Hot Yoga

This past weekend the instructor who taught yoga in the park handed out her card for a free class at the studio she teaches at. I decided that I was going to take the class and get a 20 days for $20 pass so that I could try to go a few times a week.  So on Wednesday I biked 6 miles to the studio.  I arrived a couple minutes before the class started along with another woman.  The instructor was out near the front desk and said "Hurry up! Class is about to start."  Which I thought was kind of rude (more how she said it).  The lady at the front desk asked if I needed a towel and mat and I said yes and she gave them to me.  Then as I'm entereing the class she handed me a bottle of water, even though i had my own bottle.  As I enter the class the heat immediately hit me! I also noticed there were a ton of people and they were all completely silent laying or sitting criss cross with their eyes closed.  About 5 minutes into the class I was completely soaked with sweat.  My tank top was wet all over, my capris were soaked and the towel on my mat looked like it was thrown in a pool and then taken out.  About 30 minutes into the 90 minutes class the instructor had to go over to one of the students and have her sit down with her legs out cause she looked like she was going to pass out.  I would feel light headed in any pose where we had to lean our head back.  So finally I sat in child's pose for awhile to feel better.  At one point I went to get a sip of water from my water bottle and the instuctor was like "NO! Don't drink in the middle of a pose!"  Then about an hour in to the class I couldn't take it anymore, I started to get my mat and leave and the instuctor said "I don't want you to leave, you need to stay and get used to the heat.  Just sit with your legs out."  That kind of scared me into staying.  But it kind of made me mad and think she was a little too nazi like for me.  I thought I was going to pass out like a million times and the whole time all I could think about was how hot and uncomfortable I was.  I am pretty sure the room was 115 degrees not even exaggerating. 
So the other yoga studio I went to just let you borrow a mat and not pay anything, this place has you pay for renting a mat and towel.  And the bottle of water that she just gave to me and didn't even ask if I wanted it? Ya, I had to pay for that too! Needless to say I did not get the 20 day pass.  And the six mile bike ride home actually felt really great in the 90 degree heat because I was soaked and the breeze cooled me down.
So that yoga experience kind of scared me and I could totally see how somebody who hadn't ever done yoga again would be totally turned off by an experience like that.  I'll stick to warm yoga or just regular ol' room temperature yoga for now on :)

See Jane Run Half Marathon Pictures

I love the pictures from the race photographer. 

 My leg looks awesome in the above picture! I never thought my legs looked muscular and I didn't understand it because of all the running I do but this picture proves me wrong. Go chicken legs!

I do this weird head tilt when I'm running and super tired.  I did it in high school track when I ran hurdles too.  I'm totally not aware of it until I see pictures.

Finished!
Running makes me so happy! Thomas and I have a duathlon that we have in mind to do the beginning of September.  Having an event to train for and look forward to is what keeps me going and keeps me excited about life.

Bikes

Thomas and I got bikes this weekend! We have been wanting to get bikes now for awhile so we can start biking on the greenbelt and in the foothills.  Plus we would like to sign up for some duathalons and have bikes to take camping with us this summer.  So finally we found some that fit our price range and what we were looking for.  We got some great deals off of craigslist.

The red bike is a Gary Fischer and the black one is a Giant. After we get helmets this week my goal is going to be to ride my bike everywhere I can this week. 

We took the bikes for a little spin today and we both felt like little kids who got new bikes for Christmas.

Rec Fest

This morning began with yoga in the park.  Usually it is at the park in front of the capitol building but when Tess and I arrived there was only one other person there and nobody ever showed up to instruct.  We had plans to meet our husbands at Ann Morrison park where the Rec Fest was going on.  The REI tent was having lululemon do a yoga class there so we ended up taking that one.  It was a Bikram yoga class.  I really like Bikram yoga and the poses and all the savasanah poses that lets you rest after a tough pose :) The instructor gave all of us a card for a free 90 minute class at the studio she teaches at and then a deal for $20 for 20 consecutive days of yoga classes.  I'm thinking I'll take her up on that offer since I am home on summer break. 
The Rec Fest was really fun and it was perfect weather.  They had lots of tents with vendors, a rock wall, hula hooping, kite flying, and we played a new game called "cornhole".

They had a group of kids perform really sweet karate moves to music and it was pretty inspiring. There were the tiniest little kids doing flips, high kicks, and the splits.

