There’s a meme that goes around this time of year with a pie chart of all of the months of the year. It is titled “How Time Passes in Michigan”. All of the slices of the pie are fairly equal (the summer months are the smallest and they get bigger as they get closer to winter) except for January and February’s slices – they are double the size of the others. This very accurate pie chart is fitting to see as January, the longest month ever, comes to a close today. It’s also fitting because I started my statistics class at the beginning of the month, and tomorrow I take my first exam.
I am nervous. I have been doing well on my homework, because I’ve taken good notes. I thought that the exams were all open note so I was confident I would do well on the exam too. Our professor sent us an email to let us know who would be taking the exam on what day, and reminded us that this first exam is NOT open note. This is also my first time taking an online class, and doing an online exam. The exams are 70% of our grade, so wish me luck tomorrow!
As for running, I have been using a beginner training plan to get ready for my 100th race next weekend. I’ll be running the Winterlaufe 8k on February 5th. My A goal is to average a pace under 13 minutes per mile. My B goal is to beat my first Winterlaufe time of 1:07:40, 13:36 per mile. Regardless of time, finishing feeling good is my ultimate goal!
I am making progress on my goal of cooking through a cookbook. My friend Heather and I started by making a recipe together and we’ve both made other recipes on our own since. I will share pictures and my thoughts on the recipes in a different post. Overall I’m loving the cookbook – I’m glad Heather and I chose this one. The recipes so far have all been tasty, quick and simple.
Something else that I’ve been doing for fun is re-reading the Harry Potter books with my friend Paula. After we finish the book we watch the movie together. Last night we watched the 4th movie, Goblet of Fire, virtually while eating sushi for dinner. I haven’t quite finished the book but I can say that so far Goblet of Fire and Prisoner of Azkaban have been the most disappointing comparison of books to movies. The movies would be great on their own if I hadn’t just read the books, but the books are so much better!
My mental health has been good. I have been doing much better with not overbooking myself but also giving myself things to do and look forward to. I am so grateful to have been taking medication for almost a year now – combined with therapy and just growing up and learning, it has made such a big difference for me. I feel more balanced than I’ve felt since I can remember. These winter months are usually really tough on me so it’s refreshing to feel as stable and good as I do.
If you’ve made it through my update, thank you. I would love to hear how your first month of the year has been. I look forward to sharing more with you in 2022, and I always love hearing about other people’s journeys. Cheers to making it through the longest month ever, and here’s to tackling the next one head on!
RD on the Run 