Chicago is Not For Me

Before you freak out (or more likely shrug in bemusement) at the title of this post, let me assure you that I still plan to run the Chicago Marathon. But after a week of absolutely horrible workouts I needed to throw myself a bit of a pity party and then cowgirl up and remind myself of why I'm doing this.

First a little background, two weekends ago I decided to move my long run to Sunday so that I could go to Cuenca on Saturday and play tourist. This would have been an ok plan except for a couple of things. One: my phone battery died during the night so my alarm didn't go off nor could I receive the texts from my husband (oops! he forgot to send his, but at the time he got a pass) and from my running buddy Christy urging me out the door.  Two: after I got home from walking around Cuenca all day on a scorchingly hot day, I then went out to dinner at a friend's house where an inordinate amount of cava and white wine was consumed (considering the planned long run for the next day). When I finally made it out the door on Sunday morning it was already in the 80s and my route along the river just does not have much shade at all. Every minute felt like an eternity. By the time I finished logging my run, I was sunburnt and hating my life choices. Why wasn't I sleeping off the cava fugue and then doing something touristy instead of roasting myself on the pavement. Why could I do nothing all afternoon except lay in front of a fan feeling completely zapped of energy? I mean, I could have been at the Mercado de San Miguel eating olives and cheese and drinking wine.

That long run left a bad taste in my mouth so I didn't run again until I had been in Valladolid for a day or two Because the archive I was using is not in the city itself but rather in a small village about 7 or 8 miles away, I was having to get up early to take the bus so as to arrive not too long after the archives opened. Since they close at 2:30pm, it didn't make sense to dawdle, and a morning run seemed out of the question if I wanted to get to the archives early. So I ran in the evening. It was still above 85 or 90 degrees. It was dusty. When I got a mile out, the area where I was running along the river started to seem a little sketchy and isolated, so I decided to turn around and call it a day. I couldn't push the pace at all. My breathing and heart rate were erratic. Why was I doing this when I could have been sitting on a nice terazza drinking a tinto de verano?

The next day I thought it over and decided to skip running in the evening in favor of a morning run. It was something of an indulgence but I opted to take a cab to the archives. This allowed me to log a few miles in the morning and still get to the AGS in a timely enough manner. Although this run did not suck, I have to honestly say that it wasn't great either, especially the first mile. It was disheartening to see how slow my watch said I was moving even though the temps were cooler. Finally, about halfway through the run, I was able to mentally, if not to physically, shift gears. I finally remembered that Chicago is not for me. I didn't sign up for Chicago without knowing how tough it would be to train over this part of the summer. I signed up because of Bryant's story and Team Deere. And while nothing is set in stone, my only real goals for Chicago were/are to fundraise and to finish the marathon. I needed to get over myself. So I did (mostly) (sort of).

Since then running has not been easy - I've been having some hip issues, and the night before and after my 15 miler this past weekend I woke multiple times with cramps in my calves - but it's been easier. This morning I was even able to pick up the pace a little bit and run a couple of faster intervals.

I have two weeks left of this trip. My training goals are pretty simple for the rest of the time I'm abroad. I want to run one more time here in Madrid, once in Paris (a long run), at least once in Belgium, and once in Germany before I head back to Anchorage and hurtle toward the start of a semester.

Race Report: Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon

On Saturday I ran my third marathon. Some of you might remember that my goals were A) run a sub 5-hour marathon B) PR -- meaning finish in less than 5:28:30 and C) finish and have fun. It was not an A-goal day. I knew early on that probably wasn't in the works for me that morning. However, it was a B-goal and C-goal kind of day. I set a PR of more than 10 minutes and, without discounting moments of physical, mental, and emotional discomfort, I had a wonderful experience with many moments that brought me joy, smiles, gratitude, and even a bit of laughter.

As a prologue let me tell you that I did not sleep well during the week leading into the race. I am fortunate to have rarely suffered from insomnia or bouts of sleeplessness, which is great. But that also means I am a giant baby when I have to function on less than 6-7 hours of sleep. I was working at a deficit. The day before the race I couldn't resist doing at least a little bit of sight-seeing in Seattle with my spouse, so in addition to walking to the Expo there was quite a bit of walking around to go to the Space Needle and to pick up a few odds and ends that I needed for race day before we went to the TNT Inspiration Dinner.

