Weekend Photos

The moonrises here are spectacular! Though I am hoping for the moon to fade away, as once it does there is a good chance of seeing the northern lights, which I have never seen and would love to!

Taken by Kim - me on the ski lift. The bunny slope ski lift that is. With a very vicious ending to it......having never fallen over on one before, i've come a cropper on this one almost every other run!

And at the other end! Photo by Kim!

And my teachers - Sammy (who turns 3 tomorrow!) and Carney. Photo by Kim.

The snow bunnies! Kim, Taylor and me! Photo by Kim.

Indoor 10K

This weekend there was an indoor marathon, half marathon and 10K. Considering I haven't run for 6 weeks (since the marathon - yikes!) I decided the 10K was enough, and boy was that a smart decision. Saturday we went skiing in the afternoon (so much fun!) and I came home with a migraine. Then the dregs of a cold got to me and I've been stuffed up and hoarse ever since. So I ended up not eating much saturday night, feeling like poo, but better enough sunday AM to go and do it anyway. To be honest I was intrigued. And I was somewhat of a celebrity coming from Hawaii. But it was pretty good, quite a few people, so I didn't totally bring up the rear. 1hr and 5 minutes, not bad.

Happy Weekend!

The moonrise on my walk home tonight. At a balmy -4F.

I officially started working in the paleo lab today (this week i've been optimizing PCR primers in Carney's lab, to save on costs - if I did it in the clean lab it would be horrendously expensive, and I just need to figure out the program to run when I get to the clean lab). It's been an interesting, if not as lab productive as wanted, week. I'd had some +ve control DNA sent from Hawaii to Thunder Bay on tuesday when I realised I was (really) short on it here. It was sent overnight fedex. Well, it's friday, and no DNA. It went to Toronto, then Memphis, then Toronto, then Memphis, then Toronto again, then sat, then finally cleared customs, and then got stuck in a snowstorm enroute. So no DNA. And Fedex is closed tomorrow so I can't even get it over the weekend. Sucks, to say the least, and has held up things here (I ran out of what I had on Weds evening).

So little more to do than go skiing and enjoy the snow! Well, that's not entirely true, I did manage to optimize two primer sets, so will be in the clean lab running those on my fossil DNA this weekend. But tomorrow little Sammy and I shall be going skiing for a couple of hours (we're both at the same level!) and then sunday I have an indoor 10K and Kim and I will do a little snowshoeing in the afternoon I hope. So a fun, and hopefully productive, weekend ahead. I also sent out my first proposal draft to my collaborators today. Wasn't in as good a shape as I wanted it to be before I sent it out, but time is ticking. So I also need to spend a good few hours a day on that over the weekend too.

Hope you all have a good one!

Sun, Snow and Skiing!

And Happy Birthday Lucy - One Today!

Well, i'm here, and apologise for the giant blog break, it's been busy and relaxing all at the same time. Let's catch up. So I flew from Honolulu to SFO and spent 2 days with Stian, Nicola & Co., went to see his new house, saw the kiddos (oh so cute!) and had a wonderful dinner with Barbara and Carlo - thank you so much for the hospitality you guys, was great to catch up!

Then onto Canada! A long long day of flights. I'd ordered some snow boots to Nicola's house to pick up enroute, and I ummed and ahhhed as to whether I really needed them (they weren't cheap - not expensive for snow boots, but not cheap) and whether I could get by in my hiking boots. Just so we're clear, it took me all of 1 second stepping foot in Canada to not regret that purchase.

The last flight of the day was a 8pm hopper flight from Minneapolis to Thunder Bay, 45 minutes in a tiny plane. My snow boots didn't fit well in my luggage so I wore them that day. When we left MSP we were warned a storm was coming through and we might get to TB and have to turn around. We got to TB and were told that we could land, they just had to plough the runway. So ten minutes later we were on the ground, ploughs were all over the place trying to keep the runways clear (it was snowing!). Remembering there are no tunnels at TB airport, I was suddenly glad not only I had snow boots, but that I was wearing them! The plane taxied, then took a bump over a snow bank, drove through the snow and up to the terminal. The ladder was pulled up and they didn't even plough a path! Though I was cozy I did feel bad for the ladies wearing slippers!

