An Unplanned Break

I hadn't intended to go almost two weeks without posting here, but in the days immediately following the terrible bombings in Boston and the devastating fertilizer plant fire in Texas. Most of last week I felt like anything I might write here might seem too trite and cliche for some, too self-indulgent for others, and maybe even too political for a few. I'm still trying to process all of it. I'm still angry and still sad.

By the time I felt like I might be ready to write again at all in this little space of mine, I had become inundated with work. It's the end of the semester, and I'm feeling the fatigue that comes at the end of the academic year. Between committees and grading and trying to get a manuscript off my desk and out to a journal before the end of the term, I've had little free time lately and what time I've had lately I haven't wanted to spend looking at a computer. I hosted a departmental/honors society event at my home so part of my typical bit of weekend downtime was used to clean my house both before and after the event. As this week started, I found myself still wading through my students' papers and through paperwork for several other service tasks. However, I did finally get that article sent out, after taking advantage of a grey and snowy day to power through some of the lingering revisions I had been putting off tackling and a final read through for copyediting and proofreading.

Ducks on a pond near my house

Although I wasn't blogging about it, I did also get some running done since I last posted. While I'm not quite where I hoped to be with my training, I had a solid 12 mile long run this past weekend and an 800 repeat session last week that gave me a bit of a confidence boost. I'm starting to feel both excited and nervous about the upcoming Vancouver Half Marathon. I head into taper mode in just a couple of days.