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?

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.

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?

Postcard from Spain: Running and Picnicking in Retiro Park

I had hoped to stay in a friend's typically empty flat during my trip to Madrid, but because he's having renovations done that wasn't possible this time. As a result, I ended up renting a little attic apartment close to the Atocha train station because I knew that neighborhood would be convenient for commuting out to Toledo to use the archives there as well as allowing for easy walking or public transit to the national library and the archives I'd be using in Madrid. The bonus: being close to the train station means being close to Retiro Park - one of my favorite spots in the city. Although running along the river or in Casa del Campo makes more sense for longer runs, nothing beats a short jaunt just a few minutes out the door.

I ran here one evening during my first week (which was not a pretty run as I was so hot each moment felt like a hellish eternity and I was having trouble getting my heart rate under control) and then on Monday and Thursday this week in the mornings (much better). I hope to do so again before I leave for the next stage of my research trip in a couple of days. I will say that, although I see lots of diversity in the people walking or enjoying time in the park, the runners in the Retiro (unlike the Madrid Rio) do still definitely skew toward the fitter, the faster, and the male. Nonetheless, I have seen a few other women running in the park. Also promising: so far I haven't been on the receiving end of any catcalls going to and from the park in my workout gear. Nor have I heard or seen any other women runners getting harassed during my runs. This all gives me hope that the running culture in Madrid is developing/has developed to a much greater extent than I would have dreamed possible eight or nine years ago.

The Retiro is not just a place for running! I also was lucky to be able to attend the birthday picnic of my friend Carlos in the Retiro after I got out of my yoga class on Tuesday evening. His Retiro picnic is a tradition but one that I haven't been able to participate in since 2007. It was a lot of fun to briefly catch up with an old friend Sophie there and to meet some of the new amigos Carlos has made since I moved back to the states. We enjoyed drinks and food and two kinds of cake to celebrate the fabulous birthday boy.

Have you noticed changes in running culture in a location you frequently visit? When was the last time you went on a picnic?

June 2016 in Review

Forgive this post for being a bit bare bones, but I had it all drafted (but not yet proofread or saved) and stepped away from the screen for a few moments when my laptop randomly decided to restart. I lost the entire post. I've been having problems with my computer for awhile so July will bring an appointment to the Genius Bar among other things. I really hope I don't have to shell out the money for a new computer as that is not really in my budget right now. Aside from these annoying technological difficulties, June was a good month for me. I raced; I traveled with my awesome spouse; I hiked; I wrote; I spent time on my yoga mat and with friends; I accomplished one of my goals for the year and made progress on the others.

1. Run my third marathon and PR while doing it. I get to check this one off and put it in the Win column! I PR'ed at the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon and am still pretty happy about it. Ideally, I'd like to run an even faster marathon in Chicago, in October but I'll have to see how training while traveling goes over the next couple of months. In June I ran 63.25 miles and that brings me to 335.56 miles for the year. I've got some ground to cover in the second half of the year if I want to bring my running total to 800 miles for 2016. I'm hoping my body feels more capable of speeding some of those miles back up soon as right now I'm still feeling like each run is a bit like trying to move my legs through a vat of molasses.

2. Make significant progress on other research projects. I transcribed a number of documents in June and created a sort of database to help me keep track of a number of them as I progress through reading, transcribing, and starting to puzzle things together for this project. I'll know more once I've wrapped up my archival recon mission in Madrid and Toledo in a few weeks. I also have a paper to write for an upcoming conference and, although it's not specifically related to my research, I still need to finish that book review and send it off to the journal before I leave for Europe. The review, archival work, and the conference paper are my top priorities for the next few weeks in terms of my academic research and writing.

Corral del Coliseo in Seville, where I stayed on my last research trip two summers ago

3. Establish a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. I used my Gratitude app 19 days in June. While I freely admit I have a lot of room to improve with regards to consistency, I've been doing better about journaling and being mindful over the past few weeks after a decline in this from about the middle of the spring semester until about a month ago. My decision a few weeks back to try to limit my use of social media and email has fed into this goal. My marathon was also in many ways an exercise in gratitude and optimism.