A successful pick up from Carney and I was fully in Thunder Bay (AND - the smuggled pineapple made it all the way from Hawaii!). The first day was glorious, just about 0F and sunny. In hindsight I wasted that day, as I went into the lab all day (but I guess that is what i'm here for....), as for the last 2 days it's been -20F instead and a little cold to play in the snow. That said, this afternoon, after 2 gels and another PCR in the machine, Carney took me to the ski hill for an hour of up and down the bunny slope. I'm pleased to report I think i'm now back to where I was with skiing on my last go 2 years ago (to put this in perspective i've had 2 days on the ski slopes in my life, separated by 5 years). Now I have to decide whether to take an intermediate lesson or whether just to practice....i'm excited by being somewhere I can ski more than once and even have the opportunity to take more than one lesson. The big deal is skiing is free (Carney is ski patrol so can get a buddy pass) whereas i'd have to pay for lessons ($45). Any thoughts from skiers much appreciated - I don't want to tackle the black slopes or anything, but would like to get to the point where I could tackle any blue or green when I go places, rather than feeling I always need to take a lesson every time I jump on skis...

The most exciting thing so far is catching up with Kim, Carney and the girls! We've already got lots of fun things planned, the first may be a 10K indoor race this sunday.....well okay, so that's not as fun, but there are other plans like skating, sledding and mushing afoot! Alongside, PCR, Extractions, Sequencing, and writing a proposal that is.......

The view from the deck - snow!

The biggest change in the family is Taylor is walking! She only started a week ago, but has already got down the running away when you call her name!

And my first gel! I seem to have hit PCR hell already (anyone in molecular bio will know what I mean here....), but this first gel went "okay".....good to get the bugs out the way early I guess.....

Getting ready to go....

It's been quite the busy few weeks and now i'm looking at leaving on Thursday for SFO to see the Alesandrinis (yay!) and then to Can-eh-dia for 4 weeks to do some lab work! It's been hectic, i've been helping some friends with some desperately needed house stuff and trying to get a proposal together to go in for mid-Feb. I also seem to have got myself overwhelmed with other things too, so it goes. I suspect I won't blog again until Canada, so hope you all have a good week!

Little Hannah

Got to spend some time with little Hannah Engels-Holdt this week, she is such a cutie-pie!

Helping me sort my bills.....already better at the financial side of things than i'll ever be!

Hanging out in Grodnick.

Backpacks for Belize

A good friend of mines mother is participating in an expedition to provide medical care and basic supplies to the Holy Cross Anglican School in San Pedro, Belize. The group she works with has a long standing relationship with the school and this year the plan is to provide backpacks and school supplies to children in need.

- If you have a used (or new) backpack or book bag in good condition that you don't use, consider donating to this cause.

- If you can "load" the bag that is also much appreciated - they are specifically looking for - colouring books, paper, tape, pens, pencils, chalk and erasers, stickers, sharpeners and hand sanitizer (though any school type supplies i'm sure would be much appreciated).

If you have a bag to donate you can either send it to the address below or if you live in the Raleigh-Durham area Alyssa will pick them up (just drop me a note and i'll put you in touch). I'll personally be sending a few bags along - every conference I go to I seem to get a bag that sits unused, this is a great way for them to be used by those in need!

Alyssa Hopkins

2204 Garden Place

Raleigh

NC 27607

It's been a hectic week, and still continues to be so, so i'm just posting a few Maui photos and will catch everyone up on the scoop soon! It's one week till I head to Canada. Kathy is here until tomorrow evening and i'll be sad to see her go, we've not only got a ton of work done, but have also had a lot of fun in the process. I sure miss my Woods Holians!

Some photos of the 5 day (work....honest) trip to Maui.....

Haleakala - I took Kathy up there one day and we did a short hike into the crater to a cinder cone on the western edge. One of my favorite places and the weather was perfect - we could even see the Big Island!

