Category Archives: Running

Star Trek. Running.

Posted on 21 November 2009 | Leave a comment

I woke up this morning and realized that I didn’t have to do anything today that I didn’t want to do.

I started out by running five miles. Since I have been so busy lately, I have been slacking with running, as you can tell by looking at the exercise I list at the bottom of each day’s post. Today, I made up for it. The run felt so good, even when it hurt. My lungs burned with the too cool air, and my legs ached with stiffness, but I finished the run. Sometimes I forget how good it feels just to accomplish something like that. Maybe this is why I don’t mind coming in last at races. I just want to finish.

Tonight, I watched the new Star Trek, and I thought it was pretty good. I don’t really like Star Trek, the movies or the series. I did love Deep Space Nine when it was on, but the rest of them seemed silly. I think this is because my mom used to watch the old series whenever it was on. I remember the only one I liked was “The Trouble with Tribbles,” and I only liked it because the Tribbles were so stinking cute. I wanted one for a pet, I think.

I leaned more toward Space:1999. I wanted to be Mia, so I could shape-shift into whatever animal I wanted to be. Right now I want to change into a koala bear. Then I could lounge around, eat, and sleep. Or maybe I could be a tiger, so I could run really fast and have a cool orange and black striped coat. I am not Mia, though, so I will just remain solely human and move slowly like a sloth, but I will keep moving.

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Food: oatmeal, chocolate milk, frozen burrito thing, black bean burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle, thousand island, broccoli salad, a few tator tots, strawberries with whipped cream

Exercise: walked the dogs two miles, ran five miles, rode bike from RB to home

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Posted in Food, Relationships, Running

It Surprises Me.

Posted on 20 November 2009 | Leave a comment

It surprises me that some things ignite great discussion, even when they seem trivial or mundane. Particularly, when posting a strange status on Facebook about vampires, homosexuals, and uber-conservative Christians, I had no idea the response I would get. The responses were a toss up among people making sure that I knew they weren’t “those” Christians, people who got the joke, and I am sure people who were deep down offended but didn’t want to admit it. I just think it is weird. Some of the same people who won’t read Harry Potter because it is about magic, who don’t believe in abortion because it is murder, who would shit if they knew the person sitting next to them was gay, are the people who purchase midnight tickets to see a movie about vampires and werewolves. That does not make sense. It confuses me, but I don’t want to dwell on it. The post was good fodder for comments, and I had fun reading them.

This week wrapped up nicely. I am pleased.

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Exercise: rode bike to RB from home, walked to Burris and back to RB

Food: banana; milk; Clif bar; apple; hot chocolate; black bean burger with mushrooms, peanut butter, jalapenos, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes; waffle fries; a few dill chips, sprite, decaf coffee

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Posted in Food, Queer, Running

Healing. Grading. Too Many Sweets, Not Enough Exercise.

Posted on 17 November 2009 | 1 comment

I am enjoying Gayl Jones’ The Healing and looking forward to meeting with Debbie to talk about my dissertation. I think I like and dislike The Healing for the same reason: the stream of consciousness is both beautiful and unnerving. I am tired of the repetition, but I am drawn in by it. Of course, I am only on page 16, so I will let you know tomorrow night how the book plays out. I can already tell, though, that it will fit well, at least for background or supplementary material, for my dissertation. There is a whirlwind of religion, spirituality, healing, redemption, slavery, and sexuality all swirling around together. I am excited to see how it plays out.

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I still have a few papers to grade, ones that were turned in late. For the most part, I am pleased with their argument papers, and I look forward to seeing their multimodal presentations. Some papers need a bit of work, but that is what revision is for. In fact, that is why I switched to using portfolios. I wanted my students to recognize that their “final” draft isn’t really final, that writing can always be revised, improved upon, moved closer to perfection.