After another night of fitful sleep -- I woke up multiple times to either use the restroom or in a panic that I'd overslept -- I got up at 4:50, got ready, and met up with members of the TNT Flex Team at 5:45 to walk the 20 minutes or so over to the Race Start at the Space Needle. When I got to my designated corral (at an ungodly hour even for a morning person) I was sleepy and my calves and hamstrings were already feeling tired. Yet, I felt a sort of mental peace about it. My mantras for the day were simple: "I am running toward my better self" and "Go Team!" It was humid but pretty cool. It sprinkled here and there while we waited, but the rain mercifully mostly held off until the race was underway. I had my hat to keep the rain out of my eyes, my fuel and water to take it with on my own schedule plus a bit extra in case some of the aid stations ran out, my phone so that I could take plenty of photos and text with Team members before and after, and my TNT honored teammates cards and dedicated miles list. My friend who was doing the half-marathonfound me, and we chatted for a bit before she left to make her way to her corral. I introduced myself to the 4:55 pacers, chatted with some people in the corral, and waited and waited for corral 25 to get to the start line. The race started 15 minutes late and by the time my group got to the starting line it was already almost 8:00. Needless to say I already had thoughts of relieving my bladder.

Within a couple of minutes, it became apparent that I was not going to be able to stick with the pace group without feeling like I was going out too fast. My new strategy became to keep them in sight and keep my pace at 11:15-11:30 minute/miles for the first third of the race and then reevaluate. The first challenge to keeping to this plan was when we went into the Viaduct. I lost satellite reception on my Garmin and I was still feeling the adrenaline of the start so it was really hard to pace myself. Things evened out a bit after that as the course headed into Pioneer Square and then the International District and down Ranier Avenue.

Mile 1: 11:05
Mile 2: 8:15
Mile 3: 10:53
Mile 4: 11:02
Mile 5: 11:07
Mile 6: 11:05
Mile 7: 11:14
Mile 8: 11:06

The course then took us south toward Seward Park for a long loop that basically covered miles 9-15. I was running pretty steadily but starting to slow down a little bit. I eventually lost sight of the 4:55 pacers between miles 9 and 10. Although I felt physically tired (and had from the start), each mile I thought a bit about the person to whom that mile was dedicated and that gave me a distraction and a mental and emotional boost. I walked for a few seconds through water stops and every 40 minutes or so for a minute to take in calories. I had needed to use the restroom for a while and things were starting to become more urgent for other reasons. Around mile 12 I finally spotted a row of portajohns without a long line. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a reason that there was no line so after a minute of waiting with no change I decided to press on. I had better luck at the next stop, and spent a few moments taking care of business.

Mile 9: 11:31
Mile 10: 11:31
Mile 11: 11:15
Mile 12: 12:14
Mile 13: 14:41
Mile 14: 11:22
Mile 15: 12:15

We then ran north again. I picked up a TNT coach again for a few minutes. Then suddenly I heard, "Lady in purple! Lady in purple!" I turned back to see another runner flagging me down. My list of dedicated miles had fallen off the safety pin to my shirt and she had picked them up. I chatted with her for a few minutes and thanked her again before we went our separate ways.

There were some really powerful moments as we ran. I found the tribute to fallen servicemen and women, which included a long row of photos and then many American flags, particularly moving. I was running just behind a couple of people from the Greater Bay Area chapter of Team in Training, and the three of us were getting many personal cheers of encouragement and were offering many thanks to the men and women along the course. I caught up to the two TNTers and we chatted for a bit before I slowed to take more fuel again.

Miles 17- 23 had us going over the I-90 Bridge and then back into a tunnel for a long stretch before we exited and ran a little ways only to turn around and run back. This part of the course was pretty brutal. The bridge was windy and noisy, and there were long stretches of gradual declines and gradual inclines. My legs felt pretty trashed. During the stretches in the tunnels I again lost satellite reception, which made it hard to pace and to keep my walking stretches from creeping up a bit. However, for the most part I'm pretty satisfied with how I handled hitting the wall this time. The wall was most definitely there, but instead of falling apart when I hit it, I was able to slowly climb over it. I tried to stick to my strategy of running for at least 3 minutes before I would allow myself to walk. I picked out markers on the course to pass before I could look at my watch. When things got tough, I repeated my mantras to myself until I believed them. As each mile passed, I continued to spend at least a few minutes thinking about the wonderful people who sponsored me. Things were going pretty well. My only real complaint was that I had started to feel blisters developing on my feet around mile 16 or so. By mile 21 I was really starting to feel them. (Thanks, humidity and rain.) I called Mark between miles 21 and 22 to ask him to buy me a pair of flip-flops on his way to meet me at the finish. He said that he would and told me to keep going.