The tourist photo at the topmost ranger station. Though i've been here since, I haven't had my photo taken in this spot since 2001 (it's on the righthand slideshow somewhere!).

Our "office". Quite perfect in every way. Ocean view, garden setting, covered Hale, power outlets and even a tiki bar right behind us - what more could you need? We got a ton of work done in this very spot!

View from the Kaanapali Beach Hotel. Hawaii's most Hawaiian Hotel - I love this place as tacky as it might be! We went swimming almost everyday and snorkeled under Black Rocks (at the far end of this picture) where there are some pretty impressive reefs and fish.

Kathy is here!

My friend Kathy from Woods Hole is here, so excuse my little blogging break! We're working on some Alaska data together, and are off to Maui to escape the office and work there for a few days on Thursday, can't wait! It's unfortunately pouring down right now, hoping the weather clears up for her!

Have a great week!

In front of the Waikiki Duke statue

Enjoying a Mai Tai and a Lava Flow!

Christmas Horsey

With my teaching schedule I didn't get to make as many gifts this year as i hoped to, and ended up buying some here and there. I did get to make some woolly hats for my nephew and niece, and some soap for family and friends.

One crafty piece i'm particularly pleased with was a surprise find over the summer. I was staying at Jenny and Doug's while they were on the East coast and saw a yard sale a street over from them one day. As I drove by I saw a little wooden horse for sale, so stopped and took a look. $5 and it was in good condition (all be it poo brown), so I picked it up for little Hannah, thinking i'd refinish it. Doug and Jenny had all the right tools to sand it down too, so I took advantage while I was staying there, then painted it slowly over the last few months. It didn't come out quite as I first envisioned, but I still think it came out great! I wish I lived closer to by nephew and niece to do things like this for them, so thank you Hannah for being my substitute niece!

I forgot to take a photo of the initial - it was a thick (thick!) all over coat of poo brown! Here it is after an initial power sanding. The paint was so thick you could barely see the carved out eyes. There were some holes to fill too, but it was mostly in really good shape.

Starting the (many) primer coats.

Primers done and ready for some colour. This took me the longest time, as I couldn't decide what colours to do! All the colours were water based acryllic with a water based varnish, so, although not the toughest, all very kiddie safe and I did enough coats, it should last a pretty long while.

The finished product! The dapple wasn't initially planned, but I thought cute, and Jenny likes red, which is a great neutral colour to be passed down to subsequent children too.

Widgets

I love Macs. They have all these handy widgets on them. I was just looking up where Jenny, Doug and Hannah's flight is (they've been in Oregon for the holidays) and all my temperatures of various places popped up. From the bottom up - San Francisco, Punta Arenas, London, Thunder Bay and Boston. On the left is Honolulu. Note the difference between Honolulu and Thunder Bay (the place in Canada i'm heading to in 3 weeks). Yikes!

What is more funny is every time the temp for Thunder Bay pops up, I check it's set on Farenheit and not Celcius. And yes, every time, it is indeed set to Farenheit.

Goals for 2010

Welcome to 2010, how did yours go? It's not been a great start for me, but I keep telling myself it's a new year so just keep pushing forward. Our major funding agency here in the US decided to release proposal rejections the morning of New Years eve. So I found out that the one big grant i've been waiting on, and really wanting to get funded, did not. I still have one more in the works, one that though exciting, is small potatoes compared to the one that did not.

I wrote two big grants this year, big money, good salary and to be perfectly honest, awesome science. One went into Polar Programs for some more experiments on my Antarctic larvae. To be peer reviewed you get 5 reviewers and then a panel of experts that decide on your proposal. You are then ranked and they fund as many as they can going down the list. That proposal came back with awesome reviews, and an awesome panel review, and yet was not funded. The panel even said to resubmit it next year (June 2010). That was big grant #1 and I heard about that a few weeks ago. That was irritating, but okay, because I was waiting on my other big grant, and I knew it went through the first round of rejections as I know other people who had their rejections already. Proposal #2 was to go to Chile, to do a seasonal study on some fjord corals. They haven't released the reviews as yet, so I don't know what went down. All I know is that it did not get funded. I personally don't think they should tell you until they release the reviews.

