Jesus spiders, marathons, and slower starts.

I have silly revelations about my life in the midst of things like chillin' with my Kindergartners, and running. Like today, it was nap time at the Y (for the kids, unfortunately, not for me. Boo, because I could've used one today). During nap, since the kids are like almost in first grade, a lot of them don't actually nap. It's kind of more like quiet time. We pull out little mats that they lay on the floor on top of, turn off the lights, and play some nice mellow music (My favorite to play them lately has been Brahms...the man was a genius), but sometimes, when I feel like being a cool teacher, I read to them. We've already blown through a couple of Boxcar Children books, a book about a little duck named Scrawney, and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Right now we're reading James and the Giant Peach. So anyway, we're about done with the book (I'm still trying to decide what we will move onto next...possibly Prince Caspien?) and we get to the part right before James and his friends see the Cloud Men making hail stones and knock the centipede off of the peach. There's this big dialogue between James and the bugs, and the Earthworm starts telling James about how every single bit of soil on the earth has once passed through an earthworm, and that the farmers love earth worms for this because it makes the soil healthy. Then the lady bug starts telling James about how the farmers also love her because she eats all the nasty bugs off of their crops. Centipede of course chimes in exclaiming he's a pest and proud of it...and then there's the spider. Poor Miss Spider starts telling James about how she's hated, but all she ever does is good. She catches the bad bugs in her webs and eats them, never bothering anyone. Still, when humans find her kind, they kill them. That got me thinking. Jesus is kind of like the spider! He did the world good, but the world didn't, and doesn't perceive what he was doing as good, so they hated him and killed him...or tried anyway. Yep. I love my job.

Anyway, as far as running goes, my race is exactly in 10 days...this has been scaring the bazookas out of me. Well I'm excited, but also very scared. I know I'll do well. Besides, I've been reading this new book called The Ultramarathon Man and it's about this guy that won the hardest footrace in the world and runs like crazy races (right now I'm reading about how he's completing an 11 man relay race that stretches out 199 miles, except he isn't completing it with 10 other men, he's doing it by himself) and it's motivating me a lot. Also, the Indianapolis Marathon is my next feat (hopefully) to accomplish, and it's a Boston Marathon qualifier. Can you see me on Heart Break Hill? Haha, maybe I'll wait another couple of years (and couple of marathons) to try that one.
Anyway, I've realized that one of my biggest challenges in running is that I have trouble starting slow. I get all excited and amped up to run, and I dart out the door and complete my first mile or two at like a 7:50 or less pace and then I tire myself out and end up finishing my run at around a 9:40 to 10:00 minute pace. Yeah. Wow. So anyway, I'm really working on that. I will post results once I've mastered it.

SO...Jesus spiders, marathons, and slower starts. Yep. That would about sum it up. :)