1. Yesterday was the first day of classes for the spring semester at UMD, which meant it was my first night teaching my Intro to Reporting class.

The class I teach is a writing lab class, where we cover the most basic aspects of reporting -- things like how to put together a lede and a nutgraph and AP Style. Then we move on to writing obituaries, accident and crime stories.

I have a pretty big class this semester -- 18 kids, the max for the class. They seem like a good group, and I'm looking forward to working with them during the semester. I don't plan to blog much about teaching, but who knows, it might come up from time to time.

2. Last week, I said I needed to get better at running more consistently during the week, and I've done a pretty great job of that this week.


I've run three times since last week, including that bitter cold run I did on Tuesday night where I couldn't feel my chin after a few minutes of running.

That's definitely an improvement over last week, and I'm thinking three times a week of running is what I'm going to shoot for the next several weeks. That gives me a couple days of good running with my CrossFit classes twice a week. I'm hoping that if I stick to that routine for the next several weeks, my fitness base will start to improve and maybe even be close to where it was pre-injury.

I have the Nike Women's Half on the horizon (it's at the end of April) and I want a solid fitness base before I attempt half marathon distances.

3. It snowed in DC last night.


I woke up this morning to a blanket of the white stuff outside my window. I'm super grateful my office approved telework for today so I didn't have to worry about commuting in the snow. Driving or metro-ing around here when there is snow can be super dicey. It's like everyone becomes dumb and forgets how to act like a sane person while commuting. Accidents everywhere!

Depending how the day goes, I may slip out for a lunchtime run in the snow (if it sticks around for that long and doesn't melt.)