Diet: Day 1

Well since last week was spent finishing my dissertation proposal, I decided to throw any "diet" plans out the window. Like, throw them WAY out the window. And run over them with my car. And set them on fire.

Not that I had been doing great before that, either. For several weeks the pattern has been to do great and eat only what I'm supposed to during the day, then get home and allow the kids to get to me and start snacking and oh hey why not just all out binge. 

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So I've gained weight. 

This weekend I bought bigger pants. Yes, it's kind of a failure but it sure does feel nice to wear pants that aren't too tight.

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So, today is Day 1.

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I was back in the gym today. I ran 2 miles and lifted at lunch. So far my eating is on track. My goal is to get home and CONTINUE to follow the plan. Don't snack off my kids' plates. Don't get stressed out and eat a cookie. Stay strong.

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 In other news, I completed the Turkey Trot 8 mile race on Thanksgiving. That was the only thing resembling a workout I did in the last week and a half (before today). 

See, here I am with my medal. Proof that I did it:

To be honest, it went much better than I was expecting. I was able to keep up my run 3/walk2 pattern the whole time. I finished earlier than I expected. I hope this is a sign that the actual half will go well (and maybe my 10 mile run this Sunday too).

And even though training has not gone well, I've already got my eye on another half in March, where I can maybe improve on this one...

Getting a Doctorate

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So, a few years ago, I thought it would be a great idea to get a doctorate. I made a lot of progress, took all the statistics classes and even got to the point where I was taking a class called Dissertation Research. The main activity in Dissertation Research class was to produce the dissertation proposal- the first 3 chapters of the dissertation, along with a powerpoint presentation to use for the actual dissertation proposal defense, and the IRB application.

This was last summer. Then I got a job in a new city and decided to move away. I took an incomplete in that class, and had until November 30 to finish all the requirements.

November 30 is really soon, y'all.

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So I planned to take this holiday week and finish up my writing. I've finished chapter 1, gotten some good work done on chapters 2 and 3. I've completed the IRB application. It's just a matter of writing, and NOT SECOND GUESSING MYSELF ON THE LITERATURE REVIEW AND STARTING OVER (because I've been very tempted to do that.)

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My topic: Developing a rubric to assess information literacy in undergraduate students using the new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy.

I've been working on the literature review for months. There is a lot of information out there. I'm so afraid I'll miss something. But now, my struggle is knowing when to stop. When do I have enough information?

I'm just having to accept mediocrity at this point and turn in *something*. I can always edit later. I just need to get a B in this class so I can get on with my life.

Hopefully in a couple days I'll have it turned in and I can get back to running, complaining about running, pretending to diet but cheating on it and then vowing to do better, and all the other fun things I do..

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So, how's my training going?

In just a few weeks, I'm running in the Dallas Half Marathon. I started training for this over six months before race day. You would think I would be in amazing shape and totally ready. Well....

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There was a time when my training was going well. I had worked up to running 20-25 minutes without stopping for my short runs, and was just starting my "long" runs at 4 miles. For these I was running 3/walking 2. Then for some reason, it got harder.

The short runs got harder. I wasn't adding any speed or distance, but found I couldn't run as long. I went down to 5 minute increments. Too long. 3 minute. I'm now at 2 minutes running/1 minute walking. My long runs are going worse. I start out running 3/walking 2, then I skip a few of the running intervals, then I just do what I can to finish. A week ago Sunday I did 6 miles. I ended up running 90 seconds/walking 90 seconds for the final 2 miles. I was supposed to run 7 last weekend but wasn't able to due to childcare issues. I tried to run it at work at lunch on Monday and made it 4.5 miles.

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I'm signed up for an 8 mile race on Thanksgiving. Theoretically, I should do a 10 mile run the week before the race, and be able to make it 13.1 miles due to sheer adrenaline or something. But I'm nervous. I'm disappointed. And I can't get my eating under control.

Every. Day. (source)

6 months ago when I decided to do this, I thought surely I would have finally lost those 20 extra pounds I've been carrying around. Well, I'm exactly the same as I was 6 months ago, and that's primarily because I can't control my eating.

Me at night. (source)

I'm close to giving up on ever losing weight and just exercising because I like it. Except I don't like it right now. But you know what, my makeup looks great. Maybe I should just focus on that...

High Five a Librarian Day!

Someone on Facebook decided that today should be declared "High Five a Librarian Day". You can read more about the event here.

I'm fully aware that I haven't written a blog post since July, so I figured today was a good time to start again.

Here are some pictures of me randomly high-fiving students at the library:

I also recently discovered a new app called Photofunia. It lets you do cool things like this:

So, I guess that's my "update". At some point I'll take the time to write out what I've been doing for the past four months, but that's it for now..