August 2016 in Review

It's been a few weeks since I've had a chance to post here. The rest of my trip was a whirlwind of research, seeing friends, playing tourist, frenetic writing, and an academic conference. My itinerary took me from Valladolid back to Madrid and then on to Paris, Leiden, Bruges, Gent, Cologne, and Frankfurt before I headed home. One of the major highlights was going to Moulin Rouge, Versailles, and out for a night on the town in Paris with my friend Adeeb, whom I met a decade ago in Mexico City but whom I hadn't seen in person in almost as many years. While in Paris, I got in a somewhat bewildering 9 mile run that took me through my neighborhood, along the Seine, and around the Eiffel Tower. The addition of Leiden into my itinerary was a bit last minute, but it enabled me to see another friend after far too long and to ride a bike along a Dutch canal.

My academic conference was productive and intellectually stimulating. Plus, it took place in Bruges, where I'd never been. In between papers, I explored some of its streets and churches and ate my weight in waffles, frites, and chocolate. And the beer was more than amazing! It was also lovely to see professional friends. I roomed with my friend John, and we were able to get in a short run together and take a quick trip to Gent for some more church and castle exploring before I made my way to Germany and after two days there back to my corner of the Arctic.

Once I got back home, I had to immediately begin to prepare for the start of the semester since classes commenced on Monday. I also have a big deadline looming so I've been working toward that. I have managed to eek out a little bit of progress toward my goals.

I'm eking closer to my mileage goal for the year, but am likely going to fall short of this one, and that's probably okay. In August I ran 64.3 miles. Of course with my traveling schedule I encountered some challenges in fitting in all my scheduled training runs. However, I only missed one long run on the trip and usually managed to run at least two short runs a week. The same can not be said of this week since I've had a nasty cold and haven't run at all.

Like July, August was quite research focused. I finished up my archival work for the summer and wrote and presented a conference paper. I would like to continue the positive momentum and continue carving out an hour here and there to work on my new book project. I also recently received a revise and resubmit for a journal article that I submitted in the spring and will need to find some time over the coming months to deal with revisions.

Because I rarely had an internet connection for my last week in Madrid and then couldn't get my phone to connect to the wifi in my Paris hotel, I kind of fell off the wagon with my gratitude app. I'm hoping to use it more consistently in September. The bright side of not having internet access meant that I didn't waste time reading way too many comments on the internet so that likely contributed to my over all health and well-being in August.

Also because I was on the go, I didn't have much sustained energy or time for other types of writing. However, I did have a piece of non-academic writing accepted for a publication by a local literary journal! Their fall issue will be publishing a poem that I wrote over the summer.

If you're going back to school, how has the start of your term been? What was one of the highlights of the last full month of summer?

July 2016 in Review

July went by quickly for me as I was preparing for my research trip to Spain during the first part of the month and then on said research trip during the second half of the month. Where am I at goal-wise? Let me quickly recount.

Goal 1 part A to run my 3rd marathon and to PR while doing it has been accomplished. Goal 1 Part B to run 800 miles during the process of training for this and my fall race is still a work in progress. In July I ran 68.95 miles, which brings me to 404.51 miles for the year. Right now I'm still off the mark for part B of the goal, but we'll see how the next couple of months go.

My second major goal for the year was to make significant progress on other research projects. July has been very research focused as I have been in the archives for 2.5 weeks now and prior to that I was doing quite a bit of transcribing of things I have digitized or copied already and taking notes on secondary literature reading. I'm still trying to see the shape of these forests in the midst of many trees, but I think one major project and potentially two smaller (article-sized ones) have begun to emerge from the stacks of manuscripts I've been working my way through. I will definitely need to come back to the archives in Simancas and possibly those in Toledo and Madrid before I will be able to get too deeply into the writing of my second sole-authored book. Can I say I've made progress? Definitely. Will this be a project finished in the next few months? No. In the meantime, over the next week or so, I'll also need to put my feet to the fire and make progress on an upcoming conference presentation.

Selfie on the way back to the train station in Toledo from using the archives

Archivo General de Simancas -- yes this archive is in a fortified stronghold!

Goal 3 focused on establishing a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. I will preface these remarks by saying that I have spent far too much time the past few weeks reading comments on news sites and feeling absolutely vile afterward. I really need to be more disciplined about just reading the stories and not the comments. Aside from that and having to explain what's going on right now in American politics to a number of Spanish friends, I've had a lot to be thankful for. I've been seeing old friends here and making some new ones. I've been getting to do one of my favorite things about my chosen profession five days a week. I used my app 21 days in July. I do miss my spouse, but I am so grateful for our relationship.

In the Royal Botanical Gardens

Cuenca: I took this picture right before I had to deal with my skirt nearly blowing up over my head

Finally, I wanted to write some non-academic things this year. Over the past month, I made embarrassingly little progress on the short story I started in June. It's been challenging to carve out time to write in other genres when I'm trying to take full advantage of my time in Spain to work in the archives. The switch has not been flipping easily after a full day of reading early modern manuscripts. In my free time, I've been wanting to see friends, go to museums, visit new places, run, stroll, read a novel on the train or in the park, etc. Hopefully, I'll have more interesting news or at least some suggestion of progress to report in this category next month.

What's something you really enjoyed in July? What are you looking forward to in August? Have you ever had a Marilyn Monroe moment while crossing a bridge?

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?

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?

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?

A Summer Itinerary

Last summer I think I changed time zones something like fifteen or sixteen times (not counting the ones I flew across in a single flight) between the end of the spring semester and the start of the fall semester. It's starting to look like this summer might rival last summer, as I am planning several trips and starting to iron out some of the more specific details. Apart from the fact that I'm going to miss my spouse and dog like crazy, I'm pretty excited about my trips!

May will take me to Vancouver for a long weekend for some downtime with my spouse and for a half marathon. Then later that month I will fly to NYC to spend about two weeks there doing some final database work for the project I was working on last summer. I'm also planning to do some research of my own while there and to visit some museums -- the Met's PUNK exhibit is seeming a pretty likely destination -- to do some running in Central Park, to hit up a yoga class or two, to do a bit of writing in the amazing New York Public Library, and to try to stay out of Century 21.

I'll spend most of June in Saint Louis, as I'll be participating in a four-week long NEH Summer Institute that's being held at a university in that city. I'm psyched to have the chance to hang out with and collaborate with a bunch of other early modernists, as I'm the only one in my department here in the Greater Whiter North. I'm definitely excited to explore a city that I haven't spent much time in up to this point, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to meet up with the fabulous Joanna before her big move. I also hope that Mark might be able to come out to join me for one of the weekends. From Saint Louis I'll head to Spain. I'm planning on spending four or five weeks there and splitting my time between archives in Madrid and Seville. I'm not sure if it will work out yet or not, but I'm considering a weekend trip to Burgos and possibly one to London or Amsterdam to visit friends. I still have to figure out accommodations for the Spanish portion of my travels, but I'm hoping that Madrid friends will let me stay with them for part of the time to help my budget stretch a little farther.

After I leave Spain, I'll probably meet up with Mark in Toronto for about a week to visit his family and to use the rare book collection at the University of Toronto Library. We'll head back home together and have about a week or so before classes start. What does all this mean for my running plans? I'm not yet sure. However, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to maintain higher mileage this summer than I was able to last, as I'm registered to run the Big Wild half-marathon here about a week after I plan on getting back into Anchorage.

Do you have any summer travels planned? What strategies do you use for getting in your runs when you're doing a lot of traveling? Also, I'm definitely taking recommendations for restaurants and coffee shops in Saint Louis, so if you have suggestions please do let me know!