The Last Worst Day

Yesterday I declared to myself that today would be the worst day of the year, as much as one can predict such things. Here's why:

The marathon is in four weeks and today is the longest remaining run on a school morning. When asked, I tell people that I usually wake up between 4:30am and 5:30am for my daily runs. But occasionally, when my training plan calls for 20k+ runs, I have to wake up at 4am. Today I had to do 22k. It could have been worse, though, as it didn't rain until I finished.

[I woke up, stepped outside, ran a half-marathon, then took this flattering picture.]

I arrived at the boat at 7:41am to find the inside seats all taken. It was raining so the outside seats were not feasible. But it's okay, knowing that today was The Last Worst Day of the year, I expected to have to stand.

Not long after arriving on Aka I realized I'd left my pens (P-500's) at home. My pens are as important to me as a cell phone is to a 17-year-old. I don't go anywhere without them.

At Aka, another predictable downer. Five classes in five periods, three of which were elementary (solo teaching = 100% lesson-planning). But it did make the day go by quickly.

At lunch, a surprise. I had a peanutty-flavored salady side-dish that was tasty. I got a second helping and was questioned by the staff in a surprising manner. They shouldn't have done it, but they told me what it was. Pigs' ears. Pigs' ears? What? It looked like.. well... the more I looked, the more it resembled the insides of the ears of deer and elk I have cleaned. A rarity for me: I stopped eating. My half of the cafeteria got a kick out of my sudden loss of appetite. I was not amused.

Tomorrow qualifies as bad day potential since I have to run 20k, but I only have three classes!