The Week in Workouts: October 28 - November 3

Well, I have to fess up and admit that I fell just short of my goal of running 30 miles in the month of October. I ended up running 27 miles, and I'm okay with that. I got in some good cross-training this past week, and I'm looking forward to continuing to rebuild my fitness and to working on tracking and accountability in the month of November.

Monday - gym. I did 20 minutes of weight lifting and then ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill at an average pace of 10:52.

Tuesday - active rest. I did get in 30 minutes of walking around campus.

Wednesday - gym. I did 20 minutes of weights and then ran 2 miles on the treadmill at an average pace of 11:10. I really wasn't feeling this workout. My legs just felt dead, and I felt like I was dragging the whole time.

Thursday - active rest. I woke up feeling sick on Thursday, so the only exercise I got in was walking across campus to teach my class and walking back to my office. I had planned to run those final monthly miles, but I opted for an afternoon of doing class prep and grading on the couch instead.

Friday - rest. I was still feeling under the weather, so I took it easy.

Saturday - gym. I did 20 minutes of weight lifting and then 20 minutes on the elliptical at a moderate pace and a low resistance level. I could tell I still wasn't 100% from how much effort it took to get through this easy workout.

Sunday - rest. I had tentatively planned to go for an easy run or a walk in the afternoon, but I got a call from a friend I hadn't had a chance to catch up with in a couple of months, so I enjoyed having a long chat with her instead.

My fitness and health goals for November are to run at least 33 miles, get in at least 8 cross-training workouts, and to maintain my food journal every day. What's one of your health-related goals for the month of November?

December Goals

This month promises to be full. I have research papers and final exams to grade. I have a new class to prepare for next semester. I have some holiday gift shopping to finish. I'm heading to Louisiana to see family later in the month. I have marathon training plans to ponder a bit later in the month. I'm looking forward to the break as the first semester at a new institution is always tiring. I considered not setting any goals this month at all as a result, but, as we all know, I'm a perpetual goal-setter. So to satisfy my addiction I'm setting a few focused, simple goals.

1. Finish the modernized edition of primary source texts for the edited volume that I'm working on. I really need to get this project off my desk so that I can focus my research and writing time on other things during the spring semester. I want to finish this stage of work on the edition by the end of the year.

2. Maintain my food journal every day during the month of December. While I have no real plans to count calories, keeping track of what I'm eating makes it more likely that I'll eat an orange every now and then through the holidays and not just consume Christmas cookies, latkes, and pumpkin pie.

3. Take a photo every day during the last month of the year. Some how I've more or less fallen off the 365 wagon, and I need to get back on. I've been taking a lot of photos with my phone -- many of them with instagram. But I want to get back to taking more shots with my DSLR and working with my zoom lens.

4. Write up some posts reflecting on the past year. I have end-of-the-year reports to give on my goals and want to record some of my favorite and most meaningful moments of 2012 here.

December has gotten off to a good start for me. On Saturday I went to a movie with a friend, and yesterday we had friends over for brunch. They brought their cute ten-month-old son over, and it was a lot of fun to play with a happy little kiddo. Bailey is pretty sure that he is her new BFF -- possibly because Sam shared his toys with her and she shared her bone with him. I also got some good news this weekend. An article that I submitted to an academic journal has been accepted for publication and will come out in print in the spring!

Do you have any goals for December?

November in Review and Thoughts on Thirty Days of Yoga

November is now in the books, and I have to say that it was a pretty solid month for me. I did a pretty good job of tackling my goals and making progress on a variety of projects at work and at home. At the beginning of the month I decided to start using my sticker calendar again to document each day that I journaled and practiced yoga. Beginning on Thanksgiving, when the RW holiday running streak began, I also added runs to the mix. My sticker calendar has proven to be highly motivating with its power as a visual reminder. It also appeals to my inner child (as does my Fluevog coloring book).

Sticker Calendar in Action

1. Write, revise, or edit at least 7 pages a week during the month of November. This was an aggressive goal, but I freaking nailed it. It should be noted that, though, that I have a course release, that until the last two days of the month I had very minimal marking to do in the two classes I'm teaching, and that the Thanksgiving break kept me bobbing along. I submitted an article to a journal this month and made some significant progress on an edited volume.

2. Maintain my food journal every single day this month.  As you can see from my sticker calendar, I came really close to achieving this goal. I didn't journal my food intake on Thanksgiving or for the couple of days after that, though. While I won't be buying snow boots this month, I feel like I've done a good job of establishing the habit of keeping my journal on a daily basis again.

