stay in the shallow end

Mornings are slow for me. Really, really, really slow. I generally get up, check my email and news feeds, take a long shower, take my time getting dressed, and eventually make it out the door between an hour and an hour-and-a-half after my foot hits the ground each morning. I’ve been so busy lately, I can no longer afford myself this luxury. I’ve decided to get it down to twenty-five minutes.

Last night I ironed all my clothes and laid them out, packed up everything I needed for work, including my laptop, set the alarm for 7:30, and left myself a note that said 25 Minute Mornings! The good news is that this morning I made it from feet on the ground to out the door in twenty-seven minutes. The bad news is that it took me until 8:15 to get my feet on the ground. Getting that fixed might be a good goal for next week…

I ran the Charlottesville Ten Miler, which didn’t seem that big of a deal at the time and in the aftermath, but when I think of my level of fitness a year ago, it’s absolutely amazing. In January I has set my goal pace as 10:30/mile but as I got closer to the race, my runs had been going well, so I thought I could make it ten minute miles. I ended up at 10:08/mile for my chip time. I’m pretty pumped.

In the last six months of training, my body felt like it has fallen apart due to the preceding ten years of no strenuous physical activity. As my runs started to get longer, everything on me felt loose, like my joints didn’t fit tightly together anymore. Thankfully, that is no longer the case. My mom likes to point out the long term wear and tear that your body endures when running, but given the history of heart disease in my family, I’ve decided that it’s a lot easier to get a new knee down the line than a new heart.

I would be remiss not to mention Ragged Mountain Running Shop. Their training program was awesome, and while it kind of sucked having to roll out of bed at eight in the morning, it’s much easier to push yourself on the long runs when you’re with a group. Definitely check it out if you’re interested in getting started.

I need a constructive hobby. While my current hobbies of surfing the web, watching television, and eating haven’t quite reached destructive levels, it’d be nice to do something with my spare time that has tangible benefits.

I’ve given this some thought in the past, and I always conclude that any hobby that I pick up should meet two criteria in order to truly benefit me:

1. Must not require electricity.
2. Must require being outside.

Unfortunately, these criteria give rise to a clear conflict of interest: a) I love electricity and b) I hate nature.

After spending three hours in the backyard Sunday raking up leaves, I decided I should give landscaping/gardening a shot. I kind of enjoy it while I’m doing it, and being able to immediately see the fruits of my labor provides very satisfying short term feedback, which does not seem to ever happen as a grad student.

So I’m going to try to put in a half hour after getting home every day just cleaning up the yard, and see how that works out. If it actually sticks, then maybe I’ll plan a full fledged project.