Four Goals for 2014

Somehow 2013 came and went, and I didn't do too much blogging during the year. Although I ran two half-marathons and a 10K, it was also a low mileage year for me (only about 520 miles logged and most in the first half of the year). While 2013 had some good moments and brought with it some opportunities for professional and personal growth, it wasn't my favorite of years for a variety of reasons that I won't go into here and now.  I'm welcoming 2014 as a symbolic reset and setting four major goals/intentions for the year to come.

1. End 2014 in better physical condition than I am starting it. I will get into better shape by running more -- hopefully closer to 750-800 miles and at least two half marathons: one in the spring (I'm still deciding between a race in Portland and one in Salt Lake City) and one in the late summer or early fall. I might also run one in the later autumn, depending on how the rest of my schedule is shaping up. I will also achieve this goal by maintaining a food journal every day for the entire year. For every day that I honestly log everything that I consume I will allow myself a dollar to spend. I'd also like to work toward eliminating most junk food and meat from my regular diet and trying at least one new healthy recipe a month. Finally, I will establish a regular meditation practice.

2. Work smarter (but not necessarily harder). This is a year when I really need to prioritize research and writing. To that end, I'm going to make a work plan and priority list at the beginning of each week, limit my use of social media during regular work hours Monday through Friday, limit my reading of and writing of emails to a couple of times a day, and make better use of small available blocks of time between meetings and classes. Those random half hours that appear when a meeting ends early or a student doesn't show up for an appointment seem like good times to grade homework or do a quick Italian lesson. I will also continue to strive toward a goal that has been successful for me over the past two years of writing or revising a minimum of 3 pages each week.

3. Take a class and learn a new thing or two. Aside from my continuing Italian lessons, I'd like to learn more new skills. Maybe I'll take a cross-country skiing class or an online photography class or a cooking class. Maybe I'll do all three.

4. Blog more (and more regularly) than I did in 2013 in order to be accountable and connect with wonderful communities on the internets.

Happy New Year! What are your goals or intentions for 2014?

Currently: November

I'm still trying to rediscover my blogging voice and carve out time for this little writing space, so I thought I would do a currently post.

Current Netflix/TV Obsession: For the past few weeks I've felt an emptiness as the world waits for more episodes of Orange of the New Black (so fracking good). In the meantime, we have been watching the series Whitechapel. However, some of my students told me that I should start watching the David Tennant Casanova ASAP.

Current Running Revelation: When you are trying to rebuild your fitness back from nothing, the most important thing is just trying to get back out there with some level of consistency. My goal for the month is to run at least 3 times each week and to add 5-10 minutes each week to at least one of those runs.

Current Weight Watchers' Progress: After losing about 10 pounds between March and June, I gained them back in July and August by not following the plan at all. In September and October, I lost and gained the same 3 pounds over and over again. This month I'm hitting reset. I joined an accountability group with some Friends and Friends of Friends on Facebook, and I'm committed to tracking everything.

Currently Looking Forward To: I'm really looking forward to seeing family over the holidays. I can't wait to meet my new niece, Lily, and to see the rest of my family!

Current Book: I'm currently reading Nada by Carmen Laforet in Spanish. I've also recently been reading some of the Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey novels, which are a lot of fun. If you like Downton and/or Sherlock, I highly recommend these.

Current Drink: Coffee, coffee, and more coffee. It's that time of the semester. What can I say?

Current Excitement: Last week I welcomed a new niece to the world! It's pretty thrilling to be an aunty again.

Current Fashion Trend: I love that red, plaids, and houndstooth are in right now. I have quite a few pieces already in my closet, so it's nice to bust them out and feel on-trend.

Current Love: It's pretty dorky, but I'm really lovin' working on my book right now. I'm trying to spend at least 30 minutes most days on it for the rest of this semester since I have a couple of other projects that are still on my desk. I hope I can increase that in the spring, and I can't wait for the summer when I can devote most of my mental energies to it.

Current Food: Pumpkin! My friend has made me delicious pumpkin soups for lunch a couple of times in the past month, and I made a delicious pumpkin seed, parsley, and cilantro pesto the other night. And of course there is the clichéd but always delicious PSL.

Current Indulgence: Painting my nails. I don't always really have the time to do it, but I do it a few times a week anyway.

Currently Pondering: Article revisions and book manuscript revisions. Everywhere I look there are revisions to be done.

Current Mood: Responsible. This afternoon I have an appointment with my financial advisor. Tomorrow I have an appointment to (hopefully) get my treadmill repaired. I'm also setting a goal to make some other appointments that I should have quite some time ago, including an annual exam and a physical.

Current New Find: My happy lamp. After several friends recommended that I get one, I purchased a happy lamp a few weeks ago. Maybe it's placebo effect, but it does seem to be helping my mood and internal clock even as we start moving into the times of much darkness here.