3. Do yoga every day this month. I did yoga everyday this month. A number of my practices were short 20 minute sessions, but I also made it to a number of classes at my yoga studio over the course of November. The first week of committing to making time to get on my mat everyday was the hardest. After several days, I found myself looking forward to that time to stretch, unwind, and breathe.

As I mentioned a few days ago, I do think that my upper body and core gained some strength over the course of the month. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror at my studio the other day and for once was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps this was partly because I was seated so I didn't look klutzy and oafish in the way that I sometimes feel I do. Most of it, though, was because I noticed some definition in my tricep that definitely wasn't there at the beginning of the month. I've made some gains in flexibility. My shoulders feel a bit less tight in spite of many hours spent hunched over a sixteenth-century manuscript. My hamstrings, while still very tight, are a little bit looser. However, I have to admit that balancing poses are still very hit or miss for me. Occasionally my tree is straight and strong, but often it is still wobbly and tilting. Possibly because I did so many short practices, my body held up pretty well. I did have some tenderness in my left wrist on days 26 and 27, but it doesn't seem to have lingered. I also tried to approach all of my practices and classes with acceptance. I didn't push poses to a point where I couldn't breathe or feel space -- as one of my favorite new instructors says, "if you're already saying 'Oh God' you've found God. Once you've found God in the pose, why would you need to go farther?"

While my month of yoga is at an end and I get to check an item off my 32 in 32 list, I actually don't intend to end my streak just yet. I won't be setting a specific goal, but the benefits of getting on my mat each day have been so significant physically and mentally that it seems like I should just keep going.

One final thought is that my yoga studio seems to be the place for me to cement new friendships with people I've befriended at the university but who are in other departments and I don't often see on campus. Twice now I've run into a new friend at yoga and talking before and after class has led to making plans to get a beer or go on a double date.

So November was a full month. I also ran 48 miles, hosted a brunch, celebrated Thanksgiving, hung up drapes, went to the crafts' show at the museum, and experienced ice fog for the first time. How was November for you? If you practice yoga, is there a pose that becomes immediately intense for you?

Eleven Things About Eleven Days of Yoga

If you read my recent post in which I set my goals for the month of November, then you may have noticed that I have set for myself a challenge of doing yoga every day this month. At this point I have done yoga for eleven consecutive days. Even though most of those practices have been short 20 minute sessions on my mat at home this is the most yoga I've done in such a short period of time since the beginning of 2009 when I was going regularly to Ashtanga classes and to mysore a couple of times a week with a friend. I'm still processing some of what's been happening on my mat, but here are some of my reflections so far.

Bailey: My Yoga and Fashion Inspiration

1. My upper body is weak. It's probably not quite as weak as it was back in August when I started doing yoga again, but a lot of poses are still challenging and require modifications right now as a result. Not having a gym membership or doing yoga all summer really took its toll.

2. My wrists are also on the weak side. My third through fifth days of consecutive practices, my right wrist was actually hurting in a few poses -- plank and chaturanga in particular even when I was taking modifications. Fortunately, after a few days the pain seemed to just go away.

3.  I've done tree pose several times in the past eleven days and it amazes me how sometimes I seem to be able to balance just fine and others I start to tip over almost immediately. I'm still trying to suss out the cause - is it a comparative lack of focus, an inner ear thing, or maybe muscle fatigue?

4. I miss being able to walk to my yoga studio in less than 15 minutes. This was a luxury I enjoyed part of the time that I was in grad school and also took advantage of a bit in NYC this summer.

5. The pose that I'm currently feeling like I'm getting the best stretch out of is chair pose. I feel it in my shins and my calves, as well as in my quads. Bonus: an article in a recent Yoga Journal suggested that this was one of the best poses for runners to do.

6. The pose that I'm currently loving the most is pigeon pose. It feels so good on my hips.

7. I'm working to come to peace with how I look in the mirrors at the yoga studio when I happen to catch a glimpse of myself. In my mind's eye, I am graceful and my movements are fluid. The mirror, however, suggests that I am more oafish than lithe and my movements are more clumsy than smooth. I guess the first goal is to recognize the reality and the second goal is to work toward that grace and fluidity but to realize that even if I don't ever quite achieve that I'm gaining lots of benefits.

