New Haircut

Stay Tuned. Someone might be dressed up like a bumble bee for Halloween.

Week Off

Well, quarter 5 (of 16) is over, and it ended in a flurry of work. 12ish finals and a term paper brought mixed result. It was probably my worst quarter grade-wise, but one of the more enjoyable. We're getting out of the (necessary) hard sciences and into the doctor stuff: doing physical manipulation, making medicine from plants and the diagnostic techniques of traditional Chinese Medicine (looking at tongues and feeling pulses, who knew?). The picture to the right is not from some strange ND-student party, it's from my final project in botanical medicine: the beginnings of a liver tonic made from real live (dead) plant roots.

Now it's a week off to try to clean our nasty carpet and do other odds and ends.

In other news, I brewed my own beer for the first time, an IPA that we bottled (I had help with the capping from my blogging partner) almost two weeks ago. It gets better every day! I was too busy this time to remember to take pictures, but next time I will.

2 5K's

This was a weekend of 2 races for me. I decided to run the Phoenix YMCA 5K because I ran their half marathon last fall and decided the course was way too boring (and kinda hot by the end) to run it again, but I wanted to support the organization anyway, so I opted for the shorter race this year. The race had a 7:30am start time on Saturday morning, so Keeper and I arrived bright and early. I had been gearing my training towards this race the past 2 months and I was feeling pretty good so I thought I had a chance at a PR. No such luck. I did not warm up enough and did not anticipate the hilly course (it was located at South Mountain Park, which is in fact, a mountain). There weren't many people running the 5k and among those who did, there were a lot of dogs, strollers and little kids. Although it was nice and cool early in the morning and the views on the mountain were nice, I was disappointed in the organization of the 5k. It was an out and back course that did not designate which side of the road was "out" and which side was "back". Looping back brought much dodging and weaving among walkers and cars (which were allowed to drive on the course). Upon finishing, I was told by race volunteers that was no water, 0nly Gatorade. WTF?!?! No water at a race? The shirts, however, were very cool and Keeper and I headed to our favorite breakfast spot for a post-race pig-out.

This morning was another 5k. It was our first AZSR run and was at Kiwanis Park in Tempe. It was interesting to see our whole group of mentors and students together because during the week we train separately (high school and middle school are split). Because none of the middle school kids were my pace and I didn't know any of the high school kids (I coach the middle school group), I was told to just run my own race and see what happened. So I did. It was a much flatter course that looped around a lake and I just felt more relaxed (and warmed up) than yesterday. I ended up with a PR of 23:33 ( I had never broken 24:00 before!) and first place in my age group! The kids did great as well. We liked the race organization and atmosphere and I would definitely do this one again next year. Next up: a 10K with AZSR in two weeks!!!

East Coast Trip

So last week was the much anticipated trip back east to meet my nephew/godson. I had a blast. Despite the delayed flight into and out of Atlanta, I finally made it to Baltimore, although Mom, Joy and I didn't get home until about 3:30am (sorry, guys!). I slept a few hours, then went up to Grandma and Pap's for some homemade chicken pot pie and pumpkin pie for dessert. I'm not making it home for Thanksgiving, so the pumpkin pie was a welcome treat!

Late in the afternoon we headed up to J & A's house for dinner and I got to meet the little BB. What a cutie! At 7 weeks old, he is so alert and responsive it's unbelievable. You can also make him smile and laugh which is just so much fun. On Friday morning, I did a tempo run in J's neighborhood. Although it was warm for October, I love running out in the fall weather with rolling hills and leaves crunching under my feet. We spent Friday pretty much playing with the baby and getting ready for our Lehigh tailgate party on Saturday morning. We set up camp in the parking lot and pigged out. The group consisted of me, Joy, Mom, Dad, J, A, BB, and two of J and I's sorority sisters, their husbands, and kids. It was a beautiful day and Lehigh actually won, although Dad and I were very disappointed with the lack of student tailgates when we walked around. LAME! There were no shotguns, beer slides, and bag-o-wine chuggings to be seen. I got nostalgic for the good old days, although my Dad has far better stories from Lehigh in the 70's then I do. After the tailgate, Mom and Dad left and the rest of us pretty much fell asleep at J & A's house. BB and I claimed the recliner and had a nice nap! A had a boys' poker night and me, J, and Joy had a quiet evening with BB.

Sunday was another beautiful run and a brief shopping trip (with a stop at RITA'S on the way home) with BB. He was a good sport and slept the whole time. I love his blue hoodie (see above pic). In late afternoon Joy and I headed back to York for dinner with Mom and Dad. Monday was spent running and a late lunch with Grandmom Schroeder before Mom dropped me off at the airport. This visit was too short! I am so glad I got to spend a few days with the little BB and can't wait to hang out with him again at Christmas!

Ahh....finally

I would just like to post about the lovely weather we had this weekend. It was/is so beautiful outside. Yesterday morning, Keeper and I took Chloe for a run, then Keeper and I went up to Reach 11 for my AZSR run. For once, the kids weren't dying from the heat and intense sun during a 9am run.

This morning, we went on our long run from 7:30am-9:30am. Beautiful. There was no need to stop for extra water on the way back and no need to drench myself with water during the last few miles because of the heat.

I only hope it stays this nice and you won't hear another peep out of me about the weather until May or June ( swear). I am looking forward to some "real" fall weather this week, though, as I head back to the northeast on Wednesday night. I am so excited for changing leaves, green grass and a Lehigh tailgate!!! Oh yes, and meeting my godson-- can't wait!!!!

I got old...

One of the things Keeper and I miss the most about being a train-ride away from New York City is the music scene. I don't pretend I know much about music, but I do know what I like, and I do know that I loved seeing some of my favorite bands on random nights in the city for about $20 a ticket. It just doesn't happen in Phoenix.

A top band on Keeper and I's list is Sigur Ros. We first saw them in March of 2003 at Radio City Music Hall (Keeper took me for my 23rd birthday). Amazing. We saw them again in 2006 at the Beacon Theater (and had really good seats). Amazing. So we not only love their newest album (and DVD) but were thrilled to find out they were stopping in Phoenix as part of their tour. A Tuesday night show? Who cares; we can suck it up and stay out late one school night. A venue we've never been to? It's Sigur Ros; they'll play somewhere good. We should have been warned after first buying our tickets a few months ago when we found out there was not reserved seating at this venue (there are no seats). This is a band you want to sit down, relax, and close your eyes when listening to. We figured we'd go anyway and were very excited about the show last night. We went to Papago Brewery and had a few beers before hitting up the Marquee Theater in Tempe. Not only was security a pain in the butt (very violating in their pat-downs) but as soon as we were inside the venue we looked around and noticed everyone was.... well, young. We headed out to the outside bar and noticed that most people were using drugs other than alcohol for entertainment (hence the bartender's repetitive, "you guys just want water?" to just about everyone who came up to order). Once we purchased our beverages we headed inside.

I will say the acoustics were great, but standing on a sloping cement floor for 2 hours was NOT comfortable. We were surrounded (packed like sardines) with college kids, both very drunk and very high. They were rude throughