Run commute postponed

Well, the bad news is that I had to postpone my first run commute to SVSU. I forgot that I had to present awards to students at our annual sociology conference. The conference ran until 8 and I knew I wouldn't feel like getting home any later then that. Congratulations to Nick, who was in the first class I taught at SVSU and won the Graduating Sociology Student of the Year. He is off to the Peace Corp and, I am sure, great things after that.

On a side note, I've secured funding for a research trip to Cuba in May! Yup, I get to spend 10 days studying their agricultural system and cool things like worm composting. I love my job and, yes, since it is my job it is even legal.

Run commute

The weather has been above freezing. Work hasn't been too demanding. Consequently, I finally had a decent running week more reminiscent of last summer than the relatively lax schedule of the past couple of months. It was even well into the 40s on Friday--spring really is around the corner, which has given me some new motivation. I noticed several new faces out running around our neighborhood this weekend. Where were all of you this winter? :)

So, here's my resolution. I'm running to and from work this Wednesday. It's a little over 8 miles each way, I don't have any particularly early or late meetings, and there is even a shower at the recreation center that I can use. It seems that all the pieces are in place. I actually did this a few times back when I was living in East Lansing. I alternated between running one way and biking the other way. If you have time and the opportunity it is a nice way to get your running in and to decompress from a day at work. If things go well, perhaps this will become a regular occurrence. Right now, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and most Fridays are good running days thanks to an evening teach schedule and a 2 year old (almost) who prefers 2 hour naps in his jogging stroller to sleeping in his crib. Mondays and Wednesdays my schedule is hindered by this thing called work. If I could slip in a 16 mile run on one of those days, I would be a really solid base to start training for the 100 miler once summer comes.

If you are interested in running to work, here's some information on it.

On a complete side note, Sandi I got your wedding invitation and Holli and I agreed that it was one of the coolest invitations that we have ever seen.

No running content

This doesn't have to do with running or lupus, but it is cool. I'm currently blogging from my latest gadget. It's an Asus eee 4G. I've had it for a little over 24 hours and it is the coolest thing that I've picked up in a while. I bought it to replace my aging PDA and to help me manage all the various work related projects I have going on. It works way better than I expected. It is about as fast as my 2 year old laptop, with the exception that this little guy boots in about 30 seconds. The screen quality is very good and it has excellent WiFi reception. I've been keeping more and more of my life online from teaching documents to the Google calendar I share with Holli so it is nice to have an easy way to access everything. Weighing in at around 2 pounds, I can take it to meetings and take notes without having to haul out a slow-booting and, at times, socially awkward 15 inch laptop. It has me convinced of what I have long suspected--that Linux is far superior to Windows. The only real downside I've found so far is that the small keyboard takes getting used to.

Anyway, it is too small to serve as a desktop replacement and there are programs I use for research which will keep me inevitably tied to a Windows machine. However, it should allow me to leave my laptop at work most of the time. And, notably, since it only weighs 2 pounds and utilizes solid state memory (i.e. very durable) I'm seriously considering how it would be to start running to the university this summer when I'm only doing research and not teaching.

Note, I have no financial interest in Asus, but I am a gadget geek. :) If I only can figure out how to hook up my Forerunner...

That's it, I'm picking a race

Okay, enough putting things off. I'm going to try and run the Haliburton Forest 100 mile race on September 6th of this year. I said that I would decide in March--so there it is, I've decided. The timing of the race is nearly spot on, it's relatively nearby, and, well, it doesn't have many hills.

Honestly, I'm a little nervous about having time to commit to both running and fundraising. It's likely I will be out of the country at least once this year and traveling to conferences at other times. I also don't want to ask too much of all those who were so generous last year. However, I keep getting emails from people who have lupus so I feel that I have some momentum in terms of support. Besides, and perhaps most importantly, my son Elliott will only take naps for me if I am pushing him in something with wheels. And his jogging stroller is way more comfortable than a shopping cart. :)


Now if only we would stop having all these snow and ice storms...