Ch- ch- ch- changes

That ol' David Bowie song has been humming through my head like a CD on repeat...

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer (wo)man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different (wo)man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

Last month, in talking about keeping my run-streak alive, I mentioned (briefly) that I was in the middle of some big career changes. (Oh yeah, and I cut all my hair off...)

For the past two years I've been telecommuting to a job in San Diego that I started way back in 2001. I stayed on, remotely, when I moved to Pensacola.
But then I also started teaching.
And consulting.
And blogging (here and on my data-insights blog about demographics and sociology).
And freelance-writing about fitness, outdoor adventures, books, and social issues.

I'm not going to whine about how it was too much work to juggle multiple priorities. To be honest, I'm an inveterate multi-tasker who likes to have several irons in the fire. I don't know how not to be busy.

But after nearly a dozen years at my "day job," I realized I wanted to put more energy into the teaching and freelancing, and... (dare I admit it?) I was freakin' tired of flying back and forth across the country for 36 hour business trips scheduled around my teaching days.

And then...

I found out we're moving. Again.

Just when Pensacola started to feel like home, we're headed for the nation's capital.

In a few months I'll be exploring a whole new world of job opportunities and running communities (and taking advantage of free exhibits at the Smithsonian).

2013, like it or not, will be a year of big changes.

So, I took a deep breath and turned in my resignation letter at the day job.

For the first time in more than a decade, I have no idea where I'll be living or where I'll be working at the end of this year. I can't plan my 2013 race calendar because I'm not sure when, exactly, the move will take place.

As a list-maker/goal-setter/contingency-planner it feels odd to have absolutely no idea what this year will hold. (Yes, I realize that life is unpredictable and we never know what a year has in store, but let's be honest - some years we have a better guess than others. And this year your guess is as good as mine...)

What I do know is that I plan to keep running, keep writing, keep reading, and keep an open mind.

What do you have planned for 2013?
Have you had to navigate a major job change? A long-distance move?

Hair goes!

Yesterday I woke up with anxiety. After two years of growing my hair out, I had a 5pm appointment to chop it all off.

I haven't had short hair since a very unfortunate haircut in fourth grade. (That's 25 years ago, for those of you who are working through the math.) My hair hasn't been shorter than shoulder-length in more than two decades and I haven't had so much as a trim in two years.

Before...

So why chop it?

The answer is simple: Some people need the hair more than I do.

Still, it would be hard parting with a piece of myself. I'd grown attached to that hair! (Pardon my puns. I didn't get much sleep last night, and I've had 2 mimosas and 2 cups of coffee... Moving on...)

My mid-morning thoughts were a loop of:

It will be hard to watch all that hair go.
I'll look funny for months until it grows out.
I'm going to have triangle-hair that looks like Marge Simpson's sisters, or worse, I'll look like Kojak.*
Maybe I should postpone?

Image source

*If you're too young to understand this reference, see note (above) about being in 4th grade 25 years ago.

Then, during my lunch break, I logged in to Facebook in hopes of seeing a baby announcement from a good friend of mine.

Instead I saw tragedy.
Unspeakable horror in Connecticut.
I cried, as so many people did.

By comparison, my fears of looking like Telly Savalas were utterly trivial. Families were grieving.

By going through with the chop, a child somewhere, suffering the side effects of chemo, would be two snips and one step closer to getting a wig.

I made the cut (with the help of a lovely stylist, Camy, at London W1 in Pensacola).

... and after.

And today, after a run and with all the special styling products washed away, I do feel a bit Simpson-character like... but somehow that no longer seems significant.

Priorities

Last week, listening to a radio interview, I heard a singer explain the premise behind a song he wrote about time. To paraphrase, the singer believes that the way we spend our time is the truest indicator of our priorities.

That though has been amusing and challenging me for a week.

What does my schedule say about my priorities?
Do I like what it reflects?

I don't have any answers just yet, but I like where this question is going...

What does your schedule say about your priorities?
Are there things you say you'd "like to do," but don't make time for? Are there things you spend time on that aren't the priorities you'd like to have?

Links that make you think

I'm out of commission for one more head-cold-and-fever-recovery day. But in the meantime, I've had a chance to catch up on my reading. In the process I stumbled across a couple of web gems that should be shared:

• Beth at Shut Up And Run posted "The Cone or Crap" which is far more insightful than the poop-humor title suggests.
• Meg at Watch MeGo Run talks about how running can "hurt so good," in her post Why I Love Pain.
• Adam, at The Boring Runner, takes an (uncharacteristic) serious tone to reflect on life goals and mortality in Reflections while on the run. I promise it's positive, not morbid. But he does ask two questions that really got me thinking:

If you had 6 months to live, what would you do?
What would your one-line obit say?

Maybe rest days have left me with too much time on my hands, but I've been thinking about what I'd do with only 6 months to live... Oddly (or not) I think it would look a lot like what I did this past week: some travel, some work, some running, writing and reading, going for walks on the beach, and trying new restaurants with Hubby, plus lots of time with my family.

I would definitely drink much more wine if my liver didn't need to last another 50 years. I might also do something crazy like try to run a 100-miler on not-enough-training.

But otherwise, I wouldn't change much at all.

I started to worry that this means I lack imagination, but then I realized it really means that I'm living a life I enjoy. If I get an idea for a trip or a new project, I add it to the list and get it done. (Except rock climbing... that's been on the list forever, and a friend even got me lessons for my birthday, but I still haven't checked climbing off my life list.)

Hubby suggested we could pack a couple of suitcases into a van, and travel from state to state running the most interesting routes and eating the best local foods... But that's not such big a change from the way we live now. We'd travel more (continuously, instead of 1 or 2 trips per month) and by wheels instead of wings, but otherwise the goals are the same: travel, eat, run, repeat. (It's probably good news that we have the same goals.)

I'm not sure what that turns into as a one-line obit? That requires more thought, more wine, or both...

And I really need to get on that rock climbing thing...

What would your answers be?

Priorities?

My life is getting in the way of my running (and my blogging).

Last week I started teaching a 6-week summer session of Sociology. 2 hours a day, 4 days a week, plus grading and prep time in addition to my regular "day job" (which kept me pretty busy as it was).

I cleverly scheduled a my training "rest week" to coincide with the first week of classes, but now I'm supposed to be back to a normal two-a-day workout schedule. I did both scheduled workouts yesterday.

But today my choice is clear: run or sleep. After working from 8:15am until (what time is it now?) 10:56pm, I think sleep wins...

But just this once.

I will run tomorrow. Even if it means taking an extra long lunch from the "day job."

What do you do to keep on track with your running when life gets hectic?