To celebrate my successful completion of a 10K without dying, I ran a 5K. My employing university was hosting the fun run as part of its homecoming weekend, so I figured I could support a jog around the hilly campus. The P.E. department offered extra credit to students who participated, luring a sizeable number of familiar freshman faces to the crowd at the starting line. A few of them shuffled along at the same speed as I do, and I instinctually used them as pacers.

It wasn’t until I finished the 5K that I realized being chased across campus by your professor might be the stuff of nightmares. 🏃🏼‍♀️

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I’m road-tripping home for Thanksgiving, grateful for a multi-day break after 13 weeks of racing to stay a step ahead of students. These bright pupils keep gobbling up information as fast as I prepare it… then stopping by during office hours for individual education sessions. So I stay late and arrive early at the office to get one day ahead, even as I relish one-on-one time to help each student grapple with topics like respiratory alkalosis and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone mechanism.

I’ve learned that a box of tissues is an office staple equal to paper clips and hanging file folders. A 100-level science class that is a foundation course for your dream career can hold a lot of weight, and exam grades can bring one to tears. But don’t be misinformed: students aren’t the only ones using the tissues. Writing exams has proven to be quite a learning curve as well, and number-crunching to give fair grades has been accompanied by many sighs, moans, and a few sniffles.

I’m enjoying this tiring race enough that I’ve asked to make it a semester longer. I’ve been allowed to continue teaching A&P I & II, and I’m looking forward to having time to spend thinking about how to make the material engaging, rather than just getting familiar enough with it to be able to spell hypothalamohypophysial portal correctly on the whiteboard (on the second try). Did you know that professors continue to learn, too? It’s like that thing newly christened adults learn about adulting: no one knows exactly how to keep step in the dance of life — they’re just swinging their arms wildly and trying to keep the beat without faceplanting.

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I’m excited for a week to catch my breath… and get a 2-3 day headstart on my students. ☺️ Just two weeks of classes and some final exams remain before we cross the finish line of fall semester. I’m grateful to have another round come January. 👩🏼‍🏫