HBBC Log Week 6 and December in Review

In spite of Christmas gluttony and being in the car for way too many hours as I drove from a state on the southern border to a state on the northern border, I managed to do okay this week with the HBBC. I earned 18 points.

Delicious Mint Chocolate Cookies....

December 24: 0 points.
- See the picture above.

December 25: 3 points.
- I ran 2.5 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.

December 26: 5 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.
- I did 10 minutes of yoga.

December 27: 0 points.
- I spent 10 hours in the car.

December 28: 1 point.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga after a day of driving.

December 29: 6 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.
- I did 10 minutes of stretching and foam rolling.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 30: 3 points.
- I took Bailey for a 40 minute walk.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

Since it's the last day in December, I'll also briefly review how I did with my goals this month.

My professional/writing goals were:
1. Revise and Resubmit an article. In progress. I have made a lot of progress, but I'm not quite there yet. I've finished the necessary research and have been working on revisions, but I didn't work on this while I was in Louisiana, so I haven't cleared it from my desk yet. I might be there by Tuesday, though, and if not by then, for sure by the end of January.

2. Draft a proposal of my book manuscript. Accomplished. I still need to do the chapter outlines and do some polishing and tweaking as different presses ask for slightly different things, but I'm happy to say that I have a basic template for this drafted.

3. Prep the first two weeks of the new upper level class I'm teaching spring semester. In progress. I have finalized the syllabus with the exception of a tracking down a couple of page numbers. I have parts of several classes prepped, but I'm not quite finished with anything beyond the first week.

My fitness/health goals were:

1. Maintain my food journal each day. Mostly accomplished. I kept my journal far more days than I didn't, but I did miss a couple of days while traveling. I just didn't keep track in the moment, and several days later I couldn't remember exactly what I had eaten to fill in the gaps.

2. Run 50 miles in December. Accomplished. With my 6 miler this morning I've logged 52 miles this month.
3. Continue working on being present in the moment, expressing gratitude, and staying positive. In progress. I am finding that I am most productive when I switch off my laptop or at least my internet connection, set a time for 50-60 minutes and immerse myself in my work with no distractions. I'm trying to keep my computer closed when I watch tv, but sometimes I decide to just check one thing and end up distractedly multi-tasking for an hour. I am working to continue to express gratitude and stay positive when things are good and when things are kind of shitty. I was not at all grateful that my dog picked up some fleas this month and that we had to spend a week dealing with that. (Hopefully, it's over.) I also experienced something this month that left a sour taste in my mouth and my eyes rolling, but I'm trying to just let it go. No unnecessary baggage going into 2012.

I didn't quite get there with all of my goals this month, but that's okay. I made progress on all of them, and in terms of my writing goals, I might have accomplished them if I had not decided that it was more important to enjoy a week of downtime and hanging out with my mother who I usually only see about once a year. I have no regrets about doing that. 

I also drove 2000 miles, graded lots of final papers and exams, bought my mom a refrigerator for Christmas, did lots of baking, participated in a writing workshop, killed lots of fleas, hosted a dinner party, started training for a half-marathon, and finally kicked my mom's ass in Scrabble.

Happy New Year! I hope your celebration of the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 is fabulous!

The Year in Yoga, Journaling, and Writing

In addition to feasting and relaxing over the past few days I have also spent some time reflecting on where this year has taken me and how I did with the goals that I set for the year. I have already recapped how I did with my 2011 running goals and my year on GAAD. My other goals for the year were related to various aspects of my fitness, career, and maintaining my Spanish. Let's see how I did with them....

Other Fitness Goals
Reestablish my home yoga practice. I would say that I have done quite well with this one. While some months and weeks have been a bit more consistent than others, for the most part, I have pulled out my yoga mat or my mysore rug and spent some quality time doing physical asanas and meditating at least twice a week. Plenty of my practices have been short 20 minute vinyasa sessions after runs, and I'd like to keep this up over the next year.

Maintain a food journal for the entire year. There were months when I kept my journal every single day and there were months when I did not. Overall, I did better in the second half of the year than I did during the first part of 2011. I still have a ways to go before this truly becomes second nature, though.

Professional/Writing Goals
Present research at at least one conference. I presented research papers at two conferences this year, so I can happily say that I accomplished this goal.

