Monday:
I knew that it was going to be a rainy day, so I planned a rest day for my foot. I did go to yoga in hopes that it would help with making my foot happy again.
Tuesday:
It was such a beautiful day, and there was hardly any traffic that I just kept running. The only negative of the run was that there were so many people out enjoying the pleasant temps and the day off that it was hard to find a place to go pee. I was trying to figure out what to do when I noticed a small sign I had never seen before. Hanging on the street sign, it said, “park use 54 entrance”. But that must mean that you can access the park from this dirt road. I headed down the road. It’s the kind of dirt road that makes me fearful I will be attacked by a dog. Houses on large lots that are set back from the road. I knew what park the sign was talking about and was surprised at the short distance I had to travel on the way to be at the park. I pass it driving to work but had no idea it was this close to where I run all the time. I used the bathroom and was ready to make my way to the next park with restrooms. I got to about mile 14 before my foot started to hurt and finished with 16 miles.
I made sure to ice and roll my foot in the afternoon.
Wednesday:
It’s warmed up today, and the streets are empty of cars and pedestrians due to Christmas. I started out on what is one of my favorite weekend routes because I know there will be little traffic. As I am about to make a turn onto my favorite stretch of road, I see two big, barking dogs in a front yard. A lot of people here have those invisible fences. I hate those things. Why does your dog need to be in the front yard alone, anyways? And I hate being terrorized by your dog with only an invisible fence separating us. The weather was pleasant, the streets were empty, and I ran 17 miles. Again, my foot didn’t bother me until about 14 miles.
During my run, I did a lot of thinking about my dissertation. I should be working on it, but I haven’t done any work in many weeks now. I just don’t care. I also don’t want to spend the money on it. I love being a professor, and I want to continue being a professor. Still, I have zero desire ever to do research. I would much rather work for a community college that will let me focus on teaching and not care if I am doing research. Last week I also overheard someone talking shit about online PhD programs, and it made me feel bad. I know Grand Canyon probably isn’t the most respected place in the world, but if I really want a PhD, should I move to an onsite program? I don’t know. I just know I don’t care right now.
I have always wanted to write books. I would much rather be spending my time on that then a dissertation that I am not sure I will ever even get the chance to defend.
In the evening, I made sure to ice and roll my foot.
Thursday:
I met Yael at CorePower in Cary (she is the manager of this location). We went for a short 6 mile run on the greenway in Cary. She was teaching yoga to sculpt at noon, so I went to class. I had a hard time focusing on what I was meant to be doing because I was too busy people watching. It is amazing what people will do in public.
Friday:
My foot is feeling so good. I had out for my run, and it is super foggy out. The good news is that I can pee any place I want, and no one will be able to see me. The bad news is that I am worried about people not seeing me and running me down. It’s hard to find flat running in Chapel Hill, but I got a little done today. I haven’t really been doing any fast running. I really just wanted to take it easy on my foot. Today I decided to do a little fast running and see how the foot felt. My foot felt totally fine the entire run. I didn’t go to yoga today. I spent all day working on getting my class together for the winter term.
Saturday:
I wake up to an email saying that I am registered for Lake Sonoma 50. That means I officially have 3 chances at a Golden Ticket for Western States. I am excited and nervous. I think I can do it and also wonder why I think I can do this.
And back to that whole dissertation thing. If I am spending money on chasing a dream, this is the dream I want to chase. I would rather be travelling and racing, not writing.
I met up with Yael for some easy trail running. She is running the Umstead Marathon and wanted to run some of the course. We started at the Reedy Creek parking lot. This part of the trail will be closed off soon because some people who are high up have made some bad decisions. We ran on some trails that I hadn’t run before, so that was fun. We got a nice little 10-mile run done.
I came home to eat a little fruit and have coffee before going to a gentle yoga class. I get there a little early to roll my foot before class. When I get home, the sun is shining and is in the 60’s. I lay on the deck in my shorts and sports bra with the dogs at my side and do some winter sunbathing. It feels so good! The workers next door have Spanish music playing loudly. It’s such happy, sunny music. With my eyes closed, I feel like I am at a beach resort.
While I am enjoying the sun, I look at places to stay for Lake Sonoma. Norm told me the other day that this race is over our anniversary. I have no idea so we will assume he is right. The race is also right before Pesach, and I would be taking the first two days off work anyways so I could meet him in California. We could have a nice anniversary trip. We end up booking a cute little house in Sebastopol for 6 days. We haven’t taken a trip just the two of us since we first started dating. Right now, the bonus is that I am not nervous about Lake Sonoma. I am getting an awesome vacation with my husband and also getting to run a race I have wanted to run for a long time. And our Airbnb has a hot tub!
Sunday:
I am dragging. I hardly slept all night stressing about all the money I am spending to race. Should I be putting this money in a savings account and not chasing some far- fetched dream?
I can’t believe how beautiful the weather is this morning! The good news is that it’s cloudy and no rain yet. It’s In the 50’s. I wear short sleeves and don’t need gloves! I run 10 miles on empty streets and finish the week with 70 miles. It’s the first time I hit my goal for the week in a long time. I came home from my run and got a weight session in. I haven’t done a very good job of being consistent. It’s maybe a little weird to start right before a race, but I am racing pretty consistently until May, so I need just to get back on track.
I roll my foot out, but I don’t go to yoga. I was going to go in the morning but missed the class and didn’t want to stop working to go in the afternoon. I go back to teaching to Friday, so I really need to get all the details of my winter term class finalized.
I may be stressed about spending money to race, but that doesn’t stop me from spending some time in the afternoon look at races. I am going back to the west coast to race a lot. I feel like I should be racing things that are close to where I am living now while I have the chance.
