Feb 21, 2013

Yesterday was the first day of observation and orientation like activities at my new job.  Sat in on several classes and started to get a feel for how things work.  To be honest I am not looking forward to this job.  I hope it changes as things go on, but it feels like a step backwards or at least just sideways from what I have been doing and what I want to be doing.  A place holder I guess until I can finish my psych studies.  But I did really enjoy teaching before in China, so I hope that is still there.  One thing that I really like about teaching was being able to see the progression in the students and know that I was in part responsible for that.  The new school only has 8 weeks with the students before changing around, which is good but not a long time and maybe not enough to see any real improvement before changing to a new cohort.  Better for the students to have exposure to a different teacher, but maybe not as good for me...

On the plus side I finally found a good listing of upcoming distance running and triathlon events in Hawaii.  I signed up for the Hapalua half-marathon next month, March 10.  And then there are a string of triathlons about once a month.  But the tri's can get expensive to register, its a costly t-shirt.  But it should keep me in pretty good shape.  Next goal is a sub 100 minute half-marathon, so far a 102 and a 106, if I take the pace and slow it down from the Aloha run, 95 minutes seems pretty easy, but it never quite works like that.

I also found what seems to be a pretty good Muay Thai gym last night, M-1 Martial Arts.  The only thing that sucks is the limited hours, M-W-F-Sat nights.  Which is limited, but maybe also a good thing if I can work my schedule to be there every class and run/distance train on the off days I should be able to take advantage of all there classes.  After talking with the coach it seems that there are a series of small events about once a month.  So I am hoping that I can train on the regular and maybe get into an event in April. Between the distance events and boxing I think my cardio should be pretty strong.

Now if I can find a spot at UH and save some real money to get some toys, motorcycle, archery set, surf/snorkel/dive gear, I think the weekends here could also start to be some real fun.