I'll run for 20 straight minutes on May 31st.

I'm thinking of starting a Thesis in 90 Days Challenge on June 1, as la novel_in_90. Writing 750 words a day. I may need to work up to this with some sort of write/goof-off interval training plan. Couch to Thesis? I don't know if 750 words is the best metric, either. Three full latex-formatted pages a day. With images? Publication-quality images, with stored data and generation scripts.

My first wedding anniversary is June 3.

I am accomplishing life tasks!

I've been thinking a bit about starting jogging, and how it relates to some other things going on in my life.

I have had some habitual self-classifications: I'm the messy one. I procrastinate. I slack off, and do everything in bursts at the last minute. Of course, being Smart, I can pull this off**. And also, I hate cardio (except for rowing) and I particularly suck at jogging.

I'm wondering if learning how to jog is some sort of physical expression of also trying to learn productivity skills at work. It's the same shift from bursty ability to sustained activity, the same shift in learning a skill that challenges something I once thought was a pretty fundamental property of myself. If I can jog for thirty straight minutes, I can maintain a steady flow of productivity at work. I can change my picture of myself.

I always felt, when I started the intervals of jogging, that I was barely going faster than my rest periods of walking. One of the most amazing things about the increase in jog-to-walk ratio on run 10 was the confirmation that I actually am going faster when I jog. And I've had to jog slower, to keep it going for that long. But it is still faster than walking. And it's faster than walking with bursts of speedier jogging. I slow down, I can sustain the pace, and I go further in the same amount of time.

The increase in interval seems as much learning how to pare down my movement to the minimum that keeps the jog going as an increase in physical power.

I have a feeling that these are lessons I need to learn with work as well. Sustainable, consistent, productivity. The elusive skill that will help me make physics an actual career balanceable with the rest of my life.

I may just be telling myself this because the run this morning, with less of a thrill from rounding the top of the park half way through, was really hard. I actually stopped jogging for a few steps, in the last five minute period. That is my first plan-departure since day one. And it was really really hard to start back jogging again after only a few steps. And my face was red for a half hour afterwards and I was exhausted. So this better damn well be worth it, eh?

** complete with fears of actually needing to put work in negating said smartness a la all those praise the process articles about kids learning some time ago