Preschool P.E., Journeys, and Pizza

My boss asked me if I would come in to take over teaching P.E. at our preschool today. 

YIKES.

1. I don't normally work on Friday's

2. I definitely don't normally teach P.E.

In fact, working as a Teacher's Assistant two days a week at my son's preschool this year is the first time I've worked since my daughter was born, seven and a half years ago.  I do love working there.  The pay isn't fabulous (or even good, really, if we're being honest), but my co-workers are fun to be around and the kids bring a certain energy that I don't think you can really get anywhere else.  The hours also still allow me to do all the stay-at-home mom things I want to be able to do.  Anyway, teaching P.E. is not on my normal list of responsibilities.  So, after I agreed to do it, I started Googling furiously for ideas of what to do for the whopping 15 minutes I'd be seeing each of the six classes for.  Seriously...I was stressin'.  I won't bore you with the details of my "lesson plans", but, I will tell you that one of the most popular things I did with the kids was something I took straight from the P90x DVD!  HA!! These kids loved doing the Superman/Banana.  It was pretty hilarious.  If you've never done any P90x and don't know what the Superman/Banana is...well, have a look-see.

Now, just imagine a group of 12 four-year-olds doing that...

I usually get in a run at the gym on Friday mornings, and while doing six preschool P.E. classes does work up an honest sweat, I was still able to get over to the gym (thanks to my mom watching the little man) for a run this afternoon.

5 min. 8:57 pace
35 min. 8:34 pace
5 min. 8:57 pace

5.21 miles

So, I guess I should really be making 8:34 my new base pace?  It felt good today.  It was a push to keep it up for the 35 minutes, but definitely doable.  It's cool to be getting faster.

In my recent exploration of other runner's blogs, I came across 50 After 40.   And--this is such a crazy coincidence--I discovered that not only do we live in the same town, but we go to the same gym!  Small world.  Although, the chances of our paths ever actually crossing at the gym are slim to none, since Jim runs at the crack of dawn!  Either way, his blog is great and I've enjoyed reading about his quest to run a marathon in all 50 states, after the age of 40.  Even one marathon still sounds crazy to me...He wrote today about enjoying the journey of running and preparing for races, and that if you don't enjoy the journey, regardless of the outcome, you're missing the point (at least this was my interpretation of what he was saying).  I think that wisdom can be applied to all aspects of life, not just running.  And, as I'm typing this, my husband is watching a documentary film called 180 Degrees South (it's awesome, if you ever get a chance to watch it).  I heard this quote on the film and thought it was a great explanation of what you can gain from really committing yourself to a journey.

"The best journeys answer questions that, in the beginning, you didn't even think to ask."  Unknown

Our family decided to journey on over to our favorite pizza place tonight--Next Door Pizza.  This place is SO. GOOD.  And, the owner is a high school friend of Jeremy's, so it makes it that much easier to want to patronize it.  Plus, on Friday nights they have specials on Boulevard (a local Kansas City brewery) Unfiltered Wheat beer.  YUM.  So, of course, I took a picture of our food.

What you're looking at here is some of the best thin-crust pizza around (with my son chowing down in the background).  We never get tired of this pizza.  I kind of want one of the cold leftover pieces from the fridge right now.  Hmmmm.

I may get another trip to the gym in tomorrow morning when I take my daughter to her acting class.  (Oh boy, is acting class perfect for her!!)  And, I know I'm eating some more of that pizza for lunch tomorrow.  The weather is supposed to turn very spring-ish here for the next week or so.  Woohoo!!  I can see some outdoor runs in my future....

Anybody have any fun plans for the weekend?

Favorite pizza: thin-crust or thick-crust?