The Running Historian

February in Review

2012-02-29T06:55:00.001-06:00

I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I had hoped to this month, but I did still make some progress on my goals. I also got to spend some time running with my best friend, planning future travels, and snuggling with my pup, so February goes into the books as a pretty good month.

My Professional/Writing Goals were:

1. Finish the primary source modernization project. I made substantial progress on this and finished on of the texts. I'm waiting for a green light from my co-editor and the director of the commissioning society regarding a technical issue before I start on the next.

2. Get drafts of two grant applications done. I have drafted one and was in the middle of drafting the second grant proposal when I heard the bad news that the funding on this particular grant had been pulled for the year and that there would be no competition in 2012. It was a bummer to hear, but it's something I don't have any control over. So I'm counting this one as a success on my part at least.

3. Continue working on chapter outlines for my book proposal. Yes. I have made some progress here so this one gets a check mark, too.

My Fitness/ Health Goals were:

1. Run 70 miles in February. Nope. I only ran 45 miles in February. In part this low mileage was due to an unexpected bout of tonsillitis that caused me to miss several runs, including a long run.

2. Maintain my food journal daily. I've done pretty well with this. I missed a few days mid month, but otherwise my calendar is pretty full of stickers. So this one was mostly accomplished this month.

3. Do more yoga. I had hoped to get in a couple of longer practices, but I haven't. I also haven't done as many short practices as I typically due. Again, in part, this is a result of being ill. It's also probably a consequence of not making time to do yoga when I probably need to do it most.

My Miscellaneous Goals were:

1. Take a photo every day for 365 project and create a collage. I've taken a photo most days but I've missed several. Because I'm pressed for time and really should grade papers instead of making a collage, I'm just going to share one photo from this month of the project with you.

2. Make time for friendships. I think I did pretty well with this one. I got in a number of work outs and a long run with my dear friend Suzie. I had coffee twice with dear friend L. I had phone conversations with two good friends who are far away. I also took this hockey-lovin' fool out to dinner on his birthday.

Even though I didn't get everything done I wanted to this month, it was a full and mostly good month for me. I made progress on projects. I had a confidence-building long run. I ate birthday cake with my hubs. How was your February? Did you run any races? Pass any big milestones? Eat any good cake?

The Long Run

2012-02-27T14:14:00.000-06:00

After having missed a couple of long runs in the past few weeks (illness and travel) and pounding out several on the treadmill due to inclement weather or timing issues, I was finally able to get in a longer run outside in the cold this past Saturday. I met up with my group at 7am. My friend Suzie came, as well, and the original plan was for us to run together for three or four miles and then I would do several more on my own so that my mileage would end up somewhere around 10. It was a cold but otherwise beautiful day. There was almost no wind and the sun was shining. After we had run the first mile or so with another member of the group, we continued on on our own.

We ran past a little ski slope that was seeing some action

Suzie was feeling pretty good so she said she would keep running for at least another couple of miles beyond her original plan. We ended up running almost 8 miles together, chatting about our weeks and spring break plans. After 8 miles, I looped back to add a bit more to my run, and ended up with just over 9.5 miles. It wasn't quite the double digits I had planned, but I was getting cold and ridiculously hungry. I normally take a GU on runs over 7-8 miles, but I hadn't run more than 8 miles in such a long time that I didn't even think to stash some fuel in my jacket pocket. I need to get back in the long run mindset.

I was slower than I was the past couple of weeks, possibly because the route had a couple of sizeable hills and possibly because my Garmin was on the wrong setting so I had no idea what pace I was running at most of the time. Even so, it was a confidence booster to finish a long run outside in frigid February temps. Having close to ten miles under my belt, makes me confident that I can finish a double digit long run before the Get Lucky Half and make it across the finish line on my birthday.

How was your weekend? Did you do a long run? Did you attend an Oscars Party?

Thursday Threads: Teaching Friday

2012-02-23T10:21:00.000-06:00

I don't teach on Fridays this semester, so I call Thursdays my "teaching Friday." This week my teaching Friday is ending with a social event for faculty and grad students in my department and one of my classes is watching a film today, so I'm going a little more casual than I otherwise might have.

Shell - ??? TJ Maxx, Blazer - JCPenny, Jeans - New York & Co, Scarf - Anne Klein, Shoes - John Fluevog

Pondering how to schedule in some writing time....

I'm looking forward to the outing this evening as a fun way of wrapping up the instructional part of my week. I have a department meeting to attend tomorrow, but I am hoping to carve out some substantial time for research and writing tomorrow and this weekend. After making it through my 9 day long writing streak, I haven't made much progress for the past week on my writing projects. And that needs to change.

Contemplating Mystical Unicorns

2012-02-20T18:23:00.000-06:00

Earlier today I was writing some lecture notes for a class session on medieval religious devotion and female mystics, like Julian of Norwich, and I accidentally typed the words "contemplating mystical unicorns" instead of "contemplating mystical unions". Perhaps this typo was a bit ... um... errr... Freudian.... I mean, who doesn't dream of riding a unicorn?

Seriously, though, maybe my mystical unicorns are those things that I wish for and hope for and work toward, but still seem maddeningly elusive at present -- the things that are hiding in the Forbidden Forest. What are your mystical unicorns? What are some of the goals that seem out of reach to you right this minute but that you believe that with hard work you can attain?

Here are some of my mystical unicorns.

1. Running a sub two hour half-marathon. Clearly the 11:10 min/mile pace that I've been running here lately on my longer runs isn't going to get me to this goal tomorrow, but I hope to get there eventually. I hope in 2013. It means that I will have to shave a minute per mile off of my PR half-marathon pace, but I'm starting to reintegrate some speedwork into my routine and hoping that with continued hard work I can set a new PR at this distance later in 2012.

2. Getting tenure. Like ~~many~~ most people working in academia these days, I'm not currently in a tenure-track position. I hope that before long this will change, not only for me individually but for the profession as a whole. I would say more, but I don't want this post to turn into a rant about labor practices.

3. Mastering bakasana. This pose has eluded me for many years. I will probably have to gain some more upper body strength and lose a few pounds in order to float into this pose and hold it rather than barely getting into it for less than a split second.

4. And, of course, going for a ride on a mystical unicorn.

Run for Fun

2012-02-19T17:00:00.000-06:00

Last week someone asked me about my hobbies, and I responded that my most time-consuming hobby was probably running. Although running has not consumed nearly enough of my time over this past week, I often spend hours on the road, doing that thing that I love to do. I also tried to explain that since I'm not a particularly fast runner it's probably a good thing that I do really enjoy it.

I've written in the past about the reasons that I run. But I think it's worth noting again that I primarily do it because I enjoy it. It gives me happiness and keeps me feeling a little more even around the edges. This past week I only managed to get in one run, and I definitely felt the difference in my body and mind. My energy lagged. My posture wasn't as good. I felt a little more pent up than normal. When I ran for the first time in several days this morning, I immediately felt the little boost that comes with that act of sweating in the sunshine.

I also mentioned that I had plans to run a half-marathon next month. That race is now less than four weeks away, and I am currently behind schedule and will probably be a bit undertrained for it. I don't expect this one to be a PR and, unless the stars align unexpectedly, I don't anticipate that it will be a PR effort for me. In all likelihood, this one will be for fun and to celebrate my birthday. More than anything, though, I hope that half-marathon #8 will mark another year of knowing that running is fun.

Valentine

2012-02-14T10:02:00.000-06:00

To celebrate Valentine's Day -- or alternatively El Día del Amor y la Amistad -- I'm drinking coffee out of a pink elephant mug with hearts on it, letting Bailey have an extra Milkbone, wearing red and pink, lecturing to one of my classes about Bad Romance in the Middle Ages (it's like a Lady Gaga video that's set in the twelfth century featuring feudalism, secret marriage, scholasticism, and castration), and eating sugary confections. Candy Hearts shall be broken and consumed today.

Shirt - ???, Skirt - J. Crew (thrifted), Blazer - H&M, Tights - We Love Colors, Scarf - from another shirt, Boots - Ugg

I hope your day is full of love and friendship - or at least coffee and chocolate. Thanks for reading, friends. I really do ♥ you.

Writing Streak

2012-02-13T05:59:00.000-06:00

I have worked on my writing every day since last Monday. Indeed I've been on a veritable writing streak that has produced 4,400 words on paper and has moved a draft of a text that I've been working on for awhile off my desk and to my co-editor for feedback.

Having concrete deadlines is definitely motivating me. To be perfectly honest, the fact that I publicly announced that I would be writing every single day for a week has also been a major motivating factor. On Thursday, I got home at around 6:30 after eight hours on campus, holding office hours and teaching. It was the end of my teaching week. I was tired. Normally, I might have said to hell with it and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. Instead, because I didn't want to have to admit that I hadn't written anything that day, while M. made dinner, I sat down with my laptop and cranked out some paragraphs.

I have two more days to go to meet my goal of completing the pilgrim challenge. Today and tomorrow I must write, revise, or modernize at least two pages worth of words. I am weary, but there is a certain momentum that is propelling me forward now. I may have to back track, purge and delete words, reshape sentences, jettison ideas, but in the meantime I will get them on the page.

Have you ever been on a streak of some sort? What is the longest stretch of consecutive days that you have engaged in some activity - going for a run, writing a certain amount, doing yoga?

Pages and Pilgrimages

2012-02-08T07:09:00.000-06:00

When I lived in Spain a few years ago, I spent 10 days doing part of the Camino de Santiago. I started in Astorga and waked about 35 km/day until I reached Santiago. A couple of months later, my friend M., who blogs over at An Epic Battle in High Heels and her husband J. visited me in Madrid on their way to undertake the same journey for their honeymoon. Recently M. announced that she doing a writing pilgrimage challenge. Because she is trying to develop consistent daily writing habits, she has set a goal of writing 400 words every day for the next week. She noted that completing the pilgrimage happened one stage and one day at a time and that writing consistently would get her to her goal in a similar way. This struck me forcefully, as I have been trying to cultivate more routine writing habits this year. I have noted in the past that writing and running have a lot of parallels, and in order to get to the finish line, you have to log a lot of miles and time on the road and/or on the page. So I am joining M. in her challenge.

Due to a ~~strange~~ completely normally confluence of events, I have several deadlines rapidly approaching. Not only does this mean that I have to bust out the mad tetris skills that I developed in high school Calculus while playing on my TI 85 in order to manage my time, but that I should also be writing every day for the next little while so that I don't feel overwhelmed and anxious.

I have been diligent about producing a minimum of 3 pages a week since the start of the year, but for the next week I'm going to up my game. I am going to write, revise, or modernize daily and produce at least two pages a day. Since I have written 12 pages since Monday, I'm confident that I can sustain this much needed writing streak for a week. While I won't be rewarding myself with a pilgrimage badge, like M., I will be rewarding myself with a day of rest, novel-reading, and lounging with Netflix once the finish line is behind me.

Anyone want to join in for the next week of writing? For those of you who write, do you have a daily routine?

A Treadmill Running Revo[e]lu[a]tion?

2012-02-06T06:05:00.001-06:00

It's no secret I have had a love-hate relationship with my treadmill. I love it because it has made winter running in a part of the world that typically sees a substantial bit of snow and ice between November and April a whole lot easier. When I'm pressed for time, it encourages me to hop on for a quick couple of miles rather than not going for a run at all. It takes the mental work out of trying to do faster intervals. However, I'm not going to lie. Historically, I have not liked using the 'mill for runs of more than five or six miles. It gets monotonous after a few miles even with tunes. Last year I did a 16 miler on the treadmill, but M. had to come into our exercise area several times to give me a pep talk so that I would continue because I was bored out of my mind. I whined about that run for 16 days.

Several years ago, when I first started to get back into running again, I would sometimes go to the gym to run on the treadmill. I realized quickly that I could not watch the televisions at the gym while running. I got dizzy and felt like I was going to fall of the treadmill. Last year I tried to read my Kindle while running on the 'mill, and I'm pretty sure that's how I threw my back out and ended up barely able to move for a couple of days. So for years I have had only the company of my ipod and my thoughts on the treadmill, which admittedly was probably good for building some mental toughness, but some of those miles were mind-numbingly dull.

A couple of weeks ago my neck of the woods had some icy conditions on a day when I needed to get in a long run. I grabbed my ipod and headed for the treadmill only to discover my ipod battery was completely dead. I knew that if I waited until later in the day I would end up skipping my run, so I decided to try watching a dvd on my laptop. I thought that, perhaps, if the screen was directly in front of me and I didn't have to gaze up at it, I might not suffer from dizziness and that feeling of vertigo. It worked! Ninety minutes later, I had run 7 miles and walked a mile to cool down.

While I still strongly prefer doing my long runs outside (and often with company), it's nice to know that I can log the miles and watch Netflix without falling off the side of the treadmill. Winter is currently (weirdly) in abeyance here, but if it returns I have a back up.

How do you feel about the 'mill? Anyone else experience the symptoms of something akin to motion sickness when trying to read or watch tv while on it?

Thursday Threads: Florals, Stripes and Spots

2012-02-02T19:13:00.000-06:00

After taking two sick days and several rounds of prescription drugs, I felt human enough to return to teaching today. Because my tonsils were so swollen, I could barely talk for two days - this was a nightmare for someone who a) loves to talk and b) teaches for a living. Fortunately, a cocktail of pharmaceuticals has reduced the number of spots on my throat and the size of my tonsils so that this morning I was operating at about 65% voice capacity.

Shirt - Express, Blazer - Thrifted, Skirt - Vintage via Etsy, Tights - Target, Shoes - John Fluevog

So I put on florals and stripes and headed to campus. Please forgive the fact that I didn't have the time or energy to find a more interesting location for pictures this week.

I'm hoping with a little extra rest this weekend, I'll get back to feeling like my normal self. Hopefully, by Sunday I'll be up for a long run -- although at this point I would settle for all of the spots on my throat being gone and feeling up for running at all.

February Goals

2012-02-01T10:12:00.001-06:00

My first priority this month is to get well. I have come down with a case of tonsillitis (apparently I am reverting to age 7). In addition to trying to get well with the help of some physician prescribed extra rest and drugs, I'm trying to set monthly goals that help to break some of my bigger goals for 2012 down into more manageable tasks. I'm carrying some things over from last month that I didn't get accomplished and trying to build on some of January's successes.

Professional/Writing Goals
1. Finish the primary source modernization project that I'm working on. I'll continue to block out time several days a week to work on this. Getting this off my desk is a top priority for February.
2. Get drafts of two grant applications done. In order to get myself moving on this one, I've asked a colleague for some feedback on a very preliminary draft on of these and have set up an appointment with my institution's research center later in the month to get me to crank out the other one in a timely matter.
3. Continue working on the chapter outlines for my book proposal. Again, the other deadlines are a bit more pressing, but I want to continue making progress on this project.

Fitness/Health Goals
1. Run 70 miles in February. I've made some adjustments to my training schedule to account for my lower mileage last month and the fact that I am currently ill, but I still want to challenge myself to get close to the mileage on the original plan. I have two double digit long runs on the docket for this month!
2. Maintain my food journal daily. I want to do as good a job in this category this month as I did last month.
3. Do more yoga. Like last month, I'm going to keep doing shorter practices, but I want to also work in at least two longer practices this month.

Miscellaneous Goals
1. Take a photograph everyday for my 365 project and create a collage at the end of the month. Having this as a goal helped to remind me to take the camera out and experiment on a near-daily basis last month, so I want to keep plugging on with this one.
2. Make time for friendships. It is kind of sad that I have to make this a goal, but I tend to get caught up in projects and ignore the world around me - sometimes too much. So I'm setting the goal to spend some quality time chatting with a friend at least once a week once I have my voice back. I want to keep up my gym dates with my friend Suzie, but also to connect with other friends either in person over a cup of coffee or glass of wine or over the phone or on Skype with those friends who are far away.

What do you have on your agenda for February? Any races? Writing deadlines? I'd love to hear what you'll be focusing your energies on this month!

January in Review and Photos

2012-01-31T06:55:00.001-06:00

January has been a total blur. I'm kind of freaked out by the fact that it is already over and that somehow I am already in the midst of week four of the academic term. Even though I anticipated January being a hectic and fast-paced month and tried to set my goals accordingly, I still somehow managed to underestimate the level of frenzy this month would bring at a variety of levels. I managed to accomplish some of my goals and make progress with the others, so I can't be too disappointed.

My fitness/health goals were:
1. Run 75 miles in January. Nope. I only ran 51 miles. Missing several runs, including two long runs, this month is basically the reason that I didn't hit my mileage goal. I had planned to run 4-5 today, but I'm under the weather again (ugh!) and need to conserve my energy to make it through the classes that I teach this afternoon.
2. Maintain my food journal daily. Yes! I'm really pleased that I maintained my journal every single day this month. I still have to get through today, but I have already logged my breakfast and have reason to believe that I will have a perfect record this month.
3. Do more yoga. I had hoped to get in some longer practices and maybe attend a class at a studio, but I didn't do a good job of carving out longer periods of time to spend on my mat this month. I did a number of short practices and post-run meditations, though, and I'll try to get in some of those longer practices this next month.

My professional/writing goals were:
1. Finish revising an article and submit it to an academic journal. I did manage to get this off my desk early in the month.
2. Complete 2/3 of a primary source text modernization project that I'm working on. I'm not quite 2/3 of the way through. I'm closer to being somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 done with this project, but I'll be spending some significant chunks of time on this project over the next week.
3. Begin work on the table of contents and chapter outlines for my book manuscript proposal. I haven't made a lot of progress, but I have started work on this. I met with one of my writing groups for an hour or so one afternoon earlier this month and hammered out a couple of pages.

My miscellaneous goals were:
1. Create a collage of my January photos for the 365 project. Done! I haven't yet taken a photo today and I missed two days over the course of the month, but I think I've managed to get this project off to a good start.

Did you set any January goals? If so, how did you do with them? If you set goals for the year, how are you finding ways to make progress on them?

Upcoming Travels and Budgetary Sacrifices

2012-01-29T18:19:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, I really love traveling. I have lived in several different states in the US and in Spain. I've spent significant chunks of time in Mexico and Canada and have traveled in Europe and North Africa. Due to financial and time constraints I don't get to travel as much as I would like, but I'm excited to report that I am in the middle of planning some upcoming trips.

