Running on empty

I started running again last month and I'm taking it a bit more seriously than I used to. Granted, I'm still not very fast and I don't go terribly far; but I'm paying a lot more attention to how fast and how far I'm not going. Why? I've decided that I want to run the Dublin City Marathon. Not this year (it's on in 2 days, so I've left it a little late to train!) but maybe next? At any rate, it's on my list of things to do before I die (see my50.co.uk).

I was watching a comedy show called Dan & Becs a couple of weeks ago, and Becs was talking about a website called 'mapmyrun.com'. I thought it was part of the joke, but checked it out anyway. Sure enough and lo and behold, there it was. A great way to keep track of all my runs and how quickly I don't do them and how far they're not. It's made me feel so inadequate that I'm pushing myself a bit harder so that I don't look like a total loser if someone happens to look at my profile/runs/training.

So, now I'm almost up to 6 miles, at least 2 mornings per week. It's a start.

A Coffee for the Teacher

I think one of my students asked me out yesterday. It's been a long time since anyone has asked me out, so I'm not sure if he did or not. In my day, you wouldn't ask (or be asked) in front of other people. Perhaps the fear of rejection outweighed the mild interest in the actual answer?

Anyway, I was helping a group of students work on a web assignment and I suggested that I should start charging for extra tuition, but said that a hot cup of coffee on my desk before the next class would suffice. Then he said: "Forget the coffee, will you come for a drink with me instead?"

I just laughed. "Aha ha ha!" The other students laughed. He laughed. I said "You need to make sure the link is relative, or else it won't work when you put it up on the server", desperately trying to change the subject, or at least get back to safe ground.

Is it really conceited to think that he might have been asking me out? Still, I do hope he wasn't actually serious. Oh God, that would be awkward.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Oh wow! This book was great. Death tells the story of a teenage girl growing up in a small town in Germany in the build up to and the early years of the second World War. There's an accordianist, a Jew in the basement, a boy, a library and a Fuhrer. I won't tell you anything else about this - just say READ IT!