California #1

I took a break from packing to go on a run with Reese this afternoon. I felt a little dizzy and out of shape, but I felt good getting outside in the sun and feeling my heart race. I was overwhelmed from trying to pack everything I might possibly need in a year into two backpacks. Am I packing too much? Too little? Time will tell. So I went outside to clear my head. Running makes me feel good because it instantly gives me the feeling that I’ve just made a positive decision in my life. It gives me a chance to process my thoughts, whether it’s stress, a language problem, a mental problem, or my next best idea. I have great ideas when I run sometimes. My first qualifying paper was “solved” on the Stanford track during a moonlit interval session. Being on the Stanford Tri team these past two years has given me an energy outlet and a place to feel happy when work made me feel so inadequate. There’s also a connection with A since I know how much he loves running and how much he loves when I run too.

So since running is such a creative outlet for me, I had this idea today to make it the running (ha!) theme of my writing. I know that I want to write and keep a record of this year in Australia and Papua New Guinea. First, I want to be a writer; I want to write a book about how much I love what I do in Limol. I also want the people I love to feel connected to something I love. I feel like I’ve never been able to properly retell what this part of my life is like. Finally, and probably most importantly, I don’t want to forget. The experiences I have, the knowledge I learn, the stories I hear are important. I feel like it’s my responsibility to not let these unique observations fade away. So, I had this idea to start a blog as a writing exercise while I’m gone. I’m nervous that I will say too much and too little. I’m nervous that my anxiety of having to retell my experience will change my experience before it even happens. I’m nervous that I won’t be good or that I won’t keep it up. But I don’t think it will be for nothing.

So every day, I’m going to attempt to run a 5k (for the mental, physical, and intellectual benefits described above). And every day, I will spend 25 minutes (no more) writing down my running thoughts and breakthroughs. What will come out won’t be edited or comprehensive, but it will be a truth that I feel and maybe one day it will turn itself into a memoir or sorts. With a great editor.

Six years ago, my advisor and academic idol told me that one day he would read one of my books with as much interest and excitement as I told him I read one of his. That’s when I knew I would one day write a great book and that I have important knowledge to share. Maybe it will be my dissertation, the completed Ende dictionary, an ethnography of the Ende tribe, or a travel memoir. Maybe a collection of short stories or a comparative manuscript of the languages in the South Fly. Maybe it will be a children’s book for Sierra, a how-to-do fieldwork guide, or an article on community-centered collaborative fieldwork. I don’t know! But I want to write these things, and as I tell A all the time: if you want to be a writer, you have to start writing.

So, thanks for sharing in this journey with me. I think that most of my running “ah-ha” ideas are like this one: very obvious after the fact. Running keeps me healthy and happy and feeds my creativity and inspiration. This is the space where I’ll let out those thoughts! That was 25 minutes – a lot longer than I expected initially…

Until next time,

Kate