On fending off crazy thoughts

Every year when people ask me "What are you doing for Labor Day Weekend?," I get really confused. It's a funny weekend for a teacher.  While everyone else is looking forward to a relaxing 3 day weekend, a last hoorah before autumn sets in, teachers are slowly beginning to panic (at least those who haven't started school yet).

Labor Day Weekend is a dividing line for me.  Summer is over.  Done.  Kaput.  No haziness involved.  Real life starts again after Labor Day.  Labor Day is when I start thinking about all those awesome plans I had for getting prepared for this school year back in June.  It's when I remember all those awesome plans and then think about how I didn't accomplish them.  It's when I remember just how little those first graders are on Day 1.  When I remember just how much work we have ahead of us.  And then the slight panic sets in.  Even going into year 7 of teaching first graders, I still get nervous before the first day of school.  I see that as a good sign, but it doesn't make it any easier.

So when people ask me, "What are you doing for Labor Day Weekend?,"  I usually say "Nothing.  Absolutely Nothing."  Except last year when I flew back to New York for a wedding.  And this happened:

Wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world.
Side note: Happy Anniversary Galina!

But usually, Labor Day Weekend is my weekend to be alone with my panic and mentally prep for the upcoming week.  This weekend though, things have been a little different.  Yes, the first-day-of-school nerves are setting in (especially now as I write about it...that may not have been a smart choice), but my thoughts have also been wandering to another, slightly more disturbing place.

Something scary is happening inside my brain.  This isn't unusual, and is how I ended up becoming a runner, then a half-marathoner, then a marathoner.  It's also how I started thinking about triathlons.  So in general, scary brain thoughts are not entirely bad things, they're just scary when they first start appearing.  However, what's really scary about these particular creeping and slowly strengthening thoughts is that the word "Ironman" is involved in them.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term "Ironman," let me educate you.  An Ironman is a triathlon, but it's not just any old triathlon.  It is the ultimate endurance triathlon.  2.4 mile swim.  112 mile bike.  26.2 mile run.    Let me repeat that with some clearer, slightly rounded terms.  Two and a half mile swim, more than a century bike ride, and then a marathon.  All at once.  All on the same day.  No resting in between.  My friends who recently competed in one of these events had times that varied between 13.5 and 15 hours to complete the race.  So let's say they started racing around 7 am, that means they didn't finish until roughly around 9 pm.  People who finish these things get the Ironman logo tattooed on their bodies.  No big deal.

So the idea that this phrase, this term, this Ironman thought is making appearances in my brain is just a bit scary.  Right now, it only pops up when I'm not paying attention (or when I find myself surrounded by Ironman finishers, which happens more often in my life than one would think).  It has not come to fruition and I don't expect it to for at least a couple more years (half-Iron, on the other hand, is a different story).  There's still a gigantic part of my brain that doesn't want it to happen.  But there's a small part of my brain that all of a sudden does.  And there's the rub.  Because the seed is planted.  And usually when seeds of this sort are planted, all they do is grow.  And grow.  From starting running to running a half marathon to running a marathon and then running 2 more and then to tackling the Goofy Challenge.  The growth can't be stopped.

So for now, I'm going to attempt to curb the growth for as long as I can.  I won't water the roots of these thoughts or shine light on the small sprout.  Instead I'll distract myself with other things, like:

Training for the Nike Women's Half Marathon.  This Saturday I got a long hilly run in a Lake Youngs--which isn't in fact a lake, just a reservoir, and as you run the 9 mile loop around it you only catch one fleeting glimpse of the water.  Nonetheless, it's beautiful and extremely challenging run.

Wish I could make this clearer and brighter, but I'm simply not that smart.

Notice that there are no flat parts on the elevation chart.  Lots of ups and downs.  Lots of elevation.  I started off this run with my new reliable Saturday running partner Jamie.  Jamie is a teacher like me so we have lots to talk about, especially considering the main 3 things I ever talk about are running and teaching and Lucy.  She participates in 2 of those conversations and bears with me through the 3rd.  She is also 4'11" and I am 5'10", which I think must be quite a sight running down the trails.  I'll have to get it photographed sometime soon.

Jamie wasn't feeling so hot on Saturday though, so she stuck it out with me for the first 3 miles before turning around so she could keep close to the cars.  I saw her again at the end, still toughing it out like a little ball of energy.  Here's how I did:

I started slow with Jamie because she was feeling sick (and I'm totally impressed she made it out, let alone ran 8+ miles on those hills).  After we split up, I picked things up a bit.  I guess I didn't realize just how much I picked them up because when I looked at my final average pace after finishing, I was quite surprised.  I think I went slow on the uphills and then made up speed on the downhills.  That's my only seemingly reasonable explanation for maintaining a comfortable close-to-9 min pace in those last few miles.  That said, I felt great after this run.  I give myself a pat on the back.  Yay me.

Getting ready for my first triathlon next weekend.  I had originally intended to do the Black Diamond Olympic Triathlon in 2 weeks, but having not been on a bike or in a lake in several weeks, I decided to cut back and do the Escape from the Rock sprint tri next weekend instead.  I feel good about this decision.  And since it's my first tri, I think that it's good for me to start small.

Starting training for the Goofy Challenge.  I am super excited about this.  We have our Kick Off practice with Team in Training next Saturday, and I'm anxious to get things started.  I'm one of the captains for this season (along with 2-time Ironman MacKenzie), which means I have lots of responsibilities to look forward to keeping me busy in addition to my fundraising (donate to my fundraising efforts, pretty pretty please!!. Then you'll get to pat yourself on the back too).  

Starting the school year.  Duh.

Maintaining my new early morning riser goal.  Let's see if I make it through this week. I feel the real test is going to be waking up super early after a day with the kiddos.  But Lucy is loving all the extra exercise she's getting.  Short walks in the morning and then another short walk or run at night.

Exhausted.  Yes, her tongue is sticking out.

See?  See how easy it was to get distracted from all that thinking about Ironman?  I just have to keep doing that for another couple years and life will remain sane.  Because doing a sprint tri while training for a half marathon while starting to train for a race that involves running a half marathon one day and a marathon the next day is TOTALLY SANE.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

What crazy thoughts have been haunting you lately?  How do you fend them off?