Mile 16: 12:02
Mile 17: 12:07
Mile 18: 12:29
Mile 19: 11:57
Mile 20: 13:21
Mile 21: 12:41
Mile 22: 12:53
Mile 23: 12:08

After mile 23, finally I was done with bridges and tunnels. The rest of the course had a few hills but seemed more flat and downhill. I ran for a few minutes between miles 25 and 26 with one of the TNT coaches. Talking with him gave me a nice distraction from the pain in my legs and feet. I admit that I walked up the penultimate hill, but that gave me the energy to run (albeit slowly) up the last hill and then finish strong.

Mile 24: 13:27
Mile 25: 12:10
Mile 26: 12:32:
Mile 26.2 (26.5 -- I managed to pick up an extra .3 in the early miles): 10:37

Official marathon time 5:15:18.

I found Mark at the finish, and he walked with me over to the TNT tent to check out. I picked up my finisher's jacket and stopped by the medical tent for Neosporin and bandaids for the worst of my blisters. Even though I hurt -- my legs were trashed, my feet were covered with angry spots, and I had some unfortunate chafing, I was incredibly happy. I finished a marathon! I PR'ed by over 13 minutes! I had persevered on a day when I didn't start out feeling great.

Thanks to all of you who have followed me, sponsored me, and cheered for me over the previous few months! I hope you'll stick around (and maybe consider donating to my fundraising efforts) for my training for the Chicago Marathon as part of Team Deere.

May in Review

May has been like a magical elixir that has restored me to former self. The past few weeks have been a nice balance of work --I'm teaching a 5-week summer course, doing research, working on an assessment report, and have had some development workshops -- and play. I've been running, hiking, indulging in a couple of series on Netflix, and catching up on some yard work and other projects. I've managed to spend a bit of time lounging on my deck while reading novels and drinking some vino and cerveza, too. 

1. Run my third marathon and PR while doing it. My mileage total for May was 75.21 miles. Time on the trails this month included lots of good conversations with running buddies and moose, muskrat, and duckling sightings. I've been mixing in at least one yoga class and often two each week here lately for some good stretching and strengthening. With the Seattle Marathon now less than three weeks away, I'm feeling alternating stretches of confidence and anxiety about my ability to PR. On the one hand, I've put in the time on my feet and followed the training plan with consistency. On the other hand, I'm logging slower paces than I did during my last marathon training cycle in 2011. I'll be writing a post dedicated to my goals for the race and some thoughts about this training cycle soon. 

2. Make significant progress on other research projects. My book is going into production, which has meant I've been dealing with some odds and ends related to it this month. There will still be some things to deal with in the coming months, but most of my focus has shifted to other projects. This past month I met my transcription goal. I've set a goal of at least 5 hours of transcription and research each week for the last week of May and throughout the month of June. I joined a new write on site group with some colleagues in other disciplines so that should help to keep me accountable to this goal and get me some quality distraction-free time to devote to it as well in between now and the time I go on my research trip to the archives later in the summer. 

3. Establish a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. I was better about using my food journal and my Gratitude app this month. I didn't hit the 25 day mark for either of them, but I was more mindful than the previous month or so I'll take a partial victory lap. Even more importantly, there have been many opportunities for me to feel joy, contentment, and thankfulness over the past few weeks. It hasn't quite been a panacea, but I feel really blessed to have had the cameraderie of my local chapter of TNT over the past four months. I feel grateful for friendships both old and new. My dog has made me snort with laughter a lot lately. Even though a certain Canadian claimed we don't need to have our housecleaner come as often while I'll be gone, I still think he's swell and can't imagine a better partner. 

4. Write some non-academic things. I've only written and completed a full draft of one non-academic thing this past month that is not a blog post. I'm both surprised and not surprised by how vulnerable writing in another mode and sharing work (even with someone that I wholeheartedly trust) made me feel after only writing in an academic mode (aside from blogging and very incomplete things) for so long. Forgive me for not saying more. I'm not being coy, but I'm not quite ready to share more yet. Perhaps that will be another place to get comfortable with feeling discomfort in the coming weeks and months.

Does summer bring a more relaxed pace to your life? If you set goals for this year, how do you feel about your progress now that we're almost half-way through 2016?