This has hit me hard in a number of ways. 1) My heart is really in that proposal, it's a fabulous project, with awesome science, a great group of collaborators and will really push forward our understanding of deep-water corals; 2) without that salary i'm pretty much going to be on 75% salary for the next year, Hawaii isn't getting any cheaper, and there probably goes my chances of getting to the UK this year; 3) without that salary, and without the potential for that salary until this time next year, i'm pushing the extent of my position here, it'll be a close call, and there is no guarantee it would get funded next time around either; 4) the job in Maine that i'm shortlisted for is looking hard at how much funding you're bring in, my inability to bring in those two large grants will not help me in getting that job, and it may throw me out; and 5) I was hoping to get a good amount of funding this year to convince the dean to sponsor me for a Greencard, now I don't feel i'm in a position to ask. I have a few more years on my work visa, but it's unbelievably stressful to renew and live by.

So that's been my last few days, not fun ones, i'm really pissed off and my faith in my ability to do what I do is severely knocked, I'm just not sure i'm cut out for this. 100% soft money sucks, to be kicked out of the country if I don't get that salary sucks even more. I've managed to keep myself going for the last 4 years, but in this financial climate I just don't know if I can do it anymore. If it is to do with the financial climate, maybe my science just sucks. I don't think so, but I haven't been able to write a funded grant in over a year now, that's not good.

As always, keep moving forwards. New year, new decade, maybe this one will be better. I'll be 32 this year, apparently my lucky number, so we'll see. I did pretty well on my 2009 goals, but I need to keep it up.......so here they are, my 2010 goals/resolutions/objectives - whatever you would like to call them....

Health

• Loose (and keep off) 10lbs - this year I lost 15 and put on 10, need to loose that 10 again!
• Cut the junk food - cook more from scratch, more packed lunches! I don't eat out much here in Hawaii, but when I travel it becomes an issue. My 10lbs were put back on during my trip back to Woods Hole and Canada. I'm not sure how to get over my hectic travel, but eating better at home all the time is a good start. Less funding = less travel too, so maybe this issue will be okay this year.

Fitness

• Get the gym back into my week - it really is the best way for me I think, as I can go at my own pace and time. Not sure how this is going to work out, there is the free uni gym that's always packed and not so nice, or maybe i'll try out one of those 24hr fitness places and see how that goes. If I go back to paying gym fees, I need to make use of it, i'm not keen to go this route, but I need the stress relief.
• Run another 1/2 marathon - not sure whether to do the same one again or another one, but either way, this is a goal i'm sticking to!
• Try a sprint triathlon - could be fun, and there are lots of low key ones here to try
• Cycle more - my bike has come out a little, but still hurts my knees (I stopped when marathon training got serious for fear of hurting my knees beyond running), so I need to keep going and see if I can strengthen them. If not, it's by by to the bike.
• Improve my distance swimming - I used to be a really really strong swimmer, and I want to get that back. There's nothing better than feeling completely confident in the water.

Finances

This category is somewhat bittersweet to me right now, because of the above, i'm not sure the top two are obtainable. I wrote these before I heard about the last big grant I was waiting for, so i've left them in. This is where I would like to be with my finances, i'll try as hard as I can on both of them and see where I am this time next year.

