Sippi Lovin'

I am now officially one quarter century old. True indeed, the clock does keep runnin' runnin' & runnin' runnin'. My birthday passed uneventfully on Monday the 6th of June and I failed to remember the significance of the date until one of my students asked how old I was. I began to tell her I was 24, then realized it was my birthday and revealed to her that I had forgotten until she asked her question. Well, the woman next to her found this utterly hilarious and before I realized what was happening, the entire class knew I had forgotten my birthday. My forgetfulness, at least in this instance, turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was then able to attribute the giggling to that and not my youthfulness. A handful of my students have already pointed out that I am young enough to be their children.

Speaking of clocks and running, I've taken to the roads again. A peer of mine, Mark, approached me at the end of the spring semester with questions about training for the New York City marathon. I gladly agreed to draft him a training program on one condition, he allow me to train with him. Fortunately, he assented and we've been running together ever since.

It has been several months since my ill-fated ankle incident, but therapeutic gains were meager through the first six months. I wasn't able to run a step until last October and while I haven't maintained my running journal as dutifully as I once did, a quick glance the other evening revealed that I have come a long ways from 10 minutes every other day. Mark and I are regularily running 45 minutes now and we even managed two epic ten-milers. I am looking forward to the months ahead and intend to race once or twice this fall just to get the competitive juices flowing again.