Goin' back to school

So not a whole lot of exciting things to update on. Wisconsin, or more specifically Madison, continues to lure just the right mix of weather to produce boat loads of snow. We're at a record breaking 80 inches for the year and another 6-8 is expected Sunday. I'm getting some quality upper body workouts in with all the shoveling - balance right?

Our household is finally healthy again so training is back into high gear which usually means two workouts a day. I can't take more than 2 hours on the trainer at a time. I've also gotten into a routine of going to the gym to lift and run on the treadmill. I feel guilty not running outside but I'm not a big fan of snow covered and slippery sidewalks. I managed a full hour the other day - kind of like a hamster in a wheel but my Ipod is my salvation.

The biggest news for me is that I've taken on a long term substitute teaching position for the rest of the school year. I've been a pretty casual sub for the past two years along with my part time retail gigs so it will be a huge change. It's an absolutely perfect scenario though and they're even willing to let me take three weeks off in May/June for racing. So starting Monday I'll be teaching three freshman Biology and two Advanced Bio classes at the high school down the street from where I live. Should be an interesting adventure and I'm sure I'll learn as much as my students do throughout the semester. I'm pretty excited about it and it should be a lot of fun. I'll let you know how it goes :)

No picture updates for now but maybe I'll bring the camera along tomorrow when we go skiing with some friends. Walking in a winter wonderland . . .

next year . . . I'm getting a flu shot

So I know much of the country is deep in flu season and for the first time in almost 10 years I got it too. And as if my suffering wasn't enough I had to pass it on to teammates and Dave. I'm not going to take full credit for giving it to the team in San Diego. It was just a mild little cold until Saturday when it started mutating into something worse. But it sounds like just a few were spared the evil wrath of the pesky little virus. I felt a bit like the monkey from that movie Outbreak. And unfortunately I had to miss my grandma's 86th birthday celebration for fear of infecting more. Sorry Grandma, Happy Birthday!

I'm actually feeling much better now but I spent 3 solid days of doing absolutely nothing on the couch and another few days laying really low. I did teach the last two days of the week which was perhaps a questionable thing to do in my health but I knew it was going to be an easy gig. The kids from the classes were mostly away at a convention so I supervised study halls with an average of 6 kids per class. And I tried really hard not to cough on them.

Now I'm watching Dave go through the unfortunate and uncomfortable motions of the flu. Chills, eyes that feel like they're going to pop out of your head, feeling incredibly weak, headache, nasty cough and congestion. It's not so fun and here's hoping you somehow escaped it.

I'm slowly easing back into training after a full week off the bike and am keeping my fingers crossed that mother nature will follow the Groundhog's Day prediction. Winter has been brutal this year in Wisconsin and it's possible that Madison may break a new snowfall record for the season. I've enjoyed a bit of cross country skiing but now that February is here I'm dreaming of March . . . and April. I'm just hoping for sun and temps above 40 for now - I'll take what I can get.

And hopefully my immune system is iron clad now. But I think I'm getting a flu shot next year just in case.