Alive after Five

Wednesday nights in downtown Boise they have something called "Alive after Five".  Thomas and I decided to try it out to see what all the rave was about.  I picked him up from work at the hospital which is right downtown and we had a little picnic dinner sitting on a curb downtown :) They had a band that was playing and tons of vendors selling beer...and that was about it.  We were really surprised how many people were there and with their little kids too, considering how much drinking was going on.  We both agreed it would be a cool setting if you drink to do after work midweek, but seeing as how we don't drink it wasn't really our scene.  Although it was really fun people watching.  We walked around a bit and saw a group of people gathered around some break dancers that were really good and doing some crazy moves.  They had a d.j. station all set up and then had duck taped vinyl flooring to the brick ground.

One guy slid across the ground on his head it was pretty crazy.  There was a little kid dancing too and he was really good.  I wonder how such a little kid got that good. They have a little fountain area and the kids were loving running around in the sprinklers.  It was pretty funny seeing them fill about their Budweiser cups their parents must have given them to splash each other with water.

This probably isn't something we would go to again but it was a fun little midweek outing. One thing we really love about Boise are all the different activities available.  There is always something new to do.

The Secret Garden

I love to read! Reading is just such a stress reliever and so relaxing.  It takes you to another place and gets your mind off of life for a bit.  Lately I've read some great books that have made me think and inspired me.  The first is "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I had read the book for a children's literature class years ago and remember loving it and thinking it was inspiring.  Classic novels are free on the Kindle so I decided to read it again and refresh my memory on why it was so great.  Here are some of my favorite passages:
"Much more surprising things can happen to any one who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable determinedly courageous one.  Two things cannot be in one place.  Where you ten a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow."

"Most of his fright and illness was created by himself."

"There's nowt as good for ill folk as laughin' is."

"Dickon says anything will understand if you're friends with it for sure, but you have to be friends for sure."

"Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world, he said wisely one day.  But people don't know what it is like or how to make it.  Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen."

"The Magic works best when you work, yourself"

"One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts- just mere thoughts- are as powerful as electric batteries- as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison.  To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body.  If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over is as long as you live."

See Jane Run Half Marathon

Today I ran my sixth half marathon.  This training period has been super smooth, even with being so worn out through student teaching.  My training runs were right on track and sometimes even faster than goal pace. My goal was to maintain an 8:45 pace. Friday night, Thomas and I headed to downtown Boise for packet pick up at the See Jane Run Store. Afterwards we went to the park where the race would be at and played ladder ball for about an hour.  Thomas had surprised me with it as a gift for finishing up student teaching.  We played it once while we were dating and have wanted it ever since.  I am loving lawn games.

After ladder ball we headed to The Old Spaghetti Factory.  I had been to one before for a state track meet in Seattle but it was super small and squished.  This Spaghetti Factory was spacious and even had a train on the inside with booths.  We were seated in the caboose.  When our waitress came to introduce herself I realized it was one of my old friends from elementary school! It was so fun seeing her and chatting. We did some yummy carb loading and then headed home for a night in relaxing by watching Justin Bieber's movie. Both Thomas and I liked it :) It inspired me to download some of his music for my half the next morning.  We also popped open some mango lemonade martinelli's to celebrate.

The first 10K of the race I was feeling REALLY great.  I was looking down at my garmin and seeing 8:30 pace a lot. 

At first it concerned me because I have a tendency to go out too fast. But I figured since I was maintaining that pace I'd just go with it. 

At the halfway point I started passing people which was a mental boost.  Normally I'll take some Clif Shotblocks at mile six but I wasn't feeling it at that point in the race so I held off.  At mile 9 I got a bad sideache on my right side.  I tried breathing deeply for a few minutes with no luck.  So I got out the shotblocks and chewed on those and that actually seemed to help.  At 10.5 miles I took a cup of water.  My plan was to go all out the last mile and do an under 8 minute mile.  At mile 12 I had another sideache that was killing.

I saw Thomas at this point and told him I was dying :) He ran across the park to meet me at the finish line.  I had a few goals this race my first being to get under 1:56:30 which was my former personal best.  The second was to get under 1:53 and the third was to get under 1:50.  At the halfway point I was feeling like I was going to accomplish at least the second goal but after the sideaches it messed up those plans.  I finished in 1:54:38! I came in 5th out of 36 in my age group and 40th overall out of 529.  I'm proud of that time and I saw my potential and see an under 1:50 half marathon in my future :)

The race shirts for this race are awesome! They are fitted for women and are a tech fabric.  At the end of the race they had champagne glasses and chocolate for the finishers.

