easy as pie

Actually the pie was easier than I thought it would be to make. Followed a recipe from How to Cook Everything and it turned out to be pretty good. Okay, better than pretty good. It was polished off by my 11 advisees in 5 minutes or less. I know, they are hungry teenagers and will eat just about anything. But teenagers also have an amazing talent for being blunt when it comes to...well, just about anything. And they all said that they REALLY liked it (and wished I had made 2!) just as much without the ice cream...although I think apple pie is ALWAYS better a la mode! They were quite funny about it and told me that maybe I should think about taking on another job...as a baker. I told them I didn't think I had time for that unless they wanted to fire me as their advisor. Smart ones that they are, seeing as we have the whole year together, resoundingly said, "NO!"
And then it was time for a quick game of CatchPhrase. It seemed like everyone was in need of a little laughter today and this game certainly gave that to us. (Oh, and they got to discover today that I am a wickedly good guesser when it comes to CatchPhrase - if I do say so myself. Because one student needed to study I was a "swing player" and guessed for both teams...it was awesome because it meant I got to play the whole time! Yes, I think I'm a kid at heart.) Each advisory of mine has a different personality and this one is definitely fun, quick to laugh, responsible, and just wonderful to be with. Yes, they have plenty of "teenage moments" - I would expect or want nothing less - but they sure are adding a lot of joy to my life. Making it easy (as pie...I couldn't resist!) to enjoy advising them.
Training note: I must keep going to track because I'm getting back into that weird mode that I get in where I'd rather be doing any sort of run rather than be at track. Seriously, all day today I was hoping for a football game at O'Henry so that we might be forced to do hills instead of ovals. I even thought at one point I'd rather be headed out for a 15 mile run rather than track practice?! WHAT?! Got to keep going so I get over this...sooner rather than later please, ETG. (I hate dreading a workout!) Thanks, Amy, for pulling me through tonight's workout...again.

you might need Kleenex...

...or maybe it's just me.
Again, I ask you, who can handle watching this gracefully? Who could have ever asked for, received, or deserved friends who make incredible things and love me like this? It's all beyond my imagination.
As I wrote to my St. Andrew's family after we watched this:
As anyone around me in chapel today can tell you, I'm not quite sure how to respond to your outpouring of love. Really, a standing ovation was WAY more than I deserved. And the slideshow, well, it brought back so many memories of that day. And of the six months leading up to it.
And now that it's been made more public than a posting on the website, I'm afraid it's going to mean that you have to hear a chapel talk from me about it sometime this year. Not because I think you'll all want to do an Ironman someday or because you care about swimming or biking or running that many miles but because the lessons I learned along the way (not just that day but every day leading up to that day) are really lessons about life. And I figure that my sweat and sore muscles ought to be good for something other than a personal "claim to fame"!
But I will tell you now that on that day in June there were a million reasons NOT to stop swimming or biking or running and 300+ of them (that's about the size of our student body + faculty) were you. I didn't cross the finish line that day on my own...I didn't cover all of those training miles on my own. Y'all were and continue to be a HUGE source of inspiration to me. So, yes, maybe I am YOUR Ironman. I couldn't be more honored to be claimed by a community.
With love and deep, deep gratitude...

To set the stage, here's how Kimberly introduced the whole thing: "There is a sticker on a green Subaru parked in a faculty spot that simply states the numbers 140.6. Some of you know what this number means. For those of you who don't, it's the sum when adding a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and the 26.2 miles of a marathon. This past summer on June 21st, a member of the faculty completed her first Ironman in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Her race began at 7 a.m. and she finished the marathon 14 hours later. Luckily Mr. Works and I were able to travel to Idaho to represent her fan club and watch her make her way through the city on a day that started out cold and windy and ended cold and windy and rainy. It was one of the great privileges of our lives to see her cross the finish line. In preparation, Miss Guice trained over 7 months and logged over 2,300 miles. The fact that she completed this grueling race, smiling all the way, is just one more reason to be in awe of her. She is an amazing and inspiring person. This little video, thank you Mr. Heck, is a tiny tribute to her huge accomplishment."

Enjoy...and thanks to Kimberly and Jim and Amy (and anyone else who helped pull this video together who I don't know about!) And, of course, Gordon for some of the pictures and John for being there...and Grace and Emma, the dogs...and everyone else I've thanked before who was part of my training or general upbringing. Something like this doesn't happen in isolation.
XOXO,
etg

scattered...calmed

I rolled out of bed excited about swim practice...I'm always excited about swim practice. But somewhere between Enfield and Loop 360 on MoPac I saw a big flash of light across the sky. And then another. And then another. I will swim in the pouring down rain but I don't mess with lightning and water. And I figured the folks at Circle C wouldn't either. Shoot.
Quick adjustment..."I'll go to spin, and then I'll swim tonight" was my thought. Quickly countered by, "No, there's no morning spin today..." Solution #2, "I'll go to core...oh, but it might start at 5:30 today and it's already 5:30. And do you have the right clothes - after all, you thought you were going swimming!"
Solution #3: "Go home, change into yoga clothes, and go to the 6:30 yoga class at YogaVida since you couldn't do it yesterday." Nice. Decision made. And I was happy with it. Until I realize, "Oh, I bet this morning is a morning when there's a yoga class at the PTC and I could have tried that out!" Duh. Too bad, I was at YogaVida at that point in time and I was just happy to be settled to do something . I felt like I'd had a MAJOR mental workout in that hour between 5:15 and 6:16 a.m. Yoga felt good as a rest for my brain! (Oh, and stretching my legs after Wilke was good, too...the lunges, however, were not.)
I left yoga feeling calmer.
But the real thing that calmed me was seeing a double rainbow in the sky on the other side of Lamar as I headed to school. This picture doesn't do it justice but it was really spectacular. And somehow made me feel like my day was going to be much calmer than my morning had been. Turned out to be a true sign of the day. Phew.
And all of that in a matter of 3 hours from start to finish... Made for a rather long day. But a good day. And one that ended with me making my first apple pie ever. I know, me, the baking queen...I've made apple crisp and an apple turnover and an apple-cranberry crumble and even applesauce but never before an apple pie. Turned out pretty well...although the real test will be my students tomorrow.

