When it rains, it pours

Boy is that saying true for these past two weeks. (running recap follows)

As many of you know, as crazy and passionate as I am about running, I am even MORE crazy and MORE passionate about teaching.  I've wanted to be a teacher for pretty much my whole life (I pin point it at 3rd grade because that's when I remember really writing things on "what I want to be when I grow up").  Any time I hung out with my friends, we'd inevitably play "school" and I would usually be the teacher.

When I was a freshman in high school, I created a running camp for the middle school students at Lundahl (where I went to middle school) and did this my sophomore year as well.  I tutored students my senior year (through NHS), throughout college and even moreso now that school is over.  I honestly can't get enough of teaching.

I recently left my job where I was a rep for an auto software company.  Basically, I would go around to different car dealerships throughout the US and teach car sales staff how to use my company's software program.  The program helps the salespeople keep track of customers, and helps the managers and higher ups keep track of how their employees (and dealership as a whole) are doing.  Pretty sweet gig, and I ordered a lot of awesome food.

However, when I would do a "seminar," I would always get some variation of, "you should be a teacher."  My response was always along the lines of, "tell the state of Illinois that" (in case you live under a rock, the state of Illinois is pretty much crumbling in every aspect).  Illinois is one of the worst states to want to teach in (Wisconsin and California are the only other two close), and I know many people who have moved out of Illinois to find a teaching job.  It's really sad and frustrating, so when the opportunity arose to take this auto software job, I jumped all over it instead of having another depressing summer where no teaching jobs were available.

Flash forward to last week.  I was fortunate to get an interview in the St. Charles school district.  It's one of the better districts in the state AND the town itself is expanding, which basically means I wouldn't lose my job due to cuts.  It came down to me and another candidate and they just couldn't decide.  Long story short, I didn't get the job, but do have another final interview for that school this week.  The principal and two assistant principals really seem to be on top of EVERYTHING and I really liked them and the school quite a bit.  I also got called back for an interview in Barrington.  Growing up, Barrington was always my "dream district."  I'm honestly not sure why, but it was, so when I got my first interview there, I was ecstatic.  To get a second (final) interview there just made my week.  And finally, I had an interview last week in Grayslake and just really connected with the principal and assistant principal.  Their middle school is VERY similar (demographically) to where I taught for my first two years, so it'd be a great fit.  I met one of my (potential) teammates and two content area mates today and really liked them, too.

SO, if you're reading this, if you could say a quick prayer that one of these opportunities works out, I'd really appreciate it.  My life would truly be complete if I was teaching!

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BACK TO RUNNING.....
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Since I've been preparing quite a bit for these interviews, running has taken a back seat.  I did do a 60mile bike ride with Dad and Nic (brother) for Father's Day and that was fun, but I've only had a few quality workouts during these past two weeks.

After the Batavia Du, I gave myself until Wednesday to recover.  My workout was

4sets of:  200@race pace (200jog), 200@race pace (400jog), 800@race pace (400jog)

If that seems easy, do it.  I don't even mean that in a mean way; I thought it wouldn't be too bad myself, but BOY was I in for a treat.  I'm not sure if it's the 800 or just the speed of the 200s that exhausted me, but that recovery never seemed long enough (which is crazy because I was tempted to cut down all recovery to 200 jog when I first wrote the workout!!!).  In the end, this workout made my butt pretty sore for two days.  Nice.

Saturday, I was able to get in a longer run with some tempo-like miles in the middle.  It was hilly, but I'm glad because I wanted a challenge.  I ran 13 miles and felt pretty good; still out of shape, no doubt, but I've only been back for a few weeks now.

Sunday was the bike ride.  Dad got tripped up in the guy's tire in front of him and took a tumble (I freaked out), but luckily he just has a few "battle wounds" and is alright.  Quite the scare for me.

Tuesday was my next hard workout day: 400s.  I planned 10-12, but it was REALLY hot out.  I jogged over to the track (Naperville North HS just redid their track--heck yes!), drank some water, did some drills and strides, and got started.  My original goal of having all 400s be under 1:20 worked for the first 4, but once I hit 1:22 for the 5th one, I knew the heat was getting to me.  I told myself I would try for the 12, but if my times started to slip more, I needed to be done.  Safety is ALWAYS more important than finishing a workout or race.  I finished 11 and decided to be done as my 10th and 11th were 1:22s.

Tomorrow I have more of a tempo type workout, so hopefully that'll give a good recap.

Stay hydrated, running friends!  I can't stress that enough!!