Publish. In terms of articles, I have made progress on this goal, but it will definitely be a continuing objective in the new year. I revised and resubmitted an article, but need to finish revising and resubmitting it to another journal after it was rejected by my first choice. I feel good about aiming high and coming close (although I would have felt much better if this piece had been accepted, of course). I'm hoping to get this article back out the door in early January and turn to other projects. I've made some progress on another article, but I'm not ready to send it out yet.

Nail down a book contract. I have made some progress on making decisions about framework for my book manuscript and I have talked to a couple of publishers informally. However, I sadly cannot say that I accomplished this goal in 2011. However, I have been working on a basic proposal and chapter outlines and plan to send them out to several presses early in the coming year. I'm very grateful to reader AL and my friend JC who have very graciously passed along their successful proposals for me to look at. I'm very hopeful that I can accomplish this in 2012.

Organize my files. If I had done my recap at Thanksgiving, I think I could have declared this goal accomplished. However, I have stacks of final exams and papers that came in during December that need to be organized and put away, and I let the desk in my campus office get into a state of disarray during the last week or so of the term. Overall, I have definitely made progress in organizing and keeping things organized in 2011, though.

Misc. Goals
Do more with my Spanish. This goal has been hit or miss. Sometimes I read El Pais. Sometimes I read a journal article in Spanish. Sometimes I converse in Spanish with a friend and colleague and write emails to friends back in Madrid, but I could have done more and been a lot more consistent with this goal.

Of my 11 goals for 2011, I would say that I accomplished five of them, came very close to accomplishing two of them, made significant strides toward accomplishing another two of them, and really fell short with two of them. I'm looking forward to setting more goals and making more progress with writing, running, and some other projects in 2012. How did you do with your 2011 goals?

Let the Half-Marathon Training Begin

I hope that all who celebrated it had a Merry Christmas yesterday! Happy Kwanza to those who are celebrating it! I spent my Christmas exchanging presents, going for a little run, eating too much delicious food, and hanging out with loved ones.

I also spent some time googling half-marathon training programs. I'm running the Team Ortho Get Lucky 21K (also known as a half-marathon) on my birthday, which is in just under 12 weeks. While I have run a number of half-marathons and haven't always exactly followed a plan, I decided I'd like to have a training schedule as I train for this half. Since I will be traveling during the first two weeks of this plan, I decided to go ahead and account for that and make some changes to the plan. I'm must trying to hit close to the planned weekly mileage and not worrying too much if I miss a cross-training workout or run. Because of my schedule and my knowledge of what tends to work best for me, I picked a plan that had me running four days a week rather than five (which basically eliminated most intermediate half-marathon plans I could find on the interwebs). I also figured that I won't have time to do more than 6 miles on days that I teach, so I altered a few runs during the later weeks.

Week

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

1

4m easy

Rest

X-Train

4m easy

Rest

6m long

3m rec

2

4m fartlek

4m easy

X-Train

3m easy

Rest

7m long

Rest

3

X-Train

5m tempo

X-Train

4m easy

Rest

8m long

4m rec

4

X-Train

4m fartlek

X-Train

4m easy

Rest

6m long

4m rec

5

X-Train

4m tempo

X-Train

4m hills

Rest

9m long

5m rec

6

X-Train

4m fartlek

X-Train

5m easy

Rest

10m long

4m rec

7

X-Train

5m tempo

X-Train

5m hills

Rest

11m long

3m rec

8

X-Train

5m fartlek

X-Train

5m easy

Rest

8m long

4m rec

9

X-Train

6m tempo

X-Train

6m easy

Rest

11m long

3m rec

10

X-Train

4m hills

X-Train

6m easy

Rest

12m long

3m rec

11

X-Train

5m hills

X-Train

6m easy

Rest

8m long

3m rec

12

X-Train

4m easy

Rest

3m easy

Rest

Half!!!

Rest

Once HBBC is over, I'll be doing a training recap once a week to check in and reflect on how things are going. How do you go about selecting training programs? If you've been running for awhile have you changed the way you choose and use them? 

HBBC Log Week 5 and Running Questions

This week presented the first true tests to staying on track with HBBC. Between being in the car for two days and visiting family, I have been unable to fully control when I get in work outs and what is on the table. However, I still managed to earn 17 points.

December 17: 2 points.
- I walked for 40 minutes.

December 18: 6 points.
- I ran 5 miles.
- I walked 10 minutes.
- I did 15 minutes of yoga.

December 19: 0 points.

December 20: 0 points.

December 21: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I walked 20 minutes.

December 22: 1 point.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 23: 4 points.
- I ran 3.5 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.

