I’m back!

And if you’re reading this, so are you!

Isn’t this nice? Us, together, here in this space of running, vanity, honesty, and accountability? Let’s stay here as long as we can.

Since my last post, the world has spun into agonizing extremes of flame and beauty. Volcanoes spewed and snow crushed and guns exploded and babies drew their first breaths and people graduated and made art and got new jobs and earned promotions and pledged to spend eternity together, while other people watched their planned eternities in residences or jobs or marriages or promotions or aspirations or all of those things burn to the ground.

What a world, what a world.

Here in the 9-2-0, since February, I got kissed on the top of my head by R.L. Stine during the annual book festival I help organize (important note: this moment was emphatically non-creepy, and R.L. Stine is one of the most generous, funny, and kind writers I’ve ever encountered). That’s probably the high point. I mean, what else could there be?

Other highlights: I got to listen to, work with, and teach other exceptional writers, both nascent and acclaimed. The campus press I’m founding is coming together. I WROTE NEW FLASH FICTION!! (Details and publication forthcoming in August). A dear friend visited and shared with my colleagues how she changes lives through teaching and writing. My kids sang and performed and my mother shared her wisdom and my father shared his support and my husband experienced new life as an administrator—and all the while, good friends kept me surrounded by laughter, great stories, entertainments, and alcohol.

The cats were therapeutic as well. They do good work, these cats.

And through it all, I didn’t run. And then I did run. And I had a strange back/neck/injury diagnosed now as “tennis elbow,” which is cute considering I don’t play.

“It could be caused by sleep,” one expert told me. Which fits, because sleeping is my best sport.

Oddly, the elbow/forearm feels better after I run! “Circulation helps,” three out of three experts agreed. Isn’t the human body is a marvel and a mystery?

All the while, for the purposes of RUNITY, this very blog, I took running /walking selfies every day, and chronicled the change of seasons from the bullsh*t snow to the tenacious spring to the humid insanity of now.

Cue the April-May-June montage!

What are you seeing here? I see a fair amount of walking. I see some cruddy runs. I also see some great runs—including my first 5.3 miler and first 6 miler of the season (last week, rah!) I also see a person who ate a lot of bugs. Someone who applied ample amounts of Aveda’s Foot Relief Creme to toes and arches and heels.  (Tip: this is a wonder lotion. I swear by it.) Someone who applied ample amounts of thigh lube, and still chafed anyway.

RUNITY STATUS REPORTS

Mileage, volume, pace

As of June 29, I’m averaging 3 runs per week.

I run every other day or every two days. Yes, I have gone over a week without running a least a few times.

Specifically, I’m doing two runs of 3 or 4 miles plus one “long slow distance run” per week. The longest of these LSDs so far was last week’s 6-miler. It was long and slow, indeed.

I am not keeping track of my pace, but I’d guess it’s around 10:30 to 11 minutes/mile. Maybe even 12-12:30 min/mile.

 Plans and goals

I like what I’m doing now. If I feel like it, I’ll try to increase my LSD by small increments over many weeks. That’s generally how summer running goes for me. Maybe, if I want to, I’ll reach a long run of 9 or 11 miles by summer’s end.

 Or not! Nine miles is the distance that, to me, feels like a true churn, and running only gets harder and more boring as I go longer. This is chiefly because I am  S.      O.          

S.                  L.                         O.                              W. 

We’ll see.

 What’s in my earbuds

“My Favorite Murder” podcast—this is on whenever I’m running and often when I’m not running. I’ll say more on this podcast in another post. I adore it. I just joined the Fan Cult. I’ve bought merch.  (Thanks to my student Jordan for this life-changing recommendation!)

“Fresh Air” podcast— most recently Terry Gross’s interview with David Sedaris, who makes some pretty dark, cold, and funny pronouncements. He’s always a wonderfully candid guest on that show.

“The RFK Tapes”—a podcast which I never normally would ever care about. Like, if you said to me, “Hey! The RFK Tapes podcast is really great!” I’d normally tell you to leave me alone, ya fruitcake. But here I am, listening and eagerly awaiting the next installment (two weeks from now?!)

Audiobook— Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, as read by the author. This is my first experience with Bourdain, who I only decided to listen to because of all of the positive, nearly ecstatic reviews of his life, work, and writing after his death. So far, I love this book, I love his writing, and his reading voice is a gritty, self-deprecating, incisive pleasure as I plod along.

Other motivators

Cute running shorts!

A basket full of cute running shorts!

Also: my route is so green and lush and lovely. I can only run outdoors, not on tracks or treadmills, and this is why.

Also: it’s fawn season! And turkey season! I’ll say more on the new wildlife around here later.

Teaser: What kind of baby bird did I rescue/terrify/menace before my Wednesday run? (see below)

I’ll tell you later!

Meanwhile, I feel for you, baby bird. You’re out of the nest with few skills, unable to see above the grass, with only the chirps of your parents (and one fumbling human) to guide you.

The one thing you do have, though, is a helluva voice. And boy, do you use it, despite how tiny and vulnerable you seem.

What a world, what a world.

Hope this fledgling makes it.

Hope you are making it, too.

Yours in Runity,

Rebecca