8. At a yoga class last Tuesday the instructor encouraged us to pull our shoulders away from our ears while we were in a forward bend, and for the first time I really noticed how different it felt to move my shoulders back down my back in this pose. It's all about the small revelations.

9. Yoga is better when you smile.

10. There is a possibility that yoga is even better at working out the kinks after a day of writing or grading than running. They both work in their different ways.

11. Whenever I don't really want to do yoga, that's when I probably most need to do it. One day last week I had a demoralizing experience with bureaucracy after an already long day on campus and the last thing I really wanted to do was to get on my mat. But I did, and breathing and moving with the breath helped me to let go of some of my frustration.

Do you have a regular yoga practice? What's your favorite pose? Have you ever done a streak of some kind? Writing? Running? Yoga?

November Goals

It seems strange to me that Halloween and the Day of the Dead have come and gone, that the term is already more than half-way over and that I've already been living in Alaska for three months. We are settling into routines, and I've been making progress on various projects around the house and on various projects related to my career. It feels good to have desks at home and on campus and almost all of my books unpacked. It feels slightly less good to have a layer of snow encrusted to the ground and neighborhood streets and sunrise after 9am, but it's Alaska so I might as well just pull up my sweater tights and hunker down. Compared to being without power for days or losing one's home in Sandy, my problems are small potatoes. In this month of Thanksgiving I feel like I have a lot for which to be grateful.

Vampire Jack-o-Lantern

My goals this month are going to be small in number, but I hope they will be big on impact for my early career development and my quality of life. They are:

1. Write, revise, or edit at least 7 pages a week during the month of November. As you may have read in my earlier conference report post, I have a swiftly approaching deadline to expand my conference paper and submit it to a journal for potential publication. I also need to make progress on the edited volume, because I need to have that off my desk by the end of the year.

2. Do yoga every day this month. As my mileage will be low this month since I'm focusing on just maintaining my base and doing some shorter, focused runs to build speed, it seems like the perfect time to try to cross this off my 32 in 32 list. I can't afford an unlimited pass to my studio right now, but I'm going to try to make it there 2 times a week and do shorter practices at home on the other days.

3. Maintain my food journal every single day this month. As I've had difficulty with this over the past few months, I've decided to incentivize this. If I'm successful in keeping my journal for the whole month, then I'm going to treat myself to a reward in the form of a pair of snow boots at the end of the month.

Do you have any goals for November? Where do you plan to focus your energies this month?

Happy Halloween: October in Review

Somehow today is Halloween. I hope you're having a happy one and that you are warm, dry, safe, and able to celebrate if you so choose! My Halloween this year has been pretty low-key so far. Since I was attending a conference last weekend, I didn't attend any costume parties. I wore an orange skirt and a black shirt, black tights, and black boots as I wanted to be festive but wasn't sure what the institutional culture of Halloween would be like here. I expect that come dusk we will get some intrepid neighborhood kids braving the cold temps and the snow in search of chocolate.

My goals for this past month were:

1. Work toward getting completely unpacked and organized. While I'm getting there, this month was a bit strange in that category. I had to repack my campus office a couple of weeks ago so that the old surplus furniture could be taken out and the new furniture installed. I still have a few boxes of books that need to be unpacked and then the sorting on the shelves can take place, but my campus office is coming together pretty nicely. In terms of finishing unpacking at home, we had our lovely desk repaired, and it was just returned from the woodcrafters' shop on Monday afternoon, so this weekend we'll probably spend some time moving filing cabinets around and hanging up a few odds and ends in the office and study.

2. Devote a minimum of 15 hours a week to research. I did pretty well here. I didn't hit 15 hours last week while I was attending a conference and there was another week when grading midterms prevented me from reaching my time goal. However, I wrote and presented a conference paper, and I made progress on the edited volume and an article manuscript. I'm calling this one a win.

3. Make being active a priority in October. I didn't log the number of miles that I wanted to in October, coming in only around 53 miles for the month. Between travel and a longer than usual recovery after a hilly half-marathon, I'm okay with that. I did run my fastest half of 2012 and made it to a few yoga classes this month, too.

4. Maintain my food journal for the entire month. Epic fail. I feel pretty ready to throw in the towel and admit that this goal has just defeated me this year. I'm not sure I journaled more than 3 days this month and none of them were consecutive. Clearly, I need to incentivize this in order to get back into the habit.

Although it wasn't a perfect month, I'm coming away from the past few weeks with a lot of positives and some good writing and running momentum. How was your October? Did you accomplish any goals? Run any races? Establish any new positive habits?

