Marathon Weekly Update

The dreaded AP exams

OK, I know I shouldn't complain, but I'm going to whine for just a bit. The whole AP thing is getting really old. I figured out that I have spent at least 30 hours this week proctoring. The other 10 hours of my supposed 40 hour work week has been spent organizing the exams, moving boxes, and running from building to building when there is a crisis. I was giddy at the beginning of the week when I contemplated how much "free" time I would have to get my work done. The only problem is that each of the exams has very intricate directions and bizarre timing schedules that keeps me on my toes. I finally got smart enough to bring in a kitchen timer that beeps at 10 and 5 minutes before the end to keep everything straight. You should have seen me trying to do the clock math in my head. For example: today's US History exam is broken into 3 sections. The first being 1 hr 22 min, the second 22 min, and the third 2 hr 53 min. Who comes up with this? Oh, I forgot, it is the much-hated College Board. Don't even get me started down that path.

Yesterday I thought I might cause myself bodily harm so I could leave the proctoring to someone else. Yes, I know that would mean that I would be heading to the hospital, but after 5 hours of sitting quietly in a room you are pretty much ready to do anything to make it stop. Thankfully the last 3 1/2 hours were in my office and I could do some filing. My student finished in record time (which doesn't bode well for his score on the exam) and I thought I would get out of work early for once - and when I say early I mean 4:00pm which is officially the end of my day. But no, I had to wait until the regular time students were finished, which means that I had to hang around for another hour before heading home.

OK, that is now out of my system. Not counting the marathon of AP exam proctoring, yesterday was a pretty good day. I tried some new inserts in my shoes and used underwrap beneath my taping which eliminated the tape cuts. I felt like I was running on clouds and could have kept going for hours. I stopped at 3 1/5 miles since I have a big run this weekend. I was in contact with my coach and he has asked me to run with the Salazars, a slower group, and only complete 17 miles this weekend to make sure that I'm really back on track. I have been faithfully icing and popping ibuprofen this week to prepare myself.

I did some grocery shopping on my way home. My friend Amanda called as I was walking into Trader Joes. She talked me down from some bad decisions (read here Instant garlic mashed potatoes) and kept me busy while I navigated the store. I may have gone a little overboard - I was hungry and paying more attention to my conversation than my shopping - but it was a much more pleasant experience than I have had recently at TJs. After stopping at Whole Foods for some produce I came home, put away my groceries, ate some dinner, and crawled into bed.

Yes, I got into bed at 7:15pm last night and it was wonderful. I read for a while and was asleep by 8pm. I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm this morning and had some time to lounge and pet the kitties before getting up to face the day. Even though I know it makes me lame, I'm a much happier person today and seriously that is all that matters.

posted by Heidi @ 10:58 AM