As I reported a couple of weeks ago, I think aliens have invaded 16’s brain. Either that, or maybe there was a threshold of maturity crossed recently that appears to be sticking around. I’m crossing fingers for the latter, but not ruling out the former just yet.
He took the ACT test this weekend. And he CARED. He actually did a full practice test online! And? Since this was the ACT-no writing test he asked me to sign him up for the next full scale ACT and even…(gasp)…the SAT!!!
This from the kid who REFUSED less than a year ago to even CONSIDER taking the SAT when he knew computer majors didn’t *really* need it. And he insisted on the NO WRITING test too.
Suddenly he can tell you that his GPA is finally closer to 3 than 2.5 and that he WANTS to take all the normal college entrance exams.
Oh, and he thought the ACT no writing test was stupidly easy. Math was 8th grade level at best in his opinion, and he is no longer impressed if he hears of near perfect scores. He’s thinking that American schools are slacking. Yeah, probably so kiddo!
Anyway, I even marginally tricked him into doing the dishes twice this week without any whining. Again – WHO IS THIS??
Of course, even though he is now done with PT and is cleared to start running again on his newly repaired knee, he still wasn’t willing to join me on a mid-week jog around the block or an evening run tonight. So there’s still that.
Speaking of running…yes, I finally DID keep my promise to run on Wed night after work! It felt great, and I did my usual 2.3 mile hilly loop in record time without really trying to run too fast. Guess those long slow trail runs are helping my short course speed.
Meanwhile, instead of joining R2 for usual monster run this morning, I ran in my third in the Xterra trail race series. The first was Crystal Cove, the second was Mission Trails, and today was Black Mountain. It was a 6k route and just about in my backyard only 5 miles east of me. It was a nice change to not have to drive on the freeway to get to a race!
Unfortunately, someone turned on the cold and wind and wet again around here, AND this course was an ASS KICKER!
Come to think of it, Xterra only does ass kickers. The hills are always intense, and today was no different. 2+ miles barreling down down down with an occasional straightaway or small uphill only to go down again. The rule in running of course, is that what goes down, must come UP. And come UP we did. The last mile solid was UP UP UP. No switchback, no level off, just UP. I walked it. Wanted something in the tank to run through the finish line.
The best part was that as we all gathered before the start, I chatted with some lovely ladies who were also talking about going nice and slow. Having found some kindred spirits, I stuck with one of them most of the way and made sure to stay and cheer them in after I finished. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we are now all facebook friends and will be following each other’s running exploits via blogs.
Also, I still ran with R2 – she has a new thing on her training plan – she does the long run in the morning then has another 1:15 in the evening. Just got home from that so I did 9.3 miles total today. OUCH. I’m going to make some tea and rest now. Enjoy the photos 🙂
Trees & Flowers & Birds! 
Leave a Reply