The other day Miss Zippy wrote a blog post discussing some of her running experiences in 2011 and asked her readers about theirs. Although I wrote my 2011 running recap the other day, I decided it would still be fun to answer these questions.

Best race experience? Without a doubt, it was crossing the finish line of the Madison half-marathon with my dear friend Suzie. You can read my recap here.

Best run? I had a lot of great runs this year, but my best was a 6 miler on a summer morning with my running group. We ran on the trail along the river and it was early in the morning. The moon was still in the sky and the sun was coming up.

Best new piece of gear? I'm going to go with my Brooks winter running jacket on this one. I'm very pleased with this purchase.

Best piece of running advice you received? I think the best piece of running advice I received this year was to join a running group. I had pretty much always run solo or with just one other person. Group runs added a new dimension to my running.

Most inspirational runner? I would say it's a tie between Miss Zippy, who has been through an injury with grace and patience and still blogged such great content and inspired and supported other runners, and my group's running coach, Chris. She rocks!

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? Learning to kinda love hills.

To all my readers who celebrate Chanukah or Christmas, I wish you a very happy holiday weekend. May it be full of latkes or Christmas cookies or both!

Thursday Threads: On the Road

M. and Bailey and I spent the better part of two days driving from our part of the upper midwest to my mother's home in Louisiana. We did about 8 hours on Monday and stayed the night in Kansas City, where we had dinner with some friends of my spouse, including two people who were also passing through KC on their way to Omaha for Christmas. Our second day of driving was closer to 10 hours and took us down the border between Missouri and Kansas and into Arkansas, briefly into Texas, and finally into Louisiana. I wanted to be comfortable for the trip so I wore variations on this easy outfit both days we were on the road.

Blouse - H&M, Skinny Cords - New York & Co., Cardigan - hand me down from a friend, Boots - Steve Madden

What do you like to wear when you're traveling?

Year in Review: Wrapping up Running in 2011

As 2011 approached I set several running goals; they were to run my second marathon, run 800 miles this year, and to run faster. How did I do with these goals? Pretty well, actually. I ran my second marathon in June. I got a 5k PR and a marathon PR this year, and I ran my second and third fastest half-marathon times. I came close to 800 miles, but my injury set me back on this one. I'm currently sitting at 765 miles, and when I mentioned that to a friend she suggested that I just add some miles to December. I thought about it, but training smart and increasing my mileage gradually so that I avoid injury after low mileage months in September, October, and November are more important to me than hitting 800 miles. If I meet my goal of 50 miles in December, I should end the year with about 780 miles. I will count that as a win.

This year I ran a 5K, a 5 mile race, two 10Ks, a 10 mile race, 3 half-marathons, and a full marathon. I ran countless training runs. I ran in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Washington, Texas, and Ontario. My favorite race was the half-marathon that I ran with my friend Suzie in Madison. My favorite training run was a group run along the river trail in my town on an early summer morning with the moon in the sky and the sun rising.

For the next week I'll be running in Louisiana, where I am spending Christmas with my mom. I went out this morning for a 3 mile loop around her neighborhood and was delighted to see that many of the trees were still sporting gorgeous flaming leaves. It was a bit on the humid side, but it was 45F, so I definitely can't complain that fall starts late and lingers here.

Yet, Christmas is only a few days away in spite of the indications that it is autumn. I spotted some festive Christmas decorations around her neighborhood. I took photos of my two favorites (for lack of a better word). . . .

I'm looking forward to running many more miles in hopefully some new places in 2012 but for now I'm enjoying closing out the year with easy runs, time with family, and some work here and there. Was 2011 a year of PRs and new racing experiences for you? Did you have a mileage goal for the year? Will you meet it?

Thoughts On a Year of Mostly Not Shopping

Back in December of last year, I announced as part of my goals for 2011 that I would be participating in the Great American Apparel Diet and that I would not be shopping for new clothing for the entire year. (GAAD does allow participants to replace worn out garments and undergarments and shoes are a grey area.) Because I enjoy shopping and style, I knew that doing GAAD would be a challenge for me. However, I also knew that I wanted to focus my spending in other directions this year so that I could afford a couple of trips and some race registration fees. For the most part, I did pretty well. The first few months of the year were not difficult. I thought my birthday in March might be hard, but it was surprisingly easy to not shop. I got to the summer without any setbacks.

