Me and My Hair

To say I've been stressed out the past two weeks would be an understatement. Most of the stressors are work related, and therefore not blog-able. There haven't been enough hours in the day to get things done. I don't often feel like things are in balance with work and life and school, but usually I can fake my way through and go with the tide. I got to one point last week when my body just protested. I hadn't been eating well or enough throughout the day (very unusual for me), had too much coffee, ate a bunch of chocolate (unusual for me), and ended up waking up out of a dead sleep with a horrible pain in my tummy that felt like I was in labor. I drank what felt like half a bottle of Maalox (ewww) and then I think my body finally got through to me - chillax it said.

Well...there's one part of my body that is still acting a bit strange. Don't worry, it's PG....

My hair is falling out. I don't mean the normal falling out that happens to everyone each day. I mean falling out by the hand full. Lumps of it. And I don't have that much hair to start off with. I can't tell if this is some kind of stress thing or perhaps lack of something in my diet. I probably should get it checked out, but I think I'm secretly hoping that it is just a side-effect of having my hair so damn long (it's the longest it's been since high school) and the way to fix it will have to be to cut it. I'm growing it out for a friend's wedding ('cause I'm nice like that) that will occur in July. I hate having long hair.

July. That's a long time away measured in hair growth and not so far away measured in real time. And by then I will have to have hit several milestones: have all my data analyzed and have begun writing the next chapters in the dissertation, have met with my new major professor (still TBD), have gotten up to 18 miles on a single run, and hopefully I'll still have all my hair.

So, I'll be taking better care of myself now. Eat, rest, remember that I am doing the best I can with all that's on my plate. Because I'll be damned if my body quits on me before I run a marathon, or if I stress out to the point where I just walk away from finishing, and really I want that funny hat that comes with the PhD...it will look smashing with my hair.

PhD Update: Still going through data, transcribing, and in a few weeks will start last round interviews.

Running Update: 8 miles last weekend, 7 this weekend, and check out part of this crazy workout from Core Fitness I did this week:

Start Option #1
10 rep ladder jump squats
8 bear crawl (crab walk w/ med ball)
20 push ups
:90 wall sit
20 lunge jumps (split squat jumps)
10 rep ladder squat thrust (squat/overhead press)
100 jumping jacks
20 modified v-sits
:90 forearm plank to full plank (up/down)
10 skips for height (vertical jumps w/ med ball)
6 laps
10 one leg squats
100 crunches
10 burpees
10 laps
10 clock lunges
20 lunge jumps (split squat jumps)
:90 forearm plank to full plank (up/down)
20 modified v-sits
:90 Hollow Hold (w/ med ball)
50 crunches
10 up/downs
5 Minutes Cardio @ :60 ez - :90 hard - :60 ez – :90 hard
REPEAT

Motivational Procrastination

I've been wondering what on earth I should blog about since coming home from my recent 16 day trip to Florida and New York, and to be honest I can't come up with just one good story, there are too many. It was a great trip, tons of fun. I got to see some old friends and meet some new friends. I worked some. I ran some. I pulled invasive plants from a nature area in Fort Myers Beach. I got a sunburn from falling asleep on the beach when I was supposed to be PhDing. I saw a car fire in a parking lot. I went to the MoMA. I ate really good food. I stayed up until 4am, something I haven't done since college. I watched a lot of Modern Family. I played with cool Star Wars toys. I went to Chuck E. Cheese. I drank some really good beer. I saw a bar fight. I saw a rat, an alligator, pelicans, flamingos, and fish. I got magic wands from Harry Potter land. I was cold. I was hot. I got yelled at by TSA agents at JFK. I rode roller coasters. I fell asleep on the subway. I went to Tiffany's on 5th Ave.

The last week of my trip - when in NYC, I totally lost all motivation to exercise or do any type of school work. I've been home five days now and have worked out twice and still haven't done anything PhD related. I haven't actually ran in about two weeks. I'm having a hell of a time transitioning back into things.

In order to become motivated again, I am engaging in the following activities:

1. Watching 'Wall Street'

2. Reading about all the races coming up this spring and thinking about signing up for them

3. Spending a good five minutes each day looking at the pile of data I need to go through

Wait...is that motivation or procrastination? I'm thinking there is a fine line between the two...