Come find me....

Hey everyone, don't forget that I have a new home now......


Come check out my new page at:

The Little Running Teacher

I am loving my new home, but I miss all my people over here! 

A New Home

Thank you for your sweet comments about wordpress. I have been working really hard on my new wordpress page and I almost done with it. I decided to switch over because it was so much more user friendly I think then blogger! I hope you will travel with me over to my new page as I would love to have new followers and my same followers any chance I can get them! I am really going to need the support this year as I will be going into my 2nd year of teaching, building a new home and running a full marathon!

This is going to be one busy year for me. Here is my new wordpress page address! Please check it out whenever you get the chance and start following me there!

The Little Running Teacher

Where has the time gone.....?

Hey blog world! It has been a LONG TIME Since I have been on here. I have been so busy with teaching my precious 2nd graders, lesson plans, training and getting ready to start the planning process of building Brian and I's future home.

TAKS....well I mean STAARS is coming up and while as I do not teach a STAARS grade, I have to prepare my kiddos for 3rd grade where they will take this test. For those of you that do not live in Texas, the word STAARS stands for " State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness" Test. It is a new test that 3rd-12th graders have to take to see what they know. The test has so many different aspects to it that are very important to remember.

Other than that, in 2 months Brian and I are going to be starting the planning process for our future home. We are both very nervous about this process since we will be building from the ground up and because we have never bought or built a home before.

Here are a few other things that have happened in the form of pictures the past month or so....

These ladies are amazing friends and co-workers. Minus one person in this photo I work with some amazing women at school! We are each unique in our own way and I love each and every one of them for those traits! I can not believe that the school year is almost over.

I got to hold this sweet baby at the Superbowl party. She is such a good baby, but between you and me, I got a little bit of baby fever. Brian and I are trying to wait until we have a home to start trying to have kids. But let's just say, we are not very far away!

My big brother and I at his youngest daughters birthday party. They had a real princess come and everything! It was so cute! I even snapped this gorgeous picture of his oldest daughter...

Isn't she so beautiful! I just lover her!

And last but not least. My amazing husband was honored at the MADD Recognition banquet. For his county, he was one of the top 3 DWI enforcement officers. Which means he pulled over the most DWI's in his county along with a couple of other people. They recognized officers from each county in the surrounding areas.

That was the past couple of months for my life. I am counting down the days to spring break and summer at this time.
Last week I got my Full Marathon Training Plan. It is 45 weeks long and it starts this week. I have been running the past couple of weeks already,  but now I can officially follow this plan! I am also running two more races this month and in April. I will tell you about those as I get closer. They are just a couple of 5K's.

Random Question: Does anybody out there use wordpress? If so, do you like it? I am thinking about changing my blog name to fit with my life now and changing over to wordpress soon?

What do you think?

Battling Some Mountaintops

My sister-in-law was able to run the Houston Half marathon last weekend and I am so proud of her for finishing the race. While she was there she was also able to meet Josh Cox (American Record Holder for the Ultra-Marathon). 


From her mentioning that, it made me think about a friend of mine that I hang out with and always encourage. His name is Larry West and he is going to be running a 100 mile race in just 2 weeks. You can find out more about him on his fb page Trooper on the Run. I wanted to put his name out there for anybody who may be considering running an ultra-marathon. It is no easy task and I know this from talking to him many times about it. He is always encouraging new runners or people who have been running for a while (like myself). 


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There was also a quote that I am going to be putting on my computer at school because it struck such a cord with me. 

“You can’t fully enjoy the mountaintops without the hills or the valleys.”

At school I am always dealing with mountaintops, hills and valleys. Whether it be testing, materials, money, parents, kids or coworkers. I beyond LOVE my job and everybody that I work with and I could not be anymore blessed about the job that God has placed me in. I feel as thought right now I am on a mountaintop with life. 

However I have had to go through the valleys to get to my mountaintop high. I searched for 2 years for a job with no luck and had bosses that I felt did not back me up. I have gone 6 months 4 months after we were married, without my husband with me because he was going through the State Trooper Academy. I have gone through the pain of not wanting to run because I was burned out. (Even though I wanted to run so badly!) I have dealt with loosing friends under circumstances I can not help and I have dealt with people giving their opinions in such a rude way just because they want to disagree with you. It is a horrible feeling to be in a valley, but once you get out of those and reach the mountaintop, 

"IT IS AMAZING!" 