• Pay down my debt - (other than student loans, which are being paid monthly and are low interest), I want everything else I gained as a graduate student at least halved by 2011, if not more. I've ignored it for too long, I need to pay it attention in 2010
• Save up for a 2011 hiking trip - Kili, Nepal, NZ, Machu Picchu......not sure where, but I know I want to do a big one in 2011 that'll take more than free flights (which I can get on miles). I know this doesn't exactly fit with the above, but I feel like my life is flying by and there are so many things I want to do, I need to get them on the schedule. Nothing extravagant, but something fun and challenging. I haven't taken a trip that hasn't involved work at one end or the other for a long time, and that's the plan.
• Less fees in 2010 - I am so tired of bank fees for me being dumb, even with my crazy schedule, I need to make the time to keep more on top of this and stop paying a fortune in fees

Crafts, Recreation & Home

• Explore more of Hawaii's hiking routes - use more of my weekends to stress relieving hikes, take the time off to do the longer hikes, Moana Loa (4 days) is top of the list and i'm planning for when I get back from Canada in March
• Get back into pottery - it's been a few months!
• No buying soap or shampoo in 2010 - make it all myself from scratch second year in a row!
• Clear the clutter - one thing in = one thing out, I don't need more "stuff" in my life right now, my little place is as full as it needs to be and it stresses me out to get "stuff".

Have a great New Year!

When did chocolate get so smart?

A good message for the New Year. Hope you all have a great celebration, i'm intending a quiet one, watch some fireworks, maybe a G&T. See you all in 2010.

Food Inc.

Anyone else seen this movie? I just saw it on Netflix (it's on instant download) - Food Inc. - and would recommend everyone watch it. It is very "in your face", but I promise it does get over animal farming (with some pretty horrific images) and into crops.

I learnt some (many) things about soy that I never knew - Roundup Ready Soy.........soy beans resistant to Roundup pesticides, so are used extensively (86% of all US soy in 2005 was Roundup Ready beans), alongside the pesticide Roundup, both to the detriment of consumers and farmers (farmers are not able to self seed because the beans are patented, meaning they have to buy seed every year or risk being sued by Monsanto). Looking on the internet after I found there are quite a number of Roundup ready crops out there too - wheat, maize, sugar beet and many others.

Definitely will make me look harder for the non GMO crops.....

North Shore Christmas - in Pictures!

Our little shack on the beach!

Decorating the shack! Inside was a platform which fits two sleep mats and a good space in the middle which we used for playing games, eating (when it rained!) and a few presents we each brought with us.

Some nighttime scrabble!

Christmas day! A walk in the beach with some other friends who were at the same campsite.

The weather was a little on off, so we drove down to Pipeline to watch the waves. These are 25-30ft.

Watching the Pipeline with a picnic.

The weather cleared up and we went for a swim in the afternoon, followed by a few G&Ts and then a full Christmas dinner cooked on the BBQ! Roast potatoes, parsnips, sweet potato, courgettes, peppers. The only slightly different thing for me was no turkey, we had Tofurkey (Laura is a veggie), but it was pretty good when covered in Bisto gravy!

Boxing day sunrise.

Looking back towards our cabin. We literally were, right on the beach!

On the way home we stopped by Haleiwa and looked for turtles.

And there were a few surfers out enjoying the waves...

Mele Kalikimaka!

Merry Christmas everyone, and have a great New Year!

Furoshiki

Another post today? Can you tell i'm at home today with my feet in the air (I still have a sore foot from the marathon so am giving it a little TLC today) and doodling on the internet....:0)

Furoshiki - japanese way of wrapping up objects in cloth squares either to carry them or to gift them. I just discovered this and can't believe I haven't seen it before! What a wonderful reuseable gift wrapping, and you know how much I love cloth giftwrapping!

Here are some instructions from Mommy Cooks on how to make your own Furoshiki cloths

Here are instructions on how to wrap your Furoshiki to fit over many objects

Good article on overpopulation

From the BBC - Overpopulation: The elephant in the room - it's an older article, but I thought a good one.

This is a subject that I had to address in my undergrad class, under Anthropogenic Impacts, and similar to evolution I was worried at how it would come across (especially here in Hawaii where large families are pretty much the norm). Surprisingly they were very receptive to it and most actually got this question (one from a previous exam rather than a new one from me) right on their exams.....:0)

"Ultimately the only solution to environmental damage and climate change is"

A - To stop dumping trash into the ocean

B - To stop moving oil by tankers

C - To reduce population increases

D - To increase coral reefs

Yum

Love mince pies! I'm so happy I decided to challenge myself to make my own mincemeat last year, totally worth it!

