Since June when I last blogged about my running experiences in Colorado, I have been running during many of my lunchtime runs -- but at a new work location.
On Aug. 15, I became an assistant professor of journalism at Murray State University, a place I have loved for many years. As you probably can discern, my new job is the reason why I haven't blogged in a while.
But I always found time to run.
For the fall 2013 semester, I run during my lunch on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The other two days I run later in the afternoon. Murray State's campus is flat. No hills. Not a good thing. However, I found a decent incline near the football stadium to do my hill repeats, and so far, it has worked well. The campus is not as contained as Austin Peay State University, in that the layout does not stretch as widely as Murray State. This means my warmup is sometimes 1.5 miles or more. The same is true when I do speed work; the track is almost two miles from my office. Not only do I get a nice warmup, but I run a much needed cooldown, too.
The campus has a heavy traditional student population, and you can tell between class changes as students walk -- or bike -- between classroom buildings and residence halls. I generally run on the city sidewalks outlining the university so that I am not weaving around students as much.
I have to say there is a pep in my step when I run at Murray State. I love seeing the "We Are Racers" slogan when I run near the stadium and track, and now I am longing to do a marathon. Maybe that can become possible in 2014. For now, I can only concentrate on 5Ks, as I am still carving my groove into the faculty side of academia. That's OK. I am just glad to be both a runner and a Racer!