emotional

I think that word - emotional - is the best way to describe my day. Which is funny because I think of myself as a pretty even-keeled person, even though I'm full of emotions and sensitive and all of that stuff!
So here's the rundown of the day...the roller coaster ride that I was destined to be on.
From 6:30-7:30, I was a tad frustrated and distracted:
It started with a yoga class with no instructor...bummer. So I tried to do yoga on my own. I wish I were more inspired but I have to fight distraction in my own living room...and my warm bed in my bedroom!
From 8:30-9:15, I was happy:
I then got to know a bunch of freshmen whom I will be teaching and learning with this year as we experience Service Learning 9 together. They are cute and talkative and curious and a really nice group of 9th graders. Lucky me!
From 10-10:35, I was amused :
Peach cobbler a la mode at 10:00 - too early for dessert? Not according to a group of seniors who devoured at least 1/2 a pan of cobbler and 1/2 a gallon of ice cream. Only after a slightly off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" which had us all laughing.
From 12:15-12:55, I was humbled:
Lunch brought a meeting that reminded me that I cannot be Wonder Woman. I know this. But it's still tough for me to admit that I can't fit everything into my life that I might want to.
From 1:20-1:30, I was crying:
But they were good tears. My dear friend and colleague Kimberly got up to make a chapel announcement and I half expected to hear her saying something about the Lit Journal - thinking to myself that she was getting a head start on it this year! But instead I heard her start an announcement that involved my car. "There's a green Subaru in the parking lot that has a sticker on the back that says 140.6. It's a simple sticker but it stands for something really big." Or something like that. It took me a moment to realize she wasn't going to tell me that my lights were on or something?! She went on to talk about IMCDA and her experience there - in far too generous words - and then she (and Jim Heck) had created a video for everyone to see. Well, it didn't take much to get my crying. Between her sweet words and my advisees who kept turning around and saying "Yay, Miss Guice!" I was pretty much a puddle. Thankful to be sitting down in a sea of students and hopeful that I might just blend into the woodwork. I was embarrassed to be singled out and at the same time so very touched by it all. Thankfully, Kimberly is a real friend and knew to edit out the most unflattering pictures (!) and it was funny to see that really I was smiling in most of them, which is something she had said about the entire race. As if all of that wasn't enough, the slide show ended with one last clip...it was Mike Reilly saying "Elizabeth something (I don't think it was actually my last name) you are an Ironman" and the slide after that read, "Ms. Guice, you are OUR Ironman" at which point the entire chapel stood up for a spontaneous standing ovation. I mean, really, who can handle that gracefully?! It think it might have been more overwhelming to me than crossing that finish line in June...probably because I wasn't so tired! Suffice to say, if you ever wanted to feel love or support, you needed to be in that St. Andrew's chapel today. If any community wants to claim me as their Ironman, I couldn't be more honored for it to be this wonderful school family. Again a reminder that I am blessed with way more than I deserve in this life. A million times more...
From 3:30-4:30, I was baffled:
How is it that I've been going to the dentist for 30+ years and this is the first time that I've ever had one tell me about the extra bones in my mouth. Well, it explains why x-rays are so &@*&! painful. But it's still a bit curious to me. Just another freak-of-nature point for me, I guess (one website said 27/1000 have this "developmental anomaly"...awesome). The good news is that they are harmless...but they will keep growing. How weird is that?! Our bodies are weird?! But also awesome because they can do stuff like...
From 6:00-7:30, I was breathless:
... WILKE repeats!!! Woo-hoo! If you've been reading my blog for any length of time then you know about Wilke - this fabulously steep hill in Austin that we run up and down because we're crazy like that. Tonight was Wilke times 8 + some backwards repeats (2) + some full speed ahead repeats (2)...and then back to Barton Springs. Phew. Tough workout as usual. And the humidity is not helping us any. And I was the caboose again. But I'm learning what I have deep down inside every time I don't have a teammate's heels to chase. Sometimes I don't have as much as I wish I did. Tonight, I had just enough. (Oh, and there are always other people out there just not always people who run my pace!)
From 7:45-bedtime, I was many of those emotions all over again:
A sweet conversation with Gran that made me cry...a not-so-sweet email that made the tears continue...another email that made me laugh...rolling my calves that made me catch my breath...reliving the day which made me happy, humble, and grateful...and wondering how it is 10:00 p.m. which always baffles me!
I'm going to bed a little exhausted from that roller coaster ride...I think tomorrow, if I have a choice (which I know I don't!), I'll settle for a calm paddle down a river, please.

hills...cobbler and everything in between

I feel like my day yesterday ended with hills...and my day today began with hills! This time on foot. From "the rock" at Town Lake up Scenic over to Balcones all the way to 2222 and back toward the lake via Hancock, Bull Creek, Jefferson, 35th, and Exposition. This might not mean a lot to some of you reading this but it's a pretty darn hilly run. Balcones is one of those hills in Austin that makes your car lurch back a little in an effort to get up it. Sort of like what my heart felt like doing today! But it was great to run a new route so I tried to focus on that and just moving my legs as well as they would move as I tackled the 12 miles + 3 more on the trail. Not gonna lie, it was a tough run today. Well, they are all tough but those extra 3 miles on the trail combined with the hills and the humidity really stretched me. But I made it! I'm not saying it was pretty...but it made for a very welcomed ice bath when I got home.
The afternoon was a wonderful mix of catching up with friends (that did my heart good!) and getting errands run and then home to do some work and do laundry and bake! (Confession: my favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon music-wise is to find the Country Top 40 that I've missed because of my morning run and listen to it...I will understand if some of you don't feel like you can talk to me anymore.) The house still smelled sweet from banana bread last night...the summer has made me a banana bread making machine since I seem to lose bananas faster than I can eat them. (If anyone reading this wants a loaf, let me know. I have a couple of extras...Meredith's recipe made a lot!) Today's menu included chocolate chip cookies for some students at school and peach cobbler (or the peach cobbler I make when peaches are no longer in season) for a student's birthday tomorrow. Later in the week I have to see if I can make an apple pie? My advisees get to choose what they want as a treat for their birthdays...which means that I sometimes end up experimenting in my kitchen! The cobbler turned out well today...a little scoop of ice cream on it tomorrow and it will be AWESOME!
Now to make some "real food" for the week and lounge on the couch a little...somehow it got to be 7 p.m. without my having done that. Oh, well, the day has been so great, I don't even care!