At Louisa May Alcott's home in Beacon Hill

While I will need to take some work with me, I'm planning on going to visit my sister in San Antonio for part of my spring break in March. Most of my time will no doubt be spent adoring my new niece and catching up with my sister and brother-in-law, but San Antonio is a great city. I've been twice - once early in grad school and once a little over a year ago to visit my sister and to run a half-marathon. I wouldn't mind going back to the River Walk for a long walk or a run, checking out the Art Museum and eating more than my fair share of delicious Tex-Mex.

Later in March I'll be heading to Boston (a city that I really, really like) to give an invited lecture at another institution and to attend a conference. I'm excited for that trip because I have close friends who live in Boston, so, in addition to my scholarly and professional activities, I'm sure I'll spend some quality time with them eating cannoli and visiting a museum or two. Also this trip will fall within a week of my birthday, so it will be like getting an extra celebration.

In May, I'm heading to Columbus, Ohio to run a half-marathon with a dear friend. It will be her first, and I can't wait! We will undoubtedly celebrate by eating Jeni's.

At some point this summer -- probably also in May -- I will be heading to Madrid for a few weeks of research. I am seriously jonesing to get back into the archives. I'm applying for some funding from various sources, and if I get a grant I'll be able to extend my stay and possibly spend a week in Seville doing research there, as well. I've been pricing tickets, and it's really tempting to just go ahead and buy. I'm hoping that some friends will be willing to put me up part of the time that I'm planning to be in Madrid, so that my dollars will stretch a bit farther than they otherwise might.

One of my favorite cafes in Madrid

Of course, all of these trips will cost money. I think that my trip to Boston will be completely covered, but tickets to San Antonio seem to be pretty spendy these days. I hope that I get some grant money to cover all of my time in Madrid, but I'm currently operating under the worst case scenario assumption. So this means that I'm going to have to buckle down and pinch pennies in some other areas of my life for the next few months. Apart from replacing my running shoes, I've decided not to buy any new clothing, books, or music from this point until May. I'm limiting myself to one coffee/latte purchase a week (rather than the 3-5 I was buying each week last semester). I also won't be registering for any other races over the next few months. Race registration fees add up quickly, and I'd rather have those discretionary funds for travel.

Do you have any upcoming trips planned? Is travel a priority for you? How do you organize your budget?

Thursday Threads: It's Not Easy Being Green

2012-01-26T19:11:00.000-06:00

In this week's installment of Thursday Threads, I don't have a lot to say. The past few days have been ridiculously busy. They have also brought both good news and some no good very bad, envy-inspiring news. When I'm feeling green, I just try to think about what Kermit the Frog would do or I torture my students (and my readers) by making a lot of bad puns. If that doesn't work, there's always Bailey to cheer me up. It's hard to feel down and out when a silly dog decides to photo bomb your outfit shoot.

Dress - Anthropologie, Cardigan - August Silk, Tights - We Love Colors, Boots - Crown Vintage, Scarf -??? thrifted it

I hope your week has brought you only good news, dear readers! Are any of you suckers for a cheesy pun?

The Elevenses

2012-01-24T06:42:00.000-06:00

Joanna tagged me to do the Eleven Random things meme that has been going around the interwebs. While I always feel a little bit weird about doing these things, I decided to participate since I enjoy reading them so much because I get to learn things about the bloggers I read that I might not otherwise.

The rules are:
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag people! (Like Joanna, I'm downgrading the tagging. I'll tag 6 people.)

Eleven random things about me....
1. Even though I love shoes, I go barefoot as much as possible. I have an aversion to socks and will really only wear them when I need to with shoes. The idea of sleeping in socks makes me cringe.
2. I sing in the shower and have a tendency to rock out in the car. It's best, though, that I do this when other people aren't around because I'm more or less tone deaf, like my father before me.
3. When I was a kid, I'd put a sheet over the dining room table and read in my improvised tent for hours on end.
4. Although I have been told by some that you cannot be both a fan of Star Trek and Star Wars, I grew up loving them both. My favorite Star Trek series is Deep Space Nine, and I have no shame in admitting that I have a huge crush on Jadzia Dax. M. sometimes wonders if I love her more than I love him.
5. My favorite museum is the Prado in Madrid. When I lived in Madrid, I'd go once every few weeks and spend a couple of hours exploring a part of it.
6. I prefer salty over sweet when it comes to snacks. I'd almost always rather have a handful of chips or crackers than a cookie or candy.
7. Ever since I was a teenager, I have changed my hairstyle frequently. I've been a blonde, a brunette, a redhead. I've had short pixies, long hair, angular bobs, spiral permanents, body waves, and crew cuts. So far I've never had a mullet.
8. I hated running hills before I moved to the town where I currently live. I had to learn to accept them if not quite to love them.
9. I despise the Twilight series and rarely miss an opportunity to mock it. Neither does my hero George Takei.
10. I could eat pizza almost every day. Spinach, green olives, and banana peppers are my current favorite toppings.
11. My most epic New Year's Eve was spent in Rome with Spanish friends. It involved dinner at an Indian restaurant, drinks, Prosecco at midnight with fireworks in the Piazza del Popolo, and stumbling upon a candy shop serving cocktails into the wee hours that made us feel like we were in Hansel and Gretel.

Joanne asked the following questions.
1. What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
In general, so far it's been writing and defending my dissertation. I think getting a book in print would trump that, though. In terms of running, it was completing my first marathon.
2. What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you?
Hard to say.... One of the most embarrassing things that has happened to me that I was able to laugh about afterward is several years ago I unwittingly started teaching the first class of the winter term with the fly of my trousers unzipped. A student in the front row tried to make subtle gestures to let me know, but I remained completely unaware until her gestures became significantly less subtle.
3. Are you a morning person? If not, how do you feel about morning people?
I am a morning person. The early morning is my favorite time to write and to run, which can make things a little bit tricky. The past couple of semesters I have taught at 8am, but that's not really optimal for me because I'd rather teach later in the day and use the morning for research and writing.
4. What's your favorite book?
My favorite novel is The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino. My favorite book to teach is probably Lieutenant Nun.
5. If you could take classes to learn any new skill, what would it be?
If I had more time and the opportunity, I would love to take Portuguese for Spanish-speakers. I can kind of read the language, but I'd love to be able to speak Portuguese. I also wouldn't mind taking some Tango classes.
6. What is your favorite track workout (or other workout if you don't do track)?
I don't do track work outs, but I actually enjoy 800s when they're over with.
7. If you could visit any place on earth, where would you go?
Hmmm.... This is tough because I love to travel and there are many places that I'd love to go. I'll go ahead and say I would love to visit some of the Greek islands - Crete, Santorini, Mykonos....
8. Do you have an unusual talent?
I don't know about unusual talent, but I have a pretty good short term memory and can remember names and faces quite well.
9. What's your favorite guilty pleasure?
It's probably watching episodes of Buffy. I love the Slayer. That is all.
10. True or false: Jimmy John's is awesome.
False. Like most fast food sandwich places, it has very few options for vegetarians or people who are discriminating about the sources of the meat they consume. I'm willing to eat it once or twice a year, but that's about it.
11. How long have you been in your current job?
I've been at my current institution for a year and a half.

For those I'm tagging, here are your questions:

1. If you had to enter a different profession from your current one, what would it be?
2. Apart from running, what is your favorite way to work out?
3. Would you consider yourself a dog person or a cat person and do you think this reflects in any of your other personality traits?
4. If you could spend the day with one celebrity, who would it be and why?
5. What is your favorite thing to cook?
6. Where did you grow up?
7. What is the last book that you read?
8. Why did you go to the college that you attended?
9. What is your favorite kind of ice cream?
10. If money were no object and there was no need for concern about exploitative means of production or harm to the environment, what would you splurge on?
11. Why did you decide to start blogging?
12. What did you eat for breakfast?

I'm tagging:
Beth
Frances
Jana
Kyria
Lisa
Rose-Anne

For the rest of you, I'd love to know your answer to Joanna's 7th question for me. Where is the one place you really want to visit?

Half-Marathon Training Progress Update

2012-01-23T05:54:00.000-06:00

Oy vey. It's confession time. I have not been doing the best job of training for the half-marathon that I am running in mid-March. The first week went pretty well, but weeks two and three were low mileage weeks due to travel, illness, and adjusting to the rhythms of a new academic schedule (my schedule this semester is the almost opposite of last semester). I missed two runs while I was in Chicago and cut another one short, and I got slammed with a cold after my return from the windy city so I skipped my long run two weeks in a row.

Last week was better -- although still not perfect. I managed two short yoga sessions, a cross-training session at the gym, a tough hill work out on the treadmill, two short and easy runs, and a long run of 7 miles. That 7 miler on Saturday was the longest run that I've completed since September. It was tough in spite of my slow pace and made me really regret not planning better while I was out of town. (I have less of an issue with missing a run due to illness.) Yet, I can't help but focus on the positives here too. They might not have been the fastest or prettiest of miles, but they were the most I've strung together consecutively in four months. I can do this!

I'm committing to making this week of training better still. I will do 800s on the treadmill today and have plans to meet S. at the gym tomorrow. Hopefully, the weather will be conducive for running with my group on Saturday morning. However, if it's not, I will do 8 miles on the treadmill. Missing more long runs just isn't an option for the rest of this training cycle if I want to enjoy my birthday race.

What about you? Anything to confess this Monday?

Thursday Threads: Photography Fail in the Stacks

2012-01-19T06:55:00.001-06:00

My blogging worlds and professional worlds have collided more than a couple of times and some of my colleagues know about my blog, but I have been wary of running on campus after 8am during the school year and of taking photos on campus. However, yesterday, in order to ~~further develop my narcissistic tendencies~~ work on my 365 Project I took my point and shoot camera with me to campus. I've been trying to carry my point and shoot with me more since the beginning of the year in case something interesting pops out at me, and I wanted to take a few photos in the campus library. I found a quiet set of stacks with no students or fellow faculty around and snagged a few shots of the long rows of books and attempted to take a few of myself in the stacks using the timer setting on my camera.

They did not turn out particularly well. In the first two that I took, I wasn't even actually in the frame. D'oh. Most of the others were complete flops, too, but I do kind of like the way this photo just below turned out.

Dress - Nine West, Sweater - Willi Smith (via TJ Maxx), Tights - Target, Scarf - Thrifted, Boots - Gift from my mother c. 2001

Maybe at some point I'll get brave enough to take my DSLR, tripod, and remote into the university library and just start shooting self-portraits, but that day is not in the near future. Next week I'll be sure to indulge my compulsion to share my outfits in a location where I can actually snap some quality photos without worrying that I will be spotted by one of my undergrads or a librarian.

guessing where to look and cutting my boots off....

Fellow bloggers, do your coworkers know about your blog? For those of you who own a DSLR and are into photography, how did you get past feeling like a jerk and just start carrying your DSLR around all the time?

Moving the Mind

2012-01-18T07:10:00.000-06:00

This amazing video hit my Facebook newsfeed yesterday, and if you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to take a look. The presentation is fantastic, and the idea is simple: exercising 30 minutes a day is the best thing that you can do for your overall health.

As a runner who is ~~allegedly~~ training for an 8th half-marathon, I tend to think that I'm ahead of the game when it comes to get near-daily exercise, but this has not always been the case for me. And when the proverbial shit hits the fan - that time for myself is the first thing I throw out the window in an effort to get crap under control. When I was in the last stages of writing my dissertation, for example, I probably only got in 60-90 minutes of exercise a week, and, that compounded with the stress of finishing in time to start my job, meant I slept poorly, gained weight, and felt vaguely crappy almost all the time.

As an academic, sometimes I feel like I'm supposed to be an disembodied mind floating around thinking deep thoughts about the 16th and 17th centuries and deciphering the handwriting of people who have been long dead. There are times when my mind has so many tasks going on - working in a research project for a co-edited volume that has a deadline, writing lectures and reading for a new upper level/grad class, outlining my chapters for my book proposal - that, while my brain is working hard, my body is just sitting there for hours with the only movement being that of my fingers on the keyboard. Since the spring I have become better about getting up and moving around, after an hour or so, and, when I'm working from home on a project that can be conveniently set up on it, I use my makeshift standing desk. But this video is a reminder that no matter how much I'd rather just veg on the couch after a long day, if I haven't run yet, I should or I should go for a walk or do some yoga.

So for me this video was a reminder not only to reaffirm my commitment to half-marathon training, but also to walk more, stand more, and sit less (even as I'm hopefully being madly productive).

Running with my Best Friend

2012-01-16T08:17:00.000-06:00

This past week I've been able to enjoy a run and a cross-training work out with one of my best friends, Suzie. Even though we don't naturally run the same pace (by that I mean that neither the paces at which we are most mechanically efficient nor the paces that we are actually in shape for right now exactly match up), we make a pretty damn good team. Typically she pushes me to go a little bit faster and I push her to go a little bit farther. Even more importantly, running with one of my best friends is awesome because I can tell her anything and everything while we are out on the road. We do talk a lot about running, but we also talk about life - partners, work, problems, joys, and the miles usually fly by while we do. No matter how much we talk to each other we never run out of things to say unless we are out of breath or too exhausted to talk and then we fall into a comfortable silence.

After finishing the Madison Half-Marathon together last May

Although we hit it off right away when we first met, I'm sure that running made us even closer friends than we might have otherwise become. S. and I ran together quite a bit last fall and spring, but we spent most of this past summer in different locations and our schedules and my injury didn't allow us to run much together in the fall. I realized just how much I had missed that when we met up for a little 3 miler last Tuesday morning. It was just getting light and it was cold but clear as the light came up. We chatted about my trip to Chicago and the start to our semesters, and we spotted two deer on the local paved trail we were running along. It was time well spent with one of my favorite people doing one of my favorite things.

We were planning to run together again yesterday, but I was feeling under the weather, so we postponed our next work out date to tomorrow. I'm hoping that this semester our schedules continue to line up a bit better than they did in the fall and that we're able to run together at least once a week if not twice and do cross training together once a week. While I value my solo runs and work outs and those with a bigger group of local runners, I get so much out of my runs with my best friend.

Have you ever run with a close friend? Do you have any friendships that you feel were cemented by doing something together - running, playing squash, lifting weights, going to early morning mysore practices together?

Adios Disqus

2012-01-15T08:24:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note to let you know that I have switched from Disqus back to Blogger comments. I had never been entirely happy with Disqus. It takes a long time to load for some people. I know that it is blocked at some people's office places. However, Disqus allowed readers to reply directly to each other and allowed me to reply to them. I hate scrolling through lots of comments to see if a blogger has replied to a question I've asked or a comment I've left. Now that Blogger has a reply feature, I felt that it was time to make the switch back to Blogger comments.

Removing Disqus does mean that the order of comments on my older posts is a bit screwy, and I hope that you'll forgive any kinks in the system over here over the next week or so.

Thursday Threads: Epiphany In Chicago with M.

2012-01-12T08:08:00.000-06:00

While I was in Chicago last week, I was able to see M., a good friend of mine from my grad school days. We were not in the same program but I was an occasional interloper and took a couple of seminars in the department from which she earned her MA. I admired her scarves. She admired my boots. We ended up becoming good friends. I showed her and her husband around Madrid when they passed through there on their honeymoon, and this past week was the first time I was able to visit her in Chicago.

I spent the morning and early afternoon last Friday at my conference downtown and then I switched my blazer for a cardigan and headed out to meet up with Anne (who is as awesome in person as I suspected she would be!) and M. for a coffee at Lavazza. We spent about an hour chatting about neighborhoods, jobs, blogging, and politics. I headed back to the conference to attend a reception for an organization I'm a member of and then M. swung by and picked up my spouse, M., and me to take us to her home to celebrate the Epiphany with a King's Feast, involving empanadas, tortilla española, a delicious avocado and clementine salad, stuffed peppers, arancini, wine, and kingcake.

While their other guests, (my spouse) M., and I stuffed our faces with appetizers, M. and J. made the final preparations for dinner. M. did take a break to snap a few photos with me.

On me: Skirt - Calvin Klein, Cardigan and Tights - Target, Blouse - JCPenny, Shoes - John Fluevog

On M.: Cords - Loft, Shirt - Ann Taylor, Blazer - Talbots, Shoes - Indigo by Clarks, Necklace - Urban Outfitters

Close up of fun red shoes!

It was a wonderful meal and a wonderful time! Have you ever had kingcake? Did you get the baby? For those of you who blog, have you ever met up with another blogger/other bloggers?

Breaking News: I Have a New Niece

2012-01-11T17:36:00.001-06:00

This afternoon my sister gave birth to a baby girl, Isla Rose. Mother and baby are resting well.

I will rest well tonight as I was on pins and needles all day while waiting for the news.

[Edited to remove the photo of my niblet per my sister's request.]

Chicago Highlights

2012-01-09T13:14:00.001-06:00

I was in Chicago for several days this past week for the annual meeting of the American Historical Association. I stayed downtown, saw good friends, went to panels and meetings, ate some delicious food, drank some delicious local brews, and enjoyed being in a big city with lots of museums, parks, shopping, and cabs.

Rather than regale you with a recap of my entire trip, I'll just say that the highlights included hearing a couple of fantastic papers, meet-ups with blogging buddies, Anne and Courtney, eating Thai food and having a couple of rounds at the Goose Island Brewery with grad school buddies, sharing in Twelfth Night festivities and a King's Feast with my good friend M., finally meeting the daughter of one of my dearest friends, and running along the Navy Pier and Lakefront Path. I'll let the pictures do the talking for me.

the view from my hotel room

Chicago by night

the organic arugula salad at La Media - delicious!

old friends

King's Cake

unwitting partners who became blogging casualties

my running route on Saturday morning

breakfasting with a baby

I hadn't been to Chicago for several years, and it had slipped my mind how much I love the city. While it's not a quick drive, it's not all that far either, so my friend M. may find me on her doorstep again before long.

HBBC Log Week 7

2012-01-08T20:09:00.000-06:00

For the final week of HBBC I did alright. I was traveling and my work out schedule was disrupted by conferencing as well, but I did manage to get in lots of veggies several days and took a couple of long walks in Chicago. I earned 27 points.

December 31: 8 points.
- I ran 6 miles.
- I did 25 minutes of walking.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

January 1: 3 points.
- I ran 3 miles.

January 2: 1 point.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

January 3: 6 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I walked for 20 minutes.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

January 4: 3 points.
- I walked for 60 minutes.

January 5: 3 points.
- I walked for 60 minutes.

January 6: 3 points.
- I walked for 40 minutes.
- I had 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

I'm back after a day on the road and have to teach my first class of the spring semester at 8am tomorrow, so I'll wait until tomorrow to recap my Chicago adventures. If you did the HBBC challenge, did you find that you were pretty consistent with the number of points you earned each week?

