Perspective

Joy here...I'm feeling a little retrospective lately.  Not only does this summer mark a full two years since I was a full-time professor (and actually three years since I was last in the classroom as a prof), but it also marks five years since I defended my Ph.D. and then got married and a full ten years since I was a young, wide-eyed scholar just starting doctoral work.  These kind of milestones can't help but get one thinking.

Being a bit of a doctoral ham for the camera!
(What's the point of earning a Ph.D. if you can't
use it as an excuse to be an unadulterated dork?!)

And, so, thinking is what I've been doing.

But not just thinking about where I've been and where I'm going professionally, but also where I've been and where I'm going as a runner.

You see, I first started running around six years ago when The Man and I moved our relationship from the "friend" stage to the "dating" stage of things.  But it wouldn't be until the summer of 2010 when I completed my first running race (a 10km race that I ran with my good friend Nomi).  And then that summer of 2010, I started up a co-written running blog with my friend Nomi as we tried to urge each other on to train for our first half marathons.  Nomi's gone on to run a few half- and full-marathons, and I've done some running and cycling races myself.

Our co-written blog is now defunct as she grapples with some knee pain and trying to just maintain some fitness and I grapple with motivation and scheduling issues, blogging on my own sporadically and when I find the time.

Whether you see a young lady or an old
woman all depends on your perspective!

But back when we were running a lot together and feeling fast and fit, I took it all a bit for granted.  I remember flush on the success of my first half marathon, I was full of the excitement of meeting that challenge, and I told my sister that I would make her a half marathon running plan - I mean, if running a half marathon was good fun for me, surely it would be good fun for her too, right?  And I remember thinking that the starting point for the plan would be the basic fitness to be able to run for around an hour-ish, and then from there, building to a half marathon would be easy peasy!  At the time I thought, "heck, anyone can run for an hour."  I had forgotten that it had taken me the better part of a year of running to be able to run for one hour without taking any walk breaks.  I had forgotten that running - like anything else - takes time and dedication.

Now that I've not given my running the time and dedication it deserves, but left it kind of languishing on the shelf like an unread and unloved book, I shouldn't be surprised that I can no longer run for an hour.

In fact, as I made myself head out the door into yesterday's late afternoon humidity as the heavy clouds threatened rain (that later fell with a vengeance and accompanying thunder and lightning), I had to goad myself into a mere 20 minutes.  At the 7 minute mark I was ready to quit; at the 15 minute mark I could feel my feet getting heavy; and at the 19 minute mark, I convinced myself that I had done enough.  Yet, I kept going.  I hit 20 minutes, and while I know that once upon a time, that wouldn't seem like much of anything - less than a warm up - my fitness isn't what it once was, but to quote one of my friends, "you've got to start somewhere!"

Do you see the face in the trees?
Perspective really is key!
(But once you've seen her, can you not see her?)

As with life, so with running.  Just because once upon a time I got a Ph.D., doesn't mean I can sit back on my laurels and assume a certain kind of intellectual sharpness.  Just because once upon a time I got married, doesn't mean I can sit back, get lazy, and assume romantic happiness forever.  Just because once upon a time, I could run for 90 minutes without a second thought, doesn't mean that I can sit back, be lackadaisical and assume my fitness would be there when I called.

In fact, nothing - not professional success, romantic success, personal success, nor physical success - comes without just putting in some consistent time and effort.  There's no magic to it...just time and effort.

And that, my friends, is a little bit of adult perspective from someone closer to 40 than to 20.

Over and out,
Joy

Run Stats:
Ran for 20:08.87 for a total of 3.91km for an avg pace of 5:09min/km