At the end of July, I did purchase some clothing (three dresses, one skirt, a cardigan, three blouses, and a suit) for work and conferences. I viewed this as acceptable under the terms of GAAD because all but one of these items were replacements for clothes that either no longer fit or were stretched out, stained, pilling, or threadbare.

Over the course of the fall I made three other clothing purchases (aside from athletic sock and a couple pairs of replacement tights) that violated both the terms and the spirit of this ban. I bought a skirt that was on sale at Anthropologie in September when I was feeling upset about my ITB injury. I remember that one afternoon I suddenly found myself browsing online -- something I had been really good about not doing up until that point -- and put the skirt in my shopping cart. I revisited it several days in a row before I actually clicked on "buy." I bought a pair of red jeans in late September on the weekend that I did the Women Run the Cities 10 miler. Again, I think this decision was largely made from a place of disappointment and frustration. I knew I wasn't going to Chicago to run the marathon, and even though I was happy about running that 10 mile race I was facing a setback. I basically justified my purchase by telling myself that I wouldn't be spending money eating out or for a hotel room in Chicago two weeks later. Once the date of the marathon had passed and my injury had abated I found the desire to browse online had also largely (though not completely) dissipated.  In November I made a calculated purchase of a pair of wool trousers. While technically, this was a violation of GAAD as I had no wool pants or any other sort of trousers that were in need of replacement, I don't feel guilty about scoring them on sale and wearing them on days when the high temperatures were in the single digits.

In terms of running and work out apparel, I did buy a few things - all but one in the second half of the year. I replaced my running shoes twice and replaced a couple pairs of worn out running capris. I bought a shirt to run the Madison Half in with my friend Suzie, and a few weeks ago I invested in some cold weather running pants, a couple of long-sleeve tech tees for layering, and a jacket.

Shoes proved to more difficult. In June when M. and I went to Toronto and Montreal I had planned that I would treat myself to a pair or two of Fluevogs for making progress on various writing projects, which I did. I also bought a pair of flats to replace some that I had worn into the ground. Those acts of consumption seemed to send me sliding down a slope, though, because in the weeks that followed our return I purchased another pair of Fluevogs on sale online and a couple of other pairs of shoes on ebay. I also bought a pair of boots when I was in Seattle for a conference. Shoes technically fall outside of the purview of GAAD, but I do wish I had been more in control of myself in this category over the summer. I did get myself in check by the start of the school year, and only bought two more pairs of shoes since then. I purchased a pair of brown boots in November, and I recently bought a new pair of black heels for conference and teaching to replace a pair of favorite spectator pumps that broke when I was in Fort Worth.

So this ban on purchasing apparel didn't go perfectly for me. It went far better during the first half of the year than it did during the second half. Including shoes, I made 3 purchases between the beginning of January and the end of June. The second half of the year was harder. There were moments when I succumbed to temptation, largely as a result of feeling down, and I think because I was tired of the ban and once I had slipped up it became easier to slip up again.

I would say that I have made substantial changes in the way that I think about shopping for clothing. I do not browse online for shoes and clothing in the near-daily fashion that I once did as a means of procrastination or stress relief. I am much more calculated in (most of) my decisions to be a consumer. And I would like to continue to be a more rather than a less thoughtful consumer. I still have a long way to go before I will feel truly in control of my shopping habits and compulsions, though. I won't be on GAAD during 2012, but right now I don't really need to add anything to my closet, so I will be continuing to limit my clothing acquisitions in the year to come. I'll post more details about this in a forthcoming post on my 2012 goals.

I apologize for the length of this post, but I felt like it was important to hold myself accountable for this goal and that entailed detailing some of my slip-ups. Have you ever been on a shopping ban? How did it go for you? Would you ever consider going on a shopping ban?

HBBC Log Week 4 and Forerunner 405 Update

This week was not my best week on the challenge. I was doing a writing workshop that lasted 3 days and disrupted my regular schedule in a few ways, including the times that I tend to eat and what I tend to eat. Still, it wasn't a total loss and I earned 20 points.

December 10: 6 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.
- I did 15 minutes of stretching.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 11: 0 points.

December 12: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

December 13: 1 point.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.

December 14: 4 points.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.
- I ran 2.5 miles.
- I did 15 minutes of yoga.

December 15: 2 points.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 16: 3 points.
- I ran 2.5 miles.
- I walked 10 minutes.