My advice to myself as well as everybody out there is to strive for those mountaintops but remember that the valleys and hills are placed in your life for you to remember that the mountaintop is that much more beautiful and sweet! You learn from the valleys and hills as God will never put you through anything if he did not expect to see you through it. Whether this be running, biking, races, friends, jobs or opinions of other people. 

“You can’t fully enjoy the mountaintops without the hills or the valleys.”

Question: Have you ever been through a hill or valley and then saw the mountaintop? 

Debate between Shoes??

On Saturday, I went to a new running store that they just got in close to where I live. It is a specialty running store that will video you whenever you run and tell you how you are running and then will analyze your stride/walk to see what kind of shoes might work best for you. They do not put any pressure on you to buy their shoes at all. They just want you to be happy and be able to run and to love yourself and the shoes you have on. I LOVE THAT!

Whenever I went on Saturday, I had never been, only read about it on facebook and was waiting for it to open. I had a few questions I wanted to ask the about some of their products. As I talked to them, I also wanted to relay that information to you on here because what they told me was very helpful. The first things I talked to them about was the Injinji Toesocks.

I have a pair of vibrams that I use for cross training, and I have heard wonderful things about these socks being used with the vibrams as well with normal running shoes. These socks are made from Nylon and lycra so they are breathable and lightweight. They fit the contour of your foot and are designed to get in between your toes to help prevent blisters. I normally do not get blisters except on the inside part of my foot right below my toes, but I love how my vibrams separate my toes, so I am hoping these will feel somewhat the same.

The next item that I asked about was shoes. I am going to be needing a new pair of running shoes pretty quick, so I have been looking at all kinds of shoes. I know which ones I do not like and that is Nike, New Balance, and Puma. I love the styles of the shoes, but they kill my feet. Two that I have been looking at are the Newtons and the Saucony's.

Saucony 

Newtons

I have worn Saucony shoes my whole time of running and I love them, but I feel like my feet need something different. Or maybe they do not and I am just going crazy. I am not sure. Anyways, I asked the guy in the store what the difference in the two shoes was and he started explaining to me. I told him I had ran 5 half marathons so he knew that I knew what I was talking about when it came to running.

Based on what he said, he is my short cliff notes version: 


Newton's- If you are not a foefoot runner, then you should not be running in the Newtons. These shoes are designed for people who run more on the ball of their foot and do not heel strike. He said that he has seen more injuries from people who have worn these shoes and heel strike come in because they tore something. This could be their achilles tendon to something in their calf. I told him that I new how to run on the ball of my foot because of the Vibrams, but he said that unless you are a natural ball of your foot landing runner, he would NOT suggest them to anybody.

This is just his and my opinion, so if you wear Newtons, and you love them, then that is great. To each person, their own shoe. My brother has torn his achilles tendon, so I know what it is like to see somebody in pain  that is an athlete not be able to do anything because they are injured that badly.

Saucony's-  Saucony's are designed for all kinds of runners. They make so many different kinds of shoes that it is pretty easy to find a style that fits you. I have been running in the Omni style Pro Gride. They are designed for people who run on roads that may be pretty unstable or just not as smooth as a sidewalk always is. However, they also make Saucony's that have a smaller level of resistance for those people that do not need the extra support.

I am hoping to go into the store in the next month and see what kind of shoes that I like the best and what I will be hopefully training for my full in this year. I have not decided what full I want to do, but I will figure one out!

I hope everybody is having a wonderful Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I have it off, so I am going to be finishing up some school work and relaxing!

Question: What type of shoes do you love/run in? 

Reflections of 2011 and Goals for 2012

There is so much to reflect on for 2011 that I am not sure where I want to start at. I met so many different goals that it was hard to believe that so many of my dreams came true.

A few goals of mine that were met in 2011: 

*I moved from my home town (nice big home) to a town that was nearby but that I was not expecting to move to as well as an apartment. Leaving this home was very hard for me because I great up there, but I knew it was best for Brian and I as well as my relationships to move.

*I overcame some very difficult friendships that I have not spoken about much on here, but were very difficult for me to deal with.

*I ran 4 half marathons- 2 of these half marathons were in the same month 2 weeks apart and then the other two were spread apart.

*After we moved to our new place only a 1 1/2 months later I received a job. I had been trying to find a job for over 2 years and all God wanted me to do was move to a new place. I was offered the 2nd grade position and LOVE IT! I only have 12 kids and I could not ask God for anything better.

