Category Archives: #nerdlution

Break the Ice

#bookaday, #nerdlution, Celebrate, Family, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life, Uncategorized 
It's a NEW YEAR
Still the same School year
But a NEW YEAR!
Last time I blogged it was 
2014
If I don't hit "new post" and then "publish" now, another month might go by! 

I blog in my head sometimes, when I think I'll open my laptop after the kids go to bed. 

I have 
Celebrations of running (5 whole miles! Me!) 
Slices of fun and mess on Christmas Day 
My baby turning 5

I want to share
Reflections from my Winter Book-A-Day
A lesson comparing Letting Swift River Go to a piece on Global Warming Refugees 
and how just today I procrastinated grading late work by cleaning off my desk to make room for my new beach.
photo

I know I need to choose ONE WORD
and my #nerdlution promises 

But, for now I just decided to break the cold 2015 ice
I just decided to write.
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A Slice of Encouragement

#nerdlution, Family, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfe Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers. Head over there for information and links to more Slicing! 

run, stop, turn around
off the path
backwards
forwards
s l o w 
    d o w n

stop.

I’m running. I’m stopping and turning and watching for my kids, who are in various places, getting behind or ahead. My youngest keeps veering off the path, or getting tired on his plasma car. This isn’t what you would call my best run ever. It’s better when my husband comes and helps to watch the kids, and walks with them when they want to go off the track and into the park. I have tried this without him before, and it was a disaster. But, it’s exercise, and I’m grateful for the beautiful (hot) morning, and the kids who agreed to come with me, to our beautiful park.

Image

I see a woman park her jeep, and get herself ready to run. She puts her headphones on, and does that little head tilt of readiness. I’m jealous. She’s alone! Her run will just be about her run. We cross paths often, as she runs and I stop with E, my 4 year old. Occasionally we pass when I’m actually running too. We smile at each other each time. Her smile is kind, while mine most likely looks a little like a “I-can’t-believe-I’m-trying-to-exercise-still-with-these-kids-becoming-less-and-less-cooperative” smile.

E is done. He stops his plasma car, takes off his helmet and shrugs his shoulders. “I’m hot.”  So I do some lunges while he does some 4-year old jumping jacks, and we go under a tree to do crunches (E does the cutest crunches you ever saw, with his legs down, basically a nap with some slight head movements.)

The runner approaches me, with her same kind smile. “Keep it up! You’re doing a great job.” She hands me a bottle of water, I thank her and she walks away.

My eyes are about to tear from this kindness and morale boost, but luckily I’m with my three children. E and H jump on top of me as I try to do heel touches. I stop for a drink of my gifted water, and H says, “I hope she didn’t poison the water.” I pretend to be poisoned, we all laugh and we are ready to go home.

Thank you, stranger, for the water and the encouragement. In my inconsistent and slow running life, I’ve so far been impressed by the kindness of other runners. Everyone cheers other runners on, nobody seems to care that I don’t look like a runner. Best of all, none of the encouragement I’ve gotten seems condescending to me, even though I should wear this shirt for all my runs:

8e403f615a07210ffb2b9f8c206808b3

 

 

#sol14 March 2 “I ran”

#nerdlution, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfe

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March.  You should do it too! Check it out here. Thank you,  Two Writing Teachers! 

I know I’ve had a good workout when the soreness starts later that night, and gets worse as the next day goes on. I know I’ve had a really good workout when my friend is also sore enough to text me about it.

Image 2

I also knew I needed to exercise through the sore. So I whined about it most of the day, trying to figure out what kind of exercise would be the least painful. (I knew for sure I wasn’t doing squats today, for instance!) I finally decided to go on a walk. The snow had stopped, and the temperature was holding steady at a balmy 32 degrees. So I grabbed my sneakers, my fleece and my trusty iphone  and made my way outside for a brisk walk.

Don’t tell anyone, but there is something about the chilly smell of late afternoon to evening around here. I don’t know what it is: burning leaves, or wood, or ??? Whatever that amazing burning charcoal cozy smell is that permeates my neighborhood in the late afternoon and evening makes me want to go on a run. I’m sure this is because I started my running life* by going out after my children were asleep in the middle of a winter not too long ago. So I took a deep breath, turned up the tunes, and I ran.

Image 3
Wow. It’s hard to take a picture of your own feet running, even if you are motivated by a future slice of life post!

As I ran, I was trying to capture the run through my neighborhood . . .

I run

Smell of fire smoke
cozy warmth mingles with 
brisk snowy wind
Music fills my ears
so I don't hear my own breathing
I'm sure this makes me 
less
of a 
runner
I feel my feet hit the ground 
and I get lost in thinking
and smelling
and feeling the cold air on my face
but not so lost
that I don't keep checking my phone
to see how fast 
how slow 
I am going

* “running life”  is a laughable expression for sure, since my running life is slow and short, and not at all worth bragging about!

#nerdlution check in

#nerdlution

So.

I forgot to exercise today… Oops.

It isn’t the first time during this second round of #nerdlution. (I’m not even counting the week I was sick. . . )

But, I learned some things this year. . . and I think I have #nerdlution to thank.

I’ve learned:

  • It’s okay. It’s okay to be sick, to forget, to not be great at it. It’s the practice that counts, and the taking care of yourself.
  • Be gentle with yourself. It doesn’t help to be mad about a missed day of exercise. It doesn’t help to think badly about yourself.
  • Get back on the horse elliptical. There’s always tomorrow!

So tomorrow after school, I’ll climb back on the elliptical, do some intervals, and hope that this week’s meetings and grading and planning don’t make me skip my #nerdlution.

Oh – and tonight? Tonight I’ll probably do a plank or two – just because even though it’s okay to forget. . . it still bothers me. Which is something I would never had said about exercise before. Ever. Never. Ever. Never. Ever. Just ask my high school gym teachers. (But that is another post!)

Here's to more days, where I don't forget to exercise!
Here’s a day when I didn’t forget to exercise!

#nerdlution

#nerdlution

I couldn’t stop myself from joining  the #nerdlution revolution over on twitter.

Fallout from high school means that I automatically feel like a ‘poser.’ A few days ago,  I watched a super fun twitter chat between a few amazing people. (Colby Sharp, Katherine Sokolowski, Franki Sibberson, and Chris Lehman! ) I admire so much of what these  folks do – and  tweet – and this time, I felt there was a real opportunity  to join the fun: #nerdlution.  What I can commit to for the next 50 days ?

50 days of movement. That’s what I’ll do. I already exercise about 3 times a week – so I just need to add 4 days. I can do that. A quick mile run, or a set of intervals… The daily twitter check in. Say it with me: I can do it!

50 days of writing. I am out of practice, which is why this blog was set up and then pushed aside. I can’t post each day, but I can write each day.

I just started this blog – and now my first post is a copycat of all these people I follow on twitter – ah well.  There’s time for being unique later. I’m just happy to invite myself to the party.

Get real info about #nerdlution on twitter, or the wonderful blogs of: Colby Sharp, Katherine Sokolowski,  Franki Sibberson,  Chris Lehman and Donalyn Miller. . .