rip roarin' ride

Right. My blog title is actually the name of a charity ride that Amy and I did today (T3ers Maggie - who did 103 miles..go, Maggie, go! - and Joe and Claudette were out there, too!), not necessarily the pace at which we were riding. Although I think that we should get some credit for being so darn consistent. Seriously. Amy and I average between 15 and 16.5 mph every ride. Hills. Flat. Smooth. Bumpy. Hot. Cold. Wind. No wind. Actually, to give Amy credit, there were a few times when she left me in the dust and was closer to 17 or slightly above but really, I'm amazed how we always fall within the same range.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Especially since considering about a year ago averaging 15 consistently was huge accomplishment for me. 14.5 was more my specialty. But it does sort of crack me up that I have yet to figure out the secret to getting past this 15-16.5 speed trap that I seem to be stuck in. I actually thought that it might be impossible for me to average anything faster on the road, for more than a nano-second or two. But I dispelled that self-created myth today. For the last 14 miles of my ride I averaged about 16.8! Granted this part of the course we rode didn't have a ton of hills but it had its share of central Texas rollers and I actually felt slightly strong on them. I know 16.8 is not that much more than 16.5 but it feels a heck of a lot closer to 17! Now, can I hold that for more than 14 miles...yeah, I'm not so sure about that. But even having done it for a little bit of a 79 mile ride gives me encouragement that it might happen again some day...for at least as long, if not longer.
Today would have been a great ride even without this baby step in the speed department. The weather was awesome (although I did not have on enough sunscreen...grrr...) and my riding buddy Amy was awesome - as usual. And it was nice to be on a different route, with incredible support - from SAG vehicles to rest stops it was the way to go for a longer ride.
And just maybe I'll head back out there next year to see if I can make it a truly "roarin' " ride for a little bit more of the course...a girl can dream! Speaking of...need to go catch some zzzz's before tomorrow's 15-mile run. Scenic, Balcones, here I come...

friday story and quotation

Each year St. Andrew's chooses a non-profit to support through fundraisers, volunteer work, etc... Last year we raised money to support the Gazelle Foundation and helped bring clean drinking water to people in Burundi. This year we're sticking closer to home and are going to support Lifeworks, an organization in Austin that helps move children and families from crisis to safety. Lifeworks provides housing, counseling, and education resources for youth so that they might lead lives of self-sufficiency to avoid long-term reliance on social services. This week Susan McDowell, executive director of Lifeworks, came to speak to St. Andrew's to explain what Lifeworks does. Part of her presentation included a story about a young man who was extremely grateful to Lifeworks for helping him find his way through life after years of living on the street after he and his sister were abandoned by their mother. The story was moving. It had 300+ teenagers and all of us adults in the room hushed to silence.
But what really struck me was what Susan said at the end of her presentation. As she was explaining the role that Lifeworks played in the lives of the people that had been helped, she shared an idea that went something like this: "everyone deserves someone in their lives who supports them irrationally." I LOVE THAT STATEMENT!
Someone who will stand up for you and go to bat for you and help you out. Someone who is in your court even when things look bleak. Someone who will go to the end of the earth for you even though it's a crazy thing to do. Someone who will be by your side no matter the day - good or bad.
And it made me grateful to have had more than my share of people like that in my life. Far more than I ever deserved. And it made me think about being that person for at least one person in my lifetime.

a new twist for a Thursday night

If last night I was the picture of health doing yoga for 90 minutes then tonight I am the picture of slothfulness as I'm about to perfect the art of being a couch potato.
I cannot remember the last time I did this on a weekday night. Usually I'm at a meeting or working out or meeting up with friends. But tonight was a night when I could just go home and on a rainy evening that's exactly what I wanted to do. Plus one of the only TV shows that I watch to get my weekly dose of "chick flick" TV - Grey's Anatomy - has its season premiere tonight and I'm excited to see it! Cup of hot chocolate in hand, feet propped up, no little projects to do while watching...I'm all over it! (Let's just hope I don't fall asleep! I've perfected the art of that, too...)
Then it will be early to bed because it's early to rise to meet Jess at Barton Springs so that even in the "it's sort of fall" morning chill tomorrow morning we will both swim. We decided that we needed a little accountability tomorrow. Thank goodness for workout buddies to get me where I need to be when I'm doubtful that I will get myself there!
But for tonight...no thoughts of working out...only chilling out. LOVE IT!

core

Today was all about core work for me. Started with an hour of CoreFit Fusion. Man my arms are sore. So much to work on there. And I ended with 90 minutes of yoga. That was sort of by accident - well, the 90 minutes part. A faculty meeting kept me from track practice - that was in the rain...but they did my favorite track workout of all time...and I always seem to miss it! Ah...maybe I was supposed to be at yoga instead. For all 90 minutes. I honestly thought it was a 60 minute class but somewhere between sun salutation 8 or 9 I started to think it must be longer. No choice but to go with it and soak up being there and working my muscles and mind in that way. Trying to stay centered. Always focused on my core - literally and figuratively.
In all that we do in triathlons, we're constantly using our core whether we realize it or not. And I've been pretty consistent about 1 core class + 1 yoga class each week so hopefully my physical core is getting stronger. Now I have to remember not only to strengthen it but also to engage it.
As I focused on engaging my core tonight at yoga, I found myself thinking about my figurative core, too - who I am at my most basic level. And I decided that I need to keep working on that and engaging that, too! Even though I'm 35 I feel like my real core is actually just developing. Don't ask me what the heck I've been doing for the last 35 years of my life...maybe getting my core ready to become its real self?! Can we say "late bloomer" here?!
I joked with Praveeta last week that I was finally finding my voice and she reminded me that some people never do. So true. And I guess some people never find their core either. But I can safely say that over the last three years especially, I feel like my core is becoming more defined. And that feels really good. I know that who I am becoming has disappointed some people - some folks who mean the world to me. But having spent a good part of my life pleasing people but never feeling very much peace within myself...down to my core...I can safely say that this feels better. Much like my literal core, it's a long way from a six-pack in terms of definition...but it's getting there. At least it's getting easier for me to imagine it. I know it will never be perfectly defined and honestly I don't want it to be. What on earth would I do if I were "done" becoming me?! I hope I'm still trying to achieve that six-pack core literally and figuratively when I'm 90.

on a roll...

