It turns out that graduate students are not always confined to their offices, writing late into the night until carpal tunnel forces them to eat a meal and sleep for a few hours. Work-life balance is something that all academics tend to struggle with, but is incredibly important for productivity (and overall quality of life). I have a working theory that academics tend to choose hobbies that are long-term. As a subpopulation that is comfortable spending 4-7+ years on one degree, we are also comfortable spending five months working on one knitting pattern or committing to a long form board game. The long term hobby I chose to pursue is long distance running, because running 30+ miles takes less time than debugging code. On top of this, I also rock climb, cook, and love to travel.

Running

Shockingly I was still smiling after the Dirty 20 50K in Golden, CO, in June 2019. It was also the most beautiful course I’ve ever run and I can’t wait to take it on again next year.

Climbing

If you take climbing pictures from the right angle, no one has to know you’re only ten feet off the ground. It also helps to have friends who have nice cameras.

Travel

Women’s World Cup 2019 in Lyon, France. There are no words for what this experience was like.