*All of my family is still happy and healthy.

*Brian has been doing great in his job and his getting a ton of high lifting compliments.

Those are only a few goals that were met during 2011. 

Goals for 2012

1. Run a Full Marathon (not sure exactly where yet). 

2. Find some Professional Development hours that I can go too for school! 

3. Loose around 10 pounds. 

I know I know, I am not the typical person to say that I want to loose weight, but I would like to get down to the 115-120 range. Now I am not dead set on this goal, but I would like to try and make it happen. 

4. Strive to be the best teacher that I can be and learn from other teachers as I teach. 

A experiment that I did making clay dirt. 

5. Earn the money to be able to buy a home by November/December. 

6. Become more involved in my church. 

Brian and I started going to a new church this past year and I have wanted to become more involved, but between starting my first year of teaching and moving it has been hard to get involved with things. 

7. Plan our my schedule at least every 3 weeks, 3 weeks in advance. 

This really helped me 3 weeks before Christmas break, so I am going to try and stick with that.

These are my goals for 2012-2013 and I am so excited to try and meet these goals and hopefully set some new ones as I go through the year. Hopefully if I can I want to try and run one or two half marathons in the process of training for my full marathon. That is my main goal other than striving to be a great teacher this year. 

I hope everybody else had a great 2011 year and an even better 2012 year! 

Question: What are some of your goals for 2012-2013? 

White Elephant/Wild Game Christmas Party

Wild Game Christmas Party? What in the world is that? I know that is what you are probably thinking. If you or somebody you know is a hunter that is very easy for them to figure out. This year my brother hunted quite a bit and ended up killing even more than what he expected. The end result was their freezer being very full and not having enough room for all of the other meat from his recent kills.
They decided to have a Wild Game/White Elephant Christmas party for our Sunday School Class. We had tons of great food, friends and fellowship.

The table centerpieces were made from deer antlers that my brother had killed.

They did a great job wit the centerpieces. My sister-in-law her sister and my mother helped to come up with how they would look. 

Each person brought a dessert of side to go along with all the good food. 

 This chocolate fountain is very evil and had lots of great deserts and fruit to go with it.

















Our spread of food included Goose, Duck, Dove and Chicken Gumbo. We also had Elk Parmesan, venison (deer meat), Red Stag and Oryx Steak, Venison Wong tongs, Deer Sausage and Alligator.

So much good food and not enough room in my stomach for it all. Do you like the cute name tags with the actual pictures of the animals we are eating. That was my nice touch. I thought it would be fun for the people to see what the were eating. :0)
We ate outside and it was the perfect night to eat outside....

 All the yummy food that was going to be eaten very soon. Everything tasted great and my brother did a wonderful job of cooking it all.

 Brian was trying to learn a few things about cooking some stuff on the grill.

 These two little people have already been matched together by their parents. I am not sure if they have a say in the matter right now. :0)

My wonderful brother and sister-in-law who hosted this great party.
After everybody ate and was completely full we went on to have a great White Elephant Christmas Party. This Christmas Party was not like some White elephant parties I have been too. some people want a "real" W.E. gift and some want funny gifts. This was a funny gift party. I brought a mug warmer (kind of like the candle warmer) and a deer antler cup holder. Mine were funny, but there were better gifts.

The best gift of all was this....

I know what you are thinking....a snuggie, that is not funny. Well here is the story behind it. The person who has the snuggie on graduated from Texas A&M University and is a devoted Aggie fan as well as my whole family (except Brian and I). This person was number 8 or so and out of 16 gifts he choses the UT snuggie. He opened up the gift and some of the things that were said was,

"You have got to be kidding me!"
"I guess the dogs will have a good blanket for their bed!"
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
"I know, I can cut it up into dishrags and use it to clean my car!"

It was priceless the face he gave whenever he opened it and saw what it was. I have a feeling, this gift will be back again next year.
That was the end of the evening though. I got a cell phone holder for my car and Brian got some Turtle Wax cleaning supplies for the car.

And just for your enjoyment, my silly husband and my brother's dog Cocoa.

Brian can not seem to figure out that you can not see his eyes underneath his Santa hat. Cocoa is like a lab in a poodle body! He is so much fun to play with. 

Question: What Christmas parties have you gone to this year already? 

Coming up: Run Girl 13.1  1/2 Marathon Recap