THE MARATHON!

I finished my first (Atlanta ING) Marathon today in 4:00.16 - it feels great to have accomplished something i have wanted to do for so long.

the drama of the race... My friend (who was running with me, R,) and I were going along pretty well, well ahead of our target pace to finish in 4 hours. Around mile 9, R started to feel nauseous etc and we started losing time. It so happens that my house is right around mile 15... so i ran ahead to the house (from mile 14.5ish) and grabbed her some ibuprofen and another shirt to wear. while was getting her stuff i told her to run ahead and ill catch up... so i run to catch up and give her the stuff... anyways she still doesnt feel so good around mile 19, so she insisted that i go ahead and try to break 4 hours... My last 7 miles were ridiculous. i passed at least two hundred people and was going much faster then my original goal pace ( i was trying to make up for lost time from going slower earlier while R wasnt feel well) i ended just 17 seconds slower then what i wanted... im still really happy because just the time i had to make up in those last 7 miles means i really was going pretty fast.

the course was hilly. and it was raining. and it was cold. and it was AWESOME!. i cant wait to do my next marathon! im going to sign up for next year's atlanta ING marathon!

it was a great day, except my whole body hurts. R's mom said i looked like i was walking "with a stick up my ass." lovely. It was totally worth the hurt!

also - my sister and her good friend ran the new york half marathon today too! they are awesome mighty!! (inside joke, sorry!)

good job everyone!

So sunny, so... recycled air.

Its beautiful outside. its warm, blue skies, perfect spring day in atlanta.... And im breathing recycled air at lab and soon at a meeting...

The meeting is fr my summer program, where they are providing me a stipend to research in London for ten weeks. Catch is, the stipend is not going to cover all my costs... Whatever, its still a much cheaper way to spend some time in a sweet place.

also of note: roomies and myself will be signing our lease in the next week! im very excited to be living like a somewhat real human being this upcoming year.

AND: Marathon in a day and a half!

if god had a cruel sense of humor...

... he would have this friday and sat be the most gorgeous, beautiful days of spring in atlanta... and make it cold and rainy on sunday... I've been checking the weather reports for this weekend about as often as i check my email and facebook, and its just stressing me out. 80% chance of rain to 75% to 30% back to 55% and how 40%.... why not 0%? that would be wonderful.

besides for the run this sunday, what else is going on... I dunno - thats pretty much my highlight. cant wait til its over...

Cacophony

I am currently sitting in the 7th floor stacks of my esteemed university's sizable library. This is supposed to be a quiet place... What do I hear? Boy and girl flirting in the corner... a cell phone vibrating every 45 seconds, korean, and of course the incessant clickity-clackity of rapid fire typing. I came here for quiet, and instead i am sitting here writing this post to avoid my work and blaming it all on the annoying ambiance noises that should be ambiance noises.... I need a quiet, convenient place to study, this is going to drive me mad...

on a more happy note, or several more happy notes, i ran for the first time today with one of my friends whom i have been trying to run with for a while now. we had a nice run and a nice chat.

also, i met with my fourth and final recommender for med school apps and he was very nice, positive and encouraging. It did make me feel much better about my overall chances.

Any two more koreans walked by, and of course they have to stop and chat with every single other korean on this floor in the library, which happens to be everyone.... AHHHHH!!

lesser of two evils?

Spring Break came and went... emory is starting to fill up again and i finally will be able to stop being an ascetic... but at the same time i wish i hard more time to catch up on the stuff i have to do... the marathon coming up next weekend is occupying most of my thoughts, and getting it over with will do wonders for me (both in freeing up time and in making me feel better about myself) good news: composite letter application stuff is almost done. Funny story about that- i sent a draft to my brother to check it over (figuring he would be able to give me some good pointers, since after all he is in the application/admissions business!) i get a phone call from him a few minutes later... "hey little bro! i think i already drank 6 dollars worth of wine... (when a bottle is 3$....) He then hands me off to his girlfriend, who is now in the process of editing/correcting/generally helping out. The whole situation amuses me, but hey, ill take help from where ever it make come...

speaking of help from wherever, storytime! My dad and I were in some church in italy when a priest comes over to us and starts chatting with (Priest: where you from? Me: Upstate NY. Priest: Im from Wapingerrrrrr Falls! Me: (in my head, oh god, dont molest me!) Oh, thats close! Priest: let me offer you a blessing! Me: sure! thanks!
Anyways, moral of the story - (im jewish) take help/prayers/blessings from anywhere you can get it - hey, they can always be right!