Great race and I'm excited to sign up for the next one.  Next up I think will be a 5K so that both Thomas and I can run it and get PR's.

Last Day of Student Teaching

I finished my last day of student teaching this past Friday.  It was a bittersweet day.  I of course am happy to be COMPLETELY done with my bachelors degree but I am going to miss my class and my cooperating teacher and all the teachers I worked with.  My student teaching experience was a dream come true.  My cooperating teacher is just a perfect teacher.  She is organized, kind, creative, and fun.

  We got along extremely well and I learned so much from her.  With about 3 1/2 weeks left my cooperating teacher found out that she needed to go on part day bed rest because her blood pressure was extremely high (she's pregnant).  The day she found out she e-mailed my university supervisor to let him know she would need to take half days and would just have me be signed up as the sub.  Neither of us thought it would be a big deal but my university supervisor came rushing in that morning to talk to us about it.  Apparently  he didn't think the university would approve that situation. But he agreed to let it go (after drilling me about why I wanted to do it and telling me I was just doing it for the money). Okay subs in my school district make like $25 for a half day, I'm obviously not doing it for the money.  And ya, Sara and I totally planned for her to have high blood pressure so she would have to go on bed rest so I could make money (insert sarcasm). I just explained to him that I had already developed relationships with my students and other staff members and I was in the middle of teaching my unit and other projects with the students. I would have been devastated if I would have had to switch classes and it totally would have set me back having to adapt to another classroom. The school principal said he felt comfortable with the situation as he had observed me teaching and trusted both Sara and I's judgement. Luckily I was able to stay and had such an amazing experience. Our last day of school we had students present their magazine research reports that they had been working on for months to their parents and then there was a school wide family picnic.

Thomas came to the picnic and hung out for an hour or so afterwards as we watched our third grade program.  Sara's dad is a videographer and he filmed our program from a couple weeks ago and made DVD's. 
I had my first interview for a big girl job this week! It was for a local school district and was what they call a "screener" interview.  So they have a random principal interview you and take notes and then they fill out a rubric.  The rubric is sent to HR and the candidates who score the highest get called for a second interview.  The principal who interviewed me was really nice and I felt at ease. 

 This bookmark is my favorite.  It says "My favorite thing about Mrs. Giles is she's fun and when she teaches stuff that is normally boring like states of matter she makes it fun."

I love, love, loved my student teaching experience and will always think back on this time fondly.

Springtime

I can't say enough how much I LOVE weekends! Friday, Thomas had to work late so I took my time at school preparing for the coming week and getting report cards done.  I got home around 6pm and took my time relaxing before I went on a 6 mile run.  The taper now begins till the half marathon next weekend.  I can't wait! This weekend there was a half Ironman here in Boise and it was all everybody talked about. Thomas and I ran 6 miles Saturday morning and we could see some of the transition areas and mile markers.  Also Friday night I put on some relaxing music from Pandora and spent a couple hours cleaning the apartment.  I love having a clean apartment.
Before going on a run Saturday, Tess and I went to another yoga in the park class.  Even though it means waking up a little earlier than I normally would on Saturdays, I am actually excited to go to yoga Saturday mornings.
The rest of Saturday was spent running around going grocery shopping and other errands.  I finally got a new cell phone, in fact my old one was so old said he thinks it was the first slider phone they came out with.  While going grocery shopping Thomas and I saw the ingredients for smore's and decided to get some.  We got chocolate flavored marshmallows. 

I wouldn't recommend them cause they leave a weird aftertaste but Thomas just thought the tasted normal.  Thomas fired up the grill and we roasted them outside on our porch.

 After church today we relaxed at the apartment for a bit and then headed out to Ann Morrison Park for some frisbee golf. 

We bought another driver this weekend so we both would had one.  Thomas calls frisbee golf "poor man's golf".  Haha there have been a ton of people out every time we have gone. The course is about 20 holes and last week we started about halfway through.  Today we started from the beginning and played till about hole 10.  Then we went for a little stroll along the greenbelt that goes along the Boise river.  Such a beautiful spring evening.