More on the Running/Writing Parallel

I’ve blogged in the past about how running long distancesand marathon training and academic research and writing have a lot of parallels. I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit lately because of where I’m at in my current training cycle and where I’m at in my academic career as a researcher and writer. For the first time in a long time my pipeline is essentially empty. Articles based on my dissertation or side research project are out or under review. The critical edition I co-authored came out two years ago. My book Treating the Public is in the hands of my editor and the press production team.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about what it means to have written a book that is at least partially about the spaces charity, alms, and good works created for performance in the early modern period and what it means to perform charity today. They are very different beasts, but both are subjects I'm passionate about. Over the past several months I’ve dedicated numerous runs to those of you who have so generously sponsored me -- if I were a better actress I'd come perform monologues from early modern Spanish plays for you. I’ve given time, sweat, tears, and my own funds to training for the Rock and Roll Seattle Marathon, which is now just four weeks away.

Once again running and writing – or at least the mindset needed for them – seem to coextend and synchronize. Although there are still some things to be done for Treating the Public (and miles to be logged for Seattle) I am finally really embarking on another reserach project, which will hopefully grow into another book. It is daunting to have so few documents fully read and transcribed, such a limited sense of the shape the project will take, to have no idea if my next trip to the archives will be boom or bust (it’s usually never really bust, but I may not find things that answer the research questions I’m asking now). But it’s good to remember that I have the skills to do this; I’ve done this before; I can do this again. Like all big projects it will requre discipline and the investment of time and energy. I’m also beginning another training and fundraising cycle with Team in Training. Our Fall Team meets for the first time tomorrow to begin training. Another investment of myself that I know I'm capable of but that will require mental and emotional effort, especially once I leave on a research trip and have to run on my own in Madrid. 

My new research project is more about corruption and political intrigue than charity and is perhaps a fitting metaphor for running Chicago in October. I would love to have you sponsor me for Chicago (no amount is too small)! I promise not to embezzle your funds like a corrupt politician from the seventeenth or the twenty-first century! If you donate by the end of May, you will be entered into a raffle for a $25 amazon gift card. (You get one entry for every $10 donated to my fundraising efforts to Seattle or Chicago.) I will dedicate one of my training runs to anyone who donates and one of my marathon miles to you if you donate $50 or more.  You can donate by following this link: http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/chicago16/rballn

And with that I'm off to finish transcribing some seventeenth-century documents I have digitized. Wish me luck! 

Do you see any parallels between your work/vocation and your hobbies? Do you have any big projects or races coming up on the horizon?

The Longest Run of the Training Cycle

This past week my training schedule called for the longest run of this season's cycle. We planned to run about 3 hours and 45 minutes, but I ended up clocking about 4 hours and 5 minutes all told. Partly this was because I didn't stop my watch at any of our water and fueling stops (the clock doesn't stop during races so I don't pause my Garmin during breaks) and part of this was because I had a bit of a meltdown in the final couple of miles.

Earlier in the week my TNT team changed up our normal Tuesday night practice to do the Urban Challenge, a scavenger hunt style run being put on by one of the local running stores. We definitely pushed our pace more than usual in our efforts to get as many raffle tickets from the venues on the map as possible. Most of the places just handed us our tickets but a few places made us work for them -- one place made us dance, and one place required either 5 burpees or 5 jumping jacks followed by 5 push ups. After the race, they had a beer garden set up for some refreshing beverages for purchase while they called out the raffle winners. None of us had any of the winning tickets, but it was still a lot of fun.

That being said, I definitely felt sore the next couple of days. Since I'm on a relatively conservative training plan, I haven't been doing regular speedwork during this cycle. The good news is that I am feeling pretty healthy body wise (knock on wood) and while I've had a few aches and pains here and there I haven't been dealing with IT band issues or shin splints or groin pain or an aching piriformis. The quicker paces of many parts of Tuesday night's run did mean that my quads had been sore and my hip flexors were still feeling a little janky by the time Saturday rolled around.

Even so, I was determined to get through this Saturday's long run. My friend Christy and I had been texting all week (about being sore and about other running things, including camelbaks, fueling strategies, and anxiety about the time and distance of this longest training run). It was her longest run to date, and she tackled it like a rock star. I ended up being the one who hit the wall and fell apart.