4. Write some non-academic things. I'm not sure whether or not I'll have a full draft of the short story I'm working on done by July 14th as I underestimated how much was going on (friends visiting, fundraising, academic responsibilities, travel planning, etc.), but I have been working on this and some other things (more about this eventually). Some of it is atrocious and will never see the light of day, but some of it might have potential. We'll see. I hope to have more news to report related to this goal in the coming months.

Midway through 2016, how are you feeling about your year so far? Is there something that you want to focus your energies on for the rest of the summer?

What I Did Instead of My Long Run

Several months ago, Mark and I decided to go to Costa Rica over my university's spring break. The first few days we stayed in a fishing village called Brasilito and were just a few minutes away from two different beaches. The last day we went to Monteverde to a much higher altitude and into the Cloud Forest.

The timing of the trip turned out to be less than ideal because of all my impending March and April deadlines, but it was also more than ideal as it allowed me to recharge my batteries. I definitely felt refreshed after some time away because I was on the verge of burn out. Although I did have to bring some work with me, I did most of it on the long plane rides or on the terrace of my hotel with a cup of coffee or a fruit smoothie during the hottest parts of the day.

While I didn't get in my long run for the week, I did get in two shorter runs -- one of 30 minutes, which I dedicated to my friend Sherrie, and one of 40 minutes, which I dedicated to the lovely Irene. Thanks so much to both of you for sponsoring me! Running in the heat and humidity and on sand was definitely a challenge, but it was worth it to see the gorgeous views and hear the waves crashing nearby.

I don't regret my decision to surrender getting in my long run because that choice enabled me to catch up on my rest and to balance a couple of lazy beach days with a couple of days of excursions that involved a lot of hiking. Because of that, I got some good activity and time on my feet even if I didn't log a long run. On the lazy beach days I got in a lot of leisure reading, finishing The Nightingale, Pretty Girls, and Station Eleven.

We hiked out to the volcano El Rincon de la Vieja and to a waterfall nearby it one of the days. I celebrated my birthday by facing both my fear of heights and my fear of dark, enclosed spaces by going cave hiking at Barra Honda. On the way to the cave, we heard howler monkeys going nuts, and our way back to the transport we spotted them in the trees. The vertical descent into the cave was intense. We had to climb down a 60-foot ladder, and some of the footholds were precarious as the rungs leaned right up against the cave surface. Our group got to explore two of the cave system's chambers, which involved a lot of scrambling over rocks and some slightly scary climbing.

In case I hadn't challenged myself enough, we also went zip lining in the Cloud Forest near Monteverde. It was an incredible experience, and most of the time things happened so quickly that I didn't have time to freak out about the heights involved. The only times I felt at all nervous was on the first swing out on something called the Tarzan and on the 800-meter line when I looked down over a gulley and felt a brief second of dizziness before I reminded myself that I needed to remake myself into a ball so that I didn't get stuck out there, which would have been really scary.

We also did an interesting guided night tour in part of the forest that abutted a family farm. We saw a sloth, frogs, scorpions, a tarantula, kinkajous, a viper, and a variety of birds and insects.

My only complaint is that the week went by too quickly. I would definitely go back to Costa Rica as there was so much that we didn't get to see. Have you ever been to Costa Rica? Where was the last place you vacationed?

Rebuilding the Run, Rebuilding the Blog

Gosh! It's been so long since I've posted that I'm not even sure where to start or if I remember how to blog at all. Taking some time away from this space made me realize how much I missed the community  and the accountability that posting a couple of times a week provides. I'm still seeking work-life-rebuilding base running balance, but here I am. Back again. If I write it, I'll do it, right? At the moment, my runs are mostly in the 2-3 mile range, and I've been running 2-3 times a week. I'm shooting for 30 miles in the month of October.

Over the summer, I was on the move so much that I hardly had time to catch my breath. My mileage was embarrassingly low, and my consumption of chorizo was incredibly high. I'm not sure I would reverse it, though, even if I could. I had an amazing summer. The highlights included running a 10K "with" my friend in NYC, meeting a great group of scholars at an institute, visiting some great museums, having an incredibly productive research trip to Spain that was also filled with wonderful times with friends in Madrid and spending two weeks staying in a tiny studio apartment with the most an amazing terrace in Sevilla.

the view from the terrace

I was reunited with my wonderful partner in crime in Toronto at the beginning of August for some family time and work on an article (that has since been submitted to an academic journal). Since returning to my mountain fortress, things have been moving non-stop. We had a friend come to visit from California, I got new glasses, I bought a bike, and the semester started. I've been teaching 3 classes (2 of them brand new to my institution), trying to get research done, and I'm chairing a committee and sitting on several others. We joined a gym so that I could do more cross-training, and we've been trying to get out and explore more on the weekends. This has led to getting to see some amazing views and having a couple of misadventures -- fortunately, so far none of them have involved bears.

If any of you are still out there, I would love to know how you are doing? I am so behind on blog reading that I'm essentially having to mark all as read in order to stay sane, but please do update me on any major news that I missed during my absence!

Race Report: New York City Runs Ice Cream Social 10K

I've been in New York for over a week now, but this is the first chance I've really had to post, as my days have been spent in the archives and my evenings have been spent either catching up with NYC friends or working on a few odds and ends related to a service project. I also didn't have internet access in the apartment where I was staying last week so I am behind on reading and commenting. I'll try to do some catching up in the next few days. Yesterday I ran a 10K over on Roosevelt Island, which was super quaint. After a week of thunderstorms and deluges, we had a day of blue skies and relatively low humidity, so the conditions were pretty much perfect for a day in late May.

View from the tram

A friend and I had both signed up for this race so we met on the Upper East Side and took the tram over to the island together. Due to being a failure at being organized, I had to pick up my packet before the race, and my one complaint about the race and/or its organization was the packet pick-up line was probably the slowest moving line I've ever been in, and, since the 5K started 30 minutes before the 10K race, about 20 minutes before the start of the 5K, the organizer let all the 5K runners jump to the front of the line. Eventually I got my bib. My friend and I headed over to use the portapotties and then to the race start, where we agreed to run our own races and meet at the end.

Before the start

The course was a no-frills double loop around the island and was the flattest course I've run in a while. I didn't really have any goals going into this race. I hadn't done any speed work for the past five weeks, as I had tapered for Vancouver, taken a zero week, and had gently eased back into running over the past couple of weeks. I thought that it might be possible for me to break 62 minutes if everything went perfectly, and for awhile I thought I might have it. Unfortunately, my lack of conditioning and the relative heat of the day (I have only run in temperatures above 40F four times since March) caught up to me in the final couple of miles. My splits were 9:31, 9:43, 10:13, 10:17, 11:02, 11:23, and 1:40. After a couple of cups of water and a popsicle and cheering for the award winners, including a 9 year old who had torn the course up, we made our way back to the tram and then headed back to our respective sides of the park.

It was my friend's first 10K and she smoked it. Her goal was to finish in under an hour, and she finished in under 56 minutes. I was impressed! I might even be a little jealous, as just last summer I ran at a faster pace than she typically did. Have you ever been envious of a friend's running improvement? U.S. friends, did you race on Memorial Day?

Race Report: BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon

Yesterday I ran a half-marathon, and it was one of those lessons in respecting distance, respecting hills, and respecting the need for rest. The BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon race course was beautiful, but I was so exhausted and running was such a struggle for me that hardly any of the stunning scenery seemed to register with me and much of the race is a blur.

