Author: stillrunninglibrarian

Hi! My name is Paul and I am trying to get a head start on 2015 by creating a blog that is about me as a runner and librarian. As a runner, I am going to be more open about my running escapades. I will write about running from a current perspective with a little bit of my running history in the mix. As a librarian, I will do my best to be open and sincere about why I love being a librarian. I may mention a book or two, but mostly I will be writing about why I love to work with individuals, nonprofit and for-profits, and communities more than write about why I prefer nonfiction over fiction titles. I will write about librarianship from a diplomatic perspective that will not tie into my workplace or any library organizations/associations/agencies. I look forward to adding blogging to my life. Much regards, stillrunninglibrarian

Ready To Go!

It’s Tuesday morning, and I could not be anymore happy than to state that 1) I am only working 4 hours today and 2) I will be in Southwest Florida by 9 pm tonight.  I love work.  I love work so much that I have not had more than two days off from work since last April.  As a librarian who manages and coordinates a grant-funded project, I have to use my time wisely today.  In four hours, I will:

  • At least acknowledge every email that came in over the three-day weekend.
  • Have answers for the emails that have deadlines or are higher on the priority scale.
  • Make myself available to all staff who are involved with the project till I am officially on vacation.
  • Leave notes about what I need to do once I am back from vacation (Thank You Google Calendar!).
  • Be as realistic as possible about what can actually be accomplished in 4 hours (I took care of this part at the end of last week, which mostly involved finishing anything that was a big priority at the time.).

In Southwest Florida, I will be catching up with family and friends and finally running the Miami Half Marathon on Sunday.  I look forward to the family and friends part more than the running because the running has settled me down too much.  Different restaurants, stores, scenary, and conversations with a heaping of rest and relaxation will be on my main agenda.

The past four months of running have made me realize that when you are coming back from injury and illness, your main goal should just be to enjoy running as a whole sport.  Don’t get me wrong:  I want to run fast and strong.  I want to be as competitive as possible, which is mostly done by using my head, heart, and legs (exactly in that order) more than talent.

I will be back after vacation.

Fun in the Snow

It’s January 6, 2015 and Maryland is officially on the snow map.  I woke up at 5 am to find out that 1) too many cars and trucks that do not have plows attached to them are outside and 2) I was not going to be able to sleep in because of a work delay or closing.  I decided to make the most of it outside for 50 minutes zigzagging around downtown Towson and West Towson.

Running in the snow, which can be fun if done correctly and strategically, was accomplished by doing the following:

1)  run mostly on the sidewalks compared to on the road:  the sidewalks had firm, compact snow while the roads were mush and slush and slippery.

2)  only go fast on the straightaways:  the run ended up becoming a landmark run:  run from one point on straightaway to the another point on the same straightaway.

3)  take it easy around the turns:  I figured that if I was recovering on windy areas, then while should I become a Nascar driver?

4)  layer up:  I used to be scared that wearing too many layers of clothing on a faster running day would be counterproductive and uncomfortable.  As I have gotten older, I have found out that wearing several layers in 20 degree and colder temperatures makes the coffee taste better once you’re back inside.

Running: There’s 19 days left till the Miami Half Marathon, and I am still healthy and happy with making quick step progress.  I look forward to Thursday’s next fast day, snow or no snow.

Librarian:  Quick and to the point:  librarians are team players.  I was very happy to find out that some of the librarians that I see online on a somewhat basis did more than they had to this morning because some of the libraries were closed or had delayed openings.  This made my day less stressful.

Enjoy the photo of the otter running in the snow!

Happy “Less Than One Day To Go” New Years!

Good afternoon, I am excited to be sending out my first blog posting.  It’s a long time coming because I kept blogging on my to-do list since I watched Julie and Julia a few years back.  I am unfortunately not a great cook like Amy Adams’ Julia in that movie, but I had dreams (in no particular order) about blogging, food, and Julia Child.

Running:  I am about 3.5 weeks away from running the Miami Half Marathon.  I signed up for this race way too long ago, and could not help myself, because my wife had such a great time running the full.  At this point I am sticking to the safest plan I could possibly think of in preparation of this event:  don’t get hurt, help your wife run fast, and think about how much fun it will be to eat at Versailles a few days before the event.

Librarian:  I get too much joy out of making sure customers get something placed in their virtual hands.  Today I gave a how-to about Overdrive and Free-ebooks.net to a “reluctant with technology, but I got a Kindle for Christmas so I must learn” customer.  I received a Happy New Year! from him:  that’s more than enough for a :).  For any librarian that does less direct customer service and more administrative duties, relationship building, and report writing, an eBook question is a nice change of pace.

I will see you in a week.  Happy “Less Than One Day To Go” New Years!