30 Hill Challenge.

I turned 30 recently. I also wrote this article about hills recently. And then I had this crazy idea that I want to run 30 different hills in 30 days. I need to plan them out first so that I can get them into my schedule. So... I'd like your suggestions for good San Diego hills. There are all sort of hills that I can do around Point Loma and Ocean Beach and I'll do those throughout the week. But, I'd like to try some new places in North County or East County...so please share your favorite hills here. And, in case you need a reason to have that beer tonight-- drink to me being 30!

Stewart's just sayin'

I really appreciate the way John Stewart talks about teachers, so I'm attaching a link below to an entire episode of The Daily Show on hulu (hopefully it works--if not, I included the episode info so you can google it or search in hulu for it). I'd really appreciate it if you took 20 minutes of your time to watch what he has to say. His guest is author of The Life and Death of the Great American School System, Diane Ravitch, who discusses the education system in America and other countries.

This episode in particular gives me hope that there are people in this country still willing to fight for true education. That there are people who see beyond the superficial statistics and get at the real root of the problem. I don't hear many people right now with good things to say about teachers-- I find myself wondering nearly every day When did we become the bad guys?. I've been feeling frustrated, broken hearted and just generally low because of the way I hear the public and public officials talk about teachers. It's hard enough to stay positive when things are going well with teaching, but when it feels like everyone thinks you're evil or that you're greedy or that what you do can be easily replaced -- it makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out. Actually it makes me want to move to FInland (you'll see why on the episode).

I haven't been running much lately, which is probably why my resistance to it all is down a bit...and when my skin is thinner like now, it's hard to get out on the road which makes the skin even thinner...vicious cycle, but it's people like Stewart and Ravitch who renew my hope that one day teaching will be a respected profession once again. Please watch:

The Daily Show with John Stewart, Thursday March 3, Season 16, Episode 32

Dirt Devil Racing Series

I'm sort of in a funk right now with running: unmotivated, tired, lackluster. I'm currently doing the bare minimum to stay in 1/2 marathon condition for the races I've been doing about once a month right now. But, maybe if I sign up for the upcoming Dirt Devil trail race series, it will give my running the reviving shock it needs.

For 3 years now, The San Diego Running Institute has sponsored the Dirt Devil Racing Series: a series of small races (limited to about 250 participants per race) all held on local San Diego County trails. I did a 10K last year and looooooooved it. People were cooking food on little camp stoves at the start line, Starbucks reps handed out free coffee and Jamba Juice provided bagels and bananas. It was mellow and peaceful from start to finish and now that I think about it I don't know why I neglected to run more of them last year.


Well, that's why I'm doing it this year. Here are the Dirt Devil dates and locations:

April 17th, 2011, Painted Rocks Half Marathon, Lake Hodges
June 12th, 2011, Coyote 5K, Tecolote Canyon
July 10th, 2011 , Sidewinder 10K, Marian Bear Park
August 14th, 2011, Stairway to Heaven 15K, Mission Trails Regional Park
October 9th, 2011, Raptor Ridge Half Marathon, Lake Hodges

I'm a little concerned that trail races are going to become as popular as road races-- it's getting harder and harder to register for San Diego marathons unless you stalk when registration starts and do it right away. All these people being healthy is really annoying isn't it?

For more info on these races or to register go to http://www.dirtdevilracing.com/

OR

Contact: Emily Beck
San Diego Running Institute
(619) 265-7374
emily@sdri.net

What do you think we teachers do...

...sit around and talk about how wonderful our students (and their parents) are all the time? If the majority of our students were like the 1% we see acting like decent human beings then maybe we would, but when we have 35-40 crazy, hormonal teenagers crammed in a classroom how else are we supposed to stay sane if we can't vent about it? Munroe says it like it is and gets suspended... I run so that I don't write about it all here... but if more teachers told the world what it's really like, then maybe parents would start doing their jobs again by supporting education at home (i.e. turning off the video games)--and then AND THEN the education system would improve.

If you don't like what she says, then you don't like 99.9% of the teachers who are out there because we all feel this way. She just writes about it instead of yelling about it to her husband before running 10 miles.

Don't know what I'm talking about?
Read about MY HERO here.

San Dieguito Race Report (sort of)

Looks like I'll only be posting when I run a race...soooo that's shaping up to be about once a month. With Carlsbad last month and San Dieguito last Sunday, that leaves Washington DC's National Marathon & Half next month (I'm doing the 1/2 for my 30th birthday), then La Jolla in April, and possibly the OC Marathon and/or a couple trail races in May... Yikes.

Yikes-- especially since Sunday's San Dieguito halfer was one of the hardest races I've done in a while. First, the sun was shiny and bright which does me in even if the air is still cool (which it was for a while) and second because of the hills. The person who told me this race has "rolling hills" is now number one on my "Do Not Consult" list. There were plenty of rolls going UP but not so many going down.

The Hash House Harriers and volunteers did their best to make it fun, i.e. Sangria at mile 4 and beer at mile 12,
the Queen of England,


...this guy...


and good scenery (gorgeous, multi-million dollar homes, loads of trees and ponds and horses). But, for all its good looks and the fun it tried to be, I don't see myself doing it again unless I fall in love with hills (which won't happen) or the Hashers start serving Bloody Marys at the start line.