October Goals

I'm happy to report that as October arrived so did a delivery of surplus furniture for my campus office. I now have a desk, a set of bookshelves, and a filing cabinet, so I can at least unpack some of my books and the research materials that I want to keep on campus. I'm going to buy a cheap bookcase for home so that I can unpack the rest in the meantime and decide after I get my new furniture installed in January whether or not I want to bring everything else into my university office or not. I'm also glad that the first snow has melted off and we might get atleast a few more days here  that resemble autumn more than winter.

My goals for the month are:

1. Work toward getting completely unpacked and organized. There will be some odds and ends that need to wait until the furniture install in January, but in the meantime I can finish hanging up other things and hopefully hire someone to fix my desk at home now that our insurance claim has been processed.

2. Devote a minimum of 15 hours a week to research. I have to finish the conference paper I'll be presenting at the end of the month. I also want to make progress on a couple of publication projects, in particular the co-edited volume that continues to haunt me and an article manuscript.

3. Make being active a priority in October. I'm aiming to run 80 miles this month, and I wouldn't mind running my fastest half-marathon of the year. I'd also like to go to at least 4 yoga classes before Halloween.

4. Maintain my food journal for the entire month. I really want to finish the year stronger with this goal that I set for 2012. If I journal every day for the rest of October, I'm going to reward myself at the end of the month with a new pair of jeans or pants.

That's it. October will be a busy month, but I'm hoping that it will be a bit kinder to me than September was. I'm also hoping for a fun Halloween and considering wearing a costume that day to campus.... Do you have any goals for October? Are you a Halloween fan?

September in Review

September really just hasn't been my month. Setbacks and unforeseen issues, like the office situation and property damage, have been difficult to deal with and were not things that I anticipated when I set my goals at the beginning of the month. However, I've done my best to keep my chin up and to keep moving forward with what I can. I don't feel that I fully accomplished any of my September goals, but I made pretty substantive progress with all but one of them.

My goals for September were:

1. Devote a minimum of 15 hours a week to research and writing which would be directed toward the following:
A) Get as close to possible to finalizing the transcription and the edition of the primary source texts for the co-edited volume.
B) Have a finished draft of the article manuscript I've been working on this summer.
C) Make progress on the conference paper I'll be presenting in late October.
I would have to say that I did alright with this. There was one week when I didn't come anywhere close to 15 hours of research and writing, as I was dealing with insurance agents and contractors thanks to the damage the winds did to our property and also was sick that week. However, the other weeks I either hit or came very close to logging those research and writing hours. I feel like I have started establishing good work patterns. I didn't quite get any of the projects that I wanted to off my desk, but I got closer to doing so with all of them.

2. Make running a priority and run 80 miles in the month of September.
I did suffer some setbacks and missed a couple of runs here and there and didn't quite hit 80 miles. However, I feel like I did make running a priority and had a solid month, logging 68.54 miles in total. This is my highest monthly mileage total for a year, so I'm pleased with my progress. I also ran a really solid 10K (more on that later).

3. Get back to maintaining my food journal. 
I have not done very well with this. Back in the spring (right before I fell of the journaling wagon) I switched from my old journaling system to Sparkpeople and for some reason I just can't seem to get into the groove with this new system. This next month I'm going to try setting some daily google reminders to journal and hopefully that will help me to establish the habit once again.

4. Finish unpacking and get organized.
Well, as I mentioned on Friday, my unpacking has been somewhat derailed by the campus office situation and further derailed by the home desk situation. We have most of our stuff hung up, but there are still some odds and ends to deal with in addition to my books, research files, diplomas, etc. I think with the exception of the items that I'm planning to take to campus we need to make a concerted effort to finish the job in the next few weeks.

5. Spend some time exploring my new city.
I did alright with this one. I acquired a library card. M. and I went to a beer festival. I ran a local 10K on one of the trails. I went in search of a local pumpkin spice latte. And this morning M. and I had brunch at a local restaurant. There is still plenty to explore and check out, but I am at least not spending all of my time on campus or at home.

I should say that September hasn't been all crying and gnashing of teeth or goals. I reencountered one of my favorite beers, hosted a little football-watching party, had a couple of colleagues over for dinner, baked a lemon cake with ginger cream cheese frosting, and went to a few fabulous yoga classes.

How was your September? Those of you who maintain food journals, what system do you use and why do you like it as opposed to other methods?