{Almost} Wordless {Almost} Wednesday

2012-01-05T08:26:00.001-06:00

A Room With a View

I'm in Chicago for my field's major conference and will be busy attending sessions and having meetings, so I'm taking a brief hiatus from blogging. I'll be back on Sunday or Monday with the recap of the last week of HBBC and Chicago highlights and to catch up on your blogs.

January Goals: New Year, New Hair, New Projects

2012-01-03T08:11:00.000-06:00

So far my 2012 is off to a pretty good start. I got a hair cut. I've made substantial progress on article revisions. I finished a novel and caught up with a good friend over lunch. This month I have a lot going on: a conference in Chicago, where I'll be seeing a number of colleagues and friends, the start of another semester bringing with it meetings and class prep, my wedding anniversary, half-marathon training, and writing projects with deadlines. In order to set myself up for success, I'm keeping my goals focused on making progress toward the bigger goals that I have for 2012.

My stylist always gives me the news anchor 'do

Professional/Writing Goals
1. Finish revising an article and submit it to an academic journal. Disconnect from the internet, set the timer, immerse myself in work, and get it done. The sooner the better.
2. Complete 2/3 of a primary source text modernization project that I'm working on. Once I'm back from this conference, my plan is to do several pages each week. I'm going to block out an hour or so on Mon/Wed/Fri for doing this.
3. Begin work on the table of contents and chapter outlines for my book manuscript proposal. Ideally, I'd like to have a draft of each chapter outline done by the end of the month. I'm more flexible with this one because I'm prioritizing the other two goals this month, but I want to make some progress here. Forward momentum is good.

Fitness/Health Goals
1. Run 75 miles in January. My half-marathon training program actually calls for a few more miles than this, but with my upcoming conference and the start of the semester, I'm allowing myself a little bit of flexibility. The goal is to get in all the long runs even if I have to shift things around and most of the other runs on my schedule. I'm planning a 7 miler in Chicago on Saturday.
2. Maintain my food journal daily. I'd like to get the year off to an excellent start here, and I'm thinking of rewarding myself with a little something for the kitchen I've had my eye on if I succeed in recording every meal and snack in January.
3. Do more yoga. I will continue to work in those shorter practices, but I want to get in at least two longer sessions on my mat. My goal is to either check out a class or two at the local yoga studio or do a couple of longer practices from yogadownloads. Maybe I'll get really crazy and do both. It depends on how the month unfolds.

Miscellaneous Goals
1. Create a collage of my January photos for the 365 project. I want to make sure that I'm starting out this project by regularly uploading my photos and keeping track of them. I think this will be a fun way to make sure that I do that. I'll post it at the end of the month.

How are you breaking your goals for the year down into more manageable tasks? Anyone else avoiding the gym during the first week or so of the year and selfishly hoping that the hubbub dies down soon?

Eight Goals for 2012

2012-01-01T10:36:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to all of my readers! I hope that you had a wonderful time ringing it in! We spent the evening making and eating a delicious meal, drinking wine and cava, watching a favorite film, and dancing.

I'm sure lots of people are setting twelve goals for 2012 or setting goals to run 12 races in '12, but I decided that I needed to set fewer long term goals this year and use my monthly goal-setting in a more focused way in order to achieve some big things this year. As usual, I have divided my goals up into categories.

Running and Health Goals
1. Run 800 miles in 2012. I came very close to meeting this same mileage goal in 2011, and I have increased my annual mileage each year since 2008. I'm planning on focusing on half-marathons and 10Ks this year, so rather than increasing my goal mileage I'm holding it steady because I want to . . .

2. Get faster. More specifically I want a 10K and a half-marathon PR in 2012. I'm planning on running 3 half-marathons and a couple of 10Ks over the course of the year, and I want to work on getting my legs stronger and more capable of speed at those medium distances.

3. Continue my home yoga practice and take some classes at a studio (or studios). I looked at taking some classes at the Y, but at least during the semester their offerings are not going to work with my teaching schedule. There are a couple of possibilities that might work with my schedule at another local studio, though, so I'm going to drop in for a class or two and see if I like it. If I do, I'll buy a 10-class pass and use it through the winter and spring. I'm also hoping that there will be some visits to my beloved Kundalini studio in Madrid this summer. Those days that I don't do yoga, I still want to spend at least a few minutes being still and meditating.

4. Maintain my food journal for the entire year. I did okay with this in 2011, but I definitely could have done better. I'll be employing the sticker calendar system again. I also read a fascinating and sobering article on maintaining weight loss in the NYT recently, so I think continuing awareness of making healthful choices is something that I need to be diligent about doing.

Writing and Professional Goals
5. Write or Revise a minimum of 3 pages/week of academic writing for the entire year. There is some research that shows that writers who log their writing and hold themselves accountable to others by checking in write almost 10 times as much annually as those who don't. I hope to do quite a bit more than 3 pages most weeks, but my goal is to maintain a consistent habit of writing even when I have way too much other shit going on. The projects I will be mainly working on under this objective are:
A) Submit at least two articles to journals for publication. While I can't completely control what reviewers and editors will decide regarding my submissions, I can do more research and writing and get things out the door.
B) Send my book proposal to publishers, get a book contract, finish writing the manuscript itself. The book proposal is a carry-over from last year, and I'm determined to achieve it this year. I will also continue to write/revise book chapters.
C) Apply for grants that will enable me to do more research. I'm hoping that I can find some funding sources that will allow me to make trips to archives in Spain and Mexico and to use the resources of other libraries and collections over the next year or so.

6. Look into doing service for a professional organization. I'm a member of several professional associations, and I'm interested in doing something in terms of service - sitting on an awards committee, helping with newsletter publication, something along those lines.

Personal Goals
7. Keep a wine and beer journal. I would like to visit some wineries, as well. But for now I'll focus on documenting what I buy, drink, and enjoy (or alternatively think is swill). I'd like to try at least one new wine each month instead of buying the same 5 bottles because I know that I enjoy them.

8. Learn to be a better photographer. In order to do this, I will participate in the 365 project this year. (Should it be the 366 project since it's a leap year?) I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've owned my DSLR for almost as long as I've had this blog, and I still don't know all of its settings. The other day I went to take some shots and realized that I still take some pretty crappy photographs with a good camera. So I want to improve this. Also my mom bought me a tripod and remote for my last birthday, and I want to make better use of the.

A lot of my 2012 goals are focused on establishing daily habits. Some of them seem a little daunting, but most will only take a few minutes a day (like meditating, jotting down my food intake, and taking at least one daily photograph), and some of the others only need half an hour or so here and there in order for me to make progress. A 20 minute yoga practice while coffee is brewing or between teaching and an hour or so of writing is better than no yoga practice at all. Similarly, I need to start approaching writing with a bit more flexibility. While I like having several hours in a day to devote to writing so that I can really get into a zone, I also need to be better about using those 30-60 minute blocks of time that emerge here and there during teaching days.

Did you set any goals for 2012? If you posted about them, I'd love for you to link up here so that I can read all about them!

HBBC Log Week 6 and December in Review

2011-12-31T11:56:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-28T08:11:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-26T09:21:00.000-06:00

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

4m easy

Rest

X-Train

4m easy

Rest

6m long

3m rec

4m fartlek

4m easy

X-Train

3m easy

Rest

7m long

Rest

X-Train

5m tempo

X-Train

4m easy

Rest

8m long

4m rec

X-Train

4m fartlek

X-Train

4m easy

Rest

6m long

4m rec

X-Train

4m tempo

X-Train

4m hills

Rest

9m long

5m rec

X-Train

4m fartlek

X-Train

5m easy

Rest

10m long

4m rec

X-Train

5m tempo

X-Train

5m hills

Rest

11m long

3m rec

X-Train

5m fartlek

X-Train

5m easy

Rest

8m long

4m rec

X-Train

6m tempo

X-Train

6m easy

Rest

11m long

3m rec

X-Train

4m hills

X-Train

6m easy

Rest

12m long

3m rec

X-Train

5m hills

X-Train

6m easy

Rest

8m long

3m rec

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

2011-12-23T10:57:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-22T09:25:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-21T11:57:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-19T07:24:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-18T08:51:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-15T06:15:00.000-06:00

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?

2011-12-13T06:05:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-12T09:03:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-10T08:44:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-08T10:35:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-05T07:01:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-03T17:50:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-02T09:44:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-01T06:10:00.000-06:00

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?

November in Review

2011-11-30T09:04:00.001-06:00

Looking back at my goals for November, I just kind of shake my head and laugh. It was one of those months during which for a variety of reasons - some good and some not-so-good - I did not make a lot of progress on any of my goals. Let's review shall we.

My Professional/Writing Goals were:
1. Revise and resubmit an article. Whenever I think about this goal and how little I did to accomplish it, I feel really ashamed. I can give lots of reasons for not having made sufficient progress. For example, I am still waiting for an interlibrary loan that I requested in October. I need to consult this work before I can finish revisions. But for the rest.... Well, I got behind on grading and then it was pretty much game over for this goal.
2. Continue to do research, take notes, and work on expanding a paper into an article draft. I did make some progress here, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. I did better with this goal during the first couple of weeks of November than I have over the last two weeks.
3. Draft the syllabus for the upper level course that I'm teaching in the spring. There are a few holes here and there, as I'm still playing with assignments, but this is mostly done.

My Fitness/Health Goals were:
1. Be present in the moment, be thankful, and express gratitude. I feel like I actually did a pretty good job of this. At times, I still catch myself multi-tasking, but I'm getting better about it. I've also been trying to remind myself to stay positive or to find positive attributes in the things that seem less pleasant, like running hills and grading papers.
2. Maintain my food journal. Ummm..... This was an epic fail this month. I think I fully kept my journal on fewer than 5 days during November. I'm not sure how I got so off track, but it happened early in the month, and I just never got back on the rails.
3. Run 50 miles. I only ran 39 miles in November, and I'm okay with that. My heel bothered me for a week so I cut my mileage down to make sure I didn't end up with a more problematic injury. I have felt strong on my last few runs, though, and I've been much more consistent with cross-training in November than I have been since the summer.

In retrospect what really derailed me was a glut of paper and exam grading. I realized yesterday that during the month of November I marked 120 papers and 47 blue book exams. Between al that grading, some applications that were due, and necessary class prep, I barely got through the month. In November, I also went to a workshop at another university, ran a bridal shower 5K, met up with Lisa of Lisa's Yarns, celebrated Thanksgiving, went bowling with the student organization that I advise, and found out that I was accepted into a paid writing workshop next month at my institution.

How was your November? Did you write a draft of a novel for NaNoWriMo? Did you finish a book chapter? PR in a race? Host your first Thanksgiving?

Merry Christmas to Me

2011-11-28T06:43:00.000-06:00

M. and I already exchanged* our primary holiday presents this year. M got a new nook, which has become glued to his hand. I got a Garmin Forerunner 405 to replace my old 205 that died back in September. I ordered it last week and it arrived on Saturday afternoon. It needed to charge, and I wanted to read the manual, so I held off taking it for a first run until yesterday.

After psyching myself up to go out into the cold and wind, I strapped on my shoes and my new toy and took it outside to find satellites and then to get my run on. My first impressions of the 405 are pretty positive. Because some of the reviews had expressed doubts/problems with getting accurate distance readings, I ran a route that I have run many times, and it seemed to be accurate in terms of distance. However, I am a little puzzled by the pace readings. During my third mile, every time I looked at my watch, my pace read over an 11:00/mile, but it felt like I was pushing myself harder than that and then my average pace for the lap was 10:30.... The bezel is also going to take some getting used to. For now, though, I'm willing to believe that both of these issues might be due to user error rather than actual problems with the device itself.

My run was pretty cold and miserable, though, and the temperatures haven't dropped to anywhere near the icy lows that they did last winter and undoubtedly will again this winter. We got our first snow last weekend, but the temperatures warmed up over this past week. Still, I live in the upper midwest. It is only a matter of time.

The First Snow of the Season

In an effort to motivate myself to continue to brave the winter elements and train outside for my March half-marathon I headed out to a local sporting goods store yesterday after my run, a shower, and lunch with my friend Jana who blogs over at Running Vegetarian. I bought a pair of (men's) cold weather running pants, a Brooks running jacket, and another pair of work out pants to replace a pair that I've had for several years and are starting to look indecent. With several hundred dollars dropped on running over the past week, I have officially declared Merry Christmas to me and decided that I will not be buying the pair of boots that I had been planning to reward myself with when I have a draft of my book manuscript proposal. Instead I will try to celebrate that accomplishment (which will hopefully take place next month) with a run in my new duds.

While I view my Garmin and new pants and jacket as investment pieces, these kind of expenditures do cause me to feel some mild anxiety, especially because they have come so close together. So, dear readers, I hope you will help make me accountable and ask me every so often if I've been doing some of my running outside. In the meantime, I would love to hear from you. How do you balance the costs of running - race registration fees, work out gear, PT co-pays, and so forth?

*I use the word exchanged loosely, as M. went out and bought the present that I was planning to buy him for Chanukah/Christmas, so I retaliated by purchasing the present that I knew he was going to get me.

Rebuilding the Base and HBBC Log Week 1

2011-11-26T08:56:00.000-06:00

On Thanksgiving Day, I went for a little 4 mile run. It was a beautiful day and quite warm for late November in the upper Midwest. My heel felt fine, as did my hip. I was so glad that I was able and that I took the time to run. As I ran along one of my typical neighborhood routes, I realized that my base is almost back. I think another couple of weeks of mostly easy runs and extending my (slightly) long(er) runs out to 5 and then 6 miles on the coming Saturdays, and I will be in a position to start a training schedule around Christmas for my next half-marathon and to start pushing myself a little bit more to do some speed work and hills without worrying that I'm trying to do too much too fast. And a new Garmin Forerunner is on its way to aid me in my training so that's exciting! I'm hoping that my new toy will help me to take it outside about 50% of the time even when the winter weather is less than inviting.

In the meantime, I continue to rebuild my running foundation and have been logging my points for the HBBC. To help keep myself accountable and to help me remember when I've already updated the spreadsheet, I'm going to be keeping a weekly log here. During the first week of the challenge, I earned 18 points.

November 19: 1 point.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

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

November 21: 3 points.
- I ran 2 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

November 22: 1 point.
- I ran 30 minutes of cleaning.

November 23: 4 points.
- I did 30 minutes of house cleaning.
- I lifted weights for 25 minutes.
- I did 30 minutes on the stair climber.

November 24: 5 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I ate seven servings of fruits and vegetables.

November 25: 0 points.
- I toyed with the idea of going to the gym, but staying home all day on Black Friday just really appealed to me so much more.

People who have run outside lots during harsh winters with snow and ice, how do you motivate yourself? What gear do you use and find especially helpful?

On Thankfulness

2011-11-23T09:54:00.000-06:00

I'm spending this day before Thanksgiving grading papers, working on a grant proposal, and doing some baking. I have to admit that I'm feeling really grateful for this brief respite before I head into the final week of the term and then finals. M. and I are having a friend over for dinner tomorrow and a couple others may join us later in the evening for a glass of wine, so our prep this year for Thanksgiving is rather low key. We will do some cooking and feasting, but we aren't hosting a big group of friends or both of our parents this year. I plan to enjoy the day and indulge in my favorites: mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. I am also making a promise to myself to take tomorrow completely off from any form of work. No grading. No research. No class prep. Just a day to enjoy a morning run, some relaxing, fun cooking, and the company of my spouse and friends.

A non-traditional Thanksgiving in Morocco with a dear friend in 2007

This year I have a lot of thanks to give. My mother-in-law, who has undergone treatment this past year for rectal cancer, is done with chemo and surgery and has been given a clean bill of health. My sister has had a healthy pregnancy and is due in just a few weeks. I have a job that challenges me and excites me - and that also pays me a livable wage and gives me health insurance. I am able to run. I have wonderful friends here and elsewhere who have enriched my life in so many ways. My spouse has been offered a class to teach in the spring, which will make things easier financially and help to keep him intellectually engaged. I'm also thankful for the little things that add up - good coffee, a snoring doggy at my feet, a text message from a loved one, and cute boots.

I hope that all my American readers have a wonderful holiday and that all of my readers have many reasons to feel thankful!

Holiday Booty Buster Challenge and Training Plans

2011-11-19T09:35:00.000-06:00

While I am pretty philosophically opposed to the idea of "dieting" and have a really hard time accepting that thinness equates to beauty, I do try to maintain a food journal so that I prompt myself to eat healthfully and mostly in moderation. I do this, not because I want to see a certain number on the scale or be able to buy a certain clothing size, but because am aware that my weight and the way that I eat has an impact on my performance as a runner (even as a slow one) and as a yogi. If you have ever tried to do a long run after a day of drinking coke and red wine and eating corn chips and cheese, you might know what I'm talking about. The onset of cold weather and the holiday season often give me both reasons and excuses to exercise less and to eat more. In an effort to keep the focus on making healthy choices and rebuilding my conditioning and running base, I'm participating in Run to the Finish's Holiday Booty Buster Challenge this year.

I'm doing the challenge at the level of Doer because I'm shooting to work out 5-6 days a week over the next six weeks. I've had some heel pain this week so I'm taking a few days off from running and icing, stretching, and rolling my foot. In the meantime, I want to make sure that I'm cross training: lifting, riding the bike, doing yoga, and, if I can ever get over my fear of the pool, maybe some aqua jogging. Hopefully, by next week I'll be running again without any appreciable loss in my current level of conditioning.

Over the next six weeks, I plan to continue rebuilding my running base and in December I'll begin officially training for my eighth half-marathon, which I plan to run on my birthday. That's right, friends, I have finally hopped off the fence and made a decision to run the Team Ortho Get Lucky Half-Marathon. Registration hasn't opened yet, but when it does I will be buying myself the birthday present of 13.1 miles. I'll be checking in and logging my HBBC points here on the blog on Saturdays during the duration of the challenge.

Are you participating in this challenge? How do you motivate yourself to commit to your fitness during the holiday season?

Thursday Threads: Narcissism, Wool Pants and New Hair

2011-11-17T07:16:00.000-06:00

As some of you kind readers know, I used to blog about style and take almost daily outfit photos. The idea of taking the time to take all those photos, sort through them, and post about them that frequently, makes my blood pressure go up a little bit. However, sometimes I miss the routine, and find myself wanting to occasionally share an outfit here and there. This feeling may be connected to the fact that I have started working on a new research project about clothing and sumptuary legislation, over the course of the past few months, I have been thinking a lot about clothes, changing fashions, and their ability to mark things like gender, class, and occupation over time. It may also just be that I'm something of a narcissist. So I've decided to introduce a new feature here on this little blog: Thursday Threads. A couple of times a month on a Thursday, I'll share one outfit from the previous week. I'll try to capture me wearing it in action - while writing, while cycling, while having an 8-hour-marking-fest at a coffee shop, or, in today's case, while basking in the glow of a new hair cut.