The first two thirds of the run were pretty good. It was hot (for Alaska) and there was absolutely no shade where we were running for miles at a time. The sun was beating down on us the whole time and since we are so close to the solstice it was already up high by 8am. I was sticking to my fueling strategy of taking calories every 40-50 minutes, even though that meant some of them were consumed when we turned around at the Anchorage landfill (delightful!), and I was mostly just enjoying the day. I was hot and not exactly comfortable, but things were going okay. And I had good company. We were chatting and singing Prince songs to each other.

Things went okay until they did not.

I could feel myself starting to bonk a little bit and decided to take a GU a bit ahead of schedule. This one did not go down well. I couldn't even finish it. The rest of the run my stomach was alternating from feeling wobbly to roiling. Around mile 16, I also felt like I was starting to broil, and it took all my willpower that wasn't being used to keep putting one foot in front of the other to not suck down the entire remaining contents of my camelbak. But I got through it. My friend Heather, who is one of our coaches, stuck with me when I opted to switch to a 3:1 run walk interval, and she only let me take an extra minute of walking once. Her positivity (she cheered me, serenaded me, and distracted me) kept me from totally losing it. I only cried for a minute instead of for two solid miles. She got me to the end of the run. All told I logged 19.5 miles.

And at the end of the run, we had bubbly.  I could only have a few sips because my stomach was still off. But by brunch I was feeling less disastrous and was able to have coffee and a bit of food. No more fruit smoothie GUs for me.

I can do this. I will do this. But I'm ready for some tapering.

Fundraising Updates and More Race Plans

Two Saturdays ago, thanks in part to a generous anonymous donation and thanks in part to finding $20.00 in the middle of the trail with no one to claim it (there was a woman up ahead, but when my running buddy and I asked her if it was hers she said that it wasn't), I hit my fundraising target for Seattle. I am so incredibly in awe of the generosity of family, friends, blog readers, and colleagues for their donations. I've been amazed by how many people have become part of my team and how so many of them are from different chapters and compartments of my life. You are all fabulous people!

Over the course of this training cycle, I've had an opportunity to share quite a few miles with one of this season's Alaska Team mentors, Christy. Christy lost her son Bryant to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and will be running the Chicago Marathon in October in memory of him. She has been doing TNT as a means of fundraising to establish a grant in his honor. After much thought and indecision and more thought, I have decided to continue working to fundraise for TNT through the next fundraising and training cycle so that I can join Christy and other members of the Washington/Alaska Chapter in Chicago on October 9th. I know I have been asking many of you for money for Seattle, but if you wanted to contribute to my fundraising efforts and hadn't gotten around to it, I would be incredibly grateful if you sponsored me for the Chicago Marathon. No amount is too large or too small. Click here for my Chicago fundraising page.

I'm also really stoked about doing Chicago because one of my best friends from university days got in through the lottery. Also as longtime readers may recall, it was a race I was training for back in 2011. I had logged quite a few miles on my training plan before I had to make the tough decision to DNS due to a hip injury. While I'm a little nervous about training while being in Europe for part of the summer (more on that soon), I am so excited about doing this marathon! It's been on my bucket list for a long time, and I hope TNT can help me get to the starting line healthy, happy, and running for a purpose!

Is there a race or event that you really want to do?

Training Updates: Adventures from the Trails

Since returning from Costa Rica in mid-March, things have been busy with work and with training. Because I was planning or involved in a number of events in the second half of this semester on top of my normal teaching, research, and committee duties, most of my rather limited free time over the past few weeks was spent running. I've dedicated runs to those who have sponsored me (more on that soon). I've also had a few adventures out on the trails.

I got pretty banged up two weeks ago about 2/3 of the way through a 2 hour long when I was in a collision with a cyclist and his dogs. The cyclist had his two dogs on bungee cords and they were zipping down the trail. They came right at me with incredible speed, and, before I could move left or right, the two bungees bisected me and cut my legs right out from under me. I went straight down and landed flatter than a pancake. My running buddy Christy just managed to jump over my legs as I went down. If she hadn't, she would have fallen on top of me. I had bruises where the cords impacted my shins, as well as some on my left elbow, my knees, and on my right breast where I first absorbed impact with the ground; I had some scrapes on my elbow, and road rash on my hands from catching myself. It sucked, but I felt really lucky that I didn't sustain worse injury. My nose came about an inch from being ground into the pavement, so I thanked my lucky stars that I didn't have a fracture or any broken bones. The cyclist popped back up and his dogs were fine. Although it was a pretty scary incident,  I managed to finish out my miles that day. I even held it together emotionally and didn't start crying until driving home from the run. I did have some pain in my shins from impact on bruised legs for the rest of that day and the next week or so but managed to make runs two days during the week that followed and to do my long run the next week.