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I feel like a slug. I have eaten too many sweets in the past couple of days and not done any substantial exercise. I was supposed to run five miles on Saturday, but I graded papers instead. I was supposed to run the same five miles on Sunday, but I graded instead. And, I have been grading both mornings this week instead of running. Basically, I feel horrible because I have eaten way too much crap and not done one little bit of exercise to offset it. Tomorrow morning I will walk the dogs with Bec and I will run.

I had coffee last night with my friend, Lyn, and I worked yesterday morning with my friend, Molly. If I could be around the two of them everyday, I would never have a bad day. What magical women!

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The making of a slug. Or, I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.


Exercise: walked to Burris from RB, rode bike back to RB

Food: banana, apple, swiss cheese sandwich, orange/tangerine juice, too many M&Ms, one piece of pizza, three breadsticks, PBJ Uncrustable, Jones Cream Soda

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Literature, PBJ, Running, Teaching

Dissertation. Re-Creation.

Posted on 10 November 2009 | 1 comment

Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with Debbie about my dissertation. What I have right now are a bunch of ideas and no real cohesiveness to any of them. What I need by the beginning of next semester is a completed proposal. Sometimes I wish I could be a genie and simply wave my hand over my computer and produce not only a completed proposal, but also a completed dissertation. At least I love my topic, and I am not just writing about something to complete a class or to appease someone else. I really care about desires (hunger, spiritual, sexual) and how they play out in novels by African American women, particularly about how they play out within the confines of slavery. After tomorrow, I think my ideas will take on an even more settled, focused tenor. Hopefully, coming off of the conference and meeting to talk frankly and thoughtfully with my director will make my ideas gel in a way that enable me to get them down on paper and to do it quickly.

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I can never get over how simply being in someone else’s presence can alter the constitution of our souls. For good or for ill. It’s usually so much easier for me to be pulled down than it is for me to be lifted up. It’s a much more difficult job to lighten my mood, to strengthen my soul, but there are a few people in my life who are able to pick me up with relative ease. Without those friends in my life, it would be much more difficult. And, their visits always come when I most need them. I feel renewed, rejuvenated, and reinvigorated. I am humbled to be blessed with such friends, whose collective presence fills me up with grace and hope. Thanks.

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Exercise: walked 1 mile with dogs; ran two miles; rode to Tillotson SBUX and to RB

Food: banana, juice, grande caramel macchiato, Clif bar, apple, two slices of pizza, two breadsticks, salad with ranch dressing

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Literature, Relationships, Running

Fat. Thin. It’s Relative.

Posted on 9 November 2009 | Leave a comment

Today two different people told me that I look thinner. This wouldn’t be strange except for the fact that I am having a fat day. I feel like I keep running and never losing any weight, so it was nice to hear that I at least look thinner. I am not trying to lose weight for the sake of losing weight, but I am trying to get rid of some of the fat that holds me back from running any faster.

If you weigh around a hundred and fifty pounds, imagine putting on a backpack that weighs anywhere between 50 and 70 pounds. Now run six miles. This is how I feel when I run. Lugging around extra weight holds me back and make me reconsider any type of fat advocacy that I may have previously endorsed. Oh, I still believe that fat people should be treated equally, but I am not sure that I can be fit at any size. I don’t feel healthy when I am fatter; in fact, I feel like I don’t want to do anything, sort of lethargic, like my body just wants to remain sedentary.

I feel much healthier than I did even six months ago. I am sure it is both my increased level of exercise and my new diet, but I can’t ignore the fact that I have also lost 40 pounds in that same time. Either way I feel better than I did in June, so I will keep running regardless of how I look in the mirror. Thanks, though, for the encouragement.

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Exercise: walked the dogs about 3 miles, ran 2 miles, rode my bike to Burris and home

Food consumption: banana, juice, oatmeal, Clif bar, chocolate milk, apple, whole wheat pasta with spicy portabello-basil-pine nut sauce, salad, whole grain bread, pumpkin bread, three Twizzlers, a handful of M&Ms, a handful of almonds

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Posted in Fat, Food, Running