Trying new things

Those who know me well: prepare to be shocked and amazed.

Laura, another student in my lab, has convinced me to sign up with her to run a 5K in June. We are going to train together, which involves a regular weekly schedule of waking up early and running before work.

That's right. Running. The bane of my athletic existence, such as it is. And I'll be waking up extra early, and paying the $25 race entry fee... just for the privilege of engaging in one of my least favorite activities of all time.

Exercise for its own sake has never been a part of my life... it's something that happens occasionally in the pursuit of other things. I don't really count my stint as a ballroom dancer at Kenyon because my practice attendance was pretty sporadic, and I did it for the fun and social interaction more than for working up a sweat. Biking to get around last year came pretty close, but for me it was primarily about transportation and I rarely rode around for exercise purposes, and I've barely used my bike this year (I did ride to work and back yesterday for the first time since the weather changed, and got a flat tire for my effort!) Sticking to a regular schedule with this is going to be a challenge.

The one nice thing about all of this is that Laura hates running too, so we can commiserate the entire time. There will be LOTS of commiserating. But hopefully also support and bonding. Wish me luck!

Celebrate!

I had been hoping to organize some kind of group event for my birthday tomorrow (24! whoa!) with my classmates... but instead, we have a big class assignment and a midterm this week. So, my celebrations will consist of a class debate and attending a talk by scientist and author Jared Diamond on the evolution of world religions. Dr. Diamond gave a really good talk at Kenyon after his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed came out, and I'm pretty pumped about the topic as well.

From the on-campus advertisments:

How can religion be defined in such a way as to encompass all of the customarily recognized religions, while excluding other things not normally considered religions? Does religion require belief in God, the supernatural, or eternal moral principles not of our own invention? What do traditional Catholics, atheists professing themselves to be members of organized liberal religions, and tribespeople believing in spirits share with each other that they don’t share with believers in ghosts, astrology, and non-religious moral codes? Dr. Diamond shall argue that religion has encompassed at least four independent components that have arisen or disappeared at different stages of development of human societies over the last 10,000 years.

I'm anticipating a pretty cool evening. Happy birthday to me!