My Legs Are Finally Coming Back to Me

Photo: SkipSteuart, Flickr Creative Commons

As the post title suggests, I'm finally getting comfortable running again. I'm still not where I was this time last year; back then I could knock out a sub-8-minute average pace on any run of 10k or less, but I'm finally feeling comfortable running again. The constant worry about the ITBS flaring back up is gone, and I'm comfortable running at my normal training paces. It's nice to be able to go out and run and know that I won't be frustrated by the resulting times. It's also nice to know that I can run 5 miles at a relatively easy pace (sub 9) and then still have enough left to drop a minute off the pace for the last mile. (That's run the last mile a minute faster than the pace for the previous miles, not running fast enough to drop a minute off the average for the entire run. I did that last Thursday. It was my first 10k run since last December. My thighs were a little sore because of it. It was nice.

I'm getting a little antsy, though. We only have two weeks left of school. After that, I have four days of post-planning and then we're off for two months. I don't really know what I'm doing from there, and I mean that on two levels. First, we had planned on going to Michigan to visit my sister and her new baby, but it turns out that when we'll already be in the upper Midwest, (early June) helping my mother-in-law deal with her mom's estate there may be a conflict there. Considering that late June (triathlon in North Carolina), Early July (Peachtree Road Race) and late July (next school year starts up) are already taken, we may not be able to work in much of a trip to Michigan.

Even if we do make it to Michigan, I've got my brain wandering to other trips I'd love to do. I want to start on my road bike on the bridge that crosses the St. Mary's River dividing Georgia and Florida and keep riding until I cross into North Carolina just north of Clayton. Of course, it'd be an easy trip if I started in North Carolina and rode to Florida. It's basically all downhill that way. Probably wouldn't have to pedal but twice. I also want to do some riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Give myself a real reason to use the small ring on my bike. I've never actually used it. I always leave my bike set in the middle ring, although I plan on trying to use the big ring some during races this summer. I can climb any hill I've been exposed to in the middle ring, and I can't pedal any faster on the flats than the gears the middle ring allows, but basically any downhill has me coasting faster than I can pedal in the highest gear on that ring. I'm wasting my legs on the downhills.

I'm also going to start taking my son out on his first overnight hikes this summer. I even picked him up a kid's backpack that's shaped and styled just like my big backpacking pack, but much smaller. He gets it (and his own headlamp) for his birthday next week. I'm taking him to hike part of the trail that was my first ever overnighter. I think he'd get a kick out of the boulder field on Panther Creek Falls and maybe we can find the salamanders at the top of the falls.

As for the other definition, I currently have applications out for three area schools who need media specialists. Considering the fact that I've found all of one opening that wouldn't require me to move in the previous two years since finishing my degree, that means I have the best chance I've had of leaving the classroom since I started teaching. I could be doing what I have the degree to actually do, finally. That'd be a huge change. (And a 30-45 mile one-way commute, although considering the surrounding systems usually pay significantly more and the lack of anything resembling traffic here, that means a 30-45-minute commute and more money coming home even after increased fuel expenses.) And true, I actually do want to move, but that's not going to happen until the youngest is old enough for public school. I've got to bide my time for at least four more years.

Even if I stay, I have notified my athletic director that I'm not coaching high school tennis anymore. If I don't get one of those other three jobs (or another one that hasn't posted yet), I'll probably be coaching middle school tennis next year. I'd be more use at that level, which would make the job feel more worthwhile, and the season is basically half as long. The time commitment was my main problem the last couple of years with the high school team, so I think I'd be okay with this.