Three Things Thursday

1. I took a zero week after I returned from Vancouver. Normally, I wouldn't take a full week off from running after a half, but I was pretty sore the first couple of days after the race and I'd had some hip pain in the final miles so I figured my body and spirit could deal with some extra rest. I felt ready to run again this week and have logged a couple of easy runs. I'm hoping to get in 5-6 on Saturday before I get on my plane to NYC. I'm looking forward to getting in some runs in Central Park, and I'm registered for a 10K there over Memorial Day.

2. My current challenge is figuring out how to pack for 12 weeks and at least five different locations in a small suitcase and a backpack. Fortunately, I will have access to laundry facilities in Saint Louis, Madrid, and Toronto, but I'm thinking I may have to send some clothes back with Mark when he comes to visit me in Saint Louis and buy a few more summery items as the temperatures rise.

3. I haven't been as diligent as I should about tracking points and monitoring my portion sizes over the past couple of weeks, and I've put a couple of pounds back on. The number on the scale bothers me less than the tightness of my jeans. I was talking to a friend last night about how much more difficult it seems to be to lose weight now than it did a few years ago. He commiserated with me about both the tendency to gain during an Alaskan winter and slowing metabolisms.

What's new with you? Will you be racing over Memorial Day weekend? What has been your most challenging packing project?

Thursday Threads: Meeting Materfamilias

During my trip to Vancouver I had the pleasure of meeting up with the wonderful blogger Materfamilias. I had been very much looking forward to meeting her as we are both academics, we both enjoy running and travel, and we both have an interest in clothing and style, including Fluevog shoes. We decided to meet up for lunch at a Greek restaurant, Takis' Taverna, for lunch on Saturday. Our spouses joined us for the meal, which was delicious.

Both Mater and her husband were lovely people, and I very much enjoyed meeting them in person after reading about their island home, trips to the opera, and family in blogland for so long. We chatted about our academic interests, students, gendered issues in the classroom, the discourses and pitfalls of blogging, conferences, other blogging meet ups, opera, summer travel plans, and running. Although Paterfamilias declined to accompany us, after lunch Mark, Materfamilias, and I meandered over to the Fluevog store and did some perusing of shoes there. I tried on a pair, while Mater sought to channel the spirit of our blog friend Kristin and convince me to buy things. Sadly, the pair I tried didn't fit very well, but I made up for it a couple of days later in the Gastown store.

Blouse - Anthropologie, Cardigan - Target, Jeans - New York & Co., Flats - Me Too, Purse - Mango, Watch - Michael Kors

Have those of you who blog (or who read blogs) ever met up with another blogger? Did you find an easy rapport after reading about each other on a regular basis?

Travels: Vancouver Highlights

While the BMO Vancouver half marathon wasn't my strongest or best race, there were plenty of other excellent things about getting away for a long weekend in a fantastic location. Although I try not to play favorites with cities, Vancouver was amazing, and I would definitely like to go back before long. For another thing, I am truly grateful to have been able to spend quality time with my partner before we spend most of the summer apart. We were able to enjoy time walking around the city together, chatting, exploring, eating lots of tasty food, and (mostly) window shopping. (I did buy a new pair of Fluevogs to celebrate surviving my first academic year in Alaska.)

After the race on Sunday, we headed out to brunch and then took a little ferry out to Granville Island. We tasted some delicious beers at the Granville Island Brewery and poked our heads into a couple of shops and galleries. In the evening we went for Thai and some gelato. Monday we spent a great day together. In the morning we took a two hour stroll down to Stanley Park, where we walked along the sea wall for a while before cutting in through the park on some paths and found the famous hollow tree and the lost lagoon. Our afternoon involved an excursion out to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, cupcakes, and hockey watching. Then we capped the day off with a delicious dinner and a couple glasses of wine at Italian Kitchen. Although our flight back was yesterday afternoon, we had enough time in the morning to walk down to Chinatown and have dim sum at Jade Dynasty and walk back through Gastown before we had to head to the airport and back to reality.

So very pale after an Alaskan winter

The highlights of this trip also included two meet ups with bloggers, who were both absolutely lovely and charming in person. After a bit of a missed opportunity to have coffee in the early afternoon on Sunday, Amber and I were able to connect later in the day. She swung by my hotel and we had a quick drink in the hotel bar where we chatted about running, traveling, our dogs, upcoming races, and the ups and downs of settling into new locations. Unfortunately, I didn't even think to take a picture as I was still a bit sluggish from the race and a bit sleepy from the nap that I took before we met up for our drink. I did slightly better during my other blogger meet up, so I'm planning to post an outfit and a bit more about my meet up with Materfamilias tomorrow.

Do you have a favorite city? Is there a place you've traveled to recently that you'd really like to spend more time exploring?

Race Report: BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon

Yesterday I ran a half-marathon, and it was one of those lessons in respecting distance, respecting hills, and respecting the need for rest. The BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon race course was beautiful, but I was so exhausted and running was such a struggle for me that hardly any of the stunning scenery seemed to register with me and much of the race is a blur.