...well, not really. And my legs are not happy with me! My legs feel more tired than they ever did during Ironman training. Or at least that I can remember. Maybe they did feel this tired but I blocked it from my memory?! Somewhere between my 65 mile ride + 30 minute brick on Saturday, 14 mile run (at a not-so-slow-for-ETG pace) on Sunday, and "not quite a mile" repeats in Zilker yesterday my legs decided that they were done. And really, who can blame them? I did not thank them appropriately for all of that work. Oops.
I took a good ice bath on Sunday and I stretched a little bit. I did yoga on Monday. And I finally remembered to roll my legs out last night. Duh. Slow learner right here. You would think I had learned my lesson last winter when I was dealing with shin splints. I was SO good about rolling then that Erin joked that I needed to find a professional rolling contest to enter. Well, I'd be dead last if I tried such a contest now. I'm out of practice, lost that discipline of doing it (for the moment); but I'm ready to rejoin the world of rolling! Really, I should know better. When your massage therapist tells you every time that your calves feel like re-bar or chunky peanut butter because they are so tight and full of old junk from years of not stretching properly (remember those pseudo-stretches after soccer practice...yeah, they weren't enough, folks!) you should get a clue that this problem is not going away. And I know exactly where the road of not rolling leads...aqua jogging...no running...shin splints...NO FUN. (Well, aqua jogging is fun but I'd rather choose to do it than be forced to do it!)
So to my legs: I get the picture. I owe you some rolling, a little TLC, and some rest. All coming soon! And also to those same legs: I'm grateful for you, really I am. You've held up through a lot. You may not be the fastest or leanest or longest legs on the planet but you've put up with my insistence on trying to make you all of those things! But you better watch out because between my foam roller and my Triggerpoint kit I might just find a way to make Katie's job a little easier next time I get a massage! (And after core tomorrow...no more pounding until Sunday's long run, only swimming and biking.)

gems from yoga class

Deralyn was back and, well, I just really like her as a teacher. And I think it's sweet that for some unknown reason she has remembered my name. Anyway, she often starts the class with some thought-provoking reading and today was no different. It was all about shifting our perspective: "Sometimes a slight difference in where we stand can dramatically change how we see things... We often need to change our position so we can see things differently. We don't have to make a dramatic change; we just need to move around a little. Perhaps an unresolved issue is blocking our vision, blocking us from seeing the beauty that's there. Maybe a bit of anger or self-contempt is interfering with our vision. Maybe the changes we need to make are minor, much less than we thought. Maybe we simply need to look at whatever we are viewing without fear, change our mood and see it with the eyes of love. Take a break. Move around. Learn to change your perspective. Maybe you don't need to change what you're looking at. You just need to change where you stand." (Melody Beattie)
I haven't quite figured out how this all fits into my life but I'm sure it does...somewhere... somehow. Maybe yoga will help me figure it out. Maybe friends will. Maybe training will. Maybe family will. Maybe it will be my students or my colleagues. Maybe it will be an unexpected encounter with someone I don't even know. Maybe it will happen while I'm walking to get my mail one day. Who knows? My take-away is a re-commitment to being open to changing where I stand on things to gain a new perspective. Not trying to change my surroundings or what I'm looking at but rather to see them from a different angle.
At the end of class, Deralyn played some music and a couple of the songs really struck a chord in me but the one that resonated with me all day was "Strength, Courage, and Wisdom". Such a great, simple message...and something I hope to embrace and have in my life. Strength. Courage. And Wisdom. Throw love and hope and faith in there and you've pretty much got the complete package.

it's just good to laugh...

...those really deep, tears running down your face, you have to lean over because your stomach hurts laughs. And it was exactly what I needed today. I mean, I need it every day but with tears brought to my eyes for not so happy reasons at other points in the day it was really a gift to have genuine laughter interspersed in my day. From the trail to dinner and everywhere in between there were moments where smiles prevailed...my face might get stuck that way?! I suppose there could be worse things! Thanks to everyone who brought those smiles to my face.

