TEACHING The classroom has been my first home since 1978 when I was hired as a special education teacher in Tolland, CT. I've been teaching there ever since. My specialty? Dyslexia. I enjoy teaching spelling, decoding, writing, and math. It's a job that takes patience, insight, and creativity. In 1994, when I became a runner, I started integrating running with the curriculum. I still run with my schoolchildren on Fridays. And I have an after-school Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club that meets twice each week. LATE BLOOMER Everything that I enjoy doing, seemed to come later to me than to it did to others. I became a teacher and went back to school after I had my children. My running, artwork, writing, and designing all started after my children were grown and at college. The term LATE BLOOMER fits because I fared poorly in athletics, art, writing, and most everything else that I can imagine while growing up. I admit being terrified of dogs as a child. There was no such thing as a leash law and in our neighborhood a growling shepherd roamed the streets. Now my best friend happens to be a dog. MY FAMILY I'm married to Kevin, a massage therapist. We live in a small old country home in Sturbridge, MA, with our German Shepherd Dog, Midnight. Midnight is the model for Toby in my Treasure book. He's also my best running buddy. I take him on my shorter runs. We run on country roads and on the trails. If he doesn't see a squirrel, all goes well. I have a daughter, Josie, 2 grandchildren, and a son, Keith. My daughter is a runner and my son races road bikes. MY PASSIONS Designing, creating, and writing. It's important to me to be the illustrator of my books and my Web sites. I express myself through my art, sometimes, but not always, better than through words. I enjoy the process of creating a book as much as seeing the finished product. A child once asked me, "How does anyone know that they should be an author?" My answer? "When you just can't stop the ideas from popping out of you - out of your head and your heart. That's when you know." ON THE WEB I've been on the Web for many years. I started with Cool Running and built their first children's page, WayCoolRunning.com. I'm now the editor KidsRunning.Com, an affiliate of Runner's World magazine. It was through the Web that I found my book publisher, Breakaway Books. So it is fitting that I celebrate the publication of my third book, by the onset of my third Web site, dedicated to my love of running, writing, teaching, and my work with children. MY HOBBIES I run, read, and cycle. I run every day that I can and am always training for some half marathon, somewhere. I don't run fast, but still I enjoy most everything about running. I read novels for relaxation and also to ponder big ideas or to understand myself, the world, and others better through someone else's words. I cycle for fun and also as part of the Pan Mass Challenge (pmc.org). It's a 112 - 192 mile bike ride for Dana Farber - always the first Saturday a.m. in August. AWARDS 1982: Curriculum Award, Tolland School System 1994: Teacher of the Year, Tolland School System 2001: CAHPERD (CT Assoc. of Health, P.E., Recreation and Dance) Layman Award 2007: Celebrate Literacy Award, IRA (International Reading Assoc.) Central Massachusetts Branch PRESS Tolland teacher releases her third book to get kids out running April, 2008 What's New? Tampa Tribune April, 2008 FOOTLOOSE: Amby Burfoot's Runner's World Blog March, 2008 FitKidsOnline.com March, 2008 Sturbridge Times February, 2008 Speaking Volumes February, 2008 School Nutrition Talk Summer, 2006 Happy Feet, Healthy Food, Your Child's First Journal of Exercise & Healthy Eating The Treasure of Health and Happiness Kids Running: Have Fun, Get Faster & Go Farther