PhDiaries, #5
In which I realise that a half-marathon is a really long way
This week’s email is too long for some email clients - if you get cut off you can finish reading on the Substack website or app.
Also, in the version of this email which I sent out on Monday morning, the link to my fundraising page for my Half Marathon instead went to my own Substack page - now updated below!
Monday:
This video from the Artemis II mission puts a smile on my face. The NASA comms team deserve to get raises.
It’s a Bank Holiday so I get the joy of sitting at my desk with the window open and no builder noise. The next door building has been covered with scaffolding for cladding replacement works for about two years now, which is quite possibly longer than it took to construct the building in the first place?
I do my weekly expenses check, both for myself and for quiz tournament invoices - and then do something very exciting: I push my brand new website live! Please do check it out and tell me what you think!
It’s the week of my half-marathon! This video hits home…
Before bed, I do my Greek Duolingo session (I’m spending a week in Greece this summer and wanted to learn some of the language ahead of that) - we’re finally past ‘the pink avocado’ and onto vocabulary I might need…
Tuesday:
I listen to an incredible episode of Betwixt The Sheets with Kate Lister and guest Diane Purkiss, talking about mermaids in folklore history and in both the Hans Christian Andersen versions of The Little Mermaid. I didn’t know the historical idea that women were cold and damp while men were warm and dry, but as a water baby myself (you’ll never convince me that Aquarius isn’t a water sign) I find the whole discussion fascinating.
Later in the morning, I’m doing the washing-up and discover that the handle has broken off one of my favourite mugs.
I fall down a rabbit-hole of homeware sites trying to find a replacement, but there’s nothing *quite the same* out there... I pop into TK Maxx on the way to uni and find something that’s close enough. I also find that they have a huge range of moka pots (both Bialetti and other brands), so in case anyone’s interested in making their coffee that way, I can recommend visiting your local branch to check out what they have.
Wednesday:
I send a bundle of email attachments over to my PhD supervisors for next week’s meeting. They’d asked me to have the literature review section of the thesis done by now, and I’m nowhere close. My work is at the intersection of three or four different fields of research, and each one has its own literature to review - so the document is almost 20,000 words (!) (plus references) and I hope that this at least shows the volume of work I’ve been doing, even if it doesn’t meet what they were hoping for. Send me luck for the meeting…
My pre-order of Caro Claire Burke's Yesteryear (ad - affiliate link) arrives and I go to bed early to crack it open and take my mind off PhD work. It's incredible, and I only put it down when I genuinely can't keep my eyes open any longer.
Thursday:
I start the day by finishing Yesteryear - it’s so well-written and tightly-structured; I highly recommend it. It will definitely be one of the big books of 2026; this is proved further by the fact that I put it on Vinted and it sells within 10 minutes.
One of the other Heated Rivalry obsessives in my life sends this edit of Heated Rivalry moments “set to time period accurate white girl music” and it’s *everything*.
I’ve saved this related Threads post, which makes me chuckle even more read in conjunction with that edit:
(If you haven’t watched Heated Rivalry yet, what are you doing?! It has been such a joy-bringer.)
Friday:
Someone on one of my Discord servers shares this Bluesky post, which is funny in its own right… and even more so when I properly read the name of the account it’s from. Táiwò is a Big Name in the climate justice literature - his book, Reconsidering Reparations (ad - affiliate link), is hugely influential. Always a bit of a funny moment when you encounter someone out of the context you’re used to seeing them in - like bumping into your schoolteacher in the supermarket.
Saturday:
The Artemis II crew are safely down! I adore this art from E Kelley Design; the mission has absolutely had me deep in my feelings all week and this just about finishes me off.
I set out to London for tomorrow’s half marathon, but not before I spend a couple of hours in a coffee shop trying to get my head around some mid-20th-century law and economics papers.
I get to my hotel and I’m overjoyed to discover that the decor is London Underground themed - and that this even extends to the carpet choice in the bedroom!
Then it’s time for a high-carb dinner and then an early night before race day…
Sunday:
It’s a beautiful morning in West London as I make my way over to the start area for the London Landmarks Half Marathon (eeeek!!)
My phone keeps buzzing with notifications that people have donated on my JustGiving page; I’m raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society, which is a cause incredibly close to my heart. At the time of writing this email, my fundraising has reached £959, which feels unreal.
If my fundraising has exceeded my expectations, it’s safe to say the race itself goes the other way a bit. I try my best not to let the crowd pull me forward but I still run the first few kilometres significantly faster than I intended (or had trained for) and between that and some painful surprise blisters (despite wearing my usual sock-shoe combination) I end up having to ‘brisk walk’ rather than run most of the second half of the race. And it turns out that 21.1 kilometres is a really long way??? I’ve definitely run further - and felt stronger - on many of my long training runs than I managed in the race, but I still made it around. My parents and godmother have come into town to cheer me on, and the twisty-turny route means I get to see them twice, which is lovely.
I manage a run up to the finish line and get given my medal by a Chelsea Pensioner, which feels very special. Then it’s time to pick up my bag, put fresh socks and a warm layer on, and meet up with my parents. We head down to Gloucester Road so I can have a quick shower and then it’s time for Pizza Express!
After long runs I always find that I have a weirdly small appetite, so I take half my pizza back to the hotel to finish later, but the bitter fizz of the Crodino spritz that’s been added to the Pizza Express non-alcoholic drinks menu is exactly what I want.
I did it!!!
