Many projects coming to fruition this month and a few serendipitous things happened. (let's be honest... @ego and @jennypenny are both very wise and nearly always right). Many options are opening for next year.
# WINS
I got official approval to convert my "white paper" into a National Geographic style article for a scientifically literate audience instead. This article (potentially website) will include graphics, illustrations, photos, and text. This is 1/3 of my job description so I can further prototype this style of learning, making, and communicating. I worked through the Nat Geo storytelling courses for educators. I only did the relevant work on each topic (courses are designed for K-12 which is not me). We also finished the figures and are outlining the academic paper associated with my project. This makes extending my job a much more likely possibility if it is 1/3 code, 1/3 papers, 1/3 mF Nat Geo style articles. I really like the current work and it often does not feel like work.
I placed in the top 10 and finished under 7 hours for my 55+ km with 2500 m gain/loss. It snowed a few inches the night before. The higher elevation portions of the race were so pretty with moody clouds, old trees and fresh snow. My feet were soaked for the final third of the race, but I did not get any blisters. I passed the guy in the last 3 km who blew by me on the long downhill. He went too hard and had to walk the small hills on the forest road finish while I shuffled on by. Tortoise and hare. I physically recovered well too which was a major training goal. I was back running 3 days later (albeit slow). Overall I am super stoked how things turned out. Placing against ranked ultra-runners was unexpected icing on the cake.
I completed some of the recommended Plotkin exercises in my office and out in the forest. Really interesting insights that I will eventually take the time to write up and share some modified sketchnotes. I want to let it simmer more though as an additional recommendation is to revisit time and time again these natural places to see how they change over the seasons and see how the various parts of your ego interact with them. It is fun stuff exercising imagination muscles while out in nature.
We found a really cheap solar powered off-grid wedding venue with an industrial kitchen, some on-sight cabins, and nearly unlimited camping in the surrounding area. They have surprisingly few rules around food and drink so we can do most of that ourselves. We reserved it for an entire weekend of mountain shenanigans. We are scheming for a weekend scavenger hunt that has equal weights for things like childcare, reading a book in a hammock, or an epic trail run. Teams will be randomly assigned.
# IMPROVEMENTS
I have been seriously working on my hammies. Thanks again for input above. I was looser before my race and then tightened back up after. So one step forward two back, but doing daily stretches now. We are nearly done with our garden mounds consisting of branches, leaves, compost and soil. We also have some veggie containers to move around the yard or inside in case it will get cold at night. Solanaceae do not tend to do as well with cold nights, especially during pollination and fruit development.
# NEW DIRECTIONS
I think the sweet spot for trail running training and getting other projects done is 50 km to 50 milers with a lot of elevation gain/loss. These races are usually always fun and challenging without putting in excessive amounts of time on long training runs. It can be a drag to only ever be training for something. Sometimes the evening hatch is on and you have to make hard choices about training vs. pure pleasure. The way out is training less overall AND enjoying pure pleasure.
I enjoyed the book, message, and exercises in "How to want what you have" (see the book thread for a few comments). I read Refuse to Choose by B. Sher. @7w5 has recommended this book and author many times (I think @grundomatic as well?). It was just okay overall because I have already implemented various strategies that she recommends towards my projects. This would have been a much better read for me personally a decade ago (recommended for sure!). I am a "master it" scanner according to her definition so tend to work on projects more deeply for longer periods but then abandon them all together once I know how to do them. Her advice to write up project summaries for the overall idea, what has been done so far, and what should be done next was a good reminder for physical projects. I do this for my digital projects, but should do it for physical projects as well. This can give you a sense of completion even if the project is not fully complete. "I got what I came for" and move on to other explorations. No apologies. Onward!
# DRAWING
28/30 full page days. This month I did a lot of figure drawing from imagination. All of the reps copying from images has paid off. Dynamic figures from imagination is now my default warm-up or go to. They also offer off the cuff story idea planning. What if the 02 in the atmosphere was greater concentration? Huge insects! (not actually well researched...just drawing board ideas). I finished most of my full comic script. The storyline is completed with some thumbnails. I have to work on the dialogue to call it fully done and check it off, but will do that after the panels/pages are roughed out.
I made an art portfolio website that is separate from my general website/blog. I have been so focused on learning that I need to take a few illustrations to completion to freshen this up in the coming months. We are still really active on our Proko Yo! art group and added a new member this month. I went on two art dates with my MTB/painting buddy. He is trying to convince me to do a few framed ink and water colors for an upcoming show in a neighboring town. The themes are usually more pop-art focused, but the curator seems to be open to interpretation. It would at least be a good way to meet other artists and grow the local scene. I plan to make a few postcard sized pieces ($20 each) and one larger piece ($60).
# OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
Movement stats above. I had a PR on my hard 18 mile route 3:15:44 with 1293 m (4200 feet) of gain. This was my last hard run before tapering for my race. I knew after this training run that physically the race would go well.
My post race recovery week did not go as planned. I joined a search and rescue (SAR) for a missing person in the neighboring watershed because I knew the area relatively well. I took some days off work and put in 48 hours of search time over four days with 75 km of hiking, tracking, mapping, grid searching etc. over steep thick forested terrain. The SAR did not have a conclusive ending which is a bummer for the family and loved ones seeking closure. In addition to meeting cool people and strengthening existing friendships, I found some good old growth groves that I did not know existed and will revisit at a later date. I had a serendipitous meeting with another volunteer on my search team. He is an active member of various trout organizations. We were chatting about my research and my idea for the trout project. He thought my current projects sounded cool and would be even cooler if applied to trout related watersheds as planned in my freedom to! project. He is going to introduce me to some folks at other trout/conservation orgs that might be interesting in funding it!
# WORK
My boss applied for another leadership position in an adjacent unit and wants me to follow if she gets it. Likely will (see above).
The water color kits I have been making using mostly trash are being noticed. I sold one for $10 to a person who saw me using one while sketching at the local watering hole. This money immediately was put in the hobby piggy bank. It would be really cool between making inks from charcoal and recycling paper if I could turn waste streams into funding for the hobby that produces the waste. Infinite game?
# SOCIAL
Wedding 2/3 this summer was fun. Van camped to save on housing, but gas prices were a gut punch.
After the race we had a joint bday party for a few members of our running crew and a celebration BBQ.
My college roommate and best friend visited for a few days. It was right during taper week so I was the most boring host. lol. He understood though.
The SAR community is really interesting. They were really organized and coordinate between groups with reciprocity agreements. I had an inkling of volunteering for more training with our local group, but now that is more of a possibility. SAR integrates a lot of my interests and you can get various trainings/certs for free through volunteering over time. I did not know this, but they are in special need for ski based winter related SAR missions. My winter/ski skills could be used for serving the community as well. It is a big time commitment because you are on call a lot, but I will start by going to the regular meetings in the fall to see how the leadership is. There would have to be a good group if you are going to be spending all that time out in stressful situations together.