In other news, it worked out easiest for me to return my 405 to amazon, and I purchased a new one in black (at a slightly cheaper price). I took it for a little test run on Friday morning and it seemed to work fine. Hopefully, this one isn't buggy like its predecessor and we will have many runs together. I'm taking it with me to Louisiana this week and plan to get in at least four runs while I'm there. Frankly, I can't think of a better gift to give myself than a run on Christmas day unless it was the sports watch that I'll be wearing when I run.

What are you up to in this penultimate week before Christmas? Are you done with your shopping? Most importantly, do potatoes count as vegetables under HBBC? Chanukah starts Tuesday night and no doubt I will consume many latkes.

Thursday Threads: Silk Pants and Writer's Talismans

I am currently participating in a 3-day writing workshop that is being held at my institution. We have been meeting from 8am to 4pm and doing a bit of writing and a fair amount of talking about writing. Although I wish that there was more time in the workshop devoted to our writing and individual projects, it has been useful in terms of thinking about certain projects or things that I would have put on the back burner or entirely off the stove this month. I have part of a grant application done and have started thinking about a publication venue for another article. Perhaps most importantly I am thinking about publishers and my book manuscript proposal. I am also more committed than ever to carving out daily time for (academic) writing, even if it is just 30-60 minutes a day.

During our lunch break yesterday I popped over to my office to eat some leftover Chinese takeout and to get a couple of work files that I had failed to dropbox off my campus computer. I used the opportunity to snap a couple of outfit shots.

Silk Pants - Club Monaco, Shirt - I have no idea (thrifted), Cardigan - New York & Co.,
Boots - John Fluevog, Little Woolf Necklace - Wendy Brandes

Because our days are starting early and I have been feeling a little under the weather this week, yesterday I went for my silk pants. They are incredibly soft and feel even more comfortable than some of my pjs. If you have to be in florescent lighting, worrying about word counts, while feeling crappy, I highly recommend wrapping yourself in fabric that feels good. The boots that I wore are favorites of mine. I purchased them several winters ago as a reward for finishing what turned out to be my favorite dissertation chapter. Whenever I wear them, I think about writing and am reminded of a time when writing was going well and was enjoyable. If visualizing times that running went well can help you to prepare for races, then remembering times that writing went well can get you into the zone for writing.

Do you have any writing talismans? What about running talismans?

Diversity Among American Runners?

I absolutely love to run. Even when I suck at it. However, one thing troubles me about this sport or hobby or obsession or whatever you want to call it: it is really white and really heteronormative.

The December issue of Runner's World dealt to some extent with this issue. According to statistics reported in this issue, 69% of Runner's World readers are married, 82% are employed, the average reader age is 42 and almost 90% of readers of RW identify as white. The issue reported no stats about how readers might or might not identify as anything other than cisgendered. However, since very few states recognize gay marriage in the US, I would extrapolate that the vast majority of those 69% of readers who are married identify as straight or are at least in gender normative marriages. (I suppose I more or less fall into that latter category if not into the former.)

In many ways, I fit the profile of the average Runner's World reader. I am white, I am educated, I am married, I am employed. Like 50% of readers, I am a female. I mostly read running blogs by other white females. Most of them are married or in long term relationships with men. Many of them have children. Let me state that there is nothing wrong with that.

But neither is there is anything wrong with being a transgendered runner, a bisexual Jewish runner, or a black runner. I do know some gay runners who don't have blogs. The problem is that I can't seem to find many runners who fit those descriptions in the running blogging community. Cursory google searches for black women running bloggers, vegetarian chicana bloggers, radical feminist runners, and gay running bloggers turn up very few hits. (Sadly, Queer Vegan Runner's blog went private at some point several months.) And while I love the bloggers I read, I would certainly not mind seeing more people of color and other kinds of diversity in my Google Reader.

A couple of decades ago women would not have made up 50% of Runner's World readers. Women did not make up 50% of runners, and I know many women whose loved ones still suggest that running long distances will make their uteruses fall out or impair their ability to have children (and probably in some people's minds their very ability to be women and to contribute to society (which pisses me off beyond belief)). So I have hope that in another couple of decades, women will have run so many miles that people will stop making comments about their reproductive abilities as if their bodies are public. I also hope that there will be more black, hispanic, and lgbt runners and that they will be visible in this great online community. I hope that there comes a day soon when children who are different are not bullied, and when there is no fear that one's sexuality might result in discrimination, harassment, or assault. Maybe even running won't be such a marker (even an accidental one) of white and cisgendered privilege.... In the meantime, I will pin my hopes on George Takei.