little annoyances

Disclaimer...I'm writing this more because I got a good laugh out of the things that annoyed me today. I don't mean it to sound like I'm complaining (I'll save my real complaining for the big things in life!), because they are so small in the large scheme of things. But so annoying. Sort of like mosquitoes.
1 - when people go out on bike rides on routes they do not know and do not bring maps or directions with them or plan to ride with someone who knows the way. I'm amazed when I witness this and I always think that these people are just a lot more confident than I am when it comes to riding a new route (and I have a pretty good internal GPS). Or maybe they are just not all that smart when it comes to making good decisions about riding? Today on the Longhorn course where, even in spite of my planning and printing turn-by-turn directions, I had to rely on others from time to time, I was struck by one woman (NOT a T3-er!!) who had set out on the route without any directions and then had the audacity to turn to me at one point and say, "Do you have any idea where you are going?" with an accusatory tone. I calmly said, "Yes, we stay on this road until we see Decker Lake Road and then we take a right" when I really wanted to say, "Well, I know where I am going...I have no idea where you are going. And, it would be hard for you to know, too, since you don't have directions." I don't know why this is such a hot-button issue for me. It's not that I mind helping people - I actually LOVE helping people. But I really do get annoyed when people set out for a ride without helping themselves first by being prepared.
2 - if you are in a store and you have your kids with you, please watch them so that they are not running around and into carts and knocking over stuff. And if they do knock something over, please walk back to the mess with them and pick it up (get them to help, too!). Today I saw a family with lots of kids leaving a path of destruction, and when the parents noticed it they just kept walking and said, "Oh, someone will get that." In shock I said, "Gosh...the folks who work here would probably appreciate a little help with it though." They just shrugged. Wow. I don't get that either. You make a mess, you clean it up. It's not that tough. (P.S. I love kids...today it was really just the lack of respect shown by their parents who needed to set a good example!)
3 - I get annoyed when I try to support local stores and have to eventually go online to get running shoes. This is no one's fault but the manufacturers who stop producing certain models of shoes when they are about to put the new model out. But I've been patiently waiting and checking and was advised today to get them someplace else. I appreciated that suggestion and will certainly have other times to buy shoes and support Rogue Running, but I wish I'd had a crystal ball to see this coming 3 weeks ago when I went in there and was told there would be a new shipment in a few weeks. Apparently the shoes walked out of the store before they even really hit the shelves! Oh, well, new shoes will be here in about 4 days and I still have a few miles left in the old shoes.
4 - finally, I get annoyed when companies send me stuff that I haven't ordered and I miss the fine print of "return by this date to avoid paying for this" and I end up having to keep something I didn't even want in the first place. This is totally my own fault for not paying more attention to such things. Alas, I hope there are some good recipes in this new cookbook I just bought myself! Note to self: read more closely...especially when it comes to products that you didn't order!
Okay, enough griping...sorry for an annoying post. And how funny is it that I did NOT get annoyed by anything when chaperoning the 80 or so seniors on their sr. retreat! Maybe I just need another night's sleep in my own bed to get this "being easily annoyed" bug out of my system. Oh, and per my post yesterday...I think I owe someone money today if thoughts count against us, too. Better luck to me tomorrow!

friday quotation

This one stopped me in my tracks.

"If someone were to pay you ten cents for every kind word you ever spoke and collect five cents for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?"

On any given day, let's hope I would break even. Over the course of my lifetime, I'll aim to come out ahead...

don't tell Mother Nature...

...but it feels like fall here! Well, at least the beginning of fall.
I'm worried she's slacking on the job of delivering only hot weather to central Texas (and many other parts of the US). But I'll give her a break and encourage the slacking.
It was actually sweatshirt weather on the pool deck this morning - and any time that you stopped swimming for any length of time. (Luckily, I was in a lane with short intervals so I barely had time to breathe, much less chat at the wall!) All day there was a great breeze blowing and I'm excited to be out in the Hill Country tonight with our seniors enjoying a campfire (and s'mores! you know how I LOVE s'mores!), listening to crickets, and soaking up some silence (well, after 80+ teenagers have gone to sleep I will enjoy silence).

picture day

First, it's sort of a funny thing to be 35 and still get a school picture each year. Full disclosure - for some years I actually gave them as presents to my family because they always wanted pictures of me and I never seemed to have appropriate ones to give to them!
But today I was the kid who totally forgot about school pictures. Awesome. Really, it doesn't matter but it might have been nice if the thought had crossed my mind before I left the PTC this morning having decided that I really didn't need to blow dry my hair - that it would look fine just pulled back in a ponytail (again).
Let's hope I look better than this guy here...
When's photo re-take day?

fast-twitch muscles

So I came to the conclusion tonight that I think I just don't have a lot of fast twitch muscles. I'm not complaining. I'm not using it as an excuse for not being faster on the bike or when I'm running short, fast stuff. It's just the facts. So...I think I need my muscles to be quick learners of new patterns of behavior if they are not going to be naturally fast twitchers! I'm trying to re-train them but they are resisting. I think over time they will decide they don't want to mess with me since I can be one stubborn gal - or at least I hope this is true.
All that said, while I might have been shorted some fast-twitch muscles, I think I got an extra dose of a lot of other things - stubbornness included...along with patience (with everyone and everything but myself!), determination, and hopefully things like compassion and love, too. I'll trade those for fast-twitch muscles any day but I might still try to force my muscles into a new routine.

gravity

Today's yoga class was all about gravity. For the first half of class, Dean actually played John Mayer's "Gravity" - great lyrics like "gravity is working against me...and gravity is bringing me down..." And then he went on to say that in yoga we can try to undo gravity. We do postures like inversions that work against the natural forces of nature. And then we also give in to gravity and do poses like corpse pose and sink into the earth.
And today we did both. We used gravity to ground us in frog and corpse pose. And we defied gravity by trying headstand or handstand. I tried a headstand. Okay, I used the wall for support! But I gave it a try and shot my legs up in the air. It was uncomfortable but it also felt powerful and a little refreshing.
I think that my ease and my discomfort with both defying gravity and giving into gravity sort of reflect my life right now! As Dean suggested, sometimes we have to try to fight gravity and push ourselves outside of our comfort zone. Not give in to complacency. But other times, we need to let gravity take over and let things fall away, let things fall as they may, and don't fight the natural forces of nature.
I usually like to exert some control over things even though I'm trying really hard to "unlearn" that habit. So more and more, I'm trying to find the natural order of things and let things come together (or fall apart) as they will. It doesn't mean I don't care. It doesn't mean that I don't still want to think I'm in control. And it doesn't mean that I don't jump in and intervene when my heart tells me to. It just means that I'm trying to be more willing to trust the universe, God, my gut, cosmic forces...whatever you want to call it...and believe that sometimes I need to let my head take a break and let gravity - or whatever grounds me...my heart? my soul? - lead the way. (And that is both freeing and terrifying!)
P.S. I am glad that I fought the natural forces of nature and kept plugging through my day...what a total mess of a morning...got to yoga 30 minutes early - seriously?! - forgot my work clothes at home... If you need a "re-do" by 6:30 a.m. I think it's a bad sign. But I made up for it throughout the day and especially at the hill workout tonight where I defied gravity big time and forced my way up those hills each time!

