March and April in Review

Yesterday the academic year came almost to a close with commencement. I enjoyed having the opportunity to reduce the cost per wear of my hella expensive graduation regalia (for reals, it cost more than my wedding gown did and possibly more than one of my cars!). Of course -- and much more importantly -- I loved seeing some of my students finish their undergraduate academic careers. While I still have some things to grade and some odds and ends to take care of before we technically go off contract, I'm looking forward to the slower pace of summer. I'll be teaching a 5-week summer course online and going on a research trip (more on that later), but the less intense summer weeks give me more time for doing other things that recharge my batteries. And they could use some recharging after the past few months of intensity. Although I was busy in March and April, I did made some progress toward my goals for the year.

Moose on Campus During Finals Week

1. Run my third marathon and PR while doing it. Thanks to doing one or two training runs each week with TNT, I'm still on track to make striving for this goal reasonable. In March I ran 48.8 miles and in April I ran 67.6 miles. That puts me close to 200 for the year with several long runs still ahead in this training cycle. I've also got some fall race plans (more on that soon) too.

Beautiful views on a morning run with a friend

2. Make significant progress on other research projects. I definitely did not meet my transcription goals in March or April. I think I may have transcribed two documents total during those two months. Thus, almost no progress has been made on my next book project. However, I did turn around copy edits for my forthcoming book. I also wrote and presented a conference paper, and I submitted an article to an academic journal. Thus, overall, I feel like I've made good on this goal. Since I found out that I didn't receive the year-long fellowship for which I applied, I have a clearer sense of what the rest of this year will look like and know that summer will be the time to make the metaphorical hay with my research and writing. I'm hoping to spend several hours each week transcribing what I have so far and reading secondary scholarship between the time the first summer term starts and the time I head overseas to the archives.

Seen on a run:an eagle eating another bird because nature is beautiful but cruel

3. Establish a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. I have really fallen off the wagon with using my gratitude app, but am making it my goal to use it at least 25 times during the month of May. Ditto with my food journal. Although I haven't been journaling as much the past several weeks, I have been better (though not perfect) about rewiring and redirecting a lot of negative self-chatter.

4. Write some non-academic things. Aside from a handful of blog posts, I really haven't had time or energy to devote to this goal these past few weeks. Perhaps more rest and relaxation over the next few weeks will inspire the creative juices as well as giving me time to put pen to paper/fingers to keyboard. We'll see....

How does your 2016 seem to be shaping up now that we're about a third of the way through the year?