Why do you think the running blogging community in the US is overwhelming white and straight?  European and Latin American readers, I would love to hear your thoughts on this? I know I don't need to tell ya'll this, but please be respectful in the comments. I have zero tolerance for racism or gay bashing.

Starting Over, Yet Again

There is an episode of Sex and the City in which one of the characters, Charlotte, is looking to start over after the failure of her first marriage. She goes to the self-help section of a book store in order to purchase a book that she believes will help her in this quest.  The book is called Starting Over, Yet Again. After being freaked out by the kind of customers who inhabit the self-help aisle, Charlotte decides it's better to purchase this book from amazon so that she can shield her pain and shame from public view and potential judgment.

Having a blog and trying to blog honestly about goals can make it difficult to hide feeling like you are starting over, yet again. These days I am struggling a little bit in my running and far more than I would like to be in my research and writing. While I feel pretty good about having mostly rebuilt my basic fitness in November, I am not quite running the mileage that I would like to be at this point. I try to be grateful that I am able to run without ITB pain, but there are times when I'm frustrated that my speed and endurance are nowhere near what they were during the summer months. I'm also beyond irritated that I have to return my new Forerunner 405 because it will not work. So, for the time being, I am back to running without a watch when I venture outside. Garmin tech support, while friendly, could not ultimately do anything more for me than offer an exchange under warranty. So I'm boxing up my Forerunner 405 and sending it back to amazon.

I'm perhaps even more frustrated by how slow and plodding my progress on some research projects feels these days. After getting myself stuck in the equivalent of grading quicksand in November, the first couple of weeks of December have also brought a deluge of final exams and papers. Admittedly, this grading goes a bit faster because I put a lot fewer comments on them, but it is still time consuming and at times depressing. By far, grading is the least enjoyable part of my job and it feels like it has been the thing that I've been doing the most for weeks. All of the marking has left me feeling burnt out and mentally sluggish.

This past week I returned to an article manuscript that I need to do some additional research for and then revise before submitting it to an academic journal. I have been devoting time, but it feels like I have made  little substantial progress. It is because I am starting over yet again. After several weeks of extremely limited research and writing, I feel out of practice and like my senses are dull. I know that, just like with running, it will get easier, and that's why carving out regular (daily is best) time for working on the scholarly component of my career is so crucial. But while I work to rebuild some momentum, I feel like my wheels are spinning.

So I'm stopping the engine for a day and refilling my tank with gas. I finished grading the last batch of finals yesterday afternoon. Today I'm reporting grades to the registrar and then taking the rest of the day off from all work. I'll go for a run, go to the post office to return my Forerunner, have lunch with my spouse, and go to a movie matinee. Maybe I'll paint my fingernails and read Jane Slayre or start The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Tomorrow I begin a writing workshop at my institution, and I really hope that it is useful for making progress on my writing goals. I plan to devote 8 hours a day to revising and working on my book manuscript proposal until I head for Louisiana later in the month.

How do you approach having to start over, yet again? What are some of your strategies for dealing with burn out and frustration?

HBBC Log Week 3

Another week of the HBBC challenge is down. As you can see, I'm still struggling with 7 servings of fruits and vegetables, but I'm getting there. I didn't run as much I would have liked this past week. Final exams always disrupt my routine. However, I still earned 22 points. I also did two of my runs outside in some legit winter weather. Sunday was a short two mile slog through snow to test out my Yak Trax and Friday was a two mile lung burner in 1F with my friend Suzie. The good news is that my newly-purchased Brooks jacket layered over a long sleeve tech t-shirt kept the upper half of my body comfortable. The bad news is that my face nearly froze off and I need to invest in some better running gloves. The terrible news is that my Garmin never worked on my run yesterday. I have used it on fewer than 5 outings. Multiple attempts to reset it have resulted in a black line and a blank screen and then nothing at all, so I may have to send it back to amazon.

December 3: 3 points.
- I ran 2 miles.
- I walked 10 minutes.
- I did 15 minutes of yoga.

December 4: 3 points.
- I ran 2 miles.
- I walked 20 minutes.

December 5: 2 points.
- I walked 20 minutes.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 6: 3 points.
- I lifted weights for 30 minutes.
- I did 30 minutes on the stairmaster.

December 7: 5 points.
- I walked 20 minutes.
- I ran 2.5 miles.
- I did 15 minutes of yoga.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 8: 3 points.
- I did 30 minutes of weight lifting.
- I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.

