Stick it out.

This Sunday is the, um, Boulder Marathon, although when I signed up for it, it was still called the Boulder Backroads.

Once upon a time it was going to be this year's "A" race for me.

That was about two months and two new jobs ago. I fell off my training plan around the first week of September and I have logged neither the miles nor the speedwork I intended since then. Other responsibilities and pleasures have intervened, unfortunately most of them falling on the duty side.

However: No excuses, no apologies. I'm going to stick it out.

I'm still going to run the half-marathon, although I suspect "run" may be an optimistic adjective. I've done long runs up to 11 miles this summer so finishing won't be an issue, but my time is unlikely to approximate the goal I set in July.

It looks like I may get to meet up with several of my fave tri/run bloggers including Bold and AJ, and the weather on Sunday is supposed to approximate running perfection (circa low 50's in the morning). Even if I walked the whole course, and I won't have to sink that low, it's going to be a gorgeous day. I can feel it.

And next week I'm going to come up with a plan. An action plan. To avoid the "I'm not going to think about training/working out until next spring" seasonal lag disorder I seem to get every October. So watch this space for details and a race report.

Woman's Day.

"Where's Daddy, Mama?"

"He went for a hike."

"Where did he go for a hike?"

"Long's Peak."

"Will he come home soon?"

"He'll be home after nap."

"Can we have a woman's day until he gets home?"

So Saturday was a "woman's day" for me and the bug. We hung out in our pajamas and watched cartoons, ate cereal on the picnic blanket for breakfast, then went into Boulder and went to the farmers' market. They had some fabulous fall produce that we picked out to cook later. Then we went to the bookstore and read "poem-tree books," had coffee/milk and a cookie, and climbed on all the rocks in the mini-parks on the Pearl Street mall. Well, she climbed. I watched. It was a fabulous morning with heaps of joy and cuteness. And my little protofeminist likes to go shoe-shopping. Who knew?

After that the weekend kind of went to heck--naps were skipped, the hike took longer than planned because other hikers were slow and the trailhead was crowded, stuff happened...you know how it goes. Still, I did get a few runs in over the weekend and some ironing done, and we're nominally ready for the week ahead.

How is fall looking at your house?

One hint I'm out of my element.

I walked into the open house event that the center held today for graduate students who are TA's and graduate student instructors. There were seven people in the room at the time, and conversations were being held in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. Our undergraduate staff members are also fluent in multiple languages as I shortly discovered. Very impressive.

Very tempting to turn around and walk back into my office, really. My inner introvert has been emerging more of late given the disconnect between my academic background and my current administrative role in the language center. But that's not a professional option, so in I went.

Several of the departmental instructors clearly have no interest in communication with someone who doesn't work in their discipline, which is frustrating. They assume I don't understand them. While I definitely concede the linguistic point, I have taught in college classrooms before and the problems they're facing within their departments with instruction and with limited resources are not unique. I know better than to mention this.

At this point I primarily listen and try to ask intelligent questions, and remind myself that upper-level administrators have less and less direct knowledge of the departments and programs they oversee. It's really tempting to want to be an expert in a new area and take up a language, but I'm fighting it.

It probably doesn't help that the first two people who I met asked me what department I'm a new graduate student in. I know I look young. I should be flattered. When this is a common response (and I'm dressed in a suit skirt, hose, and low heels, not Boulder casual wear), it grows slightly aggravating. I keep reminding myself everyone's learning to make small talk, everyone's meeting me for the first time, it's not easy for anyone to come to a room full of people and talk to strangers. It's annoying that professional wear makes me look overdressed in any gathering, making people assume I'm young and inexperienced in the Boulder academic context, while more casual wear just emphasizes my youth. I'm considering a campaign-style button that says "I already have my Ph.D. and I'm in charge!" but this seems like overkill.

This has been a hella long week. The bug's been sick once again and is emerging, we've had frequent enjoyable houseguests with whom I'd rather spend time than be working, and in short TGIF.