Last month I set a goal of maintaining my food journal every day and said that if I met my goal I would get a hair cut and color. Well, midway through November, I was finally able to find the time to get to my salon. In the late afternoon on Tuesday I once again became a brunette and got a transitional trim. Although I had hoped for a somewhat more angular graduated bob, since I'm growing my hair out for the time being, I didn't protest the results and ask my stylist to change them.

So yesterday I sported my new cut and color, as well as a new pair of wool trousers, while on campus for a day of teaching. Also a friend and colleague gave a public lecture yesterday afternoon and another friend held a little reception for her at his home in the evening. I didn't think to bring my camera to the party, but my kind partner, M., had obliged me by taking a few outside shots before I headed to campus yesterday.

Blouse - Anthropologie, Cardigan - August Silk (thrifted), Pants - Banana Republic, Shoes - John Fluevog

Technically, I am still on GAAD and trying to mostly not shop until 2012. However, I decided if I'm going to spend another winter in the upper midwest, then I needed a pair of trousers that could do the job of keeping my legs from falling off from the beyond frigid temperatures. When I was hanging out with the lovely Lisa last week, having a pumpkin spice latte and looking at shoes, I decided to try these pants on at Banana Republic and bought them because they fit me well (something that most pants do not do) and they were on sale.

Do you have any interest in style? Will my narcissistic Thursdays cause you to stop reading?

Weekend Fun: Bridal Shower 5K

2011-11-15T05:47:00.000-06:00

On Sunday my running group held a little 5K bridal shower for one of our members. Our coach had shirts designed for us to wear for the occasion as running attendants. One of the other runners made a veil for the bride-to-be with a stocking hat and some tulle and tuxedo t-shirt for the soon-to-be-groom. Our coach and fearless leader had come up with a very funny and very sweet little ceremony to join our friend the "Running Goddess" with her fitness partner for life and soon-to-be husband "Stud Muffin."

We ran a fun little Run Away Bride 5K route in our coach's neighborhood. The only two rules were for the bride and groom to stay together the whole time and to have fun. Since this was only my second time to run two days in a row since before my injury, I decided to run at an easy pace and ran with my friend K. and her daughter, A., who did an awesome job! After the run, we all had a yummy lunch of chili and fixings, cupcakes, coffee, and punch. Some of us had gone in together on a professional popcorn maker as a running bridal shower gift, so there was also some present opening and general conviviality. It was such a fun way to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of a couple of runner buddies!

M. is not a fan of running, and, while most of the time, I enjoy the fact that running gives me time away, Sunday was one of those times when I found myself wishing that my partner was a running partner too. Is running something that you share with your partner or significant other? Would you consider having a running bridal shower, bachelor/ette party, or Jack and Jill social for yourself or a running friend?

On the Table: Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Banana Bread

2011-11-14T06:40:00.000-06:00

Saturday I spent the day in relatively domestic fashion. I did start my day off with a run and spent some time attending to some work-related tasks, but I also did a little bit of cleaning, helped my partner winterize some of our windows, and did some baking. While I watched football and made a ppt for a lecture, my breadmaker kneaded up some tasty pizza dough to be rolled out and topped with a bit of sauce, cheese, and veggies for an easy Saturday evening meal. I also baked some banana bread.

My spouse is not a fan of bananas, but he will eat banana bread so long as the flavor of the bananas is largely masked by chocolate chips. I also had some blueberries from the local co-op that I had frozen and that were taking up space in the freezer. Inspired by the fact that blueberries are the only M-friendly berry and the idea of my local co-op's raspberry chocolate chip cookies, I decided to make blueberry, chocolate chip, banana bread.

Ingredients
2 ripe bananas - mashed
2 eggs - lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar - packed
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil - you could easily substitute apple sauce here
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup blueberries - fresh or thawed frozen berries
1 cup chocolate chips - or to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Mash bananas, add lightly beaten eggs, and whisk them together. Add all other wet ingredients and sugar. Mix to blend. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in blueberries and chocolate chips. Pour batter into a lightly greased loaf pan or pyrex baking dish. Bake for 60-80 minutes.

Ultimately, the bread turned out more like a coffee cake, and the amount of chocolate chips that I put in for my banana-loathing spouse made this pretty rich and decadent. This is not your standard banana bread. In my opinion, this kitchen creation is seemingly made for accompanying a strong cup of coffee. I'm not a huge fan of sweets for breakfast, but I have plans for a piece with a cup of joe this afternoon.

What did you do this weekend? Any races? Any baking? Any delicious brunches? Any frantic preliminary house cleaning in preparation for hosting Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks?

Where Do Lost Socks and Conditioning Go?

2011-11-09T11:03:00.000-06:00

My partner in crime often gently mocks me because I have to buy socks at least once a month. I seriously do not know what the hell happens to them. Laundry hamper elves and dryer fairies must really be on a tight budget and love to run because even with my constant buying of socks it seems like I can never find more than two or three pairs....

This was just such the case when I went to don my running clothes this morning for a 3 mile run on my treadmill. When my run on Monday went well and I didn't have any tightness in my hip and my piriformis actually felt much better after running than it did before, I decided that I would see if I could run a little faster on my planned run for Wednesday and test my comfort level a little bit by picking up the pace. While I am glad that I did this run, I was mostly glad when it was finished. Even though I was running at a slow pace, I was struggling during the first two miles of this run. It was hard. Admittedly, I was under the weather with a stomach virus that kept me home and near to a bathroom yesterday, so that could have contributed to what felt like an utter lack of running ability. When I approached a 10min/mile pace, I felt like my heart and lungs were going to explode. And my legs felt tired. Oh, so tired.....

Long time readers will also remember that I have something of a love/hate relationship with the treadmill. When hip high drifts arrive, I'm sure that my passion for this machine will be rekindled, but after months of running outside, I find the treadmill to be challenging my mental conditioning as well. During the first mile, I really just wanted to quit and do this:

I know that my conditioning - mental and physical - from the summer and early fall is not going to come back overnight. I just find myself wishing that it would. Although I knew that my endurance was going to fall off when I got injured and took time off, I still find myself feeling a little bit surprised when a pace that felt really easy in the heat and humidity of the summer feels really difficult now. When I think about trying for a PR in a spring half-marathon, I realize just how much work I will need to do to rebuild a strong foundation of running to make that goal an attainable one.

I'm curious to hear from other runners about this. How long can you go without running (or without running much) before you see a serious drop off in endurance and speed? What is your approach for getting it back? Also does anyone have a strategy for not losing socks?

Blog Interview

2011-11-07T07:30:00.000-06:00

If you aren't already absolutely sick of my academic talk, you should head over to Amber's fantastic blog, Girl with the Red Hair, because she interviewed me about what it's like to be a History Professor for her Featured Career series. Thanks so much to Amber for interviewing me!

Younger and tanner in Toledo

One thing that didn't come up in the interview is one of my favorite things about what I do. My research has enabled me to spend a lot of time in Spain and Mexico doing language programs and then doing the necessary research in archives and libraries there. I haven't been to the archives for over three years now. It's been too long. I find myself longing to get back into the archives these days, to touch documents, and have some of those exciting research moments that just don't seem as thrilling when you are sitting on your balance ball at your writing desk. My fingers are crossed that I'll get some grant money to spend a couple of weeks this summer back in Madrid, gathering some materials for my book and for another research project that I've started.

What is one of your favorite things about your job?

Reasons to Run

2011-11-03T16:51:00.000-05:00

I came home from campus this afternoon feeling tired after a long day in the midst of what has been a long week. I love to travel, but I came into this week with a deficit of energy and logged 12 hour days teaching, grading, and being in meetings on Monday, Tuesday, and yesterday. I didn't sleep well last night, and part of me was really tempted to just peel off my clothes, put on my pjs, and take a nap, but the sun was shining and the foliage had looked so beautiful on my brief drive home that I decided instead to peel off my clothes, put on running ones, and go for a run. I only did 2.5 miles, but I could feel the change in me - physically, emotionally, mentally - as I went. The first half mile sucked, as I was still dwelling on some things that have frustrated me this week. By the time I had logged a mile my shoulders had dropped from around my ears, my spine had straightened, my facial muscles had relaxed, my breathing had found rhythm, and I could feel my emotions stabilizing. I was no longer disappointed, frustrated, and vaguely angry. I felt content. I had found the eye in the storm. At the turn around, I picked up the pace a little and found myself smiling, and feeling content. I savored the return journey (ironic that I savored it while running faster) and enjoyed looking at the leaves on the trees and in raked-up piles on the ground.

Years ago when I started out running I did it because I wanted to be fit. Somewhere along the way it became fun and also necessary. Sometimes I run to be social, to be out in the world or to be among running friends. Sometimes I run - as I ran today - to cope with frustration, anger, envy, loss, or grief. I run to unwind, to deal with stress, and to keep an even keel. I run to find clarity and to work through my shit. Sometimes I run because I feel grateful that I can or because I've just graded 20 exams and need to work the kinks in my body out. I run to celebrate: holidays, anniversaries, friendships, achievements, survival, a beautiful day, myself. I run for many reasons that I can't even begin to articulate here.

Why do you run?

November Goals

2011-11-02T07:28:00.000-05:00

The good thing about having just come back from a conference is that I feel really invigorated as a researcher and inspired to work on my research and writing. It was fantastic to engage in the scholarly component of my job and career and to meet up with friends and become acquainted with other people working in my field. The bad part of having just come back from a conference is that the piles of grading that I left waiting (and the new ones coming in) are not taking care of themselves and I got behind on class prep and some other tasks. So in the spirit of trying to seek that ever-elusive balance and not run myself ragged into the final stretch of the term, I'm only setting a few goals this month. I've no doubt that I will consume a fair amount of coffee in the search for this balance.

Professional/Writing Goals
1. Revise and resubmit an article. As I did last year, I plan to try to channel the energy of NaNoWriMo but turn it into NaArtWriMo (National Article Writing Month). Instead of writing an novel, I will be working on finishing up some article revisions and kicking this manuscript back out the door. In the interest of disclosure, this is an article that I resubmitted to a journal over the summer, and I found out at the end of September that the journal had decided not to go forward with it. It was a setback, but I have regrouped. I have a plan for attacking revisions and will be sending to another journal by the end of the month. My not-so-secret hope is that this will be out the door by Thanksgiving and that I can reward myself with a new (and functioning) Garmin on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
2. Continue to do research, take notes, and work on expanding the paper that I just gave into an article draft. I imagine that this project will stretch over a couple of months and that's okay. But I want to build off of the momentum coming out of the conference. I'm committing to carving out 2 hours every Friday to work on this for the month of November - come hell, high water, or department meetings.
3. Draft the syllabus for the upper level course I'm teaching in the spring. I have another new class prep on my plate for the spring, so I need to get cracking on this.

Fitness/Health Goals
1. Be present in the moment, be thankful, and express gratitude. I have been doing a better job of being in the moment, but I want to focus that in a more positive way this month. While I probably won't go out and buy any Pollyanna hair bows, I want to work on being more optimistic in general but to appreciate things as they come and as I experience them in particular. I want to be fully present while I enjoy a glass of wine, a conversation with my partner, reading a brilliant article about discourses of masculinity in early modern Spain, and the feeling of running on a beautiful late autumn day.
2. Maintain my food journal every day in the month of November. Sticker calendar, ahoy! Enjoy but keep track of how much dressing and pumpkin pie I eat over the Thanksgiving holiday this year.
3. Run 50 miles in November. This seems like a reasonable number to me, as I start to rebuild my base. If I run 50 miles this month, I'll be in good shape to meet my 2011 mileage goal even with the low mileage of September and October due to injury. I really am relieved and happy that I can include this on my list of goals for the month.

If I can make it through everything I have to do today, I will get through this week and probably though this month. Do you have any goals for November? I'd love to hear about them! Any readers participating in NaNoWriMo? Anyone want to join me in a subversion of this month's goals and work on some other kind of writing project?

October in Review

2011-10-31T07:34:00.000-05:00

I arrived back from a truly wonderful conference experience late yesterday afternoon, and I spent the evening grading a set of papers and unpacking. Today I have lots to do - classes to prep for the week and more stacks of exams and papers to start marking. The conference was definitely worth it, but I will need a couple of days to catch my breath and probably at least a week to get (mostly) caught up on everything else. I can't believe it's already the end of October and that today is Halloween! I'm really not ready to review this one, but it will go in the books whether I want it to or not.

Halloween 2005 as Cleopatra

My fitness and health goals for October were:
-Maintain my food journal every day. I did pretty well with this. I missed one weekend earlier in the month, but I managed to jot things down and log them later while I was at the conference, so I consider this one a win.
-Be active for at least 30 minutes at least 5 days each week. Other than the week that I was sick, I at least did yoga, walking, and biking that added up to 30 minutes at least five times a week. I'm hoping to build on this to get back into regular running next month, but more on that later.
-Try at least one new healthy recipe and do a food post. I did this. I also made a number of favorite, healthy recipes, including a hearty chili and a potato leek soup that I didn't blog.

Halloween 2008 as Inigo Montoya

My writing/professional goals for the month were:
-Finish writing and present a conference paper. Yep. I was pleased with how this paper turned out and got some good feedback and questions when I presented it. The next stage will be some continued research and expanding this into an article.
-Make progress on revising an article for publication. This one has to go into the books as a fail. I was doing a good job of logging a couple of hours of week of work on this during the first half of the month, but then I dropped the ball when I got ill, so I haven't looked at the article manuscript for over two weeks.
- Look into funding opportunities for a summer trip to the archives. Done. I applied for one grant and made a list of a couple of others that I'll be applying for in the near future.

Halloween 2010 as one of about 200 black cats running a 5K

This week was probably even more hectic than September was for me. I graded mountains of papers and exams, wrote lots of lectures, workshopped some research at a working group at my university, started running a bit again and ran a 10K, took a group of students on a field trip, and spent 4 days conferencing half-way across the country. October was incredibly busy, but it was somehow easier to get through than last month was. If I had to guess why, I would argue that healing from my injury and being able to log some pain-free miles again did wonders for my mental and emotional state and my ability to cope with things.

How was your October? Will you be partaking in candy today? Happy Halloween!

Brief Hiatus

2011-10-26T08:47:00.000-05:00

I'm off to the airport in a couple of hours for a conference trip. I love going to conferences and really getting to feel the pendulum swing in the scholarly direction. I also am getting to that point in my career when conferences are starting to provide an excellent opportunity to meet up with old friends and colleagues and catch up on their lives. Since the conference is in Fort Worth, and I went to university just a few hours up the road, a number of my college friends live in the area, so I'm also going to be able to have dinner with my college roommate of 3 years, my best girlfriend from college, and another good friend on Saturday night.

My best friend and college roomie and me (and part of my left boob) at my best college girlfriend's wedding in 2008

So exciting but busy times are ahead of me for the next couple of days. I have a stack of papers to grade and a lecture or two to write somehow while I'm traveling as well, so I'll be taking a few days off from blogging. I'll be back next week with tales from my travels and hopefully some news about where my training will be going over the next couple of months.

In the meantime, I would love to know if you have any Halloween plans! Are you getting dressed up? Do you have kids who will be trick-or-treating?

Race Report: Mankato 10K

2011-10-23T16:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning I ran a 10K in Mankato. Because I haven't run much in the past few weeks and because I was sick earlier in the week, I really didn't have any expectations for this race. I just wanted to have a good time and make it across the finish line. While I didn't PR (or even really come that close to doing so), I had an amazing time, ran a progressive run with no hip pain, and felt my love for running rekindle during the second half of the race.

The 10K was one of several races put on in Mankato this weekend. The Mankato Marathon was in its second year and, having run the half-marathon last year, I could tell that a number of improvements had been made to the race, and the number of participants had at least doubled. On Friday there was a 5K and a Kids' 1K run that around 250 children participated in. The Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 10K races all started at the Minnesota State University parking lots. Last year all three events started at the same time and the field was pretty crowded at the start. This year the 10K started a half hour earlier. The good thing about that was that opened up the field for running. The bad thing about it was that I didn't get to see many of my 13.1 and 26.2 peeps before the race started.

The weather was perfect for running - chilly and clear without any wind to speak of. I was freezing as I lined up and waited for the race to start, but fortunately I had timed it well and only had to wait for a few minutes. Before long the gun fired and we were off. My plan was to start out slowly and walk if I needed to. I hadn't run for a week because of illness, and I didn't want to overdo it and end up with a reinjured IT Band. I was enjoying myself, smiling and thanking volunteers and occasionally chatting with other runners. This part of the course went from the university through some residential neighborhoods and there were some spectators out cheering. There were a few challenging inclines, but nothing as hilly as I know the marathoners faced. Around mile 3 or so the course went downhill for about half a mile. I coasted down hill and chatted with a runner from Iowa who was running her first 10K for a few minutes.

Right before the mile 4 marker, a family in an SUV drove by twice, honking and cheering. This definitely put some pep into my step. I had already sped up a bit, but I realized then that my hip felt fine. My lungs felt pretty good, too. I decided to speed it up and see if I couldn't pick off some other runners. (This was less about being competitive with them than giving me little goals to shoot for.) Even though I was Garminless and watchless, I could tell by feel that I had dropped my pace from something close to an 11 min/mile to something closer to a 9 min/mile for the last two miles. The 10K, half, and full all ended in downtown Mankato and rather than rounding a corner into the finish this year, it was a straight shot. Runners could see the finish from quite a distance away. I thought this was an excellent change to the course because I could gauge exactly when I should gun it for my final kick. I finished in 1:04:27 -- like I said, not a PR, but a fun race and a progressive run for me.

After making my way through the finishers' chute and getting some water and some post-race snacks, I met up with M. and Bailey (who had made some friends). I did some stretching, used a washroom, and got a cup of coffee. Then I made my way back to the last stretch before the finish to wait for the half-marathoners to start finishing. I missed the first place male half-marathoner, but I got to see the second finisher and the first female half-marathoner speeding her way toward the finish. There were also some 10K runners still coming in, including a shampoo bottle. Happily, I got to see several of my half-marathon running friends. After about an hour, though, I decided I was getting too cold, and that we should get headed toward home. I wish I had been able to stay for the marathoners to finish, as three of my friends finished their first marathons yesterday, but I am traveling this week and I need to try to stay healthy.