Pete and Repeat - July in Review and August Goals

I would love to tell you, dear readers, that we are all settled into our new home, but that is not the case. Our books, furniture, clothes, pots, pans, and most of the material essence of our lives still has not been put into a container and sent on its journey from the Midwest. Fortunately, we had decided to get new bedroom furniture and a sofa for what will eventually be our study, so we do have something besides an air mattress to sleep on and something to sit on. Unfortunately, I took cooking utensils so for granted that I forgot about how useful and necessary they are. You haven't lived until you end up stirring sauteing vegetables with a plastic knife and nearly burning the shit out of yourself trying to drain water from pasta without a colander. Bailey, too, has not quite settled into the new place and new routines. She made a jail break today and there were a few tense and tearful moments before we managed to find her.

We'll get there eventually, but maybe not until I get back from my second trip to NYC, which begins shortly. In the meantime, let's talk about what's going on with my goals. In July I kept them to a minimum in order to be somewhat manageable during a chaotic time. They were:

1. Stay active. I did alright with this. It was a very low mileage month for me running wise between a bad summer cold and the move, but I got in a number of short runs, a handful of short yoga practices, and at least an hour of walking each day that I was in NYC.

2. Make progress on an article manuscript draft. I definitely made progress. I managed to keep up with my goal of writing or revising a minimum of three pages a week even while I was working on the project in New York and during the move. There is still a fair amount of work to be done, but I need to be able to access some books before I can do all of it.

3. Take lots of photos. I took a fair share of photos during the month of July and only missed one day of snapping a shot for my 365 project.

4. Take advantage of my time in New York. I think I did quite well with this. I went to museums; I went to the ballet; I ran in Central Park; I ran a 5K race; I scoped out a couple of cupcakeries; I did work in the NYPL; and I spent time with friends who live in the city.

5. Be kind to my spouse. I will put this one in the books as a success, too. Luckily, M. and I travel well together anyway, but I did try to make an extra effort to think before speaking or acting during the more stressful moments of packing, closing on the house, and moving.

So what about August? My energies will be divided between more time in New York during the first part of the month, and the start of classes during the second part of the month. Hopefully unpacking and getting more fully settled into routines will be part of the plan, too. So I'm keeping my goals as manageable as possible. They are:

1. Get my course syllabi ready and my lesson plans in order. It goes without saying that I have a bit of work to do to get my classes up and running in a new institution, but it's important and time-consuming, so I'm putting it down.

2. Make more progress on that article manuscript. While some things will have to wait until I have my research files and a library card, there are some sections that can be fleshed out and some that still need overhauling. I want to spend at least part of one of my free days in NYC in the public library again.

3. Start training for my fall half-marathon. I'll write more about this later, but I'm registered to run a half-marathon in 12 weeks. I need to pick a plan and start amping up my mileage again.

4. Attend at least three yoga classes during the month of August. I'm really feeling the need to get back on my mat for longer periods of time. It's time.

Do you have any goals for August? Any fall half-marathons or races for which you've started to train?

July Goals

This month promises to be so full of insanity that I almost considered not setting any goals at all, but then Materfamilias commented on one of my recent posts and noted how setting goals and reflecting on them has kept me moving forward even during this summer of disruption and chaos. I want to keep up the forward momentum with my 2012 projects. However, because in the next month I will be packing up my house, attending a wedding in Wisconsin, spending two weeks in New York City to work on a project with two other historians, and driving 3,500 miles in 6 days from Minnesota to Alaska with my spouse and neurotic dog, I'm going to keep things simple.

So cute, but so challenged

Here are my July goals:

1. Stay active. I plan to do this by running my last local race here this next week, getting in some running in NYC, including some jaunts in Central Park and a 5K race, and doing hotel room yoga. If I end up running 50 or more miles in July and getting in 8 yoga practices, I will call this one more than a win. 

2. Make progress on an article manuscript draft. I plan to accomplish this objective by doing some alternating of writing/revising and packing over the next few days, spending at least one of my handful of free afternoons in NYC at the magnificent public library, and using some of the time that I'm in airports, on planes, or on the road to tinker with this draft. 

3. Take lots of photos. I'm attending a wedding, working in NYC, and driving across Canada this month. It should not be hard to get lots of good shots for my 365 project.

4. Take advantage of my time in New York. I'm there to work on a cataloguing project, and I hope to find some good things for my own research agendas. I'm also planning on wrapping up my part of the co-edited project I'm working on while I'm there this month and in August. Finally, I intend to fit in some tourist-y things: the Cloisters, a Broadway play, El Museo del Barrio....

