Moving On (to new blog)

On December 11, 2008, I made my first blog entry on "Medievalist Running in Circles,"

I am almost 2 months into my marathon training, and wanted to share my progress, since now people keep asking how the training is going. I kept diaries on occasion when I was 6, in middle school, and then in college, but I’d like to now keep up a regular writing habit – something I hope will help me write my dissertation someday.

I wrote that toward the end of my first semester of my master's program in medieval history at The Catholic University of America. I had just moved to Washington, D.C. I arrived knowing no one and though I had a general knowledge of and love for medieval history, had yet to embark on my professional training as a historian.

From that first post, I ultimately wrote 493 posts over the course of almost a decade. My posts hit on a variety of topics, ranging from debuting in the marathon, to facing a diagnosis of Celiac Disease, to running in the Boston Marathon in 2010 and 2011, to getting engaged, to the various steps of writing the dissertation, ultimately culminating to defending my dissertation and earning my Ph.D.

But now I'm working on something much bigger, but without this blog, it wouldn't have come together.

I'm writing a book! While the majority of my doctoral program was spent writing my dissertation on the voice of the Virgin Mary in the later Middle Ages, I also kept up with this blog. Although I wasn't running as much in those later years of the program, I was keeping notes about the writing process, and the various obstacles I faced, both internally and externally. After graduating, I could see how these stories fit together in a larger narrative.

It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Lessons Learned on the Road to the Marathon and Ph.D will tell the story of a young woman who, in the process of becoming a medieval historian, realized that running could serve as an effective tool to vanquish imposter syndrome and anxiety. Although both challenges may seem to be in stark opposition to one another, they share a lot in common, and both require overcoming significant mental roadblocks.

There will be parts of the book that connect more with writers and students: other sections will resonate with runners and other athletes. The advice I’ve received and lessons I’ve learned along this journey translate into both sectors. But I hope that the larger message of this book will resonate those who are taking on any new challenge: whether it’s going to school, taking up a sport, starting a new job, beginning a family, or any other endeavor that at times seems insurmountable.

While I'm working to get this book off the ground, I'll be writing over at VanessaRoseCorcoran.WordPress.com The story I started as "The Medievalist Running in Circles" has come to an end, but I'm looking forward to the next chapter ahead. Thank you for reading this blog. It's been a great journey, and I hope you'll follow me over to WordPress to follow the new one.