moonlight tower run

This morning, starting at 5:30 a.m. Gordon, Amy, and I embarked upon what we came to joke about being our "Moonlight Tower" run through Austin to log 14 miles in the books.
Austin has these very cool things called Moonlight Towers. There are currently 17 in use in Austin. We didn't hit quite all 17 of them on our run but we definitely enjoyed the light of many of them that are west of I-35.
Apparently in the late 1800s, this type of lighting was fairly common across the United States as a way to light public spaces. Today, only Austin is the only city in the U.S. where they are still used...pretty neat! Some details: they are 150 feet tall and shed light (enough to read by) for a 1,500 foot radius. I'll vouch for that. Well, not the reading part, but how much area they light up. They helped us a lot on some neighborhood streets in the pre-dawn hours today! Just one more reason why Austin is so cool...
Glad to start my day with this run with Gordon and Amy...to continue it with time with friends...to wind it down with some work (with my windows open b/c it's finally a bearable temperature here in Austin!), laundry, cooking (finally! a big ole pan of roasted veggies and salmon...food for the week!), and some reading. A pretty wonderful Sunday...

September 11

I know that today is September 12, but I didn't write about September 11 yesterday...partly in keeping with my "tradition" of having a Friday quotation and partly because I really just wasn't sure what to say.
I didn't want to say something trite about the day. I didn't want to say that on this day in 2009 I was thinking of Jane Brennand (a dear, dear friend of Gran) and her 90th birthday as much as I was thinking about September 11, 2001 because I knew how much Gran was looking forward to seeing her. But I also didn't want to ignore it.
And really you couldn't. Everywhere flags were flying at half mast. People paused in the morning hours to remember that day. And Story Corps broadcasted at 8:46 EST to commemorate when the first airplane struck the World Trade Center eight years ago. Story Corps is one of my favorite Friday treats as it offers (usually) two people interviewing one another. Sometimes a parent and child. Or two friends. Or relatives. Yesterday, it was a father telling the story of losing his two sons (firefighters) on September 11, 2001. Click here to listen to it...but pull out the Kleenex first.
Story Corps often makes me cry. Sometimes I laugh, too. And when I was interviewing Gran in August I imagined that we were our own little Story Corps project. I love the premise of the show - "to honor and celebrate one another's lives through listening." What a wonderful idea.

friday quotation

We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it. (Jerry Garcia)

But today...it just brought a smile to my face.

rain, rain...don't go away!

Dark clouds. Forecast of rain. High humidity. The stage was set for a wonderfully rainy day. Highs predicted to be in the 90s. And for once, Mother Nature did not disappoint!
Big rain. Lots of big drops...and lots of drops in general. Drop in the temperatures. Drops of water that eventually formed little water streams outside of my office...and puddles in the streets and parking lots. Ah. We need this so badly.
Would have been the perfect day to be home. On the couch. Watching a movie. Or reading a book. Or napping. Oh, well, it was nice to look out my office door and see the rain coming down hour after hour today. I think we're supposed to get some more...maybe it will at least hold off and not rain on our ride on Saturday. But beggars can't be choosers and I'll take whatever rain we are given these days! (Although if I had my vote it would be for Saturday or Sunday afternoon so I could nap...thanks, Mother Nature, for taking that into account.)

listening...for your passion

Scary realization today that sometimes my students actually listen to me. Yikes. Of course, this is a good thing. But it's also a little frightening because it means I have to remember to always speak carefully and thoughtfully and knowledgeably and sincerely. Phew. I know, this seems very basic - like we should do it all the time. But I'm sure we can all think of times when we haven't. And honestly, it takes great care to do it all...and great energy and emotion, too.
My reminder today came in the form of a 9th grader who came to talk to me about his schedule and whether or not her should drop one of his music classes to add another math class. He wanted to know which would be more impressive on his resume. After a few questions about other things related to what he likes to do, why he was thinking about this, etc... I realized that I'd failed to ask the most basic but simple question of all - what he loved, math or music? His face lit up as he said, "I love my music class. I mean, I like math but I love music." My response was simple, "Do what you love. Stick with the music. Seems like you've found a passion, go with it." We talked a little about how lucky he was to have found something he really loved. He agreed, said he would talk to his advisor, and then the Dean of Students. Apparently when he went to see our Dean of Students he asked his questions about math and then said, "Well, I've talked to college counseling and she says to do what I love, so I'm going to stick with my music classes."
I know, I know...some of you are thinking that this might not have been the most practical advice. Some of you are thinking, "Please don't let her ever have kids of her own because they will just go through life finding what they love and not being bothered with reality." Some of you would argue that another math class might serve him well at some point in his life. And, yes, all of that might be true. But I think sometimes you have to do the thing that doesn't make the most sense on the surface because it feels right in your heart. Because it's linked to the thing that drives you and brings a smile to your face. Because it's the thing that completes you (as cheesy as that sounds). You might have to make sacrifices to do this - to follow your passion. It might someday mean a pay cut. It might mean not being able to spend certain time with friends. It might mean a lot of things. It might mean that people question you and that the world doesn't understand you. You might be called foolish or stupid or naive. But I truly believe that the more we can follow our passions, the happier we are in life, and the better we are for ourselves and for our world. And I guess if students start to learn that by taking an extra music class rather than a math class then I'm going to keep talking in hopes that they will listen.

inspiration to keep doing what I do

I'm a pretty lucky (okay, VERY lucky) girl in that deep in my heart I believe that what I do day in and day out in terms of my job makes a difference. Maybe not now. But at least somewhere down the road, a student might remember a conversation or a question or a comment and be able to trace it back to me. Or to St. Andrew's.
I've long known that St. Andrew's is an extraordinary place. We have our quirks and foibles and traditions and rituals just like any other school. But after all is said and done, it's a remarkable, unique community full of passionate people - students, teachers, administrators, coaches, parents, etc...
Today Amy sent me a copy of the letter that the president of her alma mater, Earlham College, sent out today. I've long been a fan of Earlham - a real "find" as far as colleges go. And today, I was even more encouraged by this school and all that it stands for when I read the letter from the president. But it also made me encouraged about the work that we do each day at St. Andrew's and made me hope that some of the same things that were said about Earlham could be said about us. When the president asked faculty members what he should tell people about Earlham, two of the responses that really resonated with me were:
- "We prepare students for the world as it is AND for the world we'd like it to be"
- "Earlham is a place where we learn to be better human beings"
Amen to both things...and I hope we could say that same about St. Andrew's. That we "raise" students who see reality but hope for something better for the future. And that in the process of learning (socially, emotionally, academically), they (and we!) learn to be better human beings.
I'm always struck by that word "better" but I think here I use it to mean that we're constantly in the process of looking at ourselves and trying to cast off the stuff that we're not proud of and the stuff that is hurtful and be more genuine, more honorable, more compassionate, and more sincere in what we do.
It's great encouragement to read stuff like this from a college as I work with seniors - many of whom will be going to college. Makes me want to make sure they are already thinking about these things...ready to absorb more as they move on. Priming the pump!

behind the scenes (times two...)