It was a fun time and a great event. The volunteers were plentiful and friendly. The swag was pretty good, and it seems like some of the first-time kinds of organizational kinks were worked out from last year. I'm not sure where my next fall marathon will be, but Mankato is a possibility.

How was your weekend? Any races? PRs? Autumn camping or hiking trips?

Three Things Thursday

2011-10-20T14:45:00.000-05:00

1. I came down with a bug this week, and it hit me like a sledgehammer. Monday during my bike commute my body felt like lead, and when I woke up on Tuesday I felt like crap. I actually took a sick day yesterday, and, though I don't feel quite back to 100%, I'm feeling better today. Must be well in time for the 10K and a conference that I'm going to next week!

2. My efforts to slow down, to multi-task less, and to be more mindful and present in the moment, even the mundane ones, are meeting with mixed results. This will definitely take time, but I can already tell the difference in my mood and my outlook.

3. I wrote a couple of guest posts for other bloggers that have run this week. If you have an interest in my thoughts about transitions in my style, check out my post over at Narrowly Tailored, or if you want to see an outfit of the day kind of post, head over to An Epic Battle in High Heels. Thanks to both S. and M. for letting me guest post for them! If you like style and smart writing, I definitely encourage you to bookmark both of their blogs.

Nostalgia: Two Year Anniversary of My First Marathon

2011-10-18T05:55:00.000-05:00

Two years ago I ran my first marathon. It didn't go perfectly. It wasn't fast, and it wasn't always fun, but it changed my life. I became a marathoner. Before that I had run a couple of 5Ks for fun, and I had run a 10K and a half-marathon as part of my training for that 26.2. But nothing could compare to the feeling of elation that I experienced when I crossed the finish line of the Columbus Marathon in 2009. It is still my proudest running moment and I still consider it one of my greatest accomplishments.

My TNT Group

It was a chilly morning, and I cut off the bottoms from a pair of tube socks to wear them as discardable arm warmers with my TNT singlet. I ended up never taking them off. I finished getting ready and headed down to the Hyatt in downtown Columbus to meet up with my group from Team in Training to have a bit of breakfast and some coffee and snap some photos. I used the bathroom a couple of times, but (TMI warning) I was too nervous to poo. Before long it was time to head out to the start line. I lined up with the 5 hour pace group and we were off. The pacer's name was Larry and most of the people running in the group were women, so someone started referring to our group as Larry's Ladies. It was such a fun group with both first-timers, like me, and veterans. I ran the first 14 miles with them and was feeling pretty good. At around mile 13, a friend who was also running the marathon decided to DNF, which was hard for me to handle emotionally. At mile 14, I stopped to use a biffy, and I lost my group. That was also a momentum killer for me, and I started to struggle a few miles after that. But I continued to put one foot in front of the other, running some, walking some, and I made it to the finish. And when I did, I knew that I wanted to do it again. I knew that I was strong, tough, and would endure. I was a marathoner and had accomplished one of my life goals.

About to cross the finish line

I know that someday here before too long, I will run a third marathon. But for today remembering my first one is enough.

Injury Recovery Update and a Race Decision

2011-10-17T07:49:00.000-05:00

This weekend I was able to do a 4 mile run. I had more or less decided that if I could get through a 4 mile run without any pain that I would plan to go ahead and run the 10K that I am registered for next weekend. Going into the run I was cautiously optimistic.

I got up Saturday and met with my running group, which meets up with an even larger group of local runners on Saturdays. Most of them were doing 8 or 9 miles, as their last long run before the Mankato Marathon or Half-Marathon. I had decided that I would just do an out and back 4 milers. My plan was to keep it nice and easy, but I was apparently so excited that I started out a little bit too fast (around a 9 minute mile for the first mile) before I slowed it down for the other 3 miles. I chatted with a running friend on the 2 miles out and they just flew by, as we talked about work and buying running gear for cold weather. I turned back and took a couple of short walk breaks on the return just to be on the safe side with my hip. At the end of the run, my IT band felt tired but I didn't have any pain, so I decided that I'll run the 10K next Saturday and then continue another few weeks of keeping to low mileage and easy running.

The group this past Saturday

My running group got together at our coach's house for breakfast a little later that morning, and in a total blogging fail I took my point and shoot with me but forgot to take a single picture. I was too busy enjoying all the delicious food and chatting with running friends that I hadn't seen much for the past few weeks since my running schedule has been so sporadic because of my injury. It was great to hang out with them and catch up on their training and their lives.

I'm excited to be able to run the 10K this upcoming weekend. After several weeks of minimal running, I'm just really grateful to be able to be able to hit the pavement again. My conditioning has declined after 5 weeks of minimal mileage, and I want to make sure that I don't wind up sidelined again by going out too fast, so I have absolutely no time goals for this race. I just want to have fun and enjoy running it.

I spent most of the rest of my weekend hunkered down and working, so it was a treat to be able to run and hang out with running friends on Saturday morning. What did you do this weekend? Any races, awesome brunches, or football games?

Foto Friday: Fall Faves

2011-10-14T09:21:00.001-05:00

1. Foliage

2. Boots and Sweaters

3. Hiking

4. Pumpkin anything

5. M. - a perennial favorite

What are some of your fall favorites?

A Bedtime Reading Revelation

2011-10-12T07:06:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had finally finished reading the book I had been reading at bedtime for the past several weeks, and decided that I wanted to read Bram Stoker's Dracula, which I've always wanted to read and which I had downloaded a couple of months ago for free. That Saturday night I snuggled up in bed with my Kindle and read a couple of chapters before my eyes were so heavy that I had to sleep. I had such troubled dreams that night about wolves and creepy, red-eyed historians that I had no choice but to blame the book. Apparently, I am far too much of a chicken to read Dracula right before bed, which is the only real time I have for leisure reading these days.

Unable to make a choice about what book I wanted to read instead, I decided to get caught up on some of my magazine subscriptions and started reading my October issue of Yoga Journal. Perhaps because I haven't been able to run very much lately and because its that time of year - less sunlight, more grading of midterms, the feeling of too many responsibilities and not enough time to handle them all - I have been feeling extra anxious and extra rushed. As I was I was reading, one article in particular really resonated with me. Maggie Lyon Varadhan's piece "Trickle Down" about connecting with the sacredness of every day life. The author suggested that by approaching the mundane as sacred we can open ourselves up to moments of peacefulness and grace.

This article spoke to me. I don't know about you, but I could certainly use more peace and grace. Lately I've been feeling so rushed and overwhelmed that I have been approaching too many things with haste and some with lack of care. My mental state and my home had both become messy as a result. What if I even approached grading midterms, putting away dishes, and flossing my teeth with the intention and appreciation of a sacred act? It might take more time to get through a stack of papers or to send an email, but it might be worth it. I might do a bit less but be able to give and to get a bit more.

So I'm trying to retrain myself to approach things on and off the mat differently and, if nothing else, to remember to take a pause and to breathe.

Two Miles and a Thank You

2011-10-10T07:08:00.000-05:00

First of all, I just wanted to say thank you so much to those who commented on my last post. I gave myself permission to throw myself a pity party and letting myself legitimately feel upset, disappointed, and out of sorts actually helped me to work through those feelings better than if I had tried to slap on a smile and accept all of this with stoic fortitude. The fact that you were all so supportive reminded me of one of the many reasons that I run: the running community rocks! I appreciate your readership and kindness more than I can say.

I have been able to manage two short runs these past few days without feeling IT Band pain. This past Thursday I ran three 6 minute intervals with a couple of minutes of walking in between. Yesterday, I met up with my dear friend Suzie for an easy and social 2 miler. My hip felt tired at the end of both of these runs, but I experienced no pain or cramping. I'm going to keep the mileage low and mix in a couple of days of active rest in between runs for the rest of the month to be on the safe side, but I'm delighted to be running again! I think the chiropractic care - especially Graston Technique - and the two weeks off from running with continued stretching, foam rolling, and icing, have helped me make significant strides in coming back from this.

I cannot tell you what a difference not running has made in my outlook and anxiety level. Yoga and cycling have helped a lot, but I have missed burning off negative energy and the thought-clearing process that running provides me. This has been such a reminder for me to not take my health for granted and also to make sure to carve out time for self-care and exercise. Once I stopped training for Chicago, I really let grading and other obligations slip into that hour or so a day that I had been using for training when I still should have been preserving that time for me - for my physical, mental, and emotional health. I need to remember that even if I'm not running 6 miles, I still need to give myself that time. I'm a better person when I do.

How was your weekend? What did you do? Any races? Any social runs? Any delicious meals?

Sulky McSulkerson

2011-10-05T07:59:00.000-05:00

I am sulking. I spent weeks training for the Chicago Marathon, which a mere four days away, but have been sidelined for the past few weeks because of an ITB injury. I ran two friggin' 18 milers before this happened. I ran countless 4-6 milers and 12 weeks worth of long runs. I know injuries happen, and I know that I will be running again soon. I have tried to keep a positive point of view about all of this, and for the most part I have. But the disappointment I'm feeling this week is bitter.

So I sulk. I'll stop sulking soon, but I'm giving myself permission to feel shitty about this through Sunday.

On the Table: Autumnal Butternut Squash, Chickpea, and Quinoa Salad

2011-10-03T07:23:00.000-05:00

The other day Rose-Anne posted about her intention to make this recipe for Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad from Orangette. I had a butternut squash on hand and had been pondering what to do with it since M. is in the anti-squash camp. When M. suggested just having salads for dinner last night, I decided that I would make a variation of this salad and have it for dinner (while M. had his own salad) and take the leftovers for lunches this week.

Ingredients for the salad:
One butternut squash, seeded, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cans of chickpeas
2Tbsp of olive oil
1/2 yellow onion
1 cup of quinoa

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425F. While the oven is preheating, peel, deseed, and cube the squash. Place it on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil, toss to coat. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the squash is soft.

Prepare the quinoa according to package directions. I used my rice cooker to make it and used one cup of the dried grain and 2 cups of water.

Finely chop the onion.

Open and drain the chickpeas.

Mix all of these ingredients in a large bowl.

Ingredients for the dressing:

2 Tbsp of tahini (stir well)

2 cloves of minced garlic (you can use less - I like garlic)

3 Tbsp of lemon juice

1/2 tsp of mustard (I used a fancy mustard my mother-in-law brought me back from a trip to France)

1 tsp of honey

1/2 tsp of ground ginger

2 Tbsp of water

3 Tbsp of olive oil (I could have managed with just 2 but I got a bit zealous)

1/2 tsp of sea salt (more or less - to taste)

Directions:

Add each ingredient, stirring with each addition. Then dress the salad, stirring until the dressing coats all of the salad more or less evenly.

I really like this combination and will definitely be making this again. The butternut squash adds a lovely hint of autumn to the salad, and it was easy to make and very filling. If I'd had fresh parsley and/or feta on hand, those might have made lovely additions to this dish.

Are you a fan of butternut squash? What's your favorite way to eat it? Are there any foods that are fall favorites for you?

October Goals

2011-10-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

Well, after the month that was September, I am going to try to get back on track in October with my goals. October is one of my favorite months. I love fall with the crisp mornings and changing leaves. I love college football being in full swing. I love Halloween. I love pumpkins and pumpkin spice lattes. Hopefully, October will show me some love, too.

Before running a Halloween 5K Fun Run last October with running buddies

I will be using a sticker calendar (the cousin of Rose-Anne's star chart) to note my progress on a couple of my fitness goals. I'll also be relying on peer pressure in the form of a couple of working groups - one real at my university and one virtual through Facebook - to prod me to make sure I'm carving out time for my research and writing. It's midterm time, so I'm bogged down with grading, but I need to try to continue to seek balance between the demands of my job in terms scholarship, teaching, and service. Since being on GAAD, I have tried not to reward myself for meeting goals with shopping, but I think it may be time to bring back the carrot.

So without further ado, here are my goals for the month.

Fitness/Health Goals
- Maintain my food journal every day for the month of October. - If I succeed in this, I will reward myself with a hair cut and color in early November.
- Be active for at least 30 minutes at least 5 days each week in October. Hopefully, in another week or so I'll be able to ease back into running, but until then I need to stop using all of the time that I would normally spend running grading papers, writing lecture notes, or reading blogs. I need to continue cycling when possible and hit the gym more. I'm also considering joining a local yoga studio this coming month.
- Try at least one new healthy recipe this month and do at least one food post here on the blog. We all know that I am no food blogger, but I would like to get better at taking photos of food and the only way to do that is to practice.

Writing/Professional Goals
- Finish writing and present a conference paper. I have firm deadlines on this obviously, but I'm still listing it. I'll be presenting what I have to a research group at my institution on the 12th, so the goal is to have a complete outline and at least 6 pages of text by then. After I get some feedback from them, I'll finish and edit the paper. Ultimately, the goal will be to turn this research into part of a journal article, so I'm looking forward to getting feedback at the conference, as well.
- Make progress on revising an article for publication. Spent at least one hour 3 days a week on this project. When I have submitted this article to a journal, I can start looking into getting a new Garmin to replace mine that died.
- Look into funding opportunities for a summer research trip to the archives. Get a basic grant proposal together and apply for any applicable grants that are due in October or early November.

What are your October goals? Do you have an A race that you will be running this month? Any writing projects you hope to start or finish? I'd love to hear what's on your agenda for the month!

September in Review

2011-09-30T08:32:00.000-05:00

The other day I was thinking about how September had pretty much kicked my ass, when I saw that a friend had posted this image that has been floating around the internets on Facebook. It couldn't have been more timely.

This past month I've pretty much constantly felt like I'm in the middle of one of those tangles with no sense of how to get myself back on track. Then I remembered that one of my goals this month had been to cultivate my risk-taking abilities and my ability to cope with the unexpected and failure. Well, this month has given me that opportunity in spades. So even though some of these thing were not the result of intentional risks and have made me feel pretty crappy. I'm trying to keep the overall goal of developing my ability to deal with adversity in mind and be a bit more reflective and a bit less sulky.

My writing/professional goals for the month were:
- Finish writing up my plan for how I will meet my institution's criteria for the upcoming year. I finished this
- Continue note-taking and outlining a conference paper and a journal article. I have been making progress but I still don't have a full outline or a complete first draft of either. I'll be carrying this into October.
- Make inquiries about reviewing another book for an academic journal in my field. I have sent out a couple of emails out to book review editors but have yet to hear anything back. If I haven't received a response by the end of next month, I'll make a further inquiry as I puzzle out all that's come my way in September.

Health/Fitness Goals
- Do something at least once a week to cultivate my risk-taking abilities and my ability to deal with things not going quite as planned and/or failure and rejection. Risks included exploring chiropractic treatment for my injury, taking panda shots, and a couple of pedagogical and professional experiments that met with mixed results. I won't go into the detail. Failing is not fun and rejection stings more than I would like for it to, but I'm glad I'm pushing myself to take more chances.
- Run 130 miles in the month of September. Of course, with my IT band issues and my decision to DNS Chicago, my mileage came no where near the mark. I only ran 44 miles in September. Instead of September being my highest mileage month of the year, it was my lowest so far of 2011.
- Continue to cross-train and do yoga 2-3 times a week. I have been good about doing yoga at least 2 times a week - often more. I have been trying to ride my bike to and from campus whenever the weather is nice so that I feel like I'm getting at least a bit of activity.
- Maintain my food journal. I pretty much failed at maintaining my journal this month. This was not planned as a means of cultivating my ability to deal with failure.

So while I had only mixed success with my goals, I've been working plenty of hours and and will refocus my energies in the month to come.

How was your September? Was it a straight line or a knotted up squiggly?

Mad for Mozart

2011-09-28T07:35:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in my recent race report that M. and I went to the Minnesota Opera on Saturday to see Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti. Normally, I would avoid a late night the night before a race (and normally I would watch college football on a fall Saturday), but I love the opera and only get to go once or twice a year.

We had dinner at PazzaLuna in St. Paul, and it was delicious. We didn't have a reservation and it was packed with other opera-goers, but we were able to sit at the bar overlooking the chefs' station and eat tasty salads, pizza, and pasta before our night of Mozart. After dinner, we walked the couple of blocks over to the Ordway Theater and indulged in some people watching before the performance. Although I saw opera-goers in jeans and more casual outfits, it was fun to see a number of elegant ball gowns and tuxedos. I wore a fun dress and took the opportunity to wear a pair of Fluevog boots that I purchased during my trip to Seattle last month.

The performance was fantastic. In the past few years, I have seen some very minimalist set designs and costuming - no doubt as a result of the fact that the arts have been slammed during this recession. This was not the case with this performance. It involved stage machinery that created paths and streams and lavish costumes. The soprano, Jacquelyn Wagner, has one of the strongest voices that I've heard. Though I enjoyed the faux tragic elements, M. and I both agreed that the comedic elements were done especially well. If you happen to be in Minneapolis this coming weekend and you like opera or have ever wanted to go, I highly recommend catching the Saturday night performance.

Have you ever been to the opera? Do you get all gussied up to go to the opera or the theater?

Race Report: Women Run the Cities 10 Mile

2011-09-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend M. and I headed to the Twin Cities for dinner, a night at the opera to see Cosi Fan Tutti, and so that I could participate in the Women Run the Cities 10 Miler. I had registered for this race several months ago and had envisioned it as a fun way to do a taper run heading into the countdown for Chicago. Regular readers know that due to the issues with my IT band, though, I won't be running the Chicago Marathon. The past week or so I've been struggling to come to terms with the fact that this 10 mile race was going to be my last of the fall and have been bouncing back and forth between acceptance and frustrated negativity. I have to admit that part of me secretly hoped that I would line up on race day and nail 10 pain-free miles and that I would be able to put Chicago back on the table. However, that was not the case.

Yesterday morning I woke up after a few hours of sleep, dressed, and downed a cup of coffee and some breakfast. M. and I headed down to Minnehaha Park, where I met up with Lisa of Lisa's Yarns and Kyria of Travel Spot. It was so nice to meet both of these awesome ladies. After a photo op, we lined up to start. A few weeks ago, Lisa and I had discussed running the first couple of miles together, but she has been smoking up the pavement lately and I am obviously not in top form. Kyria is also speedy, so we all wished each other luck and took off to run our separate races.

