Another weeks bites the dust. Week two of teaching and week who knows of marathon training.

Week two of work went well.. Still exhausting and putting in 11 hour days. It was nice to have early release days on Monday, that means thee students get out an hour early, while we have to stay. That means I get to get some stuff done. This Monday, a co-worker and I went running at 4:30 and then was able to come back and get some work done. I am going to try and run quickly after work then come back and get work done, that is if I don't make it up in the morning... That is another thing I am going to try and do on Wednesday, getting up early to run. Tuesday we have a faculty meeting so I am not sure if getting up early will happen.

Wednesday and Thursday I worked the afterschool center so I actually got paid to stay later..

Thursday, Eric and I did our group run, we finally got our free shirts for doing 10 5k's. We did a Personal best for time 10:42 minutes per mile:)

Saturay was the long run, I got to sleep in, till 5:07 the got ready for 14 miles! I walked out of my house and got a chill! it was so nice and chilly. It was 75 when I checked the weather channel. It was my best run to date. I didn't stop once, except to get water at the water stops. I averaged a 11:59 pace which allowed me to finish 13.1 faster than my half marathon times!!

Special shout out to Coach Teresa and TEAM Member Jessica for sticking with me.

*side note* Once I got home and hopped into the shower, I noticed my bra chaffed my back and chest and am surely got to have more scarring!! DAMN training

This week is going to be a challange as I was ready to hit the pavement this morning, but they were mowing the lawn and didn't want my allergies to go hay wire.

There is a faculty meeting tomorrow..and 18 miles next week!! I have to mentally prepare for this! at 5am, 40 minutes away..Then is the first USF Home football game!!! GO BULLS:)

Week one of being a 7th grade geography teacher!

It went very well!! My kiddies are great:)

We did a lot of procedures and weren't able to get in a real lesson.

The teachers on my team are great!!

Everyone is such a big help!

For a week one celebration we went over to Grillsmith where I loaded up on carbs and water in preparation for Saturday's long run.

Friday I was sleeping by 9:30, the latest because my alarm was set for 3:45. I had 16 miles to do, but only was able to get in 13.1.

I started before the team as I had a funeral to go to and had to be home by 8:30 and out of the house by 9:30. My body didn't really feel like moving and I was going in slow motion and walked a lot.. I guess I like to stop and smell the roses..way too often.

I had an average pace of 15 min/miles which is slow if I ever want to finish 26.2 miles.

I have also come to the realization that I need someone to run with someone to kkeep me going and to increase my speed.

This week I managed to goet in two of my scheduled runs. One on Monday for 5 miles and one on thursday for 3.1 miles. On Thursday, I had my fastest 5k to date:) I managed a 10:57 pace. That was a perpsonal best. The weather was nice and cool because it just rained about an hour or two before.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!! I become a big girl!!

Tomorrow is the first day of Pre-planning as I become a 7th grade geography teacher! EEKKK! I have mixed emotions now; scared, timid, excitied, nervous, and it keeps on going. I am scared I won't have everything done. (I do have my first two days pretty much planned). We have a long list of meetings and workshops that need to be completed this week, with the inbetween time we get to work on our classrooms. Breakfast will be served each day, and boy do I LOVE food! Hopefully it is not as appitized as my breakfast smoothie so I am not tempted each day.

I have a lack of creativity when it comes to decorating so I am going to make my classroom as unclostered and inviting as possible :). I need to find the laminating machine at school before I hang up all my rocking posters, such as, my upside down map my sister brought me back from Australia as well as my roommates paintings of different parts of the globe we used for my summer job at the H.O.S.T program.

After a long day of pre-planning, it's off to get in some miles and strength training or a swim depending on how crowded the gym is. I now have no excuse not to go to the gym as it is right across from where I will be working, let's just hope everything gets accomplished during the day and I will not have to bring much stuff home...

XoXo

G$

Well, every Thursday, Eric and I are supposed to head to Fitniche WIregrass for our "Pub/Resturant" Run. The last few weeks were put on hold due to other circumstances, like exhaustion. For every ten runs, you get a free shirt, and yesterday I hit my 10th run, but there were no shirts available, Saucony, I was told, was slacking. Needless to say, it was my best run to date. I really can feel my improvements.

The first time Eric and I went out there we were so out of shape, it hurt to do a mile and it took us forever to finish (like most weeks), but not last night.

Yesterday I woke up and hit the pavement for 4.5 slow miles therefore I was not sure how my body would hold up at night. Let me also remind you how hot it is here in the state of Florida at 6:30 pm..HOT!!! probably felt like 100 degrees or more. But we started off strong. We make it to the half way point..1.55 with a 10:33 pace. For me, that is awsome!!!!! and on the way back, we slowed it down a bit and finished 35:38 with an overall pace of about 11:30, again, for me awsome!! Yes, for many people that would not be good, but one day I dream to run a 10 minute mile.

That again, was a major improvement from weeks ago and thank you to Eric and My Coach Teresa for sticking with me.

Thank you for John and Jennifer for always being out there with great words of encouragement.

After our run, we were dripping sweat and buggy!!!

We intended on a nice dinner of grilled chicken and veges, but once we got to publix, it was Publix subs, cake and ice cream!!!..I guess it was a good thing I ran twice yesterday)

Much love and Running,

Genna

I cannot believe it it August, I meant to do a July recap, but life again, always gets in the way as it is almost the middle of the month, we are just going to ignore the previous post.

August has filled me with a whirlwind of emotions... Name the emotion, I had it..Sad, Happy, Excited, Stressed..

For the second week in a row, training during the week came to a standstill when my boyfriends father lost his battle with cancer. He is a beloved husband, father and friend. That is just another reason why I run, to hopefully one day, cure cancer through raising funds for research. It was a lot of driving to his family's house just to be with the family..A family I have grown to adore and love :)

Life got a little happier when yours truly was offered not just one job, but two!!! YUP!! I was sitting in on an interview and one Middle school asked me to be their 8th grade American History teacher on the spot! Of Course I said yes, until I got into my car and received a Call from the Principal at my dream Middle School, and could not turn that down.. That was a crazy day trying to decide what I wanted to do, weighing the pro's and con's of each and getting in touch with both schools regarding the postition..and I finally made a decision!!!

I am the newest 7th grade geoography teacher at a quaint little school over in North Tampa!!

Working at this school is going to be so exciting, no to mention it is across the street from my gym.. I have NO excuse not to go work out before or after school, just saying!!

Now I am so overwhelmed with what has to be done! Any teacher out there with advice? ideas? anything helps!! please leave your comments or directly e-mail me at gennahimelfarb@yahoo.com !!!

So with the stress of that and utter exhaustion from work and driving trainign ws haulted except for my saturday long run!!

Luckily, it was right down the road from me, 12 miles cut to 11.3, and ran it with a teammate from out of the state! She rocked and stuck with me the whole time:)

That was my last week in a recap!!