Christmas Plans

It's Christmas week, and i'm finally feeling more in the festive mood. It's definitely weird seeing all the snowman and icicle decorations up, I much prefer the festive palm trees and Santas in hibiscus shorts, but I am afraid to say I have not decorated my own place. But plans are afoot.

My friend Laura and I are headed to the North Shore for Christmas eve and Christmas day to camp in a "little grass shack" right on the beach. We've planned a "stocking exchange", decorations, roasting a Tofurkey (Laura is a veggie) on the BBQ, hammocks, G&T, maybe a swim or two and some quiet time!

The campsite is pretty cool, it's luxurious camping compared to what i'm used to, but we decided on a shack just in case it rains (as it does in the winter on the North Shore) so we have some space, they have outdoor hot showers and even Wi Fi. Neither of us have been there before, but we've heard good things from friends. Can't wait!

Until then, enjoy a Christmas Honu!

Well...

They sent the letter in error apparently. I'm not sure I believe them as yet, but will see. I looked it all up and I have a year to appeal, so as long as they don't send me a bill in the next year, and I rechase this up in a month or so just to be sure, all should be well. Thanks Blue Cross for making my weekend so stress free.

Confused

So just when I was breathing a sigh of relief that all the canada hospital stuff was over and done and dusted, I just received a letter of Denial from my health insurance. I'm totally confused as they've already paid me a check for what I paid out of pocket, and paid off the Canada hospital for the treatments they billed for, so how can they deny me now? Can they now try and charge me what they've already given me a check for? And of course their offices are not open today to talk to someone about this either, which leaves me stressing about it all weekend......

Marathon Pictures

For the record I think the price of these pictures is a complete scam. However you can see I got sucked in. I didn't pre-order thinking i'd wait and see if they sucked, but enough of them came out well I went for it. Still a scam though. I need to become an "action photographer" to supplement my science....

The start. 5am at Ala Moana. I'm somewhere in the bottom left hand corner (I started near the back having no illusions of grandeur). There were 23,000+ people out there with me. Quite a spectacular site.

Mile 6. Still running. I actually pretty much ran for the first ten miles, walking only for around a minute at each of the water stops (3 of them). After that I fell back to my run between water tables and then walk for 5 minutes routine. Did me well, I didn't feel like death at all. I need to find a better running short combo (the compression shorts stop chaffing, so i'm not running without them!), I wish they made longer running shorts for women, not all of us have legs we particularly wish to show off.

Mile 16. I'm actually amazed I look better than mile 6. Not sure why. Delirium maybe?

The final stretch. I swear the park got longer, this 0.5 mile stretch seemed to take FOREVER.

Crossing the finish line within my 6hr goal!

My hero shot. Definitely looking pooped now. Just beyond this they had these large showers you could stand under to cool down. Which I did. For about 5 minutes.

Goals Booklet

I love this - thanks to Ronny for sharing -

2010 Goals Booklet

Print, cut, fill in and carry. Tick off those goals as you go through the year. I'll be filling one in!

Good day!

1 - Legs feel way less sore, foot aches, but better

2 - FINALLY have all my insurance and everything out of the way for my Canada hospital visit. Only took 5 months....

3 - Final exam done! The TAs are working away downstairs marking as I type. Better go down and check on them. Had so many nice comments from the students as they were leaving too, still waiting for my evaluations from the students, but I feel better that they don't hate me....

Yearly Goals 2009

Last January I set myself some goals for 2009, and I thought now was a good time to revisit them and see how they went, in a run up to writing a new set of 2010 goals in a few weeks. I called them baby steps as I knew some would be harder than others and I think everything in life should be done in baby steps - that way you're more likely to stick to it in the long run. So here is my 2009 update, 2010 list to come in January.

Packed Lunches

This i've been relatively successful with, some weeks more than others. When i've had the time (and the right kind of food) making 5 days worth of lunches on a sunday works the best for me. It's still a challenge for me, and mainly a time challenge and having the right food in the house or at work to begin with.