December 9: 3 points.
- I ran 2 miles.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

Do any of you have problems with your Garmin 405? Did simply resetting it work for you? Are there any other trouble shooting methods you can recommend?

Thursday Threads: Red Skirts, Secret Words, and Grading Pens

It's final exam week around these parts, which means that my entire schedule is out of whack and my back is soon to be out of whack from being hunched over final papers and exams during many hours of marking. My Tuesday/Thursday afternoon class had its final on Monday morning and I had a meeting on campus so I donned my favorite winter skirt and snow stomping boots and sallied forth to begin the non-stop marking fest.

Shirt - Express, Cardigan - Target, Skirt - J. Crew (a favorite thrift store find and wrinkled from sitting for many hours), Boots - John Fluevog,  Boleyn Necklace - Wendy Brandes (PhD graduation gift)

The class that had their final on Monday was one that I really enjoyed teaching. In part, it was because it was one of those (sadly too) rare classes in which almost all of the students seemed to be really engaged and invested in the course. They actually came to class, participated enthusiastically, got along with each other, and I got to watch some of them really improve their analytical and writing skills over the course of the semester. The only day that more than 2 or 3 were absent over the entire course of the semester was the class before Thanksgiving, when almost a third of the class was gone.... During that class, those who were present asked for a secret word on the final exam for extra credit. I was hesitant to give them a secret word, but I did say that I would put a bonus question on the exam that would be very easy to answer correctly for those who were there that day. The focus of that particular lecture was the Reformation in England, so I asked them a bonus question about one of Henry VIII's wives. Although the answer was not Anne Boleyn, I could not resist wearing my Boleyn necklace to the final exam.

After the exam, I spent a couple of hours grading on campus, had a meeting, and then headed home to work on some research and do some more grading. One of the ways that I coax myself into grading is buying pens that I really like to use. My favorites are the Pilot Rolling Ball. I pretty much never grade in red pen because many years ago I learned in a pedagogy seminar that red ink is apparently very damaging to students' psyches. Supposedly the least traumatic colors are green and purple. So just in case any students ask to pick up their final papers and exams in the new year, I'm using purple pens this time around.

Academics, are you picky about the pens you use to grade exams? When will you be done grading finals? For those of you who have been in college recently, did seeing a paper marked up in red pen cause you particular pain?

Snowy Running Attempt

Last December I ordered a pair of Yak Trax. After they arrived, I promptly put them away somewhere and never used them. Out of sight, they were out of mind. This winter I have promised myself that I will continue to try to train outside about half the time and, after purchasing winter appropriate running pants and a running jacket, I ran outside in cold temperatures early last week and stayed comfortable the whole time. I did not have to contend with any snow or ice, though.

On Saturday it snowed off and on during the afternoon and into the night, and we probably got around 5 inches of the white stuff. Because I had been out with girlfriends listening to a bluegrass band and drinking beers on Friday night, I didn't make it out for my Saturday morning run with my running group, so I hopped on the treadmill that afternoon. I knew that I wanted to run outside on Sunday, though. As the snow came down, I initiated a search for my Yak Trax and eventually found them in a random shoe box under a box where my spouse stores CDs in the living room.... (WTF? Storage system and organizational fail.) I decided that I would test them out on a little 2-3 miler the next day.

Yesterday, after brunch and talking on skype with one of my amigas for a while, I pulled on my new running pants and jacket, strapped on my Garmin, put the Yak Trax on my shoes, and headed outside. It was cold and some areas of the sidewalks had been cleared relatively well and some not at all. I kept the pace slow, especially the first few minutes, because I wasn't sure how truly effective the Yak Trax would be at keeping me from slipping and sliding. I also was slow because of the resistance, and I could feel how much harder it was to try to run at the pace that has been my default normal over the past month or so. Since my Garmin battery was low, I decided to turn around after a mile.

It was hard, but it was fun! Previous times when I've tempted to run in the snow, I've ended up skidding and almost falling or actually falling on my ass and losing my temper. I think the Yak Trax will work just fine on snow, although I admit that I'm still pretty hesitant to try them on ice.

Do you have Yak Trax or do you put some screws on the bottom of your shoes to help make for safer footing during winter runs? Do people shovel their sidewalks when it snows where you live?

HBBC Log Week 2 and Half-Marathon Registration

I had a pretty good second week of the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge, earning a total of 20 points.  For some reason, it seems harder to eat as many fruits and veggies in the winter, so I typically end up with only 5 servings. This next week I plan to try to make a concentrated effort to get in another couple of servings of fruits and veggies most days.