Friday afternoon Mark picked me up from campus and we headed to the airport. We hopped on a plane to Seattle (the 3+ hour flight passed quickly as I spent most of it grading final exams) and then a puddle jumper over to Vancouver. Fortunately, all our flights were on time and we didn't have to wait too long for transit; unfortunately, we still didn't arrive at our hotel until after 1:30am, and I didn't sleep very well that night. Saturday we did some walking around, met the lovely Materfamilias and her partner for lunch (more on that later), picked up my bib, did a bit of exploring and window shopping, and had dinner at a sports bar so that Mark could watch playoff hockey. I thought it only fair that I watch the Leafs game with him since he was getting up early and coming down to the race start with me. Saturday night I slept fitfully again, and I was feeling groggy and crampy and was suffering from some indigestion when the alarm went off a little after 5:00 am. I downed a cup of coffee, a couple of glasses of water, and some oatmeal, dressed, and we headed out the door just after 6:00 to catch public transit to the race start. I looked for Amber as I made my way to my corral, but I didn't see her. (I was able to meet up with her for a post-race drink later in the day, though!) I lined up just a bit behind the 2:20 pacers and then waited. The race started at 7:00, but I think it was close to 7:20 before my corral began to cross the starting line.

Before the race started my stomach was really bothering me, and I had a feeling that this race was not going to be a good one for me, but I wanted to put myself in a position in the first couple of miles to try to have a strong race if my insides calmed down. Unfortunately, I was never able to settle into a groove and felt miserably and embarrassingly tired by 3 miles into this race. I kept thinking that it was a mercy that I had decided to downgrade to the half because there was no way I could have finished a full marathon yesterday. I was struggling. My chest hurt, I had menstrual cramps, my stomach felt off (though luckily I never actually got sick), the downhills were killing my quads, and in the final few miles my right hip was starting to cramp in the way that led to injury a couple of years ago. Even so, I was hoping to pull off something in the 2:26-2:27 range. I think it might have been doable, but I had to stop to use a porta-john around mile 8 and lost a couple of minutes there and another minute or so to stop at a water fountain in Stanley Park, as 4 of the last 5 water stops didn't have water or cups by the time I got to them (not cool, race organizers, not cool). By the time I rounded the last corner, I had nothing left to give and was just urging myself not to walk through the finish line. My official time was 2:30:18.

Between this race experience (which I could see easily could have been wonderful if I had been more rested coming into this) and the one I had at the Capital City Half last May, I have decided that it's just really stupid for me to schedule a race right at the end of the academic year. Last year I thought I was so exhausted at the Capital City half from oral surgery a couple of weeks before, and I'm sure that was part of it, but I think it was also the burn out and fatigue that accompanies the end of the academic year for me. I seriously underestimated how physically, mentally, and emotionally tired I would be for this race. I feel bad that I was hardly able to concentrate on the lovely scenery, the awesome spectators, and the numerous bands and entertainers. Yesterday was one of those days when it was all I could do to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I don't want to be a total whinger, though. I finished a half marathon, and it wasn't even my slowest one. Also I got a nice little vacation with my spouse in a beautiful city. Have you ever felt like you were too tired to enjoy a beautiful race course? Is there a time of year that you have discovered to not be conducive to strong race performances?

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!

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?

Race Report: San Diego Half Marathon

On Sunday I ran the San Diego Half Marathon. After a quick breakfast and a cup of coffee, I donned my running gear, pinned on my bib, and walked the few blocks from my hotel down to the start of the race in the Gas Lamp District. It was a beautiful sunny day and in spite of the time changes (hour difference from Alaska and the beginning of daylight savings time) I felt pretty well rested. My only real concern going into the race - aside from whether or not it would feel a bit warm after running in mostly teens and 20s over the past few weeks - was the fact that wearing flats around the city the previous couple of days had given me a minor case of shin splints.

Miles 1-3
I was in corral 9, and I wondered if it would be a lengthy delay between the start of the race and when those of us in the later corrals would finally get across the start line. However, the race organization was excellent and each wave started less than 2 minutes apart. Before too long my corral was off and I was on my way. I had hoped to line up with the 2:25 pace group, but there was only a 2:20 pace group in my particular corral, so I let them get up ahead of me a bit but worked to keep them in sight and to find a pace that seemed a tad challenging but maintainable. The miles clicked by in 10:18, 10:23, and 10:31.

