Apologies, back to work, and almost a resolution

If you are one of the people who regularly read this alleged blog, sorry I have been a pitiful poster. I'm going to try to write more. This past week our family has been on spring break (it is GREAT to be a pair of teachers), so I have no excuse.

Of course, since this PAST week was spring break, that means this new week is a work week. I know it's hard to get much sympathy when you've been off a whole week and most of your friends haven't. But I almost dread the return to work. I love my job, but the period between spring break and summer each year is the worst of it. I keep a countdown of WUMs (Wake-Up Mornings) on my chalkboard (actually, it's a dry-erase board... I haven't had an actual chalkboard since cell phones were attached to rich guys' cars). I haven't done the math for this year yet, but it's usually a little less than 40 days. During that time, if previous experience is any guide, spring fever will run rampant among 7th graders and I will become a manager of barely-contained chaos masquerading as a history teacher. Could be worse, though--at least I'm in a private school, so I won't be doing completely worthless standardized testing for a third of that time.

As we go back to the routine, I am prepared to step out and try to add a little discipline to my life. I used to be a runner. Some people think I'm still a runner. I've got the shoes, the coolmax clothes, and a 100-lap memory on my watch. I have ten years of training logs on the shelf within sight of this computer. But if you only ran 3 times in the last calendar month, you're not a runner--you're a guy who used to run. That's me. When I have done my best at running (which correlates pretty well to how the rest of my world is going), I have gotten up early and run before work. Unfortunately, I have become an absolute slave to sleep--I just hate to roll out of bed anymore. So, for the next little bit (however many WUMs there are left in the school year), I'm going to try to make myself do the AM jog thing. If I do it right, I should have a solid base from which to do some "real" running this summer and maybe even get back into racing again in the fall. But for now, the main thing is to win the battle of "mind over mattress" and have the feeling of satisfaction that comes from living a disciplined life. Wish me luck!

PS-The reason I called this "almost" a resolution is this nutty weather. You'd think with as much power as Al Gore and John Edwards use on their estates, this global warming stuff would work better. But I reserve the right to trade an afternoon run for the 6 AM special on any day in which it's winter-cold in the middle of spring. I'll let my loyal readers know how it's going--hopefully you'll encourage me to stick with it!