With Kyria and Lisa before the race

Hundreds of awesome women, ready to run

My hip felt tight from the start and had a dull ache going by mile 2. By mile 5, my hip was cramping. Knowing that I could finish the last 5 miles - having finished several long runs with similar hip pain - and knowing that this was my last race of the fall, I gutted this one out. I was mentally in the zone and, while I did do some walking and stretching to try to shake the hip out and reduce the cramping at various points, my conditioning and overall ability to run by feel are definitely positives to take away from this training season. I don't know what my splits were because my Garmin died earlier this week (RIP, old friend.), but I ran with the 10:30 pacer for a couple of miles and stayed ahead of the 11:00 min/mile pacer the entire time. My official time was 1:45:45, averaging out to a 10:34 min/mile.

With my arms raised in victory, but sadly mostly obscured by another runner

The course was beautiful - starting in Minnehaha Park, winding up to the Franklin Avenue Bridge, and coming back down the East River Parkway, before finishing back in the park. The sun was shining, the leaves were just beginning to change colors; it was cool but not too cold; and it was just an amazing experience to run 10 miles with over a thousand other women. The course had a few challenging inclines, but it felt very fast to me. There was a beautiful view of the Minneapolis skyline from one of the bridges, and I wished that I had been able to snap a picture of it. Maybe it's because it was my first 10 mile race, maybe it was because I wasn't constantly checking my Garmin, but the miles just ticked by even with the hip pain. Probably, though, it was because the energy on the course was awesome. There weren't many spectators, but the volunteers were fantastic (no fingers in cups here!) and there was a lot of camaraderie among the participants, as a number of teams were running and many friends were running together and chatting away the miles. I would love to do this race again next year!

After the race, I felt good about my time but was hurting pretty badly. I spent a few minutes stretching and drank a bottle of water. Then, M. and I headed out to meet back up with Lisa and Kyria at Victor's 1959 Cafe for a delicious brunch. I refueled on the Cuban scramble and split a mango pancake with my husband. We chatted about running, jobs, travel, and languages. Not surprisingly, I failed to take any photos at brunch, but it was a great time. Afterwards, we headed our separate ways, and I came home to do some class prep for the week and some other work that I needed to get done.

How was your weekend? Any races? Any fantastic meals?

Three Things Thursday: Cheesy Haiku Edition

2011-09-22T06:58:00.000-05:00

Due to this week's chaotic schedule, I give you a Three Things Thursday post and for fun it's in the form of haiku.

1. Fire lit under ass
Producing pages is a must.
Coffee, help me please!

2. I ate too much cheese -
Never thought this day would come.
Coffee, help me please!

3. Rains in the Midwest
Wash your American dreams.
Boot weather has come.

Have you ever eaten too much cheese? Will you still read my blog after this horrible punning incident?

Nostalgia: Couch to 5K in Madrid

2011-09-21T07:13:00.000-05:00

During the summer of 2007 I was out of shape and a smoker. Most Americans lose weight when they spend some time in Europe because overall the European lifestyle tends to be healthier - more walking, smaller portion sizes, and so forth. But being the contrarian that I am, I gained 30 pounds during the first 9 months that I lived in Madrid. I was doing lots of walking, but I wasn't going to the gym 5-6 days a week and biking about an hour on a daily basis like I did before my move across the Atlantic. While I absolutely loved Madrid, I was also going through an emotional low point in my personal life and I took solace in patatas bravas, manchego cheese, and cañas (small glasses of beer).

During the previous year I had tried to go for a couple of short runs. Running in Madrid was always sort of surreal to me. If I took to the streets in my neighborhood, I would often draw the side eye from ladies in heels and furs. Plus, unless it was incredibly early in the morning, there was so much pedestrian traffic that it got annoying quickly to have to constantly play frogger. But there weren't that many runners in the parks either, and the ones I saw were all of the fast and furious type.

Even so at the beginning of the summer I decided that I wanted to get to where I could run a 5K again, and I googled the Couch to 5K program. Knowing that it was less than ideal to run on the sidewalks, I took my work outs to Retiro Park. As I ran and walked my intervals, I dreamed of being able to consider myself a runner. Over the course of those next couple of months I built up from running 60 seconds to running for 30 minutes. During the day I would go to the archives and in the evenings before going out with friends for dinner or drinks I would either do yoga in the tiny living room of my flat or go for a run in the park. As the summer progressed, I lost some of the weight that I had gained, but much more importantly I rekindled my love of running. Although I didn't start really running many miles for another year, I had become active again and wanting to get better at running (among other things) prompted me to try to quit smoking and eventually to succeed at dropping that nasty habit.

The sunset at the lake at Retiro Park

I don't miss a lot of things about my life in 2006 and 2007, but I do miss Madrid. And I miss running in Retiro Park - even though I rarely saw other runners there and those that I did see tended to be male and super serious.

Boats on the Lake

One of the things that I love about America is the flourishing communities of runners that you can find in just about any town. I like being part of that, but Madrid will always be an important part of my running history.

Apple Picking With the In-Laws

2011-09-19T07:10:00.000-05:00

M's parents were in town this week, and we decided to go a nearby orchard for some apple picking. I was happy when M. mentioned to me that it was something that they wanted to do because I had hoped to go apple picking last fall but we never got around to it. So Friday we drove up to a local orchard. Upon our arrival, we sampled a number of the different types of apples that were ready for the picking and decided that we would go for the Cortlands. I'm glad that we did because the ones that we picked are delicious - juicy and crisp.

We hopped a tractor ride out to the appropriate part of the orchard, and then spent some time filling up our bag and eating some of our apple-y plunder.

After we had picked our peck and eaten our apples, we meandered through a corn maize (something I hadn't done since I was a kid) and enjoyed the chilly air and the sunshine. It was a wonderful way to spend part of an afternoon.

My in-laws took a few apples with them when they left on Saturday. But we still have plenty to take in our lunches over the next week, and I sense an apple crisp or a pie will be in my baking future.

Have you ever been apple picking? What are some of your favorite autumnal outdoor activities?

Decisions, Distance, and Perspective

2011-09-16T10:28:00.000-05:00

After a couple of shorter runs this week and another trip to the chiro, I have weighed my options and decided not to toe the line at the Chicago Marathon this year. It was a hard decision to make and some tears have been involved, but, when I was feeling that dull ache in my hip at mile 1.5 of a 3 mile run with my dear friend Suzie this morning, I knew that it was the right decision for me right now.

I am still going to run a 10 mile race in the Twin Cities next weekend. I have plans to meet up with Lisa, and I'm really excited to get to meet her in person after reading her blog and exchanging comments and emails for many months. This race will also be my first women's only event, which I think will make it really special. I am going to take it easy and will run/walk it if I need to. After that, I am going to take some time off from running and let this injury heal. Cycling, thankfully, doesn't hurt and doesn't seem to be aggravating the issue, so I will continue to bike to campus, strength train, do yoga, and try to force myself to get into the pool at my local Y for some aqua jogging and perhaps attempt to swim a lap (I am not a strong swimmer at all). There is a 10K in October that I'm registered for, and if I'm feeling healthy by then I will run it. If I don't, I won't.

In the past twelve months, I have run two 5Ks, a 10K, five half-marathons, and one full marathon. I am grateful that my body let me do all of that. I am optimistic that it will let me run plenty more in the future. That sub 5 hour marathon (and faster) is out there for me, and I will get there. It just won't be in Chicago on October 9th. The important thing is that I get this IT band issue under control so that I'm not sidelined for long.

Thanks so much to everyone who has left comments and sent emails in support as I've struggled with this injury and with coming to terms with what it meant for my fall marathon plans! I really appreciate the runners in my life, both in my local running community and out here on the internets.

Other Loves

2011-09-13T17:47:00.000-05:00

Since there's not a whole lot of running going on over here right now, I decided to keep myself in good spirits by biking to campus and participating in colored pants day over at Everybody, Everywear. The temperature dropped by about 30 degrees overnight last night, which made for deliciously cool and crisp air and the perfect opportunity to wear cords for the first time in months.

These are my first ever attempts at panda shots, and I have to admit that I felt a certain amount of glee (or maybe it was just a rush of adrenaline as I've never had great balance) taking them as I biked through my 'hood.

Do you get joy out of biking to work? Have you tried taking panda shots?

The Uncertainty of Injury

2011-09-12T06:28:00.000-05:00

Compared to many other problems in the world, a running-related injury is not so bad. It's a frustration and an inconvenience, but I am aware of my position of privilege when I complain about my IT band's decision to flare up.

Four weeks ago, I experienced a hip cramp around mile 11.5 of a planned 16 mile run. I tried to walk it out, shake it out, stretch it out. After some brief relief after each time I stopped to stretch, my right hip would cramp again. I decided to cut the run short and ended it at just over 14 miles. I took an ice bath and followed my normal long run recovery routine and ran fine during my shorter runs over the course of the week that followed. The Saturday on my 18 mile long run, my hip started cramping around mile 14 or 15. It was the same hip and I had the same issue. I pushed through with a couple of walk breaks and completed the 18 miles. At that point I decided that switching to a pair of Brooks shoes (I had only worn them on the two long runs that I had cramps on) might be to blame and I ran only in my Saucony Kinvaras during the following week. I had ordered a new pair of Saucony Ride 4s, but they hadn't arrived yet so I ran my long run in my Kinvaras last Saturday. By mile 12 I could feel my hip tensing. By mile 14 it was cramping and shooting pain down the outside of my right leg into my knee and ankle. Since I had run an out and back route, I tried to run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute, and walk up the hills to get back to my car. I felt some pain and tightness on Sunday through Thursday.

My running coach encouraged me to check out the services of a local chiropractor, and several members of my running group expressed shock that I had never been to one before. I made an appointment and went in this past Wednesday. The chiropractor that I saw gave me an examination and declared that my right leg was slightly shorter than my left and that my IT band was tight and inflamed in the hip and upper leg area. He gave me an adjustment, did some ART (active release technique - essentially he held me while I stretched so that the stretch was much deeper than I could get on my own), and applied some kinesio tape. He told me that I should see some improvement before long and that I should take it easy and follow my coach's advice about mileage, and I made a follow up appointment with him for this coming Wednesday.

On Friday I went for a short run. It had been 6 days since my last run, and I kept it slow and short. I only did 2 miles. My hip did not cramp, but it felt constantly on the verge between tightness and pain. Saturday I had 14-15 miles on my training schedule, but I could tell that was out of the question. Yesterday I went for a brisk walk and then did some strength training and stretching at the gym. I felt a little tight before and during the walk, but I had a sort of dull ache in my hip all day after it.

This morning it feels just on the other side of that dull edge, so, rather than run, I'm going to go to the gym to spend about an hour on the exercise bike.

Right now getting to the start line in Chicago is up in the air for me. It's frustrating, but I'm trying to remain optimistic. I figure I need to get one more solid 18-20 mile long run in sometime in the next two weeks in order to feel confident about my ability to finish the marathon. This may mean having to sit out the 10 mile race I planned to do in just under two weeks.

For those of you who have suffered from IT band issues, how long did you find that you needed to take off from running before you could run without pain? For those of you who have experienced an injury during the last six weeks of a training cycle, were you able to run your marathon? How did you make it happen? Lots of other cardio and foam rolling?

This Week in Shoes III

2011-09-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

Since Monday, it's been a crazy, busy week, and I'm grateful to my shoes for carrying me through it.

Saucony Grid Cohesions worn on my Mon, Tues, and Fri work outs

I wore these Kenzie Girls purchased in 2006 on Tuesday for a full day on campus

Fluevog San Fillipos worn Wednesday for office hours and teaching

John Fluevog Mini Elif worn Thursday for a more than full day on campus

Sandals purchased at a boutique in Florence worn Mon for errands, Wed to the chiropractor, and today for meetings on campus

Sorry I've been largely absent from blogging and from reading and commenting on blogs this week. Between being injured and an especially hectic week on campus, my normal routine has been disrupted. I hope to catch up on blogs over the weekend.

Chicago Marathon Training: Week 9

2011-09-05T08:43:00.000-05:00

As I type this up, I'm drinking coffee in my pjs (yay!) and sitting on an ice pack (boo!). After a third long run in a row with severe hip cramps in the final miles, I have to face the fact that I am injured. The upcoming week is something of a step back week and then I have one more week of intense training before the taper begins. I am optimistic that I can still get to the starting line in Chi-town, but I'm going to have to be smart over the next few weeks.

Week 9 wasn't what I wanted, but it's behind me now.

Monday - scheduled 5 miles easy. Actual 5 miles easy. I met up with my running group for 5 miles at 5:15 am. I kept it nice and easy and enjoyed starting my week with fellow runners.

Tuesday - scheduled 3 miles at 5K pace. Actual 0 miles and no exercise of any sort except walking to and from the parking lot to my office. I was so tired by the end of the day on Monday that I didn't think I could start Tuesday at 4:30 and be functional all day. I was on campus from 7:30 am until almost 7:30 pm so no running happened in the evening either.

Wednesday - scheduled 6 miles easy. Actual 5 miles including 4 x 800 speed intervals. My running buddy was under the weather so I decided to just hop on the treadmill and do some speedwork since I'd missed doing any the day before.

Thursday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. Actual 0 miles - active rest. I went to the gym and did 30 minutes of strength training and 20 minutes on the elliptical, followed by some stretching.

Friday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 0 miles. I debated going for a run, but I decided to take a rest day instead and take care of some tasks I had been putting off for a while.

Saturday - scheduled 19 miles LSD. Actual 18 miles LSD. I met up with a couple of people from my running group at 5:15. They were doing 18 miles so I decided I would just do that with them, since it was an out and back route and I had run really well having company for my long run the previous week. This run was tough. It was humid, and we got caught in a thunderstorm, but it was still going pretty well until around mile 12 for me. Then I started having the same issue with my hip. At mile 14 I told my friends to go on ahead and switched to a 3:1 and then later a 2:1 run/walk ratio just to finish the 18 miles. I followed it up with a banana and an ice bath.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles - rest. M. and I took Bailey for a walk and then I did some yoga before icing my hip.

Up next for Week 10

Monday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. (My actual schedule calls for 5 miles, but I think an extra rest day is in order after 3 long runs in a row of hip problems.)

Tuesday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest.

Wednesday - scheduled 5 miles easy. (My actual schedule calls for 7, but I'm going to play it safe and do 5 if my hip is pain free.)

Thursday - scheduled 0 miles - rest.

Friday - scheduled 5 miles easy.

Saturday - scheduled 14 miles LSD.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles - rest.

I'm planning to try to see a chiropractor for the very first time as soon as possible about this hip issue. Several runners in my group have suggested that I might need an adjustment or kinesic taping. Have any of you ever been to a back cracker? What has been your experience?

A New Name and Adventures in Minimalism

2011-09-04T14:53:00.000-05:00

After some thought and some hemming and hawing, I decided to change the name of my blog to "The Running Historian". The URL will remain the same, as will the focus. I'll still post about running, writing, goals, the occasional kitchen experiment, travels, and miscellaneous musings about yoga, teaching, puppies, and shoes.

This is part of a more wide-sweeping series of gradual changes that I'm attempting to make. I am far from a minimalist, and I tend to be turning increasingly into a pack-rat as I get older. I have stacks of academic clutter everywhere (books, papers to grade, journal articles, notes to myself), a closet jam-packed full of clothes and shoes, and a fridge that constantly requires master Tetris skills to get something into or out of it. But I yearn to become better organized and less like an episode of Hoarders in the making. So I'm taking baby steps. About a month ago I decided that I needed to strictly enforce a rule that for every item that comes into my closet another item must go out. This was after my partner (gently) mocked me for continuing to wear holey underwear after purchasing new ones.

After throwing out a number of my old knickers, I decided that the volume in my closet is just too great. And over the past couple of weeks I've spent a few minutes here and there taking inventory of my closet and my dresser and bagging up some nice but unloved clothing to take to Goodwill. I just went through my shoe collection today and purged a number of pairs that I haven't worn in a long time and can't foresee wearing any time in the next year. And I changed the name of my blog. Like I said, baby steps -- but steps nonetheless.

Now I just have to get those bags off to Goodwill....

What about you? Are you a minimalist maven or a borderline hoarder? What organizational tips do you have if you are in the former category for someone who tends toward the latter category?

September Goals

2011-09-02T10:25:00.000-05:00

August was a really busy but good month for me and I have high hopes that September will be, as well. I have some impending October deadlines and there's nothing like a date circled in red to stoke the fires of productivity.

For those of you who don't go gaga for goals here's a ridiculously cute Bailey picture.

Writing/Professional Goals
- Finish writing up my plan for how I will meet my institution's criteria for the upcoming year. I have to admit that last year I viewed this plan as bureaucratic busy work. This year I'm trying to have a better attitude and use it to my own advantage to help set up mile markers for the year to come.
- Continue note-taking and outlining a conference paper and a journal article. I want to have a rough draft of the former by the end of the month. That means continuing to carve out, guard, and make use of time for research and writing a few days a week.
- Make inquiries about reviewing another book for an academic journal in my field.

Health/Fitness Goals
- Do something at least once a week to cultivate my risk-taking abilities and my ability to deal with things not going quite as planned and/or failure and rejection. I was definitely inspired by A-M's personal growth goal this week and decided to shamelessly copy and adapt the idea.
- Run 130 miles in the month of September. My marathon training is peaking over the next couple of weeks before the taper begins toward the end of this month. I want to log all the miles on my schedule and enjoy the process.
- Continue to cross-train and do yoga 2-3 times a week.
- Maintain my food journal every day for the entire month of September. Sticker calendar, ahoy!

What are your goals for the month of September? Any PRs or new distances that you are gunning for? Writing projects you hope to finish? Risks you want to take?

August in Review

2011-08-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

Another month has flown by. It was an especially fast month for me because I ran a half-marathon, went to a conference, and was swept up in the activities that marked the beginning of another academic year. I didn't accomplish quite everything that I wanted to, but I did pretty well with most of my goals.

My August goals were:

Writing/Professional Goals
- Finish writing a conference paper. Done! I gave the paper and got some excellent feedback at the conference that I attended earlier in the month. I'm hoping that it will form part of the basis for an article along with the other conference paper I'll be giving later in the fall.
- Write up a report for my institution taking account of my summer activities and my plan for the upcoming year. Mostly done. I finished the report, and I'm about 80% done with the plan.
- Update my CV and other job market materials. Mostly done. I've updated my CV and most of my materials, but I still need to do some tweaking to my teaching philosophy and writing sample.
- Get started on note-taking and outlining another conference paper. Done! I am really happy with myself for having continued to carve out some research and writing time even during the start of the semester chaos.