Miles 3-7
Much of the first half of the race was really quite beautiful with views of the harbor and city. I loved running with thousands of other people and seeing the ocean and palm trees. I might have stopped to take photos, but I had a feeling that I could surpass my goals, so I wanted to focus on running instead of stopping and starting to snap shots. Then there were a few less scenic patches, like the airport, where the exhaust from the rental car buses did not make for the most pleasant running conditions. I was feeling pretty good. At around mile 6 I took a GU at a water stop and just as I was tearing into it I spotted my friend from grad school, who had come with her 2 year old son to cheer me out on the course. I got high fives from them, walked for about a minute to let the GU settle and was off again. My splits were 10:21, 10:31, 10:43, and 11:09.

Miles 7-10
The GU and support out on the course gave me some energy, but I was starting to need to pee. The next couple of miles were some of my slower ones as I did stop to use a biffy and then there was the one serious hill out on the course. This hill was long and one that had the potential to crush the soul and shred the calves. I opted to walk up the steeper parts of it and run the flatter portions of it. It was also not as scenic as somewhere around here we also passed a glass recycling center. I finished these miles in 10:31, 12:10, and 12:42.

Miles 10-13.1
After I crested the hill, I had my second GU at the next water stop and felt reenergized. I looked at my watch and realized that the sub 2:20 that I thought I might be able to pull out a couple of miles before was probably out of reach, but I was going to be damned if I didn't achieve my goal of finishing in 2:25 or less. I told myself to pick the pace back up. The last mile or so of the course was down hill and I let that do some of the work for me. My splits were 11:00, 10:18, 9:23, and 2:11 (my cuts and weaving around other runners had added about .20 to my total distance). My official race time was 2:22:07.

Reflections
In general, I am really pleased with my performance at this half marathon. I'm still working back to PR-level speed, but I did run this half 8 minutes faster than my fastest half marathon in 2012. And that gives me a fair bit of confidence moving forward. I know that working more consistently on speed work helped me in my final miles of the race. I know the downhill was a big part of it, but pulling out 9:23 and 8:28 paces at the end of a half marathon is definitely a marked improvement for me. This race and this trip was good for me mentally and emotionally. I would definitely consider doing this one again, as it was incredibly well-organized, the volunteers were great, and the atmosphere and scenery were truly excellent.

It was also really great to reconnect with my friend. She very generously had me out to her home for dinner twice. We spent some time doing a bit of hiking out at Point Loma, had a girls' night out that ended with post-drinks visit to Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy, and spent part of Saturday afternoon out with her son exploring at Balboa Park.

Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 7 and San Diego Half Marathon Goals

This past week was another doozy. Between grading midterms, attending an all-day diversity workshop, celebrating Mark's birthday, and Fur Rondy, running slipped down on my list of priorities. I have to admit that I'm considering switching from the full to the half in Vancouver, as the demands of higher mileage don't seem to be meshing well with other things (read: work) right now. But I'm putting off making the call at least until after I get back from San Diego. At any rate here's how last week went.

Monday - scheduled rest. Actual rest.

Tuesday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 3.25 hills in my hood. My pace averaged out to 11:18. I probably should have sucked it up and got in the extra .75 mile, but I forgot it was garbage day when I headed out so I had to alter my route a bit as I went.

Wednesday - scheduled rest. Actual rest.

Thursday - scheduled 4 miles speed work. Actual 4 miles. I did 4 x 800 repeats with jogging recoveries. The pacer per mile averaged out to 9:47, and the good news was that I felt consistently strong through the last repeat.

Friday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 20 minute walk. I spent all day at a professional development workshop and then took Mark out for a belated birthday dinner in the evening at Kinley's. Their blueberry lavender creme brulee is where it is at. That is all.

Saturday - scheduled yoga. Actual some walking around and the shortest race of my life. (See the Running of the Reindeer Race Report below.)