Well, mostly.... Due to a moose resting on the trail, we turned around a bit earlier than planned that day so instead of running 2 hours 40 minutes I only ended up logging about 2 hours and 10 minutes that day. That time did at least include a massive hill that has crushed my soul while doing the Zombie Half Marathon in 2012 and in 2015, and I was not sure what to expect about tackling it during this training run. However, I was running with one of our team coaches and his gazelle-like gait and cheerful demeanor propelled me up that hill. I might have been doing it incredibly slowly but I was running the whole time. In fact, the only time I walked during that day's run was when I was fueling and when we had to wait to see what yet another moose would do -- it was being indecisive about whether or not it wanted to cross the trail and graze on the other side. Once it did, we were able to pick up the pace again. I wasn't able to get a photo because I had my phone in my carrier, and I needed all my alertness in case the moose got interested in us instead of grazing.

In general, I have to say that although I've missed some mid-week miles and a couple of longer training runs over the past couple of months, I'm pretty pleased with the overall level of consistency in my training for Seattle up to this point. The only thing that's making me nervous is that due to missing a long run for a conference in Boston one week and the moose blockade a couple of weeks ago, my longest run so far in this cycle has only been 13 miles. However, with the end of the semester in sight, I'm looking forward to fewer long work days and more time for resting and relaxing as well as running. And there will be a lot of that in the next few weeks. We have a couple of 3(+) hour long runs coming up on the training schedule before tapering. It's hard to believe it, but my spring marathon is now only eight weeks away.

I wouldn't mind if my next few weeks of running were a bit less adventurous. I really hope they are bear free! Have you ever had a wildlife encounter while running? Have you ever been in a collision on the trails?

Mental Health and Mountains

Lately I have been fretting a lot about how to make everything happen in the compressed amount of time that it needs to happen in. On Friday during a really stressful moment, I was driving to campus to a meeting that had suddenly popped up as a result of an issue with an event that I'm directing in a couple of weeks, and suddenly I felt a pain in my left arm. Lest I worry you, I will go ahead and tell you that it was actually my tricep being sore from yoga, but in that moment of stress I had this brief but intense fear that the pain was shooting and that I was having a cardiac event. My father died from a sudden and massive heart attack behind the wheel of his truck during an incredibly stressful time for our family in 1999. I pulled over into a parking lot and spent a couple of minutes breathing deeply and making sure that my other arm felt the same way (it did). Although there were other stressful moments in the day, I kept thinking back to that moment when I thought stress from my job might actually be killing me and reminding myself to slow down and breathe and let go of some of the worry.

I know that I am privileged to work in a field that I love. But institutions often bank on their faculty working far more than 40 hours a week. On Friday when I was driving back to campus, I had already worked close to 70 hours that week. On Sunday I had worked from 7am to 10pm with a two hour break for brunch and shopping. The rest of the week was not much better. That moment in the parking lot made me realize that I need to recommit to drawing some boundaries and to stopping letting molehills at work become mountains for me that I spend all my time trying to scale. I need to be better about saying no, asking for help, and recharging my batteries. It's hard for me because I strive to be good at my job, to give my students and my research attention, to be a good community citizen of my university. But I cannot do any of these things if I work myself sick.

Plus, I have some actual mountains to tackle. After a much-needed evening out with Mark and some dear friends for dinner and vino (at a cool bar where you can buy a card and get wine out of dispensing machines), I hit the sack in preparation for Saturday's beast of a run. My Team in Training group was running up Arctic Valley Road. Because I knew that there was a very good chance that I would try to avoid running up this cursed mountain and bail if left to my own devices, I had committed to carpooling with one of our coaches. We went a little early and set up a water stop.

I dedicated this run to my dear friend Geoffrey who has been my sponsor twice for TNT, my mentor, my co-author, and my friend.

It was a 60 minute out and about 40 minute back run. The elevation gain was approximately 2,700 feet. It was painfully slow going on the way up, and my lungs and calves were on fire almost the whole time. The last 10 or 15 minutes I had to alternate a minute of running with a minute of walking in order to keep moving forward. The way down was much better and felt like a great reward for making it up so far. Due to the ice and snow on much of the road, I wasn't making up tons of time in terms of pace, though. We'll return to this route in a few weeks, and it will be interesting to gauge our hopefully increased levels of fitness next time we go up, up, up. Hopefully, the next time I run up this mountain I'll log more than 7.8 miles.