Did not get to post this on Sunday - I think I fell asleep as I was writing it! So, I'm posting today for two days...which actually makes more sense given the nature of this post! This weekend was one of those weekends where even when you think you know what it takes to pull off a big event like a triathlon, you realize that until you are there in the midst of it - helping or paying close attention or staying after hours or listening what your friends who are in charge have to say - you never really know all that goes into something like this. And all that I can say on that note is that I'm even MORE impressed than I was before with High Five Events, the event production company for Jack & Adam's for triathlons like the Austin Triathlon which happened on Monday. Nearly 2,000 triathletes, an expo with vendors, bikes needing attention, people with questions, safety precautions for every bit of the way, security overnight for the bikes, breakfast tacos in the morning for volunteers...it's endless. In the most wonderful way.
Two long days (and mine not as long as those of other folks!), helping to check-in bikes, set up tables, organize volunteers, cheer for the event, break the event down... And I was happy all the time, even when I was covered with dirt and dust at the end of the day on Monday (with a slightly red neck!). It just proved to me that I find this stuff so rewarding and that I feel really lucky to be able to have such a great athletic scene here in Austin to be part of. A community that shares a passion with me and that supports one another in this crazy passion.
Some highlights from the weekend:
- helping the family from Mexico that arrived at the very last minute and actually handed their child over to me for a few minutes so that they could each get their bikes set up (and I got to see the dad and the little girl again on Monday morning!)
- the guy who asked if having hair on his helmet would be a problem...oh, by the way, he can't really see through the hair (are you kidding?!)
- wondering what people who think that the rules don't apply to them are thinking
- cheering on the run course until the very end
- every time another volunteer showed up smiling and ready to work
- cheering for the T3ers on the course
- learning just how hard Michelle and the rest of the High Five crew work on events like this (and being honored with a High Five shirt!)...well done, folks!
- the breakdown (no...not an emotional breakdown! breaking down the event)
...and so many other things along the way.
All in all, a wonderful, exhausting, wouldn't-trade-one-single-moment of it weekend...

Zilker Relays and a different Saturday

In the never-ending series of "firsts" for me, I ran in the Zilker Relays last night with Amy, Jane, and Val...and lots of other T3 folks but the four of us were a team - JV. (Name origin...well, if you take the first letters of our first names you can spell J-A-V-E which sounds like JV. We weren't feeling that creative when we had to sign up!) I was excited to do this even though I don't love to race - especially not the short stuff. A rainstorm added to the excitement of the event...as well as the general energy that comes when you have a bunch of people racing.
"Racing" is a term I use rather loosely. There were certainly people out there to break records - either their own or someone else's - and there were those of us who wanted to do our best but didn't have any real goals in mind. That was me. Truth be told, having never done something like this before, I had no idea what I would be capable of. It's one thing to do a timed mile or mile repeats on a track. It's another thing to do a 5K after swimming and running. It's another thing entirely to run a 1/2 marathon. Or to run a 10K or 13.1 miles or 26.2 miles at the end of a triathlon. I'd never gone out and run 2.45 miles for time...with a couple of hills in there.
This late summer of training has been one long experiment for me. And it's been sort of fun. And sort of disappointing at times. And difficult. And encouraging. And overall pretty energizing, even when I've had a less than great practice or long run or long ride. I will forever be cursed with being an eternal optimist, believing that someday I just might be faster or stronger or something.
And last night proved that to me. I was the slowest one on our team - but actually there were only 50 seconds difference between me and our fastest runner (Val) so we were pretty darn close all things said and done. My first instinct was to say "boo", I hate being the slowest...although that caboose t-shirt that Nancy gave me a couple of weeks ago seemed very fitting! But when I took a step back, like I often need to do when I move into self-critical mode, I thought, "Yes, you were the slowest but did you EVER in your life think you'd be capable of running an 8 minute mile for 2.45 miles?" The answer is that up until last winter I never thought I'd be able to go sub-9. Then I eventually shocked myself and ran a sub-8 mile one day at track. But I've never imagined running an 8 minute mile for any length of time in a "race" of any sort. So, I'm encouraged...and feeling better about being the back of a fast pack of ladies. And I'll just keep running to catch up with Jane, Amy, and Val...great teammates, by the way! Way to go JV (#5 out of 17 in the Open Women's Division)...I think we all surprised ourselves just a little bit.
So...that's sometimes what triathletes do on a Friday night! We run...and then enjoy post-race activities. And then go to bed early. But it was nice to go to bed knowing that I just had a little run in the morning as opposed to a long bike ride or even a long run. I took a break from the bike today since it's a low mileage week for us Conroe folks and since I'm supposed to give myself a break from a long ride every now and then before CDA training starts again. Haven't been great about following that pattern but I did today. And it meant I got to run, soak in Barton Springs, and then have breakfast with Kimberly. What a treat! It had been WAY too long since she and I had spent time together - evidenced by a 2+ hour breakfast. And it was really nice to have the flexibility to do that.
I do love my routine, but I also like to be able to shake it up a little now and then... (And the trend will continue tomorrow...no working out for ETG...a full day off...woo-hoo!)

friday quotation

Inspired by a woman at Barton Springs this morning who passed along a very nice compliment to me...

