The Tenure Push

OK - a coulple of nice runs recently. On Friday and Saturday I ran a couple of what many call "an easy three miles" but at this point, running the three miles is not 'easy', rather, it's actually a bit reassuring in that I know if I entered a 5k I'd do o.k. For a while there I thought I might not even be able to finish a 5k race so it feels pretty good to know that all things considered I'd do o.k. The Friday run was one of those runs where everything just line up nicely. The weather was gorgeous (at that time of day), I was appropriately hydrated, and people in the neighborhood all just seemed pretty cheery. The breathing was good, the muscles felt fine ... it just felt good (at the pace I was running - 10:48/mile).

So ... as many of you know I'm coming up on my final tenure review this year. So many have asked me recently what that actually means, which is a completely legit' question as I had no idea what it meant when I started, and in fact, my understanding of what tenure is was completely off. I thought if after your final review you are not given tenure, then it is not such a huge deal, you simply work under the same conditions you've been working under for the past several years, you just don't have the job security the tenure provides. No. Wrong. What it actually means is ... if you are not given tenure you don't have to worry about job security for next year because you don't have a job! You either get tenure and stay or don't get tenure and leave. That is a slight oversimplification as there is an appeals process but the writing is clearly on the wall and most people who aren't given tenure do not bother sticking around for an extra year to appeal ... they simply move on. I've already went through 4 previous reviews and all have been very positive so I'm not overwhelmingly concerned except ... I have two articles that MUST be submitted soon - one by Sept 2 and another by Sept 15th - in order to get some type of feedback from the reviewers prior to my final submission date which is Oct. 14th. Cross your fingers - here's hoping. From there, now dig this ... my materials are first sent to my department chair, if he gives me a positive review they then go on to the tenure committee, if they give me a positive review they then go on to the director of the school of music, if he gives me a positive review they then go on to the Dean of the college of fine arts, and if she gives me a positive review, they then go on to the Provost and she makes the final determination. I do not have the same near-panic frame of mind many do who are in their final year of tenure eligibility, but I am of course anxious a lot of the time, my sleep is a bit screwed up, I get grumpy with my kids, etc. etc. You get te picture. I am hoping I will be able to use running to keep most of that ugly stuff at bay but I'm worried that I'll be too tired from running to bring the necessary energy to the "day" part of my job and still have enough left over for what will eventually clinch or lose me tenure. Your support will of course be very much appreciated and help to keep me on track. Now you know what I'll be doing for the next month and a half.

Bunch of Stuff

Wow - after that run the other day, I remembered another part of running I had forgotten about, or maybe even romanticized a bit - being sore. Particularly my ITBs and quads - not bad - just walked like a penguin for a couple of days (nice image eh?) Eddie and I have been going out for little 1+ milers at night when it cools down. It's been fun to run with him although apparently run-time is also question-time for him; a few examples...

~Dad, how does google make money, I mean, who pays them, and wait, I mean..WHY do people pay them?
~Dad, how does flour know when it's supposed to be bread, or a cake, or a cookie, or a pizza?
~Dad, why do people pay other people, like Joey Callahan just to make them laugh? Would they pay me to make them laugh? Happy Birthday by the way Joey!
~Dad, what's up with Heather having dreams about lions in the backyard? There aren't really lions out there right?

OK - now, to go back to something from APRIL! I mentioned an April 13th story from a suburban Brisbane newspaper that had me laughing for a long time. It's a little story about how prevalent snakes are in that area and how this local reptile-catcher-guy was trying to change the perception of the public toward snakes. Some poor guy had his dog picked off by one of these snakes (a python) and this is snake-boy's response.."residents need to learn to live with snakes rather than try to eradicate them". I'm sorry..what?!! The article goes on to say that "larger pythons, in their search for food, could attack small pets, as appeared to be the case with 'Hero'. "'This is an example of a suburban ecology at work,' he said". I'm sor.., wait... did you say suburban ecology? "Fellow snake catcher Geoff Jacobs said suburban yards attracted pythons with their plentiful supply of food and water. 'Everyone in suburbia creates a food chain. Look at the fruit trees and frog ponds,' Mr. Jacobs said. 'Residents should not create environments attractive to snakes without also learning to live with the reptiles' he said. Killing a snake could attract a fine of up to $225,000 or a two-year prison sentence".

Warning for all you 'Madden-ers'

For the video game buffs, especially those of you who love Madden, you know that Madden 2006 was realeased this week. People were camped out over night at Circuit Cities and Best Buys around the country with an article written about the realse in the Detroit Free Press.

Well check this story out about a guy in Seoul Korea who actually died from playing 49 non-stop hours of video games! I hope you're reading Eddie!

Alternatively, if you want to check out something a bit more inspiring, former Olympian Joan Nesbit Mabe has a blog that is just terrific. This woman ran a 15:27 5k - blazing!

Back in the Saddle

O.K. - I didn't peel the pavement off the street, I didn't burn the rubber off the soles of my shoes - but I was out there, running away one foot in front of the next. In my heart - it felt great to be back out there and what that means to me - my body however... Have you ever taken a blanket out of the washing machine and felt how heavy and clinging it is? That's what the air was like this morning. I was up at 5:00 a.m., couldn't sleep, and started reading Jon's blog and Lara's blog and got inspired! One of the things that came to me while out there was how much fun I have running the different races. I would love to run a nice little 5k somewhere out in NY while we were there but I haven't found one yet that will be near where we will be. So, I might have to look ahead a little bit. This is my final tenure push, which I'll write more about later, so I really have to buckle down and focus on all of that, but I'd like to get maybe 2 or 3 races in to keep the batteries charged between now and then (Oct. 15th submission date).

I was reading in Runner's World over the weekend about some big time runner who took about 3 months off and was so worried and heartbroken about being away. When she got the sneakers back on and hit the pavement she realized how beneficial that break was for her - physically. She said the 1st 2 weeks back were pretty tough training wise but not nearly as difficult as she had imagined and she was back in near-peak shape in just a few weeks. Well, at my level, "peak" shape is relevant but I also, by taking it slowly... r...e...a...l...l...y s...l...o...w...l...y today, I did fine.

Stats according to the Forerunner
Run Time: 31:11
Run Dist: 2.28 miles
Avg. Pace 13:39
Best Pace: 8:15
Calories: 251