Friday afternoon Mark picked me up from campus and we headed to the airport. We hopped on a plane to Seattle (the 3+ hour flight passed quickly as I spent most of it grading final exams) and then a puddle jumper over to Vancouver. Fortunately, all our flights were on time and we didn't have to wait too long for transit; unfortunately, we still didn't arrive at our hotel until after 1:30am, and I didn't sleep very well that night. Saturday we did some walking around, met the lovely Materfamilias and her partner for lunch (more on that later), picked up my bib, did a bit of exploring and window shopping, and had dinner at a sports bar so that Mark could watch playoff hockey. I thought it only fair that I watch the Leafs game with him since he was getting up early and coming down to the race start with me. Saturday night I slept fitfully again, and I was feeling groggy and crampy and was suffering from some indigestion when the alarm went off a little after 5:00 am. I downed a cup of coffee, a couple of glasses of water, and some oatmeal, dressed, and we headed out the door just after 6:00 to catch public transit to the race start. I looked for Amber as I made my way to my corral, but I didn't see her. (I was able to meet up with her for a post-race drink later in the day, though!) I lined up just a bit behind the 2:20 pacers and then waited. The race started at 7:00, but I think it was close to 7:20 before my corral began to cross the starting line.

Before the race started my stomach was really bothering me, and I had a feeling that this race was not going to be a good one for me, but I wanted to put myself in a position in the first couple of miles to try to have a strong race if my insides calmed down. Unfortunately, I was never able to settle into a groove and felt miserably and embarrassingly tired by 3 miles into this race. I kept thinking that it was a mercy that I had decided to downgrade to the half because there was no way I could have finished a full marathon yesterday. I was struggling. My chest hurt, I had menstrual cramps, my stomach felt off (though luckily I never actually got sick), the downhills were killing my quads, and in the final few miles my right hip was starting to cramp in the way that led to injury a couple of years ago. Even so, I was hoping to pull off something in the 2:26-2:27 range. I think it might have been doable, but I had to stop to use a porta-john around mile 8 and lost a couple of minutes there and another minute or so to stop at a water fountain in Stanley Park, as 4 of the last 5 water stops didn't have water or cups by the time I got to them (not cool, race organizers, not cool). By the time I rounded the last corner, I had nothing left to give and was just urging myself not to walk through the finish line. My official time was 2:30:18.

Between this race experience (which I could see easily could have been wonderful if I had been more rested coming into this) and the one I had at the Capital City Half last May, I have decided that it's just really stupid for me to schedule a race right at the end of the academic year. Last year I thought I was so exhausted at the Capital City half from oral surgery a couple of weeks before, and I'm sure that was part of it, but I think it was also the burn out and fatigue that accompanies the end of the academic year for me. I seriously underestimated how physically, mentally, and emotionally tired I would be for this race. I feel bad that I was hardly able to concentrate on the lovely scenery, the awesome spectators, and the numerous bands and entertainers. Yesterday was one of those days when it was all I could do to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I don't want to be a total whinger, though. I finished a half marathon, and it wasn't even my slowest one. Also I got a nice little vacation with my spouse in a beautiful city. Have you ever felt like you were too tired to enjoy a beautiful race course? Is there a time of year that you have discovered to not be conducive to strong race performances?

Progress Toward Goals: April in Review

It's hard to believe but April is over and so are classes! I taught my last class of the year on Monday, and now I just have a final to administer tomorrow and exams and papers to grade. It's been a busy few weeks for me professionally, as I've had a lot of papers to read and mark, submitted a journal article, and served on a search committee. While I'm not feeling quite as well-rested as I would like for my upcoming half marathon, I am really looking forward to a bit of a break and perhaps some more spring-like weather.

So far the only flowers I've seen here this spring have come from the grocery store

I did pretty well with my fitness and health related goals this month. I definitely could have done more yoga, but I got in 65.32 miles running. I also walked a lot this month, but I didn't keep track of my mileage. I've been doing well with journaling in the form of tracking my points on Weight Watchers Online.

I consider this past month to have been a writing success, as I not only met my minimum page production goals each week, but in the early part of the month I exceeded them pretty significantly. Getting an article kicked out the door felt really good. Now it's just a matter of waiting and seeing what the journal editor thinks. My language study did drop off a bit this month, as I spent a lot of time marking papers and reading through applicants' files for a faculty position, but I did manage to continue to make a bit of progress.

My personal goals were again something of a hit or miss category. I epically failed again at re-jumpstarting my 365 project. But fun travels are upcoming and I'm determined to get back into the habit of taking pictures on a daily basis. I made progress with my novel-reading goal. I'm about a fifth of the way through Bolaño's mammoth tome 2666. I also read Aphra Behn's Ooronoko, which was deeply upsetting but incredibly interesting to me as a historian of the early modern period, and Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, which had been recommended to me by a friend. It was interesting as an exploration of memory, but I have to say that ultimately I didn't love it. After going overboard with shopping and spending in March, April was a lean month for me. I honestly didn't feel much like shopping as the weather has not really been spring-like, but I'm tired of winter clothing. I spent about $20 on socks and nail polish.

