Chalk Dust is in the Air + Week 7 Schedule

The Campanile Bell Tower
(Courtesy brianmullnl @ Flickr)

I'm not sure how typical a kid I was. I'm sure that I looked forward to summers like every other school child. What's not to like about summer? Playing outside all day till the street lights came on in the early evening, running around shirtless and shoeless. Building play forts; fighting mock wars. Catching bugs, lizards, mosquito hawks. Snagging turtles in the ditch. And, perhaps best of all, snowballs - New Orleans style! Summers between school years were usually a whole lot of fun. But somewhere in late July, I'd start getting bored with all that free time (doh, what was I thinking). I would start itching for school to resume, for the chance to see all my buddies again, and for the opportunity to learn new stuff. Now that I'm on the opposite side of the teacher's desk, things are different - yet somehow still the same. Let me explain.

Stately halls await
(Courtesy afcool83 @ Flickr)

For the last eight years or so, I've spent most of every summer preparing for class in the fall. No, I didn't spend 8 to 10 hours everyday at school. But I did spend most of the summer working on additions and improvements to the course I teach. In the first few years, a lot of time was spent just on making sure I understood all the concepts, methods, and equipment much better than any student I'd expect to encounter. Then, I moved on to improving course layout and student engagement activities so as to improve the learning opportunities for students. I developed and improved assessment tools and rubrics, and over those years, I built and rebuilt the course website. True, not all this would be necessary to deliver an adequate offering to the students, but adequate never really seemed adequate to me.

Old War Skule architecture
(Courtesy brianmullnl @ Flickr)

Then there's the obvious fact that each year some tasks seems to get more difficult than they used to be. Keeping up with the best students takes better preparation. Preparing unique assignments year after year takes significant effort. Trying to improve that which you've already spent years honing also takes deeper insight, more reflection and greater humility. Still, we don't want to give up on all those good things just because they're not as easy as they used to be. But, for sure, some of the blush is off the rose as summer after summer winds down and school is about to resume.

A most beautiful campus
(Courtesy Ken Lund @ Flickr)

On the other hand, the beginning of a new semester is about the best time and opportunity in the world for us teachers. After all, we get to start off with a clean slate (well, they're actually dry erase boards now). We get to meet, mentor and learn from a fresh new crop of eager students who don't have any memories of the stupid things we said last semester. We get to stay eternally young because our protégés never age. And we get to leave a legacy in ways that no other profession can hope to accomplish. Now if that's not a heady opportunity, I don't know what is.

A venue soon to be filled
( Courtesy Ken Lund @ Flickr)

If all that is not enough, the timelapserunner gets to enjoy that privilege within one of the most beautiful university venues anywhere. The campus at LSU is like a breathtaking jewel beheld afresh each and every time you look around at it - which, of course, is one reason why the Louisiana Marathon route is so highly thought of. Everywhere I look there are lush green oaks, engaging architecture and picturesque lakeside paths. And in a scant two weeks, by sheer magic all that will transform into a veritable football heaven for me, Mrs. timelapserunner and nearly one hundred thousand of our closest friends.

I'm so glad that summer vacation is over and school is about to start. Aren't you?

BLOG POSTINGS: The timelapserunner has had a great time posting here for the past two months. Postings will continue, but it's not clear whether daily postings can be sustained once fall classes start tomorrow. Still, on most evenings I'd rather be here in front of the computer writing a blog post than vegging out on the couch in front of the TV. So, we'll see. We're making no promises about sustaining daily posts, but I'm hoping we'll be able to keep them coming.

WEEK 7 SCHEDULE: A recovery week, but the long run does add a mile. Hopefully the weather will start to reflect the fact that this is a fall semester, not a summer school.

In Week 7, the off-weekend long run bumps from 3 to 4 miles

TODAY'S WORKOUT: A day of rest, of course - with the exception of active-isolated stretching. No apparent ill effects from yesterday's long run.