Terrapass my car

I'm going to admit to not doing this yet! Guess it's going to go on my 2010 wish list. My car is now nearly 2 years old, and only has 9000 miles on it. So in the grand scheme of things i'm not a huge driver (flying though......I hate to think of that carbon footprint!), but I still do need to do this.

No more buying soap/shampoo

Success! I have not bought any soap or shampoo this year and have made all my own! And i'm super happy about it, and so is my skin (it's never been so soft). The only skin issues i've had this year have been when i've used other ("fancy", expensive) store bought products and soaps I had left over - all my abscesses seem to have come about when i've been using deodorant, and in Canada I took some store soaps with me rather than my homemade (and had such dry skin for it). This just solidifies this goal for me to be a lifetime goal.

I do admittedly still have a large stock that i'm also sort of going through, but the challenge in this was really to stop using products with all the chemicals in them and even those "fancy" soaps and products in the stores do tend to have nasty preservatives in them. Unless it's homemade and preservative free, I don't want it near my increasingly sensitive skin. The question is what to do with those other soaps I seem to have? I am slowly regifting and giving them away, but do feel the guilt in giving away something i'm not prepared to put on my own skin. What would you do?

Only using natural cleaners

This i've been doing for a while now, but it's good to keep this one up. I have used bleach more here in Hawaii than in other places which I don't feel great about........and by more I mean maybe a teaspoon every 2 months to get rid of mold!

Spend less on gifts/make more gifts

This has been going pretty well. I still find it hard to resist when I see something perfect for someone. But i'm trying. Being on 75% salary is making me a little better at this.....

Get more exercise (run a half marathon)

This goal seemed to take a life of it's own! This year i've done over 400 miles. 0 in 2008, 400+ in 2009. I've run a half marathon, a 5K, a 10K and now a full marathon. I've lost 15lbs, I've also put back on 10lbs, so it's been a bit of a bounce. But I feel better, fitter. I'm not there yet. Even with this last week I wouldn't consider myself to be a "really fit" person. I would like to feel "really fit" again, and it's been quite a few years since I have. But I took the baby steps to the toddler level, 2010 is time for some teenage to adult size strides.

Buy less stuff

This has been somewhat enforced by my salary reduction, but it's a good thing, and to be fair to myself I was doing really well at it before the salary hit. My main buys still tend to be gifts, and this year plants, which I haven't had much success with. I still find myself needing to purge on a regular basis, and i'm not sure why since I don't buy anything....

Some Stats

Finish Time - 5 hrs 53 minutes and 26 seconds

Pace - 13.6 minute miles

Place - 11,060 (out of 20,304 finishers, 23,469 entrants)

Place in all Women - 4454 (out of 9921 finishers)

Place in Women 30-34 - 800 (out of 1732 finishers)

Number of Gus eaten - 4

Number of Gatorades drunk - 15

Number of Hammerite Perpetum drunk - 2

Best snack - Chex mix from the crowd

Number of potty breaks - 0 (well 2 pre-race)

Favorite Mile - 10 (downhill!)

Worst Mile - 15 (hot, no shade!)

Favorite Moment - seeing the first three male competitors, and the first wheelchair competitor coming over Diamondhead in the other direction from me. Man they are FAST!

Worst Moment - none really, miles 15-20 were super hot and gatorade started making me slightly nauseous, but really, there were no worst moments, I never lost sight of my goals.

5hrs and 53 minutes!

Within 6hrs!

And a) I had fun; b) I ran more than I walked and c) I came in running! How about that, 4 out of 4! I really did have fun, this was a far more relaxed experience than my half marathon, I wasn't nervous, just went for it, and didn't stress about the time. Admittedly I probably could have come in sooner, but at 4 miles to go I knew I was going to make it in under 6hrs walking, so relaxed and slowed. But thats okay, next year maybe i'll try for a time. :0)

I'll blog about this more later, maybe when the pro photos are available, but here are a couple from today. Right now I have 3 ice packs on my leggies and can feel my eyes closing needing a nap.

