Now an even more awesome champion

You may recall that back in October I ran my first 5k race, beat some clowns and clocked a time of 38:54. Well today I ran another 5k. There were no clowns to beat, but I think I smashed my previous record with a new time of 34:27. Go me! It was a fun race, very neighborhood-y (not in my neighborhood) and R got to over hear some firefighters with Chicago accents talk about how they supported the IRA. The old school IRA, though, not the current one. The current IRA is just a bunch of punks. Also, this race went up "largest hill in Chicago". I did not notice a hill. I am glad I began my running career at the highest point in Manhattan so that these Chicago hills are not a threat to me.

Sunday

So two of my classes are over and I just need to finish up some grading and paperwork! Woo! As there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I am now trying to blog every weekend. We'll see how that goes.

It has been a very nice sunny weekend. Yesterday R and I walked to a garden fair and then to a coffee shop where we attempted to work for awhile but it was too loud. So we moved to a bench in a park where we ran into a random bike race. This is one of my favorite things about living in a big city. Both here and in NYC I will often come across some sort of random event like a street festival or market or bike race. I finished grading exams while watching the bike riders zoom by and then we headed back home. At night we went to a banquet for R's department which was pretty fun. I am friends with a lot of R's fellow students, so I didn't feel out of place and there were other spouses/partners there as well.

Today I need to get to work to prep classes for the week ahead and finish off a book chapter I've been working on. Then it is back to hard core dissertating. I'm having a little bit of a hard adjustment to not having such a packed schedule that I need to work all the time. It is less motivating to have some stuff I kinda need to get done, but no OH MY GOD IT MUST BE DONE NOW!! stuff. I also think I want to slack a little after all the work of the last months. But I will rally and get to work! Go me!

Good morning!

Happy Saturday! I am all happy today as it was sunny yesterday and R and I ate dinner on the porch for the first time this year. We had homemade black bean burgers, fries and corn on the cob. After that we went for a shake and a malt and then watched Baby Mama. This morning R made me eggs and toast.

It is overcast today, but I am determined to run. All the teaching has really dstroyed my running habit, but my new plan is to run 4 miles a week. When I am always doing that I will up my miles. I also want to start doing yoga 10 minutes a week (from this book).

Last weekend my parents came to visit and we had a very fun time with them. We went to dinner and sat on the porch playing games. My mom and I shared a bottle of plum wine and at one point my dad advised me to gamble more while my mom advised me to drink more. It is good to know they are looking out for me. :)

My parents also drove us to Home Depot where we bought supplies for our back porch garden! Woo! We have a hanging tomato plant and a window box of basil and dill and some chives which were planted from seed and have not yet emerged. The picture is from R's iPhone from inside the house so it is not the best, but it is too cloud y to get a good picture today.

I'm posting because two of my classes are ending this week, so I have hopes of returning to a semi-normal life and also making more progress on actually getting out of grad school one day. Hopefully I'll be around more once I grade all the finals!