Sunday - scheduled 15 miles LSD. Going into this run I felt like I wanted a bit more of a taper for my upcoming half than 15 miles the Sunday before would give me so I decided to run 10 miles instead. My average pace worked out to 11:19 min/miles.

Total scheduled miles: 27
Actual miles: 17.35
Cross training workouts: 0

So what are my goals for Sunday's race in San Diego? My biggest concern is that the heat will have an impact on my performance, but there hasn't really been anything I can do about that here in Alaska. I will really only be able to get in one acclimating run before the race, but I'm hopeful that I can still have a solid performance. My goals are pretty simple:

A) Have fun! Enjoy running on a non-icy or non-treadmill surface and with lots of other enthusiastic runners!

B) Finish in 2:25 or under. Last year I ran three of my four slowest half marathons (all over 2:30), but I know that I have improvement in terms of speed in me still. This is my chance to establish a benchmark for future half marathons.

Wish me luck, dear readers!

Favorite Photos: July to December

About a week ago I posted my favorite photos from the first part of the year. As I mentioned then, I did a pretty good job of taking photos consistently during the summer, but struggled once the school year started. In October and November I really fell off the wagon -- in part due to an obsession with Instagram. I was posting photos there almost daily, but failed to pick up my DSLR much for a few weeks. Even so, I managed to take some photos that make me smile. Here are my favorites from July to December.

July: I took a lot of photos that I really liked in July. That month I went to Madison for a wedding; I spent two weeks in New York City working on a project; finally, Mark and I drove six days from the Midwest to Alaska. I'm cheating a little bit and sharing two photos. The first is one that I took on a Monday afternoon spent wandering around Central Park. I love the subjects of this photo: the bike with its basket, the pond, the greenery. I also love the quality of light.

The second photo is from our drive to Alaska. I snapped this photo quickly from the passenger side of the car, feeling lucky that we'd had plenty of time to brake. The bear was just sauntering across the highway. It was only one of the many amazing things that we saw on the trek.

August: In August I returned to New York for another two weeks. My favorite photo from the month is one that I took while exploring the High Line with a friend.

September: In September I didn't take that many photos that I liked. It was a hard month with a lot going on. I was starting a new job that didn't get off to the best of beginnings, we had roof damage and tree carnage from a windstorm, and I frequently felt lonely and isolated. Toward the end of the month things started to look up, and I ran a 10K the last weekend in September. This photo is one that I snapped on my phone coming back from the race. The first snow of the season (that fell earlier that morning) was melting off the roads but had transformed the mountains. I love the way the clouds were breaking up, and the mountains are beautiful.

October: This was the month that I got into Instagram and really fell of the 365 wagon. My pool of non-instagramed photos is pretty limited, but this one of the swanky hotel bar in Cincinnati, where I attended a conference, is my favorite. This one was taken with my phone.

November: After a dreary early autumn, this month was full of days that were (incredibly) cold but frequently clear and bright. And we had some amazing sunrises and sunsets over the mountains. This photo is one of the most lovely that I was able to capture.

December: Although the month is still underway and I have plans of taking even more awesome photos of my niece and at the bowl game I'll be attending, I thought I would share one of my favorites taken so far. This was taken earlier in the month on a short walk around my neighborhood. There's a small pond near my home that often offers some idyllic subjects. I took this photo of the ice covered branches of a some bushes on the macro setting.

I hope you all had a happy solstice, that your airing of grievances is full of humor and your feats of strength go unmatched, and that those of you who celebrate the holiday have a very merry Christmas! Happy holidays, dear readers!

Halloween Half Marathon Training Week 7

It was exciting to follow my friends and blogging buddies through FB, twitter, and their blogs this weekend as so many of them were racing either the Chicago Marathon or the Twin Cities Medtronic Marathon. I loved feeling so inspired by them as I did my last long run of this training cycle yesterday, and I'll be seeking to carry their positive mojo into my own race week. Here's how my penultimate week of half-marathon training went down:

Monday - scheduled yoga. Actual yoga. I did a short 20 minute practice at home. I had considered going to a class at my studio, but M. decided that he needed the car because he simply had to have the iPhone 5....