Current Outfit: I'll show you.

Current Peeve: Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age, but I don't have any new peeves to add right now.

Current Song: Since Lou Reed's death, I've been revisiting a lot of my favorite Velvet Undergrounds tunes like "Beginning to See the Light" and "Pale Blue Eyes."

Current Triumph: Returning to yoga. I hadn't been to a class for about a month, and I made it to a nice Yin class last night with a couple of friends.

Current Wish-List: If my treadmill cannot be easily or relatively expensively fixed, a new one will top my wish-list. With the shrinking hours of light, it is just so much more convenient to get in weekday runs on the treadmill, and it's a challenge to fit the gym in more days of the week because of work and car-sharing.

Currently Delaying: Grading.

What are you currently up to? What's currently on your wish-list? What's currently exciting you?

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?

Progress Toward Goals: April in Review

It's hard to believe but April is over and so are classes! I taught my last class of the year on Monday, and now I just have a final to administer tomorrow and exams and papers to grade. It's been a busy few weeks for me professionally, as I've had a lot of papers to read and mark, submitted a journal article, and served on a search committee. While I'm not feeling quite as well-rested as I would like for my upcoming half marathon, I am really looking forward to a bit of a break and perhaps some more spring-like weather.

So far the only flowers I've seen here this spring have come from the grocery store

I did pretty well with my fitness and health related goals this month. I definitely could have done more yoga, but I got in 65.32 miles running. I also walked a lot this month, but I didn't keep track of my mileage. I've been doing well with journaling in the form of tracking my points on Weight Watchers Online.

I consider this past month to have been a writing success, as I not only met my minimum page production goals each week, but in the early part of the month I exceeded them pretty significantly. Getting an article kicked out the door felt really good. Now it's just a matter of waiting and seeing what the journal editor thinks. My language study did drop off a bit this month, as I spent a lot of time marking papers and reading through applicants' files for a faculty position, but I did manage to continue to make a bit of progress.

My personal goals were again something of a hit or miss category. I epically failed again at re-jumpstarting my 365 project. But fun travels are upcoming and I'm determined to get back into the habit of taking pictures on a daily basis. I made progress with my novel-reading goal. I'm about a fifth of the way through Bolaño's mammoth tome 2666. I also read Aphra Behn's Ooronoko, which was deeply upsetting but incredibly interesting to me as a historian of the early modern period, and Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, which had been recommended to me by a friend. It was interesting as an exploration of memory, but I have to say that ultimately I didn't love it. After going overboard with shopping and spending in March, April was a lean month for me. I honestly didn't feel much like shopping as the weather has not really been spring-like, but I'm tired of winter clothing. I spent about $20 on socks and nail polish.

How was April for you? If you set any goals for the year or new year's resolutions, how are you doing with them a third of the way through the year? Academics, has your term wrapped up yet?

The Plan for the Vancouver Half

I'm just under seven weeks away from the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon. I feel really good about my decision to switch to the half, especially as it will help me more fully enjoy the trip to Vancouver as a break at the end of the semester and as some time with Mark before I hit the road for some substantial research trips this summer.

Looking forward to being back in NYC!

This is my plan for the next few weeks:

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	30 m walk +/ yoga	3 mi	Rest	4 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	10 mi LSD
2	30 m walk +/ yoga	4 mi	Rest	4 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	12 mi LSD
3	30 m walk +/ yoga	4 mi	Rest	5 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	13 mi LSD
4	30 m walk +/ yoga	5 mi	Rest	4 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	12 mi LSD
5	30 m walk +/ yoga	5 mi	Rest	5 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	15 mi LSD
6	30 m walk +/ yoga	4 mi	Rest	4 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	9 mi LSD
7	30 m walk +/ yoga	3 mi	Rest	3 mi	Rest	Rest	Vancouver Half- Marathon

Again, I plan to work in speedwork on Thursdays and to hopefully run outside at least once a week if possible. Right now it's particularly treacherous as we've been having daily melting and refreezing so a lot of surfaces are slicker than glass right now, so I'm erring on the side of caution. I'd prefer to avoid breaking a leg or bruising my ass if possible.

In other, semi-related news I have decided to quit using the online journaling system I was (not actually recently) using and to join a friend of mine in her quest to lose some weight with Weight Watchers Online. I joined it on Monday. I had been considering doing this for a few weeks in spite of my feelings about the antifeminist tendencies of dieting and the dieting industry. And to be honest I don't really care about the number on the scale -- although it is higher than it has been in years, even higher than right after I'd finished my dissertation -- so much, but I am really bummed that I have found that I can't fit into most of my pants and some of my skirts right now or at least not comfortably. I'd like to remedy that. I'd also like to feel a little lighter on my feet while I'm running as I think that might help me to speed back up to my PR times from 2009.

Without asking you to become the food police, readers, what are your thoughts on keeping myself accountable with the program here?