Focused, down to business....

It's two-fold. Both school (prac) and running.

School:
It was a great first week of prac. I was a little nervous going in because you never know who you're going to end up with for a prac supervisor and I heard a few horror stories of people who got real dick heads as prac teachers. My supervising teacher (Miss Pigram) turned out to be pretty cool and this should be a great experience. She's very laid back and helpful and we're getting into the swing of things. Thursday at school was Harmony day (multi-cultural appreciation) and the kids spent time painting all the things that Aaron and I had set up out in the common play area. It's very colourful up there! We also did a Harmony Day activity (that I set up, and ran) in class. I got two big sheets of blue bristol board and printed out "Welcome" in big orange bubble letters and past it in the middle of the two Bristol boards that I taped together length-wise, and underneath we put 2/3P (for the class). Then all the kids traced their hand on a piece of white computer paper (I provided) and cut them out. I had also prepared a sheet of the word "Welcome" in about 20 other languages and the kids had to use AT LEAST 8 of them on their hand and then they could decorate their hand however else they wanted. It was a huge success overall and the kids really liked it I think. :) I was also graded by Miss Pigram and did AWESOME. She gave me perfect/above perfect marks and great feedback. So all in all I was super pleased with it.

Friday we had a lot going on. In the morning we played Cricket, then the kids wrote their Numeracy Test (to get ready for the National numeracy test they will be writing in a few weeks). After Lunch Miss Pigram and I had RFF (relief from Face to Face) and i did some planning for this coming week as I have a few full lessons to teach. I'll be teaching a lesson on Length, one on area and one on Ice hockey (but using field hockey equipment). That should all be awesome fun!

Now the REAL FUN STUFF, Running:
Tunes and I are really getting into it now. We're both into our marathon training plan and first looking at the half marathon we're running in 8 weeks. My goal is sub 1:27:30 (I did 1:27:47 two years ago at the National Capital in Otttawa) and her's is under 1:45:00. We've both been running great, especially her who is right into it this week. She ran 5 times this week and just finished a 20k run (her longest ever) in about 1:55:00. So she's got a little work to do, but we've got 8 weeks so I'm confident in her ability. My goal will certainly be a challenge too. My 1:27:47 at Ottawa was an amazing time (avg 4:10/km) and will be one hell of a tough time to beat. Those races are in Canberra and the course looks pretty sweet.
Right after we're done there it's time to focus on the Gold Coast Marathon. Her goal is sub 4 hours (which may change after Canberra) and mine is once again 3:10 so I can race Boston in 2010. We're motivating each other and I love being able to chat with her about and help her set goals and get excited about racing. I have all the confidence in the world of her ability to race well and I have no doubt that if she wants to, she can easily qualify (3:40) for Boston as well in the next few years. It's true though that running here is a HECK of a lot more enjoyable than at home. No offense to Ottawa, but there's something to be said for running along the Pacific ocean at sunrise. I get goosebumps when I look out over the water. It's like friggin' paradise down here.

Mom: I took some random pictures yesterday as I walked up to pay rent, I'll get those up soon.

a couple school related terms:

a period is a full-stop
a marker is a texter (or texta, as they pronounce it)
an eraser is a rubber