Tuesday - scheduled 4 miles hills. Actual 3.5 miles with some incline work. My legs still felt pretty tired from the 10K last weekend, but I at least got in a run.

Wednesday - scheduled 5 miles easy. Actual 3.5 miles easy. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon grading papers from my survey class, so I was feeling pretty zapped by the time I hopped on the treadmill.

Thursday - scheduled 3 miles easy. Actual rest. I had something of a headache the entire day.

Friday - scheduled rest. Actual rest. I had hoped to make up the miles that I missed on Thursday, but my day was full and we had plans to meet up with friends for dinner and drinks in the evening that I didn't want to postpone or cancel.

Saturday - scheduled 11 miles LSD. Actual 20 push-ups and 20 squats. I overslept after having a few beers while out with new friends on Friday night, and my need to worship at the altar of the football gods meant that I wasn't going to go out for these miles later in the day.

Sunday - scheduled yoga. Actual 10 miles LSD. I felt solid on this run and it left me hopeful that, if there's no snow or ice, that I can run my fastest half of the year next Saturday.

Total scheduled miles: 23
Actual miles: 17 miles
Cross training workouts: 1

Up next for race week:

Monday - scheduled rest.

Tuesday - scheduled yoga.

Wednesday - scheduled 3.5 miles easy.

Thursday - scheduled 3.5 miles easy.

Friday - scheduled rest.

Saturday - Zombie Half-Marathon.

Sunday - scheduled 2 miles recovery.

In other training news, I've registered for the Vancouver Marathon (first race in a foreign country! woot!) on May 5th! Although it's still seven months away, I'm excited about the prospect of visiting Vancouver for the first time and running my third marathon.

Where's the most exotic location you've raced? Have you raced internationally?

My Last Day in NYC

Saturday was my last day in NYC, and it was full of lovely things. Although it was raining heavily when I woke up, I really wanted to go for a last run in Central Park and to prove to myself that I could do 6 miles as half-marathon training was about to be underway. I pulled on my running clothes and splashed my way around the loop for 6 miles. Near the midway point of my run, a woman passed me going the other direction and said, "Good job! Keep going!" This was the first time a runner in the park had spoken words of greeting or encouragement to me, and it was really nice. Call me corny, but it felt symbolic to be urged to "keep going!"

Later, I met up with a good friend of mine who moved to Manhattan about a year ago. We had brunch at Fig and Olive in the Meatpacking District. We lingered over our meal, sharing a piece of marzipan cake for dessert. Then we went for a walk along the High Line. As my friend Ash pointed out, it gives you that sweetheart view: you can see far more than you can on the ground but you can see it much closer than you can from way up above. And with my obsession with green spaces tucked into urban ones, I highly approve of turning a dilapidated rail line into a park. I definitely recommend going, even though it is highly probable that it will be overrun with tourists when you go.

At the end of the High Line, I said goodbye to Ash and headed to Brooklyn to do some exploring there. My tour guide was the awesome woman known to some as Rad in Brooklyn. We have been blog and internet friends for a few years and we were able to meet up when I was in NY in July. I wanted to spend a bit of time in Brooklyn, as I hadn't ventured beyond the borders of Manhattan during my time in the city this summer. She took me on a walk through Prospect Park and then we had some delightful and locally-made ice cream at Ample Hills Creamery. I tried the Peanut Butter Chocolate Flake and the Toffee Bar Crunch before settling on the Salted Crack Caramel, which was excellent, but not as good as some of the other salty caramel renditions I've had.

I had planned to meet up with my Airbnb hostess for a drink when I got back from Brooklyn, but we had a miscommunication, so I ended up grabbing some quick dinner and then heading back and packing up my suitcase to fly home the next day. I'm glad that I got to spend time in New York and that I got to experience it as both a tourist and, to some extent, more like a local. I hope that I get back there soon.