Stress Management

I was so freaked out about tomorrow's marathon that I could almost say I was dreading it. However, I've turned it into something I can't wait for - the key is stress!

Note - this is not a "woe is me, my life is so hard" post. I think I use the word "awesome" to as an adjective to describe various aspects of my life entirely too much to ever get there. The point is that I essentially have no coping mechanisms to deal with stress, so when it hits me, it hits me hard.

Next week state testing starts for my students. No big deal, just that my entire worth as a teacher is determined by how well 8 years olds show that they remember everything I've ever taught them over the past six months during 2.5 hours of nonstop testing for four days.

This happened last week. 

Now every day feels like a last chance workout, trying to cram every last bit of knowledge and test taking strategy into the kids' heads. At least I can better identify with Bob and Dolvett now.

That's the look I give my kids if they don't remember how to identify author's message.

On top of that, I have a project due for grad class that's sort of putting me over the edge. Thursday night, after working for hours on it, everything was pretty much destroyed, requiring me to start from scratch.


 I had a meltdown of epic proportions.

I couldn't get up to swim Friday morning, but I hadn't had any candy since Monday, so I can't blame it on my utter lack of control around sweets. I can blame it on stress, which sounds so much more grown up, important, and not my fault. It also sounds a lot better than "I couldn't get up Friday because I was up too late Thursday sobbing to my husband about how I was going to fail out of school". 

I reverted to my one and only coping strategy to regain control: WWKD. What Would Katniss Do?

Whatever happens, it's better than being in the arena.

All this pent up aggression is making me extremely excited to run 20 miles tomorrow morning. Which is another thing that makes this marathon easy - it's only a 20 mile marathon!

(In Myrtle Beach, we had way too much fun with how non-runners will be like "So, how long is this marathon? My cousin ran a 4 mile marathon last weekend!")

After the 20 mile marathon, I'm running a fun 6 mile cooldown with Kara and Emily. If I'm lucky, they might even join me for that extra .2 at the end. Even better, we are having a slumber party tonight. We also managed to talk Ashley into changing her marathon plans and running Lower Potomac as well, so I'm really excited to meet her before and after the race (and maybe see her on an out and back - she's super fast). 

It feels SO weird to know I'm running a marathon tomorrow and not be working on a playlist. 

Please share any and all stress coping mechanisms you have.

I haven't come up with anything other than sobbing to my husband. Before I met him, it was sobbing into M&Ms and cheap vodka. I really need to step things up.