Once you begin to acknowledge random acts of kindness - both the ones you have received and the ones you have given - you can no longer believe that what you do does not matter.
- Dawna Markova

sleep update

I know...you've all been waiting with bated breath to hear how my new sleep resolution is going. Okay, well, maybe not but keeping you updated is a way of holding me accountable so here's the report. It's pretty simple because I've been pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I've had a few lapses here and there (but really only a couple), but overall, I've been totally committed to getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night. I know that you might be saying, "Seven? You need at least seven or eight...what on earth were you doing before?" Simple answer: not getting enough sleep. By a lot. And even though I'm not breaking any sleep records now, I'm breaking my own records. On August 19 I said I'd try to do this for a week. And now...it's been a little over two weeks. And I've done a good job of getting seven hours of sleep a night. Not the eight that I'm ultimately aiming for but FAR more than I've gotten on any regular basis for, oh let's say, the last three or four years.
Do I feel different? Well, some days I do. And some days I don't. But frankly, I think I need at least a month or so of this little experiment to be able to really tell. I mean, I am working off of years of a sleep deficit! And I know that regardless of how I feel, this is good for me. Sort of like drinking more water or taking my vitamins. Day in and day out I might not feel better but in the long run it's a really good health choice...and I'm kind of into that these days.
P.S. Special thanks to my sleep enforcer...

hymn sing

If this is what you imagine when you hear the words "hymn sing" then you'd be wrong.
"Hymn sing" at St. Andrew's Upper School is anything but prim and proper. In fact, my advisory proved today that it could really be quite the opposite. They were loud. Borderline boisterous. And at one point I had to stifle all the fun and tell them that they could not do the wave during a rather quiet hymn. (I did tell them that perhaps they could try it at a hymn sing in the future.) The result of their enthusiasm - well, there were many results...
We all had a blast during chapel today. Singing loudly without a care in the world about whether or not we were on the right key. Showing the freshmen how "it's done" at a St. Andrew's hymn sing. Bonding in a very funny way.
I actually got called out in chapel today - Mr. Dickson said, "Are they yours?" pointing to my advisees wondering if they belonged to me and I said, "Only some of us can be so lucky!" And then he stuck the microphone in my face during one of the hymns. Thankfully everyone else was yelling so loudly I couldn't be heard.
Somewhere between dance moves to "Go Tell It on a Mountain" and actually nice singing of "Seek Ye First", Mr. Dickson fell in love with my advisory. And even requested that we sit in the front row all year. I'm not sure anyone really wants that except for at hymn sing time, but I do have to confess that this advisory is making their way to the front row of my world.
I'm always worried when I say good-bye to one advisory if I'll be able to love another. And then after a few weeks, I'm already worried that I won't want to tell the current group good-bye. Lucky me to be in a job where this happens year after year and where hymn sing happens week after week. If you've never experienced anything like it (and, trust me, most of you haven't!), imagine 300+ teenagers belting out hymns from a hymnal as if they are top 40 hits on the radio. It's astonishing. It's frivolous fun. It makes me smile. And it's part of what makes St. Andrew's the place that it is...and I'd sing to that.

smile, you're on candid camera!

Someone wrote to me not too long ago that she liked the self-deprecating humor of my blog. Well, here goes...story time or story telling on ETG for all of you to enjoy.
I remember watching Candid Camera when I was a little girl and laughing hysterically. The gist of the show was that a hidden camera would capture people's reactions to different situations. And then at some point the camera would be revealed to the person through the famous tag line, "Smile, you're on candid camera" which would make audience members and viewers alike laugh even harder as we watched the reaction of the person who'd just been filmed.
Well, on Monday, at the car wash I kept waiting for someone to jump out and say "Smile, you're on candid camera" as I unsuccessfully tried to get my car to cooperate with the car wash.
I punched in the code that I'd received when I'd paid the extra few dollars for a car wash after I had filled up my car. "Drive forward" glowed in green on the sign in front and me and "drive forward" I did. Only to realize that I had to line my tire up with the tire guide. Like a bad deja vue, I had a flashback of being in this car wash some years ago and having trouble getting my tire in just the right position. Of being afraid I was going to pop the tire in my attempts to drive forward in just the right place. So I took a deep breath and thought, "No sweat, Elizabeth, surely it's not that tough. You were just having a bad spatial reference day that day." Well, Monday was another one of those days.
I moved forward carefully only to feel some push back from the tire guide. Damn. Okay, I will not lose my cool. I will try again. More resistance. Hmmm...maybe if I hop out of the car and look at where I'm supposed to be guiding the tire I bet I can do it. Against my better judgment I opened the car door, half afraid that the water from the car wash would begin spraying down on me...but knowing that couldn't happen because I couldn't get the tire in the right place to "trip" the switch to tell the carwash to start!!! Calm. This is not rocket science. Just get the tire in between the metal tubes.
Or maybe not.
After four or five (okay, six? seven?) attempts I realized this was not getting any better. All of my geometry troubles related to understanding spatial concepts came back to me. I knew it was "fish or cut bait" time. I figured I'd already been fishing for a good 5-7 minutes and that it was time to admit that I needed to try again on another day.
Now the trick is that once you are in a car wash and you decide that you need to get out, you only have a few options. Try to drive over the metal tire guide that has been your nemesis, maneuver around it, or hit reverse and drive out of the car wash the same way you came in. When there is another car waiting (like there was on Monday...I can only imagine what they were thinking!), option 3 is not an option. Option 1 was not really an option either given my fear of what that metal tire guide would do to my tire. So, I was stuck with option 2. Somehow, I got out of the car wash without a nick on my car, a hole in my tire, or a drop of water having touched the car.
Carwash: 1, ETG: 0
Better luck next time, ETG.
Oh, and for the record, there was no candid camera as far as I know. But if there had been you would have all be laughing at how ridiculous I looked walking around the inside of the car wash in the middle of my multiple attempts to line the tire up...and then eventually driving out of the car wash.
(Don't worry...from now on, I am only allowed to go to car washes where you don't have to line your car up with anything!)