5. Be kind to my spouse.* Apparently buying a house is ridiculously stressful. So is moving even if you've done it thirteen times in the past decade alone. I want to make sure that I don't abuse the kindness of my partner by dumping extra tasks or loads of verbal abuse upon him in the moments of stress that are sure to come in the next few weeks. Most immediately, I'm trying to pack up all my crap this week so he doesn't have to while I'm in NYC.

Do you have any goals for July? What's the farthest distance you have ever moved?

*Please note this excludes all routine haranguing and jocular mocking. 

June in Review

June has been a good but strange month for me. I began it in Madrid. I ended it in Minnesota. I spent part of the month in Alaska and a bit of it in South Dakota.

Statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the Plaza de Espana

View from the observation deck of the Guthrie Theater

With no campus office at the moment and a week in Alaska to house hunt, I tried to set realistic goals back at the beginning of the month. They were:

1. Finish my book manuscript proposal and get going with revising a sample chapter. I made minimal progress on this goal. Right after I set this goal I had a long talk with a mentor of mine. I was expressing my frustrations with trying to gain traction on revisions, and we discussed whether or not my hoped for timeline was realistic considering the events of the next two months and the fact that I want to take a second research trip before I finish the manuscript draft. She recommended focusing on an article that I had on the back burner and trying to have that ready to go out soon after the fall term starts, so I've been devoting most of my writing energies to that instead. Right now I have about 22 pages drafted. 


2. Run at least 50 miles in the month of June.  I didn't get to 50 miles. I finished out the month with 39 miles. I didn't run the week that I was in Alaska, so I know that under more normal circumstances I would have hit this objective this month. At least I've started doing a little bit of speedwork again after all easy running in the month after my oral surgery. 

3. Get ready for the move. I might have been able to pack a few more boxes in June, but I'm really happy with the progress I've made here. I sold my bike and my extra briefcase. I cleaned out my closet and took 6 bags of clothes and shoes to Goodwill. I went through my filing cabinet and recycled random articles I had printed off during grad school. I've packed most of my books and dvds and have started packing my clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous crap. M. and I have been doing our best to stay on top of mortgage-related paperwork, and we've made arrangements with the moving company. 



4. Start work on a conference paper/article manuscript draft. This one goes in the books as a success. I have about half of the conference paper drafted and outline of where to go next.


So while I didn't check off all my goals this month, I'm alright with it. I've managed to pack a lot into this month - spending time with dear friends in Madrid, making an offer an house, getting to know some of my new colleagues a bit better, taking a quick mini-break with my spouse to South Dakota, and seeing a theater production with a blogging buddy.

How did June go for you? Did you go on a vacation or are you planning one? Have you run any summer races yet?

June Goals and Summer Hours

I made it back from Spain yesterday evening and managed to keep my eyes open until 10pm before I crashed. The next couple of weeks will be relatively busy as we prepare for a house-hunting expedition in the city that will be our new home. We are considering buying a home if things fall into place, so we need to see if we qualify for mortgage loans and are still trying to make decisions about the actual move in July. With this in mind and the fact that I will be hard at work on a project in NYC in July and August, I'm trying to keep my June goals manageable and few in number so that I get a bit of downtime going into the chaos of the later part of the summer.

My goals for June are:

1. Finish my book manuscript proposal and get going with revising a sample chapter for submission along with it to presses. Ideally, I'd like to have them sent out to a number of presses by the time I leave for my first two-week stint in NYC in July.

2. Run at least 50 miles in the month of June. Right now I don't have any races on my schedule, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't at least keep up a minimum running base for when I put a half-marathon on my agenda for the fall.

3. Get ready for the move. I need to mercilessly clean out my closets and office, cull things that need to go, and actually take them to Goodwill. I also need to put some things on craigslist. (Anyone want a futon or a bike?) Also, I need to stay on the ball with making arrangements for moving -- booking the moving company, making decisions about housing and travel routes, etc.

4. Start work on a conference paper/article manuscript draft. I found some interesting things at the archives this past month that I'm wanting to turn into a journal article. I also found out I was accepted to a conference in the fall with a proposal on a related topic, so I want to get a start on this.

That's it for this month. What's on your agenda this month?

