Day 22: Turning 5K Into 6.5K Like A Champ

Good evening! (or morning, or afternoon, I really don't know when people read this...) 

Today was a day that was very busy. I already used my busy title for the past 5 days, so I guess I'll just go with "Turning 5K Into 6.5K Like A Champ." (I'll explain later.)

It started out as a normal day at school, with me gradually taking over the math portion of class (basically the entire afternoon). It was a nice day, but the kids were so tired in the morning. Any day we end up reading the weekly story aloud in class, they all just shut down. We let the kids read the story, but the time just goes by so slowly. They're decent readers, but sometimes it just takes forever for them to think about what they're reading. It's somewhat frustrating, but once they're awake, they do a fine job of reading. 

While at school today, I realized there was a Suicide Awareness Walk in town this evening. I knew some of the kids were participating, but I had no idea that all the dorm kids were going. Once I found this out and realized I could register for it last minute, I went with the kids to do the walk. It was originally intended to be a 5K walk/run, but since we were walking from the school, it added on a K. And a half. It was 2.1 miles to the Junction (town, basically) and 2.1 miles back. It wouldn't have been too bad, except it was with 110 kids between the ages of 5 and 15. I had two little girls whose feet and legs kept getting tired, so I probably spent about 1/4 mile of the walk carrying a first grader. It wasn't so bad, except my back started hurting. Toward the end of the walk, right before the school entrance, one of the dorm workers had pulled up her SUV to take the little girls back, since most of them were struggling. We crammed a lot of the girls into the SUV and drove nice and slowly from the entrance to the dorms. It was nice, but I could've made it back just fine. Maybe not with a first grader on my hip, but I would've been fine. I just wanted to stick with my Wing D girls.

Walking to the 5K staging area...

The sign says, "Don't suicide." The walk was to raise suicide awareness and educate people about how to look for signs of suicide and to help people overcome a struggle they may have thinking about suicide.

The sign on this van said "Shuttle." Looks legit. (not)

Carrying more signs along the road.

How many girls can we fit in an SUV?

My shirt and number.

Since the walk took up much of our time tonight, the study hour/activity time were pretty much removed from the schedule. I went to the study room with the girls who had homework and helped them as usual. It was just later than usual, so by the time the girls were done, it was time for bed. I was just so happy to relax for once. It was pretty much non-stop from 6:30 this morning and 8:30 this evening, and I taught math, played volleyball, and walked 4 miles during that time. I'm pretty exhausted, but it was still such an awesome day. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my students in my class and the girls  in the dorm and helping them all succeed at whatever it is in life they want to do. :)

Hope everyone has a great week!!