The race results are in....

Brittney Richards
Number: 8910
Overall: 2764
Age Division: 322/409
Gender Division: 1379/2000
Time: 2:26:43 Pace: 11:12 min/mi


Bruce Richards
Number: 8911
Overall: 2766
Age Division: 234/263
Gender Division: 1380/1571
Time: 2:26:46 Pace: 11:13 min/mi

Details and pictures and coming soon.
New mantra:
This sport would be fun if it weren't for all the running!
Running is a mental sport - and we're all insane!


Overall Summary: YEAH!!! We did it!

Good News!

This Warner Brothers musical named Good News has made it to the top of my list of all time favorite musicals. I posted earlier about my love for musicals. I think the world would be a much better place if we all spontaneously broke out into song and dance in random places. Maybe it's because I often practice this behavior. Although some of the lyrics and dance moves in this musical are rather flamboyant at times (the 1947 version has better dance choreography than the 1930's which reminded me way too much of the old Mickey Mouse movies and worth a long laugh), the story line is great and entertaining.
Let me copy the teaser on the back cover. "With boundless enthusiasm and enough jive to meld '20's flapper giddiness with '40's swing, 1947's Good News is one of the best of the lighthearted rah-rah collegiate musicals. Peter Lawford (the campus football hero - the uniforms are great!) and June Allyson (the brainaic who tutors him in French) lead a high spirited cast that stand out among numbers that are all zip and joy and the Bee's Knees. All of this and more in amazing technicolor!"
If you want to know what all the jazz is about, you must watch it. If you like musicals as much as me, this is a must see! Check it out at your local library.
May it bring you all Good News!

Blowout...Shrug it off

We all have those times when something crazy or bad happens nearly everyday for about a week or more. That was certainly the case for our family this past week. I won't go into any major details, but I will say that the whole thing started with a complete blow out on my way to work. This is the best picture that I got. I was about a mile away from work when I suddenly felt the car start shaking and making a horrendous noise. "This car needs to go to the shop today," I said aloud to myself. This was Monday morning at 7:40. The shaking got worse and so did the noise. I prayed that I would make it to work and figure out what to do later. I pulled up, got out to look, and noticed that my tire had pretty much exploded. A co-worker pulled up behind me, asked me when it happened and if I had a spare, and mentioned that he would help me change it later. Luckily I did have a spare, and even more luckily I didn't lose control of the car (despite going about 60 mph), and the car stayed on the road. If it wasn't for the shaking, I probably wouldn't have known anything had actually happened. I must admit that my morning prayers are not always what they should be, but for some reason this Monday morning I prayed that I would get to work safely which I never do. Not that I don't want to get to work safely, it just doesn't cross my mind as something to pray for.

I am also grateful for the great people I work with. The janitor came into my classroom during 6th hour, asked for my keys, and fixed my tire by himself. I didn't have to do anything. It took me a couple of days to buy a new tire, but now everything is as good as new.

Unfortunately the bad week didn't end with Monday morning. Every day something else happened to either Bruce or I, ending with the culminating event Friday afternoon at 3:00. I'll leave it open to interpretation, but we had a midterm and field trip disaster which left us with a lot of time to think about it.

Needless to say, things come and go. We learn from them and hopefully become better people. In the grand scheme of things, one bad day, week, or month is nothing compared to eternity. We can shrug the bad things off, remember the good things, and learn from both.

Teaching Comics

With ISAT testing done, and another quarter still to do, it can get pretty gloomy as teacher. To get over the gloom, my principal sent me these Jeff Foxworthy jokes all about teaching or teachers. For anyone who has been a school teacher, has been thinking about being a school teacher, or worked in a school, you may understand these jokes or hope that you will never understand these jokes. Either way - ENJOY!!

Foxworthy on School Employees

YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be
equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.

YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person who
says, 'Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off.

YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own
child because there's no name you can come up with that doesn't bring
high blood pressure as it is uttered.

YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full moon or
if it going to rain, snow, hail....anything!!! Without ever looking
outside.

YOU might be a school employee if you believe, 'shallow gene
pool' should have its own box on a report card.

YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable evils
will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'

YOU might be a school employee if when out in public, you feel the
urge to snap your fingers at children you do not know and correct their
behavior.

YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life between
August and June.

YOU might be a school employee if you think people should have a
government permit before being allowed to reproduce.


YOU might be a school employee if you laugh uncontrollably when people
refer to the staff room as the 'lounge.'

YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an obnoxious parent to
check into charter schools or home schooling and are willing to donate
the
U-HAUL boxes should they decided to move out of district.

YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine should be
available in intravenous form.

YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how the ACLU
could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then
requiring
uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever be
misunderstood by the
public.

YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent
instantly answers this question, 'Why is this kid like this?'

YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a mammogram over a
parent conference.

YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should invent
antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and chairs for that
matter!

YOU might be a school employee if the words 'I have college debt
for this?' has ever come out of your mouth.

YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes, and
seconds are left in the school year!

Bruce and Wes plunge for Special Olympics

Last Saturday, my next door neighbor, Wes and I plunged into the cool waters of Lake of the Woods in Mahommet to raise money for Special Olympics. It was a nice, sunny day, but the water was still cold. Now I can say Wes is my "coolest" friend. OK, maybe that's a bit cheesy, but our team name was "Ham and Cheese"! (Wes comes from a swine farm and I'm from a dairy farm.)
Wes ran ahead of me into the water, but I was still sore from running 8 miles that morning, so I was a little slower getting to the water.


This is Wes and I in our polar plunge hoodies before the plunge. Don't we look tough?

BIG NEWS!!!

It may seem small to some, but to me it is big news! My 7th grade volleyball team lost the sectional championship game on Monday night, and the 8th grade volleyball team lost the regional semi-finals game on Tuesday night. What does this mean? Volleyball season is OVER!! I feel somewhat guilty by saying that I am secretly (I guess not so secretly anymore) relieved. I was getting overly frusterated with volleyball and burned out to boot. Although I wish my 7th graders would have won on Monday night (it would have been nice to go to state), I am happy that my 8th graders lost for 2 reasons. 1)I can kind of have my spare time back. My evenings can be devoted to cleaning my house, playing softball games for the law school softball team, running, and my favorite thing reading. 2)The 8th graders never took anything seriously at practice or other games. They always had some kind of drama going on, and didn't try very hard to improve. This was frusterating to me because I often felt like I was wasting my time with a bunch of girls who didn't care how well they played or to improve. Practice became a joke and a goof around session in which no amount of yelling or chastizing would rectify the situation. They said the whole year that the 7th grade team was terrible and would never win any games. They believed it was lucky when the 7th graders beat them in our scrimmage games at practice. The 7th graders not only had a better record than they did, but they also made it two games farther in the state playoffs and brought home the regional plague. The 8th graders failed to do any of this. I felt inside that the 8th graders deserved to lose that game to teach them a simple lesson. Nothing is going to be handed to you in life. You have to play the game in order to win. They weren't willing to put in the extra effort to win the game. The team we lost to didn't do anything spectacular, and we really should have creamed them had we played to the potential and ability those girls actually have. They were much more athletic than the 7th grade team, but were much more lazy.
I am releived. A huge frustration has just been lifted off my shoulders.

What else will I be doing with the extra time. Trying to get the school play off and running. Some students of mine wrote a short play in conjunction with the spring music concert. They solicted my help in producing it, and I agreed.
Over the next month my thoughts will be consumed with getting through the rest of the school year, running for my marathon, and trying to get the show on.! Wish me luck.

8.5 miles and counting

With all of the running I have been doing lately, I'm sure some believe that I ran around the globe and got lost because I haven't posted in a while. My house certainly looks like this is the case. The truth is...in the short 28 days there are in February, I coached a total of 22 volleyball games. I have been catching up on 5 weeks of homework I had for the class I am currently taking, and I am trying to train for this silly half marathon I am running on April 11th. When I am not at school, practice, or on the volleyball court sideline throwing my hands in the air and burying my frusterated face into my hands, I am out on the road or on the treadmill trying desparetly to do something I absolutely detest...RUN! With all of this, you could think I would be in shape and able to handle the training pressure. WRONG!! I may need to take a day off to recover from all of my work days. I am trying to find some time to have fun, but I haven't felt super well all month. I will hopefully find out why when I visit the doctor tomorrow. The last Saturday in February, Bruce ran 6 miles by himself because I wasn't feeling well. Last Saturday (March 7), we went for an extra long run to boost up our traveled miles. As you may notice from the title, we ran for 8.5 miles. I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack on the side of the road. I experienced severe pain in the legs, stomach, and side and it didn't help that we were running against the wind. After 2 hours, my legs were straining and I felt exhausted. The ironic thing is the wind died down on the way back so I didn't have anything pushing me to finish. The only thing that motivated me to keep going was that I didn't want to pass out in the middle of the road and get hit by a car. I did finish, and I can't say that I was actually happy that I ran that far until Tuesday morning when my legs finally loosened up and stopped hurting. I am feeling extra brave, and hope to run a little farther this Saturday if only another half mile.
The truth is...I need some encouragement. I am down to less than a month and have 5 more miles to go. I want to run at least a 10 minute mile pace without stopping, but Saturday's run didn't prove to be too hopeful.
If you have some spare moments and want to give me some encouragement in terms of running, I could definately use it. Any tips you experienced runners have will also be greatly appreciated.
P.S. If you see me on the side of the road hunched over, kindly offer me a ride back home.! :):)