Monday Memo

Memphis City Schools likes to put out "Monday Memos" to all the teachers, so I am going to start putting them out occasionally to my readers.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  Hug a teacher.  I got a free lunch.  I think back to hearing myself saying "I can't have that, or that, and definitely not the chips," and I'm thinking why not?  Why can't I have that one bag of chips?  It's not going to kill me.  It's not going to make me fat.  I work out every day and I eat healthy.  I deserve it.   But then later on in the day a student said to me: "Ms. Snyder, you have a muffin top."  Made me work so much harder during my workout.

Speaking of workouts, here's today's motivation:

"Remember, there are things you think you cannot do.  You have no idea how strong you are until you try. Make the effort."

9/11 Heros Run

I know it's been almost a week since this race, but I need to blog about it. I wasn't even sure that I was going to run it, buri am glad I did.

I was in Indiana that day, and didn't have my gps, so I had to navigate my way to Bethel Park without it. When I got there, ther were hundreds of people, Marines in dress uniform, firefighters in uniform, dozens of tribute race teams, it was awesome. Before the race started, a serviceman told the story of his best friend who was killed this year in Iran. It was so touching. The race was tough, I don't do well with flat races. What was really awesome was having something in common with all of the racers. I was able to start conversation about my family members who are in the military. And it was just plain awesome to run alongside uniformed firemen and a man carrying an American flag onthhe 10th anniversary of 9/11. It may have been one of the greatest, most inspiring experiences I've ever had. My time was pretty slow, but it wasn't bad.

Tomorrow I get to run with my best friend for the first time. Though it's not in race, it is still pretty exciting. We finally planned to run a race together at the beginning of October. It is going to be awesome.

Race Week Start

Today's run was amazing. 3.1 miles, about 68 degrees, low humidity, on the verge of raining all day, 38:34. That's a whole minute faster than the race last month! It looks like this weekend will be a PR!

During the run on of my favorite songs came on my iPod, and it was so relevant to my life (how many times does that happen, like one million). Still I felt I should share some of the lyrics.
"Well summer came along and it then was gone and so was she,
Not from him because he followed her just to let her know:
A dream's a dream.
And all this livings so much harder than it seems,
But girl don't let your dreams be dreams.
You know this living's not so hard as it seems.
Don't let your dreams be dreams,
Your dreams your dreams be dreams"

This song is the anthem of my life. When life seems hard we all need that reminder that life isn't as hard as it seems. And my favorite, don't let your dreams be dreams. Make your dreams reality.

Week 5, Day 2

So, today's workout was great. I thought it would be hard, and it was, but it wasn't so hard that I couldn't do it. What excites me about today is that 4 different people told me that I have inspired them to get in shape. 4 people. It made me so happy that I could inspire people to do what I'm doing and make themselves better. It's going to make me cry. Not only am I reaching my goals on step at a time, I'm helping others begin their own journey. And in today's increasingly out-of-shape, obese America, that is a huge deal. We don't have to be the world's fattest country. It feels good to be healthy, they don't just say that to make you work out! I feel hundreds of times beet now than I did a month ago. I have more energy, my clothes fit better, and my depression symptoms have all but disappeared. It truly is amazing. I'm so excited! My life is changing, and it is AWESOME!

5k in 38 days! Friday's workout; 2 miles without stopping. I got this.

Week 3, Round 2

It was a little bit harder today. At about 14 minutes into the workout I felt like I wanted to die, but I pushed through. I even ran 3 minutes extra before my cool down (but I owe that to 'Fantasia on the Dargason).

It is good to see that I have inspired my older neighbors. I saw an older man walking about halfway through my loop, then at the end of my loop, he was back to his house. He was amazed that I had run the whole 2 mile loop in the time it took him to go .25 miles. Hopefully I've inspired him to do something positive for his health.

Oh, and note to self: no more loose shorts for running. They just get in the way.