21 weeks, 5 days

This morning, I wrote down my three goals for today (along with my goal achievement strategies, of course):

(1) Be home to receive my Visa for my trip to China next week.
(2) Run outside since I haven't run outside in 2 days.
(3) Submit a revise & resubmit manuscript.

Unfortunately, all three goals involve complications.

(1) I was told my Visa would come last Friday, then I was told it would come last Tuesday, and then yesterday I was told I'd receive it today. Trying to be home all day for each of those days is not an easy task for somebody with a full time job, who likes to exercise, and who wants to see her friends and brother a lot.
(2) My running buddy this morning very wisely decided to stay home, which drastically decreased my motivation to brave the 36 degree, wintery mix day of snow and freezing rain.
(3) While I'm the lead author, I have 3 collaborators, all of whom got their revisions to me around midnight last night, leaving me less than 24 hours to get the manuscript to the journal's editor by today's deadline.

But, friends and family, so far I have prevailed.

(1) Visa was hand delivered this morning. Now all that stands between Brad and me is 1 week, 1 day, and 3 plane rides.
(2) As soon as I got my Visa, I laced up my running shoes, headed outside, and enjoyed a blustery run around Olmsted Pk and JP. I told myself I'd only run about 4-5 miles because of (3), but I was enjoying myself so much that I let a few more miles slip in. By the time I got home, I had covered 8 miles, but probably only run 7 of them. Like the other day, my achilles were killing me for the first 4 miles, so I stopped to stretch and walk a bit. I didn't turn around because I was enjoying the fresh air and I wanted to see if the pain would go away. At exactly 4 miles in, the pain went away in both legs. Then, weirdly, my right foot fell asleep for half a mile, and then everything felt totally great for the rest of the run. Crazy baby stuff. Runner moms who read this blog: did you experience any achilles pain? Maybe pain isn't the right word - more like incredible tightness?
(3) Still working on this one. I have 4 hours until the deadline and need to shorten the piece from 8868 words to 7000 words, translate part of it into Spanish (it is going to be published in a Spanish journal), and do some small APA formatting changes. Totally doable, especially since I have a bowl of carrots, cup of decaf, and two cuddly cats to get me through the afternoon.

My post-work treat: taking Luke out for a celebratory dinner at Orinoco!

Run: 7 miles