Easy track run before sunrise!

Today was a little different work-wise, instead of going to work at the Homewood Center (a public alternative education school in Howard County, Maryland), I went to Dayton Oaks Elementary School for CPI training with some other new employees at Homewood. It was pretty interesting, it involved a lot on managing conflicts where students would act out. I even learned some classroom-appropriate self-defense holds and blocks. I thought it was an effective training, and it was a nice change of scenery. Dayton Oaks ES is in Dayton, Maryland, kind of out near the more rural and western area of Howard County (and the photo above in the upper left is a photo of Dayton Oaks Elementary School taken from the Howard County Public School System's website).

I was at this training from about 8 in the morning until a little after four in the afternoon (with a nice lunch break in between of course). This meant I could get goin' a bit later and thus I would have time to fit in a run early in the morning. So I drove over to Hammond High School's track, all bundled up in layers as it was still dark and cold (I started my run before six in the morning). I ended up running four miles on the track (about sixteen laps) nice and easy. Although it felt nice compared to Sunday's 3.5-mile track run, I went at a slightly faster pace. Since it was dark for most of the run, I only looked at my watch pretty much every two laps as opposed to every lap. Here are the splits I remember from this morning's run in case anyone is interested:

1/2 mile - Low 3:40's

1 mile - 7:20

2 miles - 14:55

2.5 miles - 18:29ish

3.5 miles - 25:46ish

4 miles - 29:16

As you can see, I was blessed with another nice negative-split run. My first two miles were in about 14 minutes and 55 seconds, and then my second one was faster at 14 minutes and 21 seconds. 29:16 for four miles is right about at 7:19-per-mile. My first mile was 7:20. Not bad at all, especially considering this was in the dark and I tend to run a lot more prudently and conservatively in the dark, for the most part.

Another piece of interesting news, this evening after CPI training, I applied for my first teacher's certification course at Howard Community College in Columbia (Howard County), Maryland. It's called Human Development, I think it's more along the lines of a general education course. I'm takin' it on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for about four weeks after 2008 begins. This will be my first winter college-level course, pretty neat stuff. During my four school years at Salisbury University in Wicomico County, Maryland, I only took classes in the fall and summer semesters. So now I am officially in the system as a Howard Community College student, whooo-hooo!!!! That'll be cool, I still have some friends who are involved with that school, if not taking classes. I have friends who went through that school and seem to be successfully involved in four-year schools or pursuing jobs and such.

So that's been my busy, yet very productive day (at least in my mind). Ah, and a nice early-morning run with the sun risin' helped me get the day started :)

Thank you all for reading, have a good night out there!