Anyways, back to sarcomeres, actin, myosin, troponin and tropomyosin!

Update: Mileage Tally

6 weeks - 200 miles.

7 days until the marathon!

New sneakers ordered! (no im not going to use the new ones for the race...)

:-D

8am's and Saturdays

I got up this morning at 730am to head over to the local running store where they were having several group runs. I met a bunch of nice people and we had a great 9 mi run... it turns out that one of the runner's husband works in the lab right next to mine! yay coincidences. afterwards the running shop had free lunch and a free raffle, where i won an awesome long sleep running shirt! all in all, i was back by 10am, energized, with a fully tummy and a free shirt. So far so good!

adventure of the day: trying to find another pair of my running shoes... My one pair is pretty worn, and it would be good to get another soon... So i set out to quest for a pair of Mizuno Nexus 3 size 8.5. As it turns out, NOBODY in my stupid city has them... i ended up giving up and special ordering them from the running store (id rather get it through them and support them after all the free stuff i got from them this morning!). trying to make my outing slightly more productive, i headed over to borders to try and get the travel book ive been wanted to purchase for a while... Well... They actually had it! (Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring). I checked the price, and its 10$ more there then online. Really borders? Im going home to order it.
So for two hours out of my day, coming home empty handed i learned the true value of the internet: stop wasting time and just order your stuff online.

Back at the library! story of my life

Rainy days makes getting out of bed all the harder...

Last night i planned a productive day- Ill go to sleep early, wake up early, finish up at lab, have a few hours at the library and then go to gym. Well, i woke up to the sound of rain beating down upon my dilapidated house and knew that the bike or walk to work would be all the more fun this morning.... which of course prompted me to snooze my alarm for an hour.

finally made it out - at lab trying to get some good results for once. So far i have taken care of two med school recommendations, and the other two are coming along. Just have to finish my application for the composite letter by the end of the week...

hopefully ill be done at lab in the hour and a half and i can lock myself in the library for a few hours. We'll see. I need to get a lot done, and there is no better time then spring break, when i know they cant give me more work for at least a few more days...

did i mention im really nervous for my marathon? taking three days off like i did last weekend while i was in boston was terrible - catching up to where i was is going to take a while - i hope i can actually run this race...

My sister is taking the GREs today... Im thinking about her so she has to ACE IT!! who knows, i might end up at a med school in the same locale as her grad school... talk about catching up!

The Beauty of Life

Yesterday morning i awoke to a terrible phone call; it was my brother telling me that our first cousin was found dead in her dorm room. This came as huge shock to the family, and all of us are grappling with our feelings and how to best handle it, especially since we were all supposed to have a family gathering for out grandmother's 80th birthday next weekend...

It is from terrible things like this that makes me realize appreciate the world. Life is a beautiful, to be cherished and enjoyed. There is so much to benefit from, so much to see, so much to do, so much love and beauty... All experiences, from the good to the bad, are a blessing in the fact that we can experience them at all. Fail a test? So what, there is still a life to live, etc. It saddens me that it takes tragic events like this for me to realize how much there IS to live for.

I cannot imagine the anguish someone must feel when they can no longer see the merit in living... I hope that I can perhaps build better bonds with others and make myself more open so that I could perhaps make someone feel special enough to get through their own dark times...

I fly out tomorrow afternoon to be with my family... After all the tragic deaths in my family over the last few years, this is just adding more hurt on to it all, but in a terrible way we are almost used to it...

Somethings we should never be desensitized to, but we are, after all, only human.