I knew that it was going to be a rainy day, so I planned a rest day for my foot. I did go to yoga in hopes that it would help with making my foot happy again.
Tuesday:
It was such a beautiful day, and there was hardly any traffic that I just kept running. The only negative of the run was that there were so many people out enjoying the pleasant temps and the day off that it was hard to find a place to go pee. I was trying to figure out what to do when I noticed a small sign I had never seen before. Hanging on the street sign, it said, “park use 54 entrance”. But that must mean that you can access the park from this dirt road. I headed down the road. It’s the kind of dirt road that makes me fearful I will be attacked by a dog. Houses on large lots that are set back from the road. I knew what park the sign was talking about and was surprised at the short distance I had to travel on the way to be at the park. I pass it driving to work but had no idea it was this close to where I run all the time. I used the bathroom and was ready to make my way to the next park with restrooms. I got to about mile 14 before my foot started to hurt and finished with 16 miles.
I made sure to ice and roll my foot in the afternoon.
Wednesday:
It’s warmed up today, and the streets are empty of cars and pedestrians due to Christmas. I started out on what is one of my favorite weekend routes because I know there will be little traffic. As I am about to make a turn onto my favorite stretch of road, I see two big, barking dogs in a front yard. A lot of people here have those invisible fences. I hate those things. Why does your dog need to be in the front yard alone, anyways? And I hate being terrorized by your dog with only an invisible fence separating us. The weather was pleasant, the streets were empty, and I ran 17 miles. Again, my foot didn’t bother me until about 14 miles.
During my run, I did a lot of thinking about my dissertation. I should be working on it, but I haven’t done any work in many weeks now. I just don’t care. I also don’t want to spend the money on it. I love being a professor, and I want to continue being a professor. Still, I have zero desire ever to do research. I would much rather work for a community college that will let me focus on teaching and not care if I am doing research. Last week I also overheard someone talking shit about online PhD programs, and it made me feel bad. I know Grand Canyon probably isn’t the most respected place in the world, but if I really want a PhD, should I move to an onsite program? I don’t know. I just know I don’t care right now.
I have always wanted to write books. I would much rather be spending my time on that then a dissertation that I am not sure I will ever even get the chance to defend.
In the evening, I made sure to ice and roll my foot.
Thursday:
I met Yael at CorePower in Cary (she is the manager of this location). We went for a short 6 mile run on the greenway in Cary. She was teaching yoga to sculpt at noon, so I went to class. I had a hard time focusing on what I was meant to be doing because I was too busy people watching. It is amazing what people will do in public.
Friday:
My foot is feeling so good. I had out for my run, and it is super foggy out. The good news is that I can pee any place I want, and no one will be able to see me. The bad news is that I am worried about people not seeing me and running me down. It’s hard to find flat running in Chapel Hill, but I got a little done today. I haven’t really been doing any fast running. I really just wanted to take it easy on my foot. Today I decided to do a little fast running and see how the foot felt. My foot felt totally fine the entire run. I didn’t go to yoga today. I spent all day working on getting my class together for the winter term.
Saturday:
I wake up to an email saying that I am registered for Lake Sonoma 50. That means I officially have 3 chances at a Golden Ticket for Western States. I am excited and nervous. I think I can do it and also wonder why I think I can do this.
And back to that whole dissertation thing. If I am spending money on chasing a dream, this is the dream I want to chase. I would rather be travelling and racing, not writing.
I met up with Yael for some easy trail running. She is running the Umstead Marathon and wanted to run some of the course. We started at the Reedy Creek parking lot. This part of the trail will be closed off soon because some people who are high up have made some bad decisions. We ran on some trails that I hadn’t run before, so that was fun. We got a nice little 10-mile run done.
I came home to eat a little fruit and have coffee before going to a gentle yoga class. I get there a little early to roll my foot before class. When I get home, the sun is shining and is in the 60’s. I lay on the deck in my shorts and sports bra with the dogs at my side and do some winter sunbathing. It feels so good! The workers next door have Spanish music playing loudly. It’s such happy, sunny music. With my eyes closed, I feel like I am at a beach resort.
While I am enjoying the sun, I look at places to stay for Lake Sonoma. Norm told me the other day that this race is over our anniversary. I have no idea so we will assume he is right. The race is also right before Pesach, and I would be taking the first two days off work anyways so I could meet him in California. We could have a nice anniversary trip. We end up booking a cute little house in Sebastopol for 6 days. We haven’t taken a trip just the two of us since we first started dating. Right now, the bonus is that I am not nervous about Lake Sonoma. I am getting an awesome vacation with my husband and also getting to run a race I have wanted to run for a long time. And our Airbnb has a hot tub!
Sunday:
I am dragging. I hardly slept all night stressing about all the money I am spending to race. Should I be putting this money in a savings account and not chasing some far- fetched dream?
I can’t believe how beautiful the weather is this morning! The good news is that it’s cloudy and no rain yet. It’s In the 50’s. I wear short sleeves and don’t need gloves! I run 10 miles on empty streets and finish the week with 70 miles. It’s the first time I hit my goal for the week in a long time. I came home from my run and got a weight session in. I haven’t done a very good job of being consistent. It’s maybe a little weird to start right before a race, but I am racing pretty consistently until May, so I need just to get back on track.
I roll my foot out, but I don’t go to yoga. I was going to go in the morning but missed the class and didn’t want to stop working to go in the afternoon. I go back to teaching to Friday, so I really need to get all the details of my winter term class finalized.
I may be stressed about spending money to race, but that doesn’t stop me from spending some time in the afternoon look at races. I am going back to the west coast to race a lot. I feel like I should be racing things that are close to where I am living now while I have the chance.
Getting some sun with the girls!
