New Month, New Outlook … okay, so maybe just New Month

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

We’re three days into March and we had snow again yesterday and last night.  Luckily, the storm wasn’t big enough and it wasn’t cold enough for the snow to pile up, but it seems that in NC in March we should have some leaves starting to come out on the trees by now.  The weather forecast for this weekend is looking good, though, so that will get me through the week.

I just finished a course of antibiotics yesterday.  I had that horrible cold for almost the entire month of February.  I still managed to run (a lot actually).  The whole time I was sick, I kept debating the sanity of running anyway.  Now that I’m feeling better, though, I’m feeling really strong running.  Funny how much easier running is when you can actually breathe.  I ran a long run on Monday of this week (I usually run long early, early on Wednesdays) because of the winter storm predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday.  I felt like I could have run all day - literally! 

I’m happily entrenched in dissertation work, too.  I think the best piece of advice for someone trying to settle on a doctoral research project is to pick something that you find very interesting and that you really, really WANT to understand.  It takes a heck of a lot of self motivation and if you don’t absolutely love working on it (to the point that you would actually try to sneak in some extra time to look something up or read something new or just plain think about it), you’ll have a difficult time pulling it off. 

My friend Andrew summed it up perfectly a couple weeks ago:  he said that an intern asked him why he was sitting in the office late at night, after working all day, going over dissertation materials; he said he replied that this is the work, THIS is THE work, THIS is what I can’t wait to do every day. 

Yeah, same here.  I meant to go to bed early last night and at 9:00pm, I still couldn’t turn my computer off because, as I told my husband, I was on a roll.  I can go days in a row getting so wrapped up in my work that I just change from one set of running clothes to another because I end up going straight to my office after running to get to work on something I wrote down while running (I carry paper and pen in a baggie stuffed into my sports bra when I run in the mornings).  So, for anyone who might possibly think that I’m interesting, I’m not.  I’m pretty much geeky.  I am a “people-person” and love hanging out with friends and laughing and goofing around, too.  But, I’m a closet geek. 

Okay, back to where I planned to start - it’s March already.  This is usually a good month for people like me who are fond of warm weather and sun and longer days.  Back when I was running crazy on the road racing circuit, this would also be the month that an insane amount of travel would start.  And, hard-core training would start.  I don’t miss track workouts at all.  Although I may do some workouts every now and then, I don’t get on the track anymore.  And, I don’t do much road racing anymore unless it’s something local. 

I’m really fond of ultras now.  Not that I do a lot of them; my shcedule just doesn’t let me run as many as I would like.  The Umstead Endurance Run is at the end of this month.  Last year, I was a pacer for the lead guy, Dave James, who ran a terrific race and set a course record of 15 hours and a little change.  Pacing is actually a LOT of work, but it can be fun - well, sort of. 

Hmmm.  I thought I had something of more substance to ramble on about this morning, but I guess I don’t.  So, I’ll stop here. 

Missy