts; I'm more likely to get it done that way :).

Before I started working toward the full marathon, the longest race I had ever run was a 5K (3.1 miles), and the farthest distance I had ever run was about 4 miles.

1. Train with Team in Training! 
Or another charity that you have a strong connection to, but I'm obviously bias toward my own. The combination of running for a cause and the sheer amount of support you receive makes for a phenomenal experience! I can't imagine what it would have been like to do it on my own. In my next post I'll write about Team specifically.

2. Even if you follow all the rules, you still might get injured.
I suffered from some pretty serious hamstring issues throughout my summer training. Was it caused by overtraining, lack of stretching, inadequate recovery time? No, it was caused by weeding. Weeding, people. Seriously. Pay very close attention to your activities outside of running. Stupid weeds.

3. Having a running buddy is amazing!
Up until my first group run, I had always run alone. Then at the beginning of that first run I started chatting with another lady on the team, and we instantly clicked! Having someone to share all of your stories with over those long miles not only makes the run itself more enjoyable, it is extremely cathartic. Every issue or event you've had on your mind over the course of the week gets worked out on Saturday mornings, and you get to be on the listening end for someone else as well. Great mental health workout!

4. You can never have too much Body Glide.
Chafing. 'Nuff said.

5. You will be absolutely amazed by the number of cheerleaders you have in your life.
Regardless of the number of people you think you have in your social network (real life and otherwise), you will be absolutely floored by the sheer number of people rooting for you. People you see regularly but don't really interact with - people at work, people at church, etc - will come out of the woodwork with their good wishes. It's overwhelming. And then of course there's social media. People who donated to the fundraiser I offered through this blog were so kind with their comments, it was truly heartwarming.

A List: Current Dreams and Goals

Continuing with the listing theme...

• tackle all of those WIPs (works in progress) in my sewing room!
• catch up on our family vacation photo books
• run my first half marathon in April
• run my first RAGNAR in June
• improve my marathon time in October******
• write in my ten year journal every day this year
• read a LOT of books

******I run the Chicago Marathon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training to raise money for blood cancer research. Last year as a fundraiser I offered a special deal of over 100 FACS resources in exchange for a $25 donation to LLS. That same fundraiser will be re-opening this weekend! So for those of you who missed out, be sure to check back on Sunday. 

For those of you who did take advantage of the offer last year, I will be preparing another bundle this year. It won't be ready for a while yet, but I will let you know when it's available.

Thanks to all of you who have joined in the fight!

A List: Things I Should Be Proud Of

• Being a good friend
• Learning to run
• Fighting blood cancer as a part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training
• My education
• Taking risks

First World Problems: Reading Log Edition

NOOOOO! I have been a loyal Shelfari-an for years, faithfully recording my books read as well as back-tracking through my bookshelves all that time. I should have known; I had noticed over the past few months some of the features had begun to degrade and no one seemed interested in fixing it.

About a year and a half ago I looked at transitioning to Goodreads, as so many people seem to use it. I was even delighted to find that Shelfari had an easy export-to-Goodreads feature since they're both hosted by Amazon (should have known then!). However, upon exporting I discovered that all of the dates read were stripped out - kind of a super important detail! A huge part of the reason for keeping a log is to track when you read certain books, how many books you read in a given time period, etc.

And I had much better things to do with my time than to go through and add dates to hundreds of books.

Yet now I'm being forced to move. My fingers are crossed that the date issue has been corrected. I'm currently in the process of exporting, looks like it may take a while:


Anyone else out there devastated by the loss of Shelfari?

A List: My Current Podcasts

Inspired by another blogger (Little Mrs. Married) who is regularly posting lists to write more consistently, I'll share the podcasts I subscribe to:

• Freakonomics Radio
• Radiolab
• StoryCorps
• This I Believe: Podcast
• Happier with Gretchen Rubin
• TED Radio Hour
• PostBourgie
• Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

And a new favorite reserved for the gym: 

• Serial, Season 1

The ones at the top are what I listen to in the car, and sometimes while cleaning or cooking as well. Though I heard a lot of buzz about Serial last year I never picked it up until a couple weeks ago, and was immediately hooked. I like having something specific to look forward to during my treadmill sessions, as they are sooo booooring otherwise. I'm only halfway through the first season, so no spoilers please!

What do you listen to? Any suggestions I should add to my list?

What Do You Ban From Your Classroom? My 2 1/2 Deal Breakers

All of us have our pet peeves that find their way into our classroom rules and procedures, and it varies from person to person. For example, I once worked with a math teacher who had an explicit "No Singing" rule. Apparently year after year she's had trouble with students spontaneously breaking out into song in the middle of class, and she reached her limit. I'm not sure if I haven't experienced it at the level that she has, or that it doesn't bother me, or that I just don't notice it, but I've never felt the impulse to impose an absolute ban (there have of course been isolated incidents wherein I discouraged it, like the Fergie/Jesus episode or in the wake of the release of Frozen).

However, there are 2 1/2 physical items that I have imposed an absolute ban on.

1: GLITTER
It is the herpes of decoration. It never goes away. You think it's all cleared up and then BAM another outbreak.

2: CANDY CANES
I HATE them. They are delicious and festive, but they always always break when students have them and they always always shatter into a bazillion sticky pieces and the students always always step on or smash them even further and they never never clean them up. They're like glitter that attracts bugs and vermin. Fun story: sometime in mid-April one year a senior walked into my room to deliver something from the office while eating a candy cane. I hollered: "Freeze! Back up to the door! You cannot have that in here!" He looked at me and the rest of the class in complete bewilderment. Several students backed me up and told him "Yeah, she's not kidding, you can't be in here with that." I love it when students vehemently defend your arbitrary rules.

2.5: MICROWAVE POPCORN
Only allowed after school, never before or during (students aren't the problem with this one, it's teachers. They really don't like being turned away. There is a teacher's lounge, people!). The aroma of popcorn smells heavenly the first ten minutes. As it continues to hang in there air, however, it quickly degrades into a weird funk that inspires every. single. student. that walks through the door for the rest of the day to loudly announce "It smells nasty in here!"

Those are my absolute bans. What are yours?