Running friends, how do you feel about hills? What are your strategies for minimizing work-related stress?

Frenetic February 2016 in Review

The second half of this month has been insanely busy. At the moment, I feel really overextended because of a confluence of events and deadlines on top of the grading, committee work, class prep, and marathon training. I may require many centering moments and mini meditations and copious amounts of coffee and glasses of wine in order to not lose my sh*t over the next couple of weeks. Thanks to my husband's deft cooking skills and kindness and wine's antioxidants I probably won't contract scurvy. 

Even with the intense schedule, I've made some progress toward some of my goals. 

1. Run my third marathon and PR while doing it. I was sick and off my feet for about a week during the middle of the month. However, I still feel like I'm making decent progress with my marathon training plan. I've had several good runs with my TNT group, including a 70 minute long run that featured a beautiful sunrise a couple of weeks back. In February I ran 39.55 miles and dedicated training runs to my friends Gail, Jen, John, Liz, Shanda, and Zeynep.  

Scenes from a 6.3 mile training run dedicated to my friend, colleague, and sponsor Liz

2. Make significant progress on other research projects. I only transcribed three documents this month so I didn't meet my transcription goal. I made better progress in some other research arenas. I wrote a research presentation and have made some significant progress on my article project. In the month to come, I'll largely be focused on working on a conference paper and copy edits to my book manuscript that just came back yesterday and have to be turned around pretty quickly. 

3. Establish a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. Although I haven't used my gratitude app every day, I've used it most days. I've also tried to be kind to myself, to make yoga more of a routine for both my overall physical and mental health, and to not compromise when it comes to getting enough sleep. Exhaustion is the enemy of optimism.

4. Write some non-academic things.This has been on the back burner for most of this month as grading has mounted and academic writing deadlines have popped up. I'm alright with that as I'm still percolating on ideas for the short story I've been working on and writing down a sentence or two here and there. 

How are you progressing toward your goals for this year? Did you do anything special with your extra leap day?

Scenes from Dedicated Runs

In an effort to encourage people to sponsor me for my TNT race, back in January I offered to dedicate a training run to anyone who donated more than $10 to my fundraising efforts prior to February 15th. I have also pledged to dedicate one of my marathon mile to those who donate/have donated more than $50 before then.  

On Monday evening I dedicated my 3.5 mile recovery run to my friend Zeynep who is an alumna of TNT herself. This year she's in Turkey on a Fulbright working on an amazing documentary and book project related to foodways and cultural identity in Turkey. I miss her a lot as she is one of my Alaska besties. We have spent quite a bit of time over the past few years writing together, drinking coffee and cocktails together, and occasionally working out together. I wish I could afford to go visit her in Turkey. Wouldn't it be amazing to do a run in Istanbul and cover two continents?

I dedicated Saturday's slightly longer run of 5.36 miles to my friend Jen, who is a talented writer and artist. I'm proud to have a piece of her art hanging in my home. Jen is one of my former students, and I really enjoyed having her in my classes. After she graduated from university a couple of years ago we became friends since we have a number of mutual interests (history, Dr. Who, Marvel, feminism, art). She likes looking at winter scenes but has repeatedly claimed that she doesn't like to be outside in the winter, so I offer these scenes from my run to her for her viewing pleasure.

I'm really thankful for my friendships with both of these fabulous individuals, and I really appreciate that they sponsored me! There's still time for you to get in on this. If you'd like me to dedicate a training run to you, donate more than $10 to my fundraising efforts for LLS before the end of the day next Monday (2/15).

Have you ever dedicated a run to anyone? Have you ever had a run dedicated to you?

January 2016 in Review

I know it's cliche, but I can't believe January is already over. The semester is in full swing. I already have piles of grading to do and more irons than fires to heat them. Yet, I'm not sure I would have it any other way. Here's a brief recap of my progress toward each of my big four goals for the year.

1. Run my third marathon and PR while doing it.
I'm hoping to hit 800 miles this year, and in January I ran 41.15 miles. My first full week of marathon training with TNT is also in the books, and it was lovely to run with other members of the team. My most challenging run was probably just a short recovery run last Monday. The trails were really mushy and slick and my slow pace felt a lot harder than it should on a recover run. I might have bailed early had I not been with my buddy who shares my love of bright running clothes. My best run was probably Saturday's 50 minute run. I just felt steady and in-tune with my body the whole time. Also I was delighted that the trails were much less slippery than I anticipated. I did a fair amount of cross-training this month, as well, so 2016 is off to a solid start in the running and fitness category.

