Good Run

Ahh! We went for a real run for the first time in forever this morning. It wasn't long, just 50 minutes, but I pushed hard up a couple of sizable hills and we kept the pace around 9:50 most of the run, which is pretty good considering how out of shape I am. We also got out early enough that the wind hadn't picked up yet, and it felt great just to bake in the sun for most of an hour. As far as marathon training, this was a very bad time for a slump, but I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get to a place where I can run the full distance comfortably on July 29th. That means a lot of dedication over the next two months, but now that the semester is over and I've kicked the nasty cold I've had for the past 2 and a half weeks, I finally feel up to it.

As I try to analyze what lead to the total burnout I began to experience about a month ago, I realize that it had less to do with running than with the emotional exhaustion of juggling too many things for too long. I work 30 hours per week, am a full time graduate student, and was trying to still make time for structured writing, reading, family, a social life, cultural events, and running 4 times per week. I've been maintaining this kind of schedule for 4 years now, often against the will of my body and mind, and eventually this semester I stopped being able to will myself through it all.

Running was acting as a powerful counterweight, but the balance was tipped too far in the other direction: when crisis hit, the vast amount of energy it took just make my way through daily commitments, sapped whatever might have been left for running. As a result, I'm taking a hard look at how to bring my life toward balance. As a start, that will mean cutting back to one class in the fall, and working to keep the summer low key.

At the same time, I was running longer distances, and the inevitable wear and tear on the body was taking its toll. Andy and I have been talking about biking to work for a while now, and I think it might be time to start doing that, both as a way to get a lower impact cardio workout and strengthen my knees, and as a way to get some active personal time before and after work. I've never had a bike in the city, and am a bit nervous about riding in chaotic downtown traffic, but he assures me I'll adjust and I prefer that to the idea of spending time in the gym.

Tomorrow, we'll be running Bay to Breakers, a 12K that stretches from the San Francisco Embarcadero to Ocean Beach. Tens of thousands of runners, walkers, and revelers come out for the event, which is quintessential San Francisco with lots of athletes, fetish gear, nudity, joints, costumes, families, food, and musicians in near perfect harmony. We'll be in the mix with the camera, so expect some fun pictures.

Happy running this weekend.

Running? Blogging?

We've had rain for the last 24 hours, the skies pale and overcast, the ground musty and damp. I'm nestled in blankets listening to a Bright Eyes album a friend emailed this morning, nursing a worsening cold, and trying to catch up on a month of correspondences and several weeks of blogging.

Way back on April 19th, Kurt tagged me with a Thinking Blogger Award. Kurt recently peppered his posts with haikus, which prompted the comment-in-haiku that qualified me for the prestigious award :) In keeping with the trend not to needlessly irritate blog pals, I'll keep the tagging to two: Phil, because he's a fan of To the Lighthouse (one of my favorite books), and my friend Willow, who's blog budding scholar tracks her progress through a PhD in educational policy.

To my great surprise, a number of you wanted more details about the recent engagement, so I'm including most of the text of an announcement email I sent out to family and friends:

"After seven years, a few ups and downs, and many many happy moments together, it is with great joy that Andy and I announce our engagement. Overlooking the vast and beautiful Pacific Ocean, in the spot where we had discovered a Century Plant in full bloom and a pair of Golden Eagles circling above, Andy dropped to his knee and proposed. The ring he presented was one we had both fallen in love with a few weeks before, but that he had successfully convinced me was gone. For those of you interested in such things, it was hand made of platinum around 1925, and holds an exceptional old European cut diamond surrounded by 12 sapphires. I must have looked very silly, standing there on the edge of a cliff, crying and laughing and unable to open the little satin bag that held the ring. He must have felt very silly kneeling there while I stumbled about near the edge of the cliff too surprised and moved even to answer him (I finally did)."

One thing I didn't mention in the note to family, is that running really has become an important shared activity between us. Andy's always been athletic, and I never have been, so he was pleased when I began running. I was pleased that he was able to run with me despite an ankle condition that he monitors carefully (he long ago wore down the cartilage in his ankle playing competitive tennis).

Of course, we've hardly done any running since then, and I only wish I could blame the engagement. In truth, April was just a very busy month, with the end of the school semester drawing near and most of our weekends booked solid from Friday night to Sunday night. This month will be worse if anything, but we've been more consistent about running this week, despite my cold. Our next race will be Bay to Breakers - a crazy 12K that brings out the whole city as thousands of participants, many of them in costume, run across the city from the Embarcadero to Ocean Beach.