Fish out of Water

Summer time is finally here!! Don't get me wrong, I am not like one of those teachers who do the whole countdown till summer thing. As a matter of fact I pretty much enjoy my job and I approach the summer break much the same as I do a Friday at school! However, I am not denying the fact that we all need a break and the summer will be a blast with no work obligations:) with that being said, lots have happened between the Gila tour and now.

School ended on a good note with New Mexico Days, a day devoted to the customs and cultures of this great state! We decided early on this year to construct an authentic Navajo Pit House. I had no idea how much work this would be (given the population I work with). The original plan was to dig a 3 foot hole 10 x10 feet wide, make enough adobes to go around the structure, then put logs, sticks, and mud to cover the entire structure. Obstacles we encountered on the project: sewer lines smack dab in the middle of the first dig, dirt which was too sandy to maintain the consistency of an adobe, time it actually takes to make a 40 lb. adobe (about 25 hrs to make the 100 adobes from scratch), and lastly the hard work under the New Mexico sun! Educational benefits we were able to incorporate: ratios (math) the use of real life bar graphs and pie charts of the different soils and grasses we used for the perfect adobe, hands on social studies classes, integration of regular education and special education students, community participation, and lastly a visit by the LCPS Asst. Superintendent to view the final construction. During the week prior to NM Days we had managed to dig the 10 x 10 pit, make 2 tons of adobes on our own, were able to get an additional 8 tons of adobes donated (which we had to transport), and finally erect about half of the project. As always I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, and as always I got in a little over my head, and as always it all worked out in the end! Dr. Sanchez and my principal Mr. Davis were so impressed that I was nominated for a Golden Apple Award :) It's all good at the place I work!!

First Tri of the season!!! Up until this point I felt like a fish out of water, doing mountain bike, road bike, and running races. So when race weekend came, I was excited and anxious, but really tired (from all the adobe stuff)! Going into this race was a little different then the other series races in Tucson. Over the off season I was able to meet and train with all the Trisports.com team. Those guys, and gals, are really fast (and cool). When I see any of them at a race, I know any one of them could win it on any given day. Usually I go for broke on race day (and still do), if I were to get passed or beat I would take it a bit personally, but now a days it seems like I have made a complete 180*. I am happy for the guys wearing the red white and blue of Trisports no matter what position they are in the race. I knew Leo and Brian would be up there and I noticed Thomas was racing as well. Thomas won the team triathlon in the spring so I figured he would be the guy to beat! The race went pretty well, I finished 5th overall right between Brian and Leo (keeping awesome company), Thomas won, and Mar and I got a nice little weekend get away without the kiddos ;) All in all I feel I am right where I needed to be, I just didn't think about how hard the school project was going to be and how many hours I was going spend in the sun so close to a race in which I like to do well in.... Looking back, it was totally worth it and I would do it all over again exactly the same!! Next up, Deuces Wild Triathlon festival in Show Low AZ. where we will be camping together with our good friends The Medina's, My bro's Steven and Danny, and race directors Kori and Scott (we will have all three races covered)!!! Good times on the horizon! Enjoy the summer my friends... I know I will! By the way, yesterday made 159 straight days of training without an off day...can you say OCD??