How was April for you? If you set any goals for the year or new year's resolutions, how are you doing with them a third of the way through the year? Academics, has your term wrapped up yet?

Weight Watchers 6 Week Check-In

As some of you may recall, I (re)joined Weight Watchers Online right after my birthday in the middle of March. What I didn't really reveal then is that I have had success on previous Weight Watchers programs in the past -- first in college counting points allowed me to lose about 30 pounds and then I had success with the Core Plan in the latter part of my first year graduate school after I had gained some of that weight back. Over the past few years my weight and clothing size has continued to fluctuate a bit. I gained weight while living in Spain on a Fulbright and lost it in the year that I returned to the states. (I know I'm retrograde -- most Americans lose weight when they move to Europe.) Then I gained some weight during the final stages of writing my dissertation. I took some of those pounds off but my weight and size had more or less stabilized a few pounds higher than what I weighed when I got married and before I went into final dissertating mode. It was stable for the better part of two years until I gained weight in the late autumn and winter of this year. Although I was occasionally disappointed that I couldn't fit back into all of my old clothes, I was at peace with my body and weight. Then I moved here and over the late autumn and winter I gained almost 15 pounds.

Sometimes it's hard not to want ALL THE THINGS!

This morning I had my sixth weigh in since signing up for Weight Watchers Online, and since then I have lost 7.5 pounds. More importantly, most of my jeans and pants are starting to fit again. Some of them are still a bit tighter than I would like, and I have a ways to go to get comfortably back into all of them. I am working to retrain some of my more absent-minded and some of my more emotionally-charged habits that revolve around food. I want to enjoy it - I love to cook and bake and share food with Mark and other loved ones and friends. However, I also want to chose to do something else rather than eat when I'm just looking for a temporary emotional boost.

At the risk of oversharing, I admit that I have tendencies to be an emotional eater. I have tried to avoid blogging about it because I didn't want to be negative, but this has been a hard year for me. There are many positive things about my job and new city, but there have also been a number of negatives and challenges, and I've had some pretty strong feelings of isolation at times. Alaska is beautiful, but getting used to the climate, the crazy light situations, and the environment - physical, social, and political has been difficult for me. While I'm working to become more content in my new location, there were times over this past year when I have felt lonelier and sadder than I ever have as an adult. This is not to say that I don't have good colleagues or any friends here, but I don't have the large circles of friends and running buddies that I was accustomed to in Minnesota or in graduate school prior to that. The time zone difference and the hectic pace of people's schedules has made regular Skype dates and phone conversations with old friends elsewhere challenging. It's not always been the smoothest transition, and the darkest days of December felt very dark and the coldest and greyest days of February felt very cold and grey. It's little wonder that I sought the temporary comfort of cheese and cookies and extra helpings at meals and local microbrews. But over the past few weeks I've trying to not only really think about why I'm eating when I'm eating but also to come out of that funk, to focus more on the positives, and to take advantage of opportunities to make new friends here and touch base with old ones even if it's just on Facebook. I've also been heartened when friends here have told me how miserable they were their first year and how happy they are now.

Have you ever struggled with your weight? Have you ever struggled to come to terms with your environment or location?

An Unplanned Break

I hadn't intended to go almost two weeks without posting here, but in the days immediately following the terrible bombings in Boston and the devastating fertilizer plant fire in Texas. Most of last week I felt like anything I might write here might seem too trite and cliche for some, too self-indulgent for others, and maybe even too political for a few. I'm still trying to process all of it. I'm still angry and still sad.

By the time I felt like I might be ready to write again at all in this little space of mine, I had become inundated with work. It's the end of the semester, and I'm feeling the fatigue that comes at the end of the academic year. Between committees and grading and trying to get a manuscript off my desk and out to a journal before the end of the term, I've had little free time lately and what time I've had lately I haven't wanted to spend looking at a computer. I hosted a departmental/honors society event at my home so part of my typical bit of weekend downtime was used to clean my house both before and after the event. As this week started, I found myself still wading through my students' papers and through paperwork for several other service tasks. However, I did finally get that article sent out, after taking advantage of a grey and snowy day to power through some of the lingering revisions I had been putting off tackling and a final read through for copyediting and proofreading.

Ducks on a pond near my house

Although I wasn't blogging about it, I did also get some running done since I last posted. While I'm not quite where I hoped to be with my training, I had a solid 12 mile long run this past weekend and an 800 repeat session last week that gave me a bit of a confidence boost. I'm starting to feel both excited and nervous about the upcoming Vancouver Half Marathon. I head into taper mode in just a couple of days.