2. Progress on my academic research projects. I have been leading a writing group at my university and, as a result, over the past couple of weeks have made some good progress on revising a draft of an article I'm hoping to send out by the end of this term. As of yesterday, I have met my goal of transcribing five documents for my new book project this month. I've also started drafting a proposal for a conference paper. I'm hoping that I will get accepted and be able to go to the conference in August.

3. Establish a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. There have been some pretty big obstacles to this: the Alaska economic problems and concerns about budgets at my institution have been worrisome. The semester started with the announcement of a hiring and travel freeze (thus, my uncertainty about being able to attend the conference if I'm accepted). We know more cuts will be coming. There's not much I can do about the price of oil, though, so I've been trying to focus on positive things and positive steps to change things I can control. One thing I've been doing is journaling daily in a gratitude app. I only missed one day in January. Another thing I've been trying to do is say thank you more frequently to colleagues who lend a hand and to students who are working hard inside and outside of the classroom. In general, I'm trying to be a bit more polite and patient. I am privileged in many ways.

4. Write some non-academic things. Well, I've already written more blog posts in 2016 than I did in 2014 and 2015 combined so there's that. I've started working on a short story, but I admit that I'm struggling a bit to find a voice and a style outside of the academic genre. It's been ages since I've written any fiction so it's not a surprise that I'm finding it to be alien terrain. We'll see how it goes, but I'm hoping to finish at least one draft of one short story by the end of the semester. I've been trying to get up early and research and write this piece two days a week, but due to the insidious workaholism to which I can be prone it's hard for me not to feel guilty for using that time to work on fiction rather than academic writing or class prep.

If you set any goals for the year, how is your progress going? Do you struggle with maintaining work-life balance and/or with feeling guilty about spending time on your interests and hobbies?

First TNT Meeting

Some of you may have heard there was an earthquake in south-central Alaska early Sunday morning. It was a 7.1 just about 150 miles from our home. At around 1:30am we were jolted awake by the shaking, which went on for a couple of minutes. Mark, Bailey, and I rushed into our kitchen and got under our table. Our furniture was rattling, the house itself was shaking, and our chandeliers were swaying. Fortunately, we seem to have come out unscathed with just a few fallen photos and crooked paintings. I was grateful Sunday morning to see so many friends around here post on Facebook or text to share that they were okay and their homes undamaged.

On Saturday morning (before the big quake's frightening adrenaline rush) my marathon training kicked off with the first Team in Training group run for those of us running summer races for the Alaska and Washington Chapters of the organization in the Anchorage area! After getting up a bit earlier than I might have wanted on a Saturday morning (especially the morning after my wedding anniversary) and fueling and caffeinating, I drove to the designated meeting point. Parking turned out to be more of an issue than I anticipated and I was starting to get worried I would miss the start and have to try to find my teammates out on the trail, but fortunately I eventually found a spot. As it turned out, I wasn't the only one having problems finding a place to park so the meeting started a few minutes late. Also the first session included some introductions and an overview of some protocols before we headed out on the run (or walk or run/walk).

We did a pretty short out and back of 40 minutes on the trails, which were in pretty good condition. According to my Garmin, I did 3.7 miles in 40:26 with splits of 10:47, 11:02, 11:12, and 7:25. I ended up running most of the time with a couple of other ladies on the team and chatting about typical running stuff (races done, dream races, our running histories, work, and school). After our run, we all reconvened over coffee and snacks (huzzah!) and had a more in-depth information session about our training and fundraising season. The coaches distributed our training schedules and went over some other training information with us and the mentors talked a bit about the organization and fundraising and shared some personal connections and stories.

We took a few pictures as a group and some of us (possibly mainly me) goofed around for a bit. Everyone was really nice, and I'm glad that this time around I should be able to take better advantage of the support, coaching, and camaraderie offered by TNT than I was able to when I ran the Columbus Marathon for them in 2009.

When I registered, I pledged to raise $2500 for LLS by marathon day (June 18). If you are interested in sponsoring me, just click here to get to my donation page. I have a widget over on the side of the blog that will take you directly there as well. I am incredibly grateful for all donations! I'm really looking forward to our next team run in a couple of days and to some of the clinics the organization puts on over the coming months. Have you ever run a race for charity? Do you prefer group or solo runs?