Cheesy Tourist Shot from the Bainbridge Island Ferry

Running/Fitness Goals
- PR at the Urban Wildland Half-Marathon. Well, I didn't PR, but I learned from this race and feel confident that I have it in me to PR at a half-marathon in the spring. If you want to see a funny slide show of me catching up to Clarinda during the race, pop over to her blog and read this post.
- Run 127 Miles in August. Not quite. I ran 117 miles in August. I missed a few miles here and there over the course of the month, and that's ok because I had a lot going on.
- Do yoga at least twice a week. Mostly done. There were a couple of weeks where I didn't get in a second practice, but I've been pretty good about getting in some mat time this month.
- Maintain my food journal. Poorly done. The overnight trip for my half-marathon early in the month derailed me and I just never got properly back on track. I'd journal for a few days here and there, but I need to begin September as a reset with this.

How was your August? Did you go back to school? Accomplish goals? Run any races? I'd love to hear all about it!

Chicago Marathon Training: Week 8

2011-08-29T04:34:00.000-05:00

I was a little bit nervous about how training would go this week because it was the first week of classes, and I'm adjusting to a new routine and also still trying to safeguard a few hours for myself each week for research and writing no matter what else is going on. It wasn't a perfect week in terms of training, but it was a good week, overall, and I got all but one work out in.

Week 8 is in the books:

Monday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 4 miles nice and easy around my 'hood. I had hoped to get up early and run with my group, but, since I was still awake at 11pm on Sunday night, I didn't think I could get up at 4:30am and make it through the first day back to teaching, etc.

Tuesday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. I met up with my girl Suzie for some lifting and ellipticalling at the Y. It was delightful.

Wednesday - scheduled 6 miles easy. Actual 6 miles easy with my friend Jana, who blogs over at Running-Vegetarian. It was hot and humid, so we were glad when it was done, but it was great to have company for six sweaty miles.

Thursday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. Although my arms were still tender from lifting on Tuesday for the first time in two weeks, I met up again with S. for 30 min. of weights and 30 min. of cardio. I did the elliptical again.

Friday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 0 miles. I had a morning meeting and I wanted to get some hours of research in before a delightful annual doctor's apt. in the afternoon. I definitely did not feel up for running afterwards.

Saturday - scheduled 18 miles LSD. Actual 18 miles. I had company for all but the first mile and the last mile, and this run definitely boosted my confidence in spite of having hip cramps again in the final four miles. They weren't as bad as last Saturday, but they were still problematic and definitely slowed my last couple of miles down by about 90 seconds/mile. I think that the running shoes I'm wearing (Brooks Ghost 4s) might be the culprit. This is a new problem, and it has happened only on the two long runs that I've worn these shoes.... But let's focus on the positive. This was probably my fastest average pace for a LDS over 13.1 miles ever at 10:41min/mile. At 13.1 miles I was only 2 minutes off my half-marathon PR (and almost 10 minutes under my finishing time at Urban Wildlands a couple of weeks ago), and it was a beautiful run - starting with a starry sky and a sunrise and ending with chit chat and donuts with running friends.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles - rest. Actual 45 minutes of yoga. I wanted to stretch that hip out before I iced it.

Up next for Week 9:

Monday - scheduled 5 miles easy.

Tuesday - scheduled 3 miles at 5K pace.

Wednesday - scheduled 6 miles easy.

Thursday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest.

Friday - scheduled 4 miles easy.

Saturday - scheduled 19 miles LSD.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles - rest.

On Solitary and Group Running

2011-08-25T05:51:00.000-05:00

The other night my friend Suzie and I were at a little get together, and another friend asked us if we had run together yet since S. had returned to town after being away for most of the summer. We said that we hadn't yet, and then Suzie joked that I had cheated on her this summer with other runners. I laughed and said that I had indeed been promiscuous.

Most of my teenage and adult life I've been active - either going to the gym or running. However, I've not always liked the more social aspect of getting my sweat on, though. I played volleyball and basketball in middle school, but in high school I abandoned team sports and spent several years doing martial arts. In college I went to the gym, but I always went either on my own or with maybe one or two other people. The same for grad school, and I didn't always enjoy running into friends at the gym. I was there to get Michelle Obama arms not to chit chat about seminars or dissertations or departmental politics. Even when I started running more seriously and joined TNT for my first marathon, I tended to avoid group training runs and preferred to go out solo or with just one friend.

This past year that has slowly begun to change. During the fall, winter, and spring, I did meet some other runners and went to group runs a couple of times, but still found myself training mostly on my own or running once a week with my friend Angi or my girl Suzie. This summer, though, I have suddenly craved the companionship of other runners. I was tired of running alone all the time, so I joined a running group. I also sought out other new running buddies with whom to hit the pavement. I've been, as I said, promiscuous. I've loved it. My group has been kind and welcoming to me. And more generally, the camaraderie is awesome. Shitty runs are much easier to endure when I feel like I'm part of a pack. The word relay has entered my thoughts for the first time ever.

However, 5:15 am group runs are only going to work for me a one or two days a week now that the academic year has started. Teaching an 8am class means that I need to be on campus by about 7:30 and most days I'll need more than hour to get ready. I also tend to work later into the evenings, which makes going to bed early enough to wake up at 4:30 and then function for the entire day tricky to say the least. So while I will still run with my group when I can, and hopefully with other running buddies (maybe even together) one other day a week, and while I have come to prefer running in the pack, I am glad that I can still find joy in solitary running. There's still something very zen and rejuvenating to me about hearing nothing but the sound of my breathing and my own footfalls.

Are you a solitary or a group runner? Have you avoided running groups or do you try to avoid solo runs?

Playing Style Blogger for a Day

2011-08-23T06:29:00.000-05:00

It won't happen often, but I decided to share an outfit with you. This is what I wore yesterday for the first day of classes.

I liked the combination of bold and blazered.

Regularly scheduled programming will return tomorrow.

Chicago Marathon Training: Week 7

2011-08-22T06:35:00.000-05:00

This week I had a little bit of a freak out about my upcoming marathon. It wasn't related to training or to anxiety about race day performance. Frankly, it was about money. As an academic, I'm expected to go to and present at conferences, but they are expensive. Between air fare and hotel alone, I spent over $900 on my trip to Seattle. I'm going to two other conferences this year, so this one was entirely out of my own pocket. In these days of austerity and budget cuts, I am doubtful that I will receive adequate funds to cover both of the other two conferences either, but the show must go on. M. and I had a talk, and we decided since we are staying home over the winter holidays this year that Chicago is still a go. Sadly, the show will include no more fabulous boots or other unnecessary purchases for a while. We also realized this week that the marathon is the day after Yom Kippur, but M. claims he will be fine to fast that Saturday in Chi-town. He is pretty bad-ass.

Anyhoo, here's how this past week of training went.

Monday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. Actual 0 miles on foot but 5-6 miles on bike. I pedaled my way into campus and back.

Tuesday - scheduled 4 miles fast. Actual 2.6 miles with one timed mile trial. I ran my fastest mile recorded to date in 8:11.

Wednesday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 4 miles easy. I met up with Jana who was tapering for a half-marathon this past weekend so we kept the pace gentle and chatted our way through the miles.

Thursday - scheduled 6 miles easy. Actual 5.1 miles progressive. I didn't initially intend to run this as a progressive run, but at the mile 3 mark I realized that was how it was unfolding so I decided to go with it and pick up the speed a little bit more for the last two miles.

Friday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. Actual 0 miles and took a rest day. This was a tiring week.

Saturday - scheduled 16 miles LSD. Actual 14.5 miles. This run was going really well until about 11.5 miles in and then I started getting a serious cramp in my hip. At first it was bearable, but after another mile or so, I started feeling some pain in my knee so I decided to finish it a bit early.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles - rest.

Coming up for Week 8:

Monday - 4 miles easy.

Tuesday - 0 miles - active rest.

Wednesday - 6 miles easy.

Thursday - 0 miles - active rest.

Friday - 4 miles easy.

Saturday - 18 miles LSD.

Sunday - 0 miles - rest.

How do you feel about the costs associated with traveling to races? Do you tend to stick to just local events because of budgetary reasons?

Foto Friday: Pike's Place Market

2011-08-19T10:33:00.001-05:00

While in Seattle last week, I spent a fair amount of time walking around Pike's Place Market. Since my hotel was only about a 15 minute walk away, I ate lunch there twice, indulging in fresh seafood and other market goodies. I also stood in a long but swiftly moving line for a cup of coffee from the original Starbucks.

Three Things Thursday

2011-08-18T07:01:00.000-05:00

1. The semester starts in just a few days, and I'm excited and nervous. You would think that these feelings would wear off by the time you've taught for a few years, but they never completely do. I also admit that I'm pondering what I will wear during the first week of classes.... August can be a tricky month for professional dressing, especially if you want to bike to and from campus.

2. I'm trying to figure out a way to carve out writing time for at least a couple of hours 3 days a week during the fall semester. I really want to do a better job of balancing the research part of professorial life than I feel like I did last year. I'm thinking that a couple of hours on Monday and Wednesday mornings and good chunks of the day on Friday are going to spent holed up at my desk or in a coffee shop.

3. I meant to get up and run with my group this morning, but I just wasn't feeling it when my alarm went off at 4:30. I need to go to bed earlier, especially now that the semester is starting and I'm less likely to be able to take a nap in the afternoon. It's a slow habit in forming, though. Must be from those years spent in Spain when dinner time wasn't even until after 9pm....

The Running/Writing Parallel

2011-08-16T08:15:00.000-05:00

I have often thought that there are a number of similarities between distance running and academic writing. These similarities might apply to other kinds of writing too, but I have less experience with them. So instead I will focus on how training for a marathon is similar to writing a dissertation or a monograph (at least in my opinion).

Both require a solid foundation. In terms of running, I wouldn’t go out and try to run 15 miles without being able to able to run 2. I spent a number of months just building up my base of mileage and learning how to start becoming a runner before I ever signed up for a race that was longer than a 5K. I also wouldn’t try to start writing a book until I had thoroughly researched the topic. I would need to read all of the secondary material related to the topic, mine footnotes, take trips to archives, read documents there, take notes, begin to sketch down ideas for how an argument would be developed and supported over a series of chapters, read some more, and write up outlines.

Running a half-marathon or a full-marathon is easier for most of us when we have a training schedule, especially for our first outings. Later we might feel comfortable with just winging it and still toeing the line to run a distance event, but initially we need the wisdom of those who have gone before to tell us when to run 6 miles and when to run 20 during our training cycle. Finding a plan that works for each one of us individually can be challenging, but after some trial and error and asking around and some more trial and error we usually find a plan that’s a good fit. I, for one, also need a plan that is workable with my schedules and allows me to succeed as a runner. An aggressive plan that required five or six days of running a week would not have worked for me when I was training for my first marathon – such a plan probably wouldn’t work for me now, because during the school year I need some extra bodily rest and the time for my writing plan. I know that I write best in the morning, so it’s important for me to try to carve out a couple of hours to write during the early morning hours a couple of days a week. Sometimes to meet a deadline I will have to write in the afternoon or evening, but if I plan to structure my schedule to allow me 2 mornings of writing a week I am bound to be more successful. During the school year this is much more challenging obviously than it is in the summer. The blocks of time are only part of the writing plan, though. Having at least a basic outline and setting concrete goals, such as writing 3 pages (kind of like planning to run 6 miles instead of running for one hour) or finishing the introductory section to Chapter 2 tend to work better for me.

Breaking training and racing distances and writing projects up into more manageable chunks was something that really helped me during past marathon training cycles and when I was writing my dissertation. Concentrating on getting from one mile marker to the next or getting into the mindset that at mile 20 there is only a 10K left and I’ve run 6 miles lots of times has helped me to stay optimistic and to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Knowing that writing happens one sentence and one page at a time is also helpful. When starting to write a multi-chaptered project that’s hundreds of pages long, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. I found that by concentrating on one chapter at a time and one section of a chapter at a time, it was easier to stay focused and to feel like I was making progress. When you’ve written 5 pages of a 30 page chapter, it feels much more substantial to think of it that way than if you conceptualize it as 5 pages of a 300 page book.

Life will interrupt the best-laid plans. I have missed training runs because of illness and work responsibilities here and there. I have missed scheduled writing sessions because I wasn’t done with class prep for a session that day or the next or because I overslept. These things happen. Missed miles and missed chances to write are just that: missed. Unless you are Hermoine Granger in your third year of studies at Hogwarts, you aren’t gonna turn back time. But there will be plenty more miles to run and more opportunities to write.

There are days when writing flows easily and I can be fully immersed in it, cranking out multiple pages of prose, for hours. There are days when the miles just seem to fly by. Sadly, not every run is a good one and not every time I sit down to write do I produce pages effortlessly. There are times when running is miserable because I’m not in the zone – maybe I have a headache or it’s really humid out or my legs are tired. There are times when writing is painful. I try not to bag training or writing sessions, though every now and then I will cut one short. Just getting in the habit of hitting the pavement getting out a paragraph or two on the keyboard when I had set out to is good for building emotional and mental endurance and momentum.

I think it’s crucial to stay optimistic and to realize that while there are times that I will just want to quit that crossing the finish line is worth it. Using mental strategies to counter negativity or a system of rewards for goals accomplished have often helped me both in terms of training for races and writing chapters. When I completed my first marathon, I felt like there was nothing that I couldn’t do (of course, I needed a week to be able to do that thing if it required stairs!). I try to recall that feeling when I’m struggling in the last couple of miles of a training run. Running has made me tougher for writing and vice versa. Once I finished drafting the first chapter of my dissertation, I knew that I would finish it, just as I knew I could finish a marathon after I did my first 17 mile training run. There would be lots of work ahead as well as challenging moments, but I got there. Just like I will eventually with my new writing projects and running goals.

Are you a writer? Do you think there are similarities between running and writing (or completing other types of big projects)?

Chicago Marathon Training: Week 6

2011-08-15T18:17:00.000-05:00

This past week of marathon training was about being prepared for things not to go as planned. Conferences are great for presenting research, connecting with old friends over drinks, and meeting new ones, but they aren't really conducive to getting in lots of miles or quality training. So I was pretty happy that I only missed one planned mile this week.

Week 6

Monday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 4.35 miles at an easy pace with my group. It was good to keep it nice and easy and sort of resettle in after a half-marathon experience that was a bit bruising in both body and spirit.

Tuesday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. Actual bike commute. I live about 3 miles from campus office, so I rode my bike to and fro.

Wednesday - scheduled 15 miles LSD. Actual 15.13 miles. I ran just over 10 on my own and then a new running friend Jana of Running Vegetarian joined me for my final 5. It was great to have the company in those last few miles.

Thursday - scheduled 0 miles - rest. Actual walked a fair amount around downtown Seattle, including hiking up and down the hill to my hotel four times.

Friday - scheduled 4-6 miles easy. Actual 3 miles on the treadmill in the hotel fitness center. I wanted to make an 8:30 am panel, and I knew that if I went out for my run it would take me longer than just a quick run on the 'mill.

Saturday - scheduled 0 miles - rest. Actual rest.

Sunday - scheduled 4-6 miles easy. Actual 4 miles down the hill from my hotel and along the water to Olympic Sculpture Park and back. During one stretch I had to play frogger and weave my way in and out of the foot traffic coming off of this cruise ship.

Coming up next for Week 7:

Monday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest.

Tuesday - scheduled 4 miles fast.

Wednesday - scheduled 4 miles easy.

Thursday - scheduled 6 miles easy.

Friday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest.

Saturday - scheduled 16 miles LSD.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles - rest.

My Seven Links

2011-08-10T17:25:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago the talented and lovely Rose-Anne of Life, Love, and Food tagged me to do the Seven Links meme that has been going around. As some of my readers know, this blog wasn't my primary one until April of this year, so I don't have tons of rich archival material to draw on for my links, but here goes.

My most beautiful post: I think my series of posts from my travels to Italy are quite lovely, but it's hard not to create a beautiful post when all you have to do is upload a photo of Brunelleschi's Dome or San Marco. Looking back through these, though, I realized that I never posted about Rome or Siena. So many ideas, so little time to type them up....

My most popular post: I really am not sure why it's my most popular post, but my Race Report for the St. Peter Halloween Fun Run last October has received the most page views of any of my posts by far. It didn't get all that many comments, but apparently a lot of people read it.

My most controversial post: I have mostly shied away from controversial topics on this blog because until a few months ago it was largely just a space for me to reflect on my running, my writing, and my goals about running and writing. These goal-oriented kinds of themes don't lend themselves to generating a whole lot of debate. Maybe my future post in which I ponder why the blogging running community seems to be so white and so heteronormative (where are the other queer runners?!?!) or my future post about how running gives me wicked cases of crotch rot will be a tad more controversial.

My most helpful post: I think my most helpful post is the one in which I discussed my first session with a sports psychologist. While I could say that my recipe posts or the product review for my treadmill are also helpful, I think Sports Psychology and Mental Toughness has a lot to offer those who are runners and especially ones who think they might want to look into getting professional assistance with the mental component of our sport.

A post that's success surprised me: I was in awe of all the support I received from readers when I decided last year to downgrade from the full marathon to the half in San Antonio. Admitting how overwhelmed I was in Coming to Terms with Tough Decisions wasn't easy, but the blogging community was so kind and helped me to put things in perspective.

A post I didn't feel got the attention it deserved: My post Marvelous Bodies generated heated debate actually when I cross-posted it on a different site, but here it didn't receive many views or comments.

The post I'm most proud of: Hmmm. I'm not proud of posts the way I am articles or conference papers or chapters, but I will say that my Race Report: Team Ortho Minneapolis Marathon has a lot going for it.

Doing this has made me think of the posts that I have wanted to write or the ones that have remained half-finished because I ran out of time or my creative juices stopped flowing. I hope this blog can become a little bit more richly textured in the near future.

I'm also supposed to tag others to do this, but I think that this one has pretty much gone the rounds. If you haven't done a 7 links post yet, and want to consider yourself tagged. If you blog, tell me why you think some posts get lots of attention and others don't. For that matter, why you think some blogs are wildly successful, but others that seem to be just as beautifully written and full of good stuff don't get much recognition at all? I'd love to know what you think!

Chicago Marathon Training: Week 5 and Seattle Recommendations Please!

2011-08-08T09:35:00.000-05:00

This past week was a race week so I did a bit of a mini-taper in terms of my overall training.

Monday - scheduled 6 miles w/ 5 at half-marathon goal pace. Actual 6 miles with 5 at just a tad faster than half-marathon goal pace. This was a great run for being on the treadmill.