May in Review

This will probably be my last post for a few days, as I'm wrapping up in the archives today and want to see friends and need to pack before I fly home on Sunday. Since I arrived in Madrid, my weekdays have had a pretty regular rhythm. I get up and have breakfast. I go for a run or do a little yoga or write in my travel journal. I get cleaned up. I have a cafe con leche on my way to the archives. I log somewhere between six and nine hours looking at documents. I head home and drop off my computer and either meet up with friends or relax with a glass of wine on a terrace or with a novel or an episode or two of Downton Abbey at home. This month has been full of good finds in the archives, good runs (though short ones) along the Madrid Rio, and good times with dear friends who live here. I've enjoyed being here again, but I feel ready to go home and spend time with my spouse and doggy.

I kept my goals pretty limited for May because I knew I'd be on a different schedule while on this research trip. They were:


1. Run half-marathon number 9. I knew the Capital City Half-Marathon was going to be a bit dicey because I was running it two weeks after having oral surgery, but I finished. I had a good time running it, and it was a fantastic excuse to visit a dear friend. 

2. Make the best possible use of my archival time. I think I've done a good job of taking advantage of my time in the archives on this trip. I've spent most of my time in the Biblioteca Nacional, but I have also used three other archives during the 3.5 weeks I've had in Madrid. I'm going home with about 60 pages of notes and transcriptions and a cache of photocopied documents.

3. Take lots of photos. I've done pretty well with this one. I haven't always wanted to take my DSLR around with me and sometimes haven't had either my camera or phone with me when I've wanted to take some shots, but I've managed to get quite a few good ones for my 365 project.

Gardens on the Madrid Rio

4. Stay active. I've done more sitting than I normally do because you can't really do otherwise when you're reading documents in archives, but, because of the increase in public transit prices and the location of my apartment and archives, I've done at least an hour of walking every day since I've been here and sometimes plenty more. I did manage to get in 10 runs while I've been in Madrid, and I went hiking in La Pedriza. I have done some yoga at home, although I didn't make it to my yoga studio. There just aren't enough hours in the day....

5. Spend time with friends and visit favorite spots in Madrid. I have spent quality time with dear friends and visited a number of my favorite places. My favorite cafe-bar in the city was closed when I tried to go to it a couple of weekends ago, but I might try again tomorrow.

Lunch with friends P. and JL.

How has your month been? I'd love to hear what's been going on with you!

April Goals

April is the last month of classes at my current institution, and I have an oral surgery scheduled for this month. (I guess I'll get to cross #12 of my 32 in 32 bucket list.) Knowing that I have a lot going on, including final papers to grade, and that I will need a few days of taking things easy to recover from having my wisdom teeth cut out, I'm trying to be realistic in my goal setting this month.

Writing/Professional Goals

1. Finish modernizing the other primary source text. For reals. This needs to be off my desk before I leave on my research trip to Madrid. 

2. Make an archival to-do list. I've already started this, but I need to finish this so that I go to Madrid with a solid research plan for making the best use of my four weeks in the archives there. 

3. Make progress on my book proposal. I hope to finish my chapter outlines this month (since I didn't last month) and begin working on revising a sample chapter to send out to presses with the proposal. 

Fitness/Health Goals

1. Maintain my food journal every day during the month of April. Grading often leads to mindless snacking for me. I want to make sure I'm encouraging myself to snack on more fruit and on less cheese and crackers. 

2. Run 70 miles. I will need to take a few days off from running after my surgery, but I'm hoping to make running a few miles a priority and a means of relieving stress during these final weeks of the term. A few speed workouts are also in order during the first part of the month. 

3. Do at least three 45-90 minute yoga practices. Because I'll be gone much of the summer and am moving, I'm canceling my gym membership during the second half of this month. That should give me some extra time for stretching out on my mat and meditating. 

Miscellaneous Goals

1. Take a photo every day for my 365 project and make a collage at the end of the month. I really want to get back on the wagon with this so that I can justify buying a zoom lens at some point this summer.
2. I'd like to try my hand at making my own bagels this month. Mainly, I want to do some baking before it gets so hot that I'd rather the oven not be turned on.

Have you ever made your own bagels? If so, I'd love you to share your recipe or a link to it in the comments! What are your goals for April? 

March in Review

I can't believe that March has already come and gone. This month was an incredibly good one for me, but incredibly hectic. It involved travel to San Antonio and Boston, a weekend trip to Minneapolis to celebrate my birthday by running a half-marathon, negotiating a job contract, writing and giving an invited public lecture, dinners with old friends, and getting behind on grading. I made some progress on some of my goals, so I'm trying to focus on the positives that came out of a busy month.