November 26: 0 points.

November 27: 5 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

November 28: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I walked for 20 minutes.

November 29: 5 points.
- I lifted weights for 30 minutes.
- I did 30 minutes on the stair master.
- I walked for 20 minutes.
- I bowled with the student organization I advise.

November 30: 1 point.
- I walked 20 minutes.

December 1: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.

December 2: 1 point.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.

I have also registered for the Twin Cities Get Lucky Half-Marathon! I'm really excited for this race because it takes place on my birthday and because a number of people who I run with on Saturdays will be doing this race. My awesome friend Lisa has told me that she also plans to register. It should be some fun times!

December Goals

As I did last year, I'm setting my December goals in a way that will hopefully set me up for success. My last class has been taught, but I will still have to spend a significant chunk of time next week grading exams and final papers. I am going to see family later in the month, and I want to enjoy time with my mom rather than feeling guilty that I'm not working a lot while I'm in Louisiana. That said, I want to take advantage of the time that I would normally be in the classroom or in committee meetings or holding office hours to make progress on a couple of projects that I would love to get off of my desk by the end of the year.

Professional/Writing Goals

1. Revise and Resubmit an article. I asked two other (more advanced) scholars in the field to read my manuscript draft and have received really helpful feedback and suggestions from one and I'll be getting feedback from the other early this coming week. I'm committing to working on additional research and revisions for two hours first thing in the morning (before my prose gets corrupted by students writing essays under duress) during finals week, and then continuing to carve out time for this until it is done.

2. Draft a proposal for my book manuscript. I have been accepted into a professional (and paid!) writing workshop in the middle of the month at my institution. One day is devoted to grant writing, one day to journal articles and conference proposals, and one day to book proposals. I'm hoping that I can use this workshop as a spring board to make significant progress on that. I'd like to have a finished draft by the end of the month.

3. Prep the first two weeks of the new upper level class that I'll be teaching during the spring term.  This means finalizing the syllabus, doing some reading, and getting started with lecture writing and activities and assignment planning. 

Fitness/Health Goals

1. Maintain my food journal for the entire month of December. As I mentioned the other day, this was an epic fail in November, but I'm going to end the year strong with my food journal. 

2. Run 50 miles in December. I didn't quite hit my mileage goal last month, but I will continue rebuilding my base this month and keep adding a little bit on to my longer runs so that by the end of the month I am back up to 6 or 7 miles. 

3. Continue working on being present in the moment, expressing gratitude, and staying positive. I am getting better at this, but practice makes perfect. This month I want to spend a few moments each day visualizing doing things right: being in the flow of writing, thinking about the things that have gone right during a race or a training run, a particularly good day of teaching. It also means not getting frantic about things like shopping for Christmas presents for the more challenging people to give gifts to on my list and taking a couple of days completely off from work around the holidays to enjoy being with loved ones and to recharge.

What are your goals for the month of December? If you celebrate Christmas and do gift exchanges, what is your approach to shopping? Who do you find to be the most difficult person to shop for/make a present for on your list? 

Thursday Threads: Last Classes and Thanksgiving Leftovers

Although I enjoy teaching, I am always happy to make it to the end of a term. This is what I wore the other day to teach the penultimate meeting of my upper level course. It was a comfy and cheerful outfit for a day of grading in my campus office, teaching, and then making a turkey sage risotto for dinner with leftover turkey breast from our Thanksgiving meal. Normally, I might have been tempted to belt this outfit in some way because the cardigan has a bit of bulk, but I haven't been feeling belts as much as usual this fall and especially not during the week after Thanksgiving. This cardigan always photographs dark and is really more of a lighter melony color than a dark coral.

Dress - Nine West, Cardigan - New York & Co., Tights - We Love Colors, Boots - Crown Vintage

(Bailey hung around the kitchen while I cooked in the hopes that I would accidentally drop some turkey, but I think her success was limited to a couple of small pieces of chopped onion.)

Today I wrap up teaching for the semester! I do have a couple of meetings tomorrow and final exams to give and to grade next week, but I'm excited to have more time to spend on my research and writing as well as more time to run and to hang out with my family in the month of December. (I'll write more about that and my December goals soon.)

Stateside readers, have you finished off your Thanksgiving leftovers yet? Academics and parents, when does winter break begin for you?