New Kicks

Happy Saturday! While we were supposed to have a very rainy Saturday, we've hardly had any rain at all. And while I was looking forward to the rain, as a means of being productive, I'm glad the sky held itself together. Because yesterday after school I treated myself to a pair of new running shoes - Asics GT-2000 3, to be exact - from Luke's Locker, and I am obsessed. In love. Infatuated. Call it what you want, but they feel like pillows on my feet. And they're pretty cute to boot.

I believe I mentioned in last Sunday's post that after the Austin Half Marathon, I was going to invest in a new pair of running shoes. You are supposed to replace your running shoes every 300-500 miles, and I think it's safe to say that I've put my fair share of miles on my pink Brooks. My body was certainly telling me that, and after putting on my new pair of Asics, I knew it was true. I felt a difference right away. And as I've also mentioned before, I pronate when I run, meaning I need a little extra support so that my knees won't start giving me trouble. And though that means buying a more expensive shoe, I would much rather pay a little bit more for shoes, than have to pay for knee surgery, or worse, stop running altogether. And ever since I have started purchasing shoes with that extra support, I have experienced very, very little knee pain. And I'm hoping this new pair of shoes will help with my left shin pain. Because weirdly enough, it's only my left shin that has been giving me trouble. Hopefully the new shoes, paired with some diligent calf stretching, will do the trick.

To break in my new shoes, I decided to take them out for a seven mile run around the neighborhood. They have to get acclimated with one another, after all. I know many parts of the country are experiencing some crazy cold weather right now, but not this part. It was about 72 degrees with 80% humidity when I went out for my run. I thought it was going to be a tough run, but it was actually very pleasant. I set out to run only six miles, but it felt so good that I just kept on going. A little slower than usual, but I'll chalk that one up to the humidity. Nonetheless, a great Saturday afternoon run.

I was nice and sweaty after that run, so I came home to shower and freshen up. One of my fellow English teachers has the same off-period as me, and he has a teacher float into his room. And I obviously do not have a classroom, so we both find ourselves in the English lounge at the same time. He is absolutely hilarious to talk to, and he is also a big-time runner. Just the other day we discussed how when we run, we sweat. Some people maybe have a bead of sweat running down the side of their face, but that is not the case for me. So, a shower was very necessary.

After my shower, I headed up the road to Salata for a healthy post-run salad. I sat in there and read Scary Close by Donald Miller while I was eating my salad, and though I am only about one-tenth of the way through the book, I love it already. It focuses a lot on meaningful relationships, and the freedom that comes from loving other people. I'm hoping to get a few more things done so that I can curl up for the rest of the evening with my Kindle.

After making a few stops at CityCentre, I headed back home to continue working. I have been surprisingly productive today, but I still have quite a lot of ground to cover, mainly in the grading area. Honestly, I'm not even touching the short answer responses they wrote yesterday in class, because they are an absolute train wreck. The question asked of them was extremely complex, and I'm not sure that they really gained anything by writing them. I want to take time to go over (for the upteenth time) how to correctly answer a short answer response question. It would take me far more time than it's worth to truly grade and make comments on them. I do still have a stack of expository essays staring back at me, and I would like to get to those before the weekend is over.

I hope your Saturday has been a good one! Anyone gearing up for The Oscars tomorrow night? I will watch them, of course, but because I'm absolutely awful about going to see movies, I'll probably be watching it more for the dresses. And to see if Bellaire grad Richard Linklater can bring home another award for his film, Boyhood. See you guys tomorrow!