Yay - I did it!

Leaving my house this morning, all bundled up. I was so glad it didn't rain today! It was 70F down at the start too, so nice and cool.

At the end! And at 86F, the last ten miles were HOT! It felt so good to get those flip flops and calf supports on!

And my awesome support team - Laura (back) who met me at the finish line with my flip flops and food, and Jenny (front) who came and collected me at 3am this morning to take me to the start, and even picked up this afternoon with pizza!

My goals for Sunday

Runner Tracking System

My Number - 8867

On sunday there will be a tracking system at the above link, so you'll be able to follow my progress as i'm crawling through the course. At the start, 10K, 1/2 marathon, 30K and finish line there will be electronic mats that will record me as I go over, pretty cool!

The start is at 5am. I predict i'll be finished somewhere between 10.30 - 11am.

Live Streaming Video

My Goals

- To have fun!

- To finish!

- To finish in under 6hrs (Considering my on off training i'm not sure this is realistic, but we'll see)

- To run more than walk (see above)

- To cross the finish line running

Some simple goals, if i'm here next year, then i'll ramp up the time!

Yikes!

Quote

I like this one this morning.

"When choosing between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."

Mae West Claire A. Murray

Help me..

Finally got all my periferals plugged into my computer today (i've literally not had the time since I moved offices). I both love and hate this photo. Love it because it's one of those nifty powercords that turns everything in my office off when I turn off my computer. Hate it because, well, just look at it! I also keep trapping cords in the wheels of my office chair. It's not a good situation. I wish there was a better way.

Sorry about the lack of good photos recently. I can't figure out how to download my pictures from my camera onto my new laptop (thanks old laptop for deciding to die one week into teaching....). I don't know why the program isn't working, but it's driving me crazy. This photo is from my phone.

Oh, and 2 days and counting. I'm eating my fill of pasta and potato chips right now.....

Cake Wrecks

This site always cracks me up. This post though, takes the cake. I'm still wiping tears out my eyes.

Survived!

Teaching that is.......look out for a post of the same name on Sunday or Monday! Phew, teaching over, last lecture done, all I have left is the final exam next week to give and that's it, my first, and not my last, experience with undergrads. I'm still waiting to find out my "grades", will let you know what I get, I hope it's informative.

5 days and counting...

The weekend flew by so fast I didn't have time to post! Sorry about that, I hope you all had a good one. The end of the week went well, busy with teaching, but the lectures went great. Today was my penultimate lectures, final on Weds - phew! Then it's just oversee the exams next week and i'm done!

Saturday I slept in, oh so nice, it's been a week of insomnia, and even though my idea of a "sleep in" is to wake up at 6am, get a cup of tea and go back to bed on the computer until 9am, it was wonderful! A trip to the postoffice and a short 3 mile run around the valley (at an extremely slow pace!) and then off to a Christmas Party for families on welfare (as part of the family programs group I volunteer for occasionally) really started off the holiday feeling for me. I got to guard the presents, not the most exciting thing to do for 3 hours, but it was fun doling them out after, all be it to awaiting other volunteers rather than the actual families. It was fun, 385 families got a meal, some entertainment, craft tables and presents for all the kids from Santa (and some nice ones too - footballs, body boards, dolls and lots of playdough!). After home to laundry and then a nice dinner with Alison and Jenna.

Sunday was busy but productive - unloaded a cruise that just came in in the AM, wrote my lecture for Monday (oops), did a few more loads of laundry (some for Jenny as their washer went down, and babies are not known to wait for washing machine delivery to get dirty), cleaned my bathroom and kitchen, finished a bunch of craft projects, boxed up all my xmas presents and then went for an 8 mile run - joined by Jenny and little Hannah in her jogging stroller for the first 4 miles. After that I ran back to Jenny & Dougs house while they picked up pizza on the way home and had a nice relaxed dinner with my friends. Nice sunday or what!

So now we're 5 days till the marathon next sunday. Let carbo loading begin!