Tuesday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. Actual 0 miles. I headed to the gym for 30 minutes of lifting and 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Wednesday - scheduled 5 miles easy. Actual 4 miles easy. I kept the pace nice and slow and just tried to think of this run as shaking out my legs.

Thursday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 3.1 miles easy. I realized as I headed out the door to run 4-5 miles that if I did 3.1 I would have run a half-marathon during the week leading up to my half-marathon. Being a sucker or cheesy metaphors and imaginary music montages, how could I not do this.

Friday - scheduled 0 miles - rest.

Saturday - scheduled Urban Wildlands Half-Marathon. Actual 13.21 miles according to my Garmin, 13.1 according to official race results in 2:25:35. As I posted in my race report below, this wasn't the race I hoped it would be, but that's ok. I still finished faster than I did at all three of my 2010 half-marathons, and faster races and PRs are out there in my future.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles - rest. Actual 0 miles. I slept in, devoured a husband-made brunch, talked to a friend in LA on the phone and did some reading for one of the courses I'll be teaching. Nothing onerous or strenuous in any way.

Up next for Week 6:

Monday - scheduled 4 miles easy.

Tuesday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest.

Wednesday - scheduled 15 miles LSD.

Thursday - scheduled 0 miles - rest.

Friday - scheduled 4-6 miles easy.

Saturday - scheduled 0 miles - rest.

Sunday - scheduled 4-6 miles easy.

This upcoming week is a little bit fuzzy in terms of my training schedule because in a few days I am heading to a conference in Seattle. That means I'm going to plan to do my long run on Wednesday before I head out of town on Thursday and will have to try to fit in some training in Seattle. While I will be presenting research on Saturday and going to a few panels the other days, I would also like to enjoy my time in Seattle. I've never been there, and I'm also craving a little bit of R&R (running and relaxation) before the imminent start of the semester. I'll be staying in a downtown hotel, and would love your suggestions for running routes (4-6 miles would be good), things to do (free or inexpensive are best), and places to eat or have a couple of drinks. Where is the best place for brunch downtown? Besides Pike Market, where should I plan on spending some time? So if you live in Seattle or have spent time there, please leave me some suggestions in the comments or shoot me an email!

Race Report: Urban Wildland Half-Marathon

2011-08-07T12:18:00.000-05:00

Sadly I did not really accomplish most of my goals for this race. I did not PR. I did not run continuously. I did not finish strong with a negative split. I did, however, believe in myself and finish a race in which I suffered dizziness and lightheadedness in the last two miles.

Pre-Race
I woke up at 5 and had some water, a cup of coffee and a couple of mini bagels with nothing on them. Then I got dressed, pinned my bib on, and woke up M. so we could head to the start. Before the race I was able to meet up with a couple of other bloggers/DMers Courtenay and Clarinda. It was great to meet them in real life and to chat for a minute. Courtenay has been coming back from an injury so she was running the 5K and Clarinda and her sister were doing the half. (How fun to have a sibling who also runs!) After some conversation and obligatory photos, it was time for us half-marathoners to line up for the 7am start. I headed toward the back of the pack and waited for the gun, going through my strategy and plans for the race again.

Courtenay, Clarinda, her sister, and me - because a person was directly behind me in the shot it kind of looks like I'm wearing a small blonde toupee

Miles 0-3

Crossing the Start

When the race started, I did my best not to get too caught up in the race day excitement and bolt out of the gate as I have at a couple of other races. I remembered my strategy and tried to just settle into a nice pace of around a 10:30 min/mile. My plan was to run the first three miles at this pace and then to pick things up just a tad every 2-3 miles until the finish. The first water stop was at around mile 2.5, but I decided to keep running. It was humid, but I was carrying my own fluids and I had a GU in the pocket of my running skirt that I planned to take around mile 7 or 8. We were looping through residential neighborhoods and park trails. It made for some pretty running, but there was some congestion caused by the narrowness of the paths and the fact that a number of people seemed to be walking together 2-3 abreast.

Splits: 10:26, 10:35, 9:45 (I think this last mile was marked a bit early because my Garmin did not read 3 miles yet)

Miles 3-7
Around the 3rd mile marker we looped around Wood Lake and onto some unpaved trails. They were pretty hard packed, but it did slow my pace down a bit, as did the narrowness of the trails and the congestion of race traffic. I pissed a couple of walkers off by suggesting to them that they should really be walking single file and to the right on the narrow trail. They acted as if I were a puppy killer. I know I am not the fastest of runners, but I don't try to make it difficult for faster people to pass me. I expect the same basic courtesy from others out on the race course. I knew I was slowing down on the dirt path (I haven't trained on it really at all), but I figured that I could make up the time in later miles since I knew from the route that the rest of the race would be on pavement. Around mile 5 I was starting to feel a bit tired and sticky, but I just told myself to make it to the next water stop and then I could take a walk break and pour some water over my head. At the water stop I walked for 60 seconds and got a piece of fresh gum out of my pocket. I had pulled both a stick of gum out of my pocket and my GU as well. I didn't want to take my GU yet, so I put it back into my pocket -- or atleast I thought that I did. In reality, I must have put my GU in between my skirt and my compression shorts because about a mile later I realized I no longer felt my GU against my lower back. When I checked later it was indeed gone.

Splits: 12:14, 9:38, 10:48, 10:31

Miles 7-11
At the water stop just after mile 7, I walked through and planned to take my GU. It was then that I realized that I didn't have my GU and what must have happened. I also knew that I was a bit off track for a PR. However, I was still optimistic that I could finish strong and run a negative split and put myself in a position where a PR still might be possible. Even though I almost always take a GU on any training run longer than 8 miles, I hadn't taken one on an 10-11 miler a few weeks back and had felt fine. I told myself to focus on enjoying the experience and to start picking up the pace. Around mile 9 I began to start trying to push my pace to 10:20 and planned to run a 10 minute mile or under for the rest of the race. As you can see from my splits, that did not happen.

11:04, 10:49, 10:22, 10:43,

Miles 11-13.1
As I passed the 11 mile marker, I started to feel weird. My head was feeling taut. I told myself just two miles left, I repeated a mantra to myself a few times. I started to try to pick up the pace, but then a couple of minutes later, I felt as though I was spinning. I thought to myself, "Holy shit! I am going to faint." I started walking. As soon as I started walking I felt a bit better, still a little lightheaded, but not so bad. After a couple of minutes of walking, I tried to run again, but the same thing happened. So for the last mile and a half of the race I essentially walked a minute, ran a minute. My spirit wanted to run, but my body was not cooperating. All I could think was: just get to the finish, so that I can take in some calories, make it to the finish, try to stay upright. I was worried that I might DNF. I finally got to within sight of the finish line and put on a smile - so grateful to be finishing!- and ran across.

Splits: 13:36, 14:02, 1:42

Official race time: 2:25:35.

Post-Race
I walked to a stop, and knew that I could not bend over to untie my shoe and take of my timing chip without toppling over. Fortunately, a volunteer untied my shoe and removed the chip. Then, I managed to walk over and say good job to Clarinda, find M. and then get to the food before sinking onto the grass. I put my head between my knees and breathed and then ate some bread and a cookie and drank some water and Powerade. Then I felt stable enough to make it to the car.

Racing Reflections
I have to admit that I spent some time yesterday feeling disappointed and sulking a little bit. It didn't help that I wasn't feeling very well - low grade headache all day and some queasiness. However, all in all, I think that I learned from this race. Even though it didn't go according to plan, I know that under different circumstances I would have finished strong. I could have run a negative split. I ran the second half just about 8 minutes slower than the first half and that was largely due to the walking that I did during the last two miles when walking was really the smart thing to do. I did enjoy myself during the first 11 miles. There will be other half-marathons in my future, and I will continue to become a stronger, better, and more confident runner. My PR is out there, and I will run it down. So I will leave this race in my past, taking away from it things that worked well - carrying my own fluids during a hot and humid summer race (I'm really glad that I did this because the first two water stops were quite far apart) and things that did not - only taking one GU and not being careful about storing it properly.

I would consider doing this race again - the swag was awesome - a reusable bag and a t-shirt - no paper crap that I don't give a shit about and have to recycle. I love the idea and the execution of a green race - everything is recycled, reused or composted. I loved that they had bins for old shoes to be recycled and for unwanted race medals to be donated. The volunteers were plentiful and friendly.

So am I a total asshole for wishing that walkers would get to the right and/or start at the back? I know that some people use walk breaks as part of their racing strategy, doing 10:1 or 9:1, but the number of people that I saw walking 2-3-4 side by side during this race seemed ridiculous to me. I'm glad that so many people were out there participating, but it seems like there was a disregard for basic race etiquette.

Mental Mapping and Goals: Urban Wildland Half-Marathon

2011-08-04T07:41:00.001-05:00

On Saturday I'll be running a half-marathon in the suburbs of Minneapolis. I had a session with Cindra Kamphoff, PhD of the The Runner's Edge to discuss my goals for the race and strategies for achieving them earlier this week. One of the things that I wanted to do was to create a sort of mental map of the race. We talked about my pre-race strategy for hydration, nutrition, etc. Then Cindra asked me to talk about what I wanted to achieve at this half-marathon and urged me to set multiple goals for my race. Essentially they are:

1. PR - this means beating a time of 2:14:32 and hopefully coming in under 2:13:59
2. Run the race progressively so that I have a negative split
3. Focus on remembering that I am a runner and believing that I can perform as I hope, running continuously except through water stops
4. Enjoy the experience and finish with a smile on my face

Cindra asked me to honestly rate my confidence level in accomplishing each of my goals on a scale of 1-10. Since I rated all of them higher than a 7, she suggested that signified that I recognized them as achievable goals. We then spent some time discussing optimism and how to cultivate it in regards to running (and other areas of life). During our session, I took lots of notes. Then I came home and created a sort of mental map. Inspired both by my session and AM's post about race mapping, I printed out a course map and then jotted down a number of notes to myself on it - reminders to start smart, use my mantras to push through challenging moments in the race, and to finish strong. I tried to visualize how I might feel at certain points in the race and wrote down what I thought would be most helpful. For example, I've started out a few recent races too fast because I got caught up in the excitement of the start line, so I am reminding myself to start smart and remember my race strategy, to run the first miles conservatively so that I set myself up for a negative split and a strong finish.

I admit that I am little worried that race day might be humid. Currently the forecast is calling for a high temp in the mid 80s (which I'll take!) and a chance of thunderstorms for Saturday. I can't control the weather, but I can control my hydration plan - I'm going to take my Camelbak, which I usually leave behind on race days and just rely on the water stops - and still take my best shot at running my best half-marathon yet!

What is your approach to setting goals for races? Have you ever mentally mapped out a race?

Slightly Belated Mid-Year Goal Check In

2011-08-03T10:59:00.000-05:00

As I started thinking about my August goals, I realized that I hadn't done a mid-year goal check-in for my yearly goals. Some I've already accomplished, some are works in progress, and some need to be prioritized or reconceptualized if I'm going to achieve them.

Source

For 2011 I set 11 goals. They were:

1. Run my second marathon. Done! I completed my second marathon in June at the Team Ortho Minneapolis Marathon, and I'm going for marathon #3 at Chicago in October!

2. Run 800+ miles. I'm on track for meeting this goal. So far I've run 531 miles in 2011 and this month and September are looking to be pretty high mileage months.

3. Reestablish my home yoga practice. I've been progressing with this one but not as well as I would like. Some weeks I do about 15-30 minutes of yoga after a couple of my runs, but when things have become busy my mat is the first thing to get neglected. I'm going to try to make special effort to get moving on my mat and meditate more frequently.

4. Run faster in 2011. This is a work in progress. I still have days where I feel like I'm plodding along, but I am getting faster and I will continue to get faster. So far this year I've run a marathon PR and a 5K PR. I'm aiming for a half-marathon PR in a few days!

5. Keep a food journal for the year. I really didn't do well with this during the first few months of the year. I'd keep track for a few days and then stop for a couple of weeks. Overall, I've done a lot better at consistently journaling since the beginning of May. I have promised myself that I will do a better job in the second half of the year than I did during the first half of it.

6. Present research at at least one conference. I will be presenting research at a conference later this month and at one in October, so I'm on track for meeting this goal.

7. Publish. This one is another work in progress. I do have a co-edited primary source coming out, but it won't be in print until 2012. I'm sending a revised article back out this month, and I hope to have another article to send out here in a few months - hopefully before Thanksgiving. I'm envisioning using the conferences that I'm attending to get feedback on some new research that I'm doing and hopefully getting a workable article out of the process.

8. Get a book contract. I haven't done nearly as much as I should on this one. And I really need to make finishing my book proposal a priority goal soon. Unfortunately, this month is already a little too jam-packed with the conference and the start of the semester. I'm going to aim for September.

9. Organize my files and keep them organized. I've been doing surprisingly well with this one, especially since May when I had to go on a wild goose chase to find a set of files that I had apparently never unpacked from our move last July. I won't tell you where I found these important research files, but I will say that the entire debacle shamed me into actually organizing my files. When I moved offices on campus, this gave me further reason to get organized and stay that way.

10. Abstain from buying clothing in 2011. I have had some setbacks here. I went on a shoe binge that started while I was in Toronto and Montreal for vacation. I also purchased a few things that, while I'm technically OK with because they were replacing worn out work clothes, make me feel a little bit like a clothing glutton. After not such great months in June and July, I feel ready to climb back onto the GAAD-wagon and not buy anything else until the start of the new year.

11. Do more with my Spanish. I have not been doing very much with my Spanish apart from using it for my research. I decided that the best way to jump-start this is to start reading a couple of articles from El Pais every morning and to read a book for fun in Spanish. So as soon as I finish reading my current book it will be onto Hija de la Fortuna. I also decided to start trying to find some more blogs by Spanish-speakers to read on a regular basis, so if you know of any awesome running, food, or photography blogs in castellano, please do let me know!

Did you set goals for this year? If so, how are they progressing? What are some of your strategies for getting back on track when you have slipped up or suffered a setback?

August Goals

2011-08-02T07:22:00.000-05:00

Although the season of summer is only half-way over, my summer is coming to an end. I go to a conference at the end of next week, have duty days and meetings starting on the 15th, and courses begin on the 22nd. It's been a great summer - full of travels, training runs, races, writing, books, breakfasts and beers on the deck, and episodes of Star Trek: TNG with my honey. So I have to admit that I have some mixed feelings about the start of the semester. I will definitely miss the relaxed pace of the past couple of months, but I have to admit that I love the start of a new academic year. It is always full of the promise of a clean slate.

August also marks two years since we adopted Bailey and brought her home

Writing/Professional Goals
- Finish writing the conference paper that I will be presenting later in the month. This is a carry-over from last month. Since it has a firm deadline, maybe I shouldn't count it as a goal, but I'm gonna. (I won't count lecture writing, though.)
- Write up a report taking account of my summer activities and a plan for how I will meet my institution's required criteria for the upcoming academic year. The report is due this month, but the plan is not due until next month. I see them as interconnected, though.
- Update my CV, teaching philosophy, and other materials for this upcoming round of the academic job market. As I have mentioned, my current position is full-time but it's not tenure-track, so I will spin Fortune's Wheel once more.
- Get started on note-taking and outlining a conference paper that I'm giving later in the fall.

Running/Fitness Goals
- PR at the Urban Wildland Half-Marathon on 8/6. It may be hot and humid, but I'm going to give this my all. My current PR is from my first half-marathon, which was almost exactly two years ago, and I want a new one!
- Run 127 miles in August. I want to log all the miles on my training schedule this month.
- Do yoga at least two times a week. It's all about continuing to be able to touch my toes and keeping my joints in good shape.
- Continue to maintain my food journal. I definitely notice a difference in how I feel during my training runs and work outs when I'm eating more whole foods and fruits and vegetables and less junk. When I write down what I'm eating, I tend to make better choices.

What are your goals for the month of August? Is the start of a new school year impacting your plans for the next few weeks?

Chicago Marathon Training: Week 4

2011-08-01T07:13:00.001-05:00

This week's training wasn't perfect, but I did log some quality miles and get some good time on my feet. I'm looking forward to trying for a PR at my half-marathon at the end of the week (more to come on this soon) and getting into some higher mileages in the next few weeks.

Week 4

Monday - schedule 6 miles progressive. Actual 6 miles, but not progressive. It was during this run that I realized that I really do have to have a cup of coffee before my runs - especially when I am hitting the pavement at 5:15 am. My brain and body were weirdly out of sync. Whenever I would tell myself to speed up, I would speed up way too much. My pace was erratic hitting 8s and 12s that had nothing to do with the inclines/declines throughout the run. That said, this run awarded me one of the most spectacular running views I have had in a while: cresting a hill with mist rising off the river, a crescent moon in the dark blue early morning sky, and people in my running group up ahead along the path.

Tuesday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. Actual 3 miles easy after my weight work out. I just didn't feel like doing the elliptical or stair climber.

Wednesday - scheduled 4.5 miles tempo. Actual 4.2 miles tempo. I hadn't done a tempo run in a while, and it had kind of slipped my mind that they could be challenging. I pressed through and finished the run and followed up with some yoga.

Thursday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest. Actual 0 miles. I had planned to move my Friday run to Thursday and actually got up at 4:30 am to make a 5:15 run with my group. When I woke up, though, I had a sinus headache and a bit of swelling on the left side of my face, so I opted to go back to bed.

Friday - scheduled 5 miles easy. Actual 0 miles.

Saturday - scheduled 12 miles LSD. Actual 11 miles. My period arrived late Friday night with the delightful symptoms that accompany it. I had planned to do 13.25 miles because there wasn't a good 12 mile route where the group was running, but I decided to downgrade to 11.25 since I wasn't feeling all that great. On the positive side, there were over 30 people at the group run on Saturday, so there were a couple of women running just my pace and I had company the entire time. The miles just fly by as we chatted about our training, the races we had done, the ones we wanted to do, blogs that we like, and so on.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles. Actual 0 miles.

Coming up for Week 5

Monday - scheduled 6 miles with 5 at goal half-marathon pace.

Tuesday - scheduled 0 miles - active rest.

Wednesday - scheduled 5 miles easy.

Thursday - 4 miles easy.

Friday - scheduled 0 miles.

Saturday - URBAN WILDLAND HALF-MARATHON.

Sunday - scheduled 0 miles.

Is anyone else running Chicago? If you are running a fall marathon or half-marathon, I would love to know which one you have on your schedule and why you chose it!