Japanese Tea Gardens in San Antonio - one of my few 365 photos from March

Fitness/Health Goals
1. Run 75 Miles. Not quite. I ran 60 miles in March -- the most I've run in a month since September.
2. Do more yoga. Not really. I did some short practices, but I still haven't managed to make yoga the priority that I would like to.
3. Maintain my food journal every day. Almost. I missed a few days when I was traveling, but I overall I did a good job with this goal.

Writing/Professional Goals
1. Finish modernizing the other primary source text. Nope. I am about 50% finished. I might have actually finished if I had not realized at the beginning of this week that I deadline I thought was at the end of April was at the beginning. *sigh*
2. Write the public lecture I was giving.  I gave a public lecture and taught a workshop at a college in the Boston area this month. Both were incredibly successful events - at least from my point of view. I was really happy with how this turned out.
3. Make progress on my book proposal. I did make progress here, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. I had hoped to finish my chapter outlines, but I'm not quite there.

Miscellaneous Goals
1. Take a photo every day for my 365 project. Massive fail on this goal. I fell off my 365 wagon early in the month and never really got myself back on. I'm resetting and making this goal a priority in April.
2. Clean out my writing desk. Success. I cleaned out my desk and have been using it some for modernizing and grading. Cleaning it out also enables me to put a file box on top of it so that I can alternate standing and sitting while I work downstairs.

While I would have liked to have made more progress on my writing goals and run a few more miles in the month of March, I am taking away a number of positives from the month: a new job, my eighth half-marathon, my first invited public lecture, seeing family and friends, celebrating my birthday, planning research trips to Madrid and New York for the summer, and the return of Mad Men.

How was your March? Did you run in any new or different places? Run or sign up for any races? Achieve a career milestone?

March Goals and Some Good News

I'm really excited to share some good news with you, dear readers. I found out on Wednesday afternoon that I had won a major grant for the summer and will be working on an awesome project for several weeks in New York City with two other more advanced faculty members in my field. I'll probably spend a week or so in June and much of July in New York. I'm over the moon about getting to work in this collection, have my name associated with this granting institution, and spend time in NYC! I'm also hoping that I can either run a 4th of July Half-Marathon in the Bronx or the Queens Half-Marathon at the end of July, but I can't commit to that until we get a better sense of dates.

M. and me in NYC in 2008

So with that out of my system, it's now on to March goals. This month starts with midterm grading; it will include Spring Break with a trip to San Antonio to visit my sister and meet my new little niblet, a Writing Retreat that I'm hosting, and my birthday, which will be celebrated with a half-marathon; and March will wind down for me with a trip to Boston for a conference and to give a talk at a Boston-area college. It's going to be busy and full of time with family and friends.

Fitness/Health Goals
1. Run 75 Miles. Aim to run in every place that I visit this month. I plan to complete four double digit long runs this month, as well.
2. Do more yoga. This includes doing a couple of longer practices. Maybe even try a class at a studio if my schedule allows at some point this month.
3. Maintain my food journal every day this month. If I am able to do this, even when traveling this month, and meet my mileage goal, I'm going to treat myself to a pedicure at the beginning of April.

Writing/Professional Goals
1. Finish modernizing the other primary source text. A few final modifications might be needed, but I want this project to be off my desk.
2. Write the public lecture I'll be giving later in the month. I already have a few pages drafted, but I want to impress so I need to get to work on this and will be devoting several hours this weekend to it even though Spring Break is calling my name.
3. Make progress on my book proposal. I hope to finish my chapter outlines this month and begin working on revising a sample chapter to send out to presses with the proposal.

Miscellaneous Goals
1. Take a photo every day for my 365 project and make a collage at the end of the month. I missed a few days of taking photos in February, and I need to just take more photos in general since the goal of this project is really for me to improve my photography skills.
2. Clean out my writing desk. Over the past couple of months, my writing desk has become a storage unit rather than a workable space. Now that the days are getting lighter, I'd like to do more work at my writing desk again, so it's time to clean and sit down (or alternatively stand up) and write.

What do you have planned for March? Any races? Any major projects you hope to finish or to start? I'd love to hear from you!

February in Review

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? 

February Goals

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

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?

December Goals

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

Professional/Writing Goals

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

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

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

Fitness/Health Goals

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

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

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

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