So close to the finish line

To the end....of a race? No, to the end of my working life. I am retiring in one week. I have one more class to teach.Two sets of papers to grade, one exam to make up and grade, one more graduation to attend.

So close. Bittersweet? Yes, always. Who am I? I have spent every year since 1960 in an academic setting. Wow. Unbelievable. I wanted to teach one class a semester as an adjunct but that isn't going to happen, at least not as things stand now. Guess I am going cold turkey.

I have compared this past year to a long race. Very weird that it will end and no new one will begin.

I will have time to run. I will have time to race. I'll even have time to sleep. 

I complained a lot about the Behind the Rocks Race. I bitched about the missing aid station. Since then, I have run two more races. Local races. Just-for-fun races. I ran Valles Caldera half marathon only because my good friend Melinda wanted to do it. She has done half marathons before but always with a pacer/coach. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do it on her own. My deal was to go with her but not be with her during the race. We started out and I never looked back to see how she was doing. Somewhere along the way, most of us half marathoners took a wrong turn. We then ended up at a T....do we go right or left? Some went right and then turned back. Some went left. As it turns out, neither was correct because we shouldn't have come to this T. 

I went right and kept going even when it was obvious that I was going the wrong way. I eventually ended up at the finish line, running approximately 15 miles. Melinda, meanwhile, went left. This took her to the finish line by cutting off two miles. Her well planned, and well executed, race was screwed up due to a couple of misplaced flags. She did the training and ran a smart race. I was laughing most of the time. Yeah, the course was messed up. Yeah, I ran a couple of extra miles. Yeah, so what? Unlike Behind the Rocks, I was just having a good time. Who cares? I got to see an elk!! 

Sometimes you get pissed when the RD screws up; sometimes you just enjoy the ride.

I am a big pissed off that the academic "RD" has screwed up and I won't get to teach next semester. Think I will just put a big ole smile on my face and enjoy my freedom.