Wanda’s World

By Wanda Bingaman

I’m in summer mode now. In other words, my brain is mush, there’s no schedule in my house, pretty much chaos is reigning. My body is turning to mush, as well, with my bum foot keeping me down. I also look like December. Yes, I know sun is bad for your skin. But, in the summer, I usually get some color. Nope, not this year. I guarantee between August 13-19, there will be a monsoon and rain of epic proportions. How do I know this? I can finally get back to a “normal” summer. The pool, regular showers ie one a day and not bi-weekly, maybe a visit to the beach. Cue monsoon!

So, what’s keeping me busy? Well- reading. A LOT. I love to read. And working in a library, that’s useful. My first year, kids would ask “what should I read?!?” And I’d be ‍”I dunno. Books?!?” Ok- not quite that bad, but close. Then last summer, I read a lot of books from the school library. And last school year went a lot smoother. Except when the kids say “I like Fantasy.” And I go “Ick. Bless. I can’t help you.” This past year I also remembered that I like adult books. Joined a book club at Barnes and Nobles. So, reading is good!

Also, thinking about the next school year. Last year, my school- Hope Middle, here in Greenville- had a staff walking club. Mustangs on the Move, we called ourselves. The idea was to do one 5K a month-ish. Together or separately. Then you’d get a badge. People in education love a carrot, let me tell you! Each race, we’d get a “sticker” for our group shirt.

Our fearless leader made sure we knew which races were coming up and made the badges for our shirts. Pretty much, if you say “hey, I’m going to do x race on y day” somebody will be like- me too!!  My one son did three races, my other one did two races, and my husband did one race with me- very neat family activity!

A 5K is 3.2 miles. I knew that in my head. I thought my first 5K I might die. One, it was HOT. So hot. Two, I hadn’t really trained for it…..  But, I finished in less then an hour! Whoo hoo!!

**Let’s get one thing out of the way- I don’t run. I don’t want to run. I might run down a hill if there is one (and let’s face it, I live in Greenville- there aren’t a lot of hills!). I tried walking 5 minutes, running for 1 minute (or 45 seconds) once. I only kind of felt like I was dying. And my ab (I only have the one LOL) hurt for a few days from sucking wind.**

I am looking forward to starting to walk again and hopefully have less pain in my foot this year. Races have already been discussed for the fall. Our leader is ready to do a 10K. We had runners and walkers in our group. One lady would run the 10K option if there was one. I finished all my races in less then an hour last year- that’s my goal this year!

Now excepting donations for future races.

My 2018-2019 Mustangs on the Move shirt. I did seven races. I signed up for eight, but the last one was after testing season and right before my surgery, so my son took my place.
Sept- Riley’s Army (butterfly)
Oct- Rally for Ally, Costumes for a Cure (ghost)
Dec- Dash for Cash (reindeer)
Jan- free New Year’s Day 5K downtown (fireworks)
Feb- Cupid Crawl (XOs)
March- Live Well free 5K (funny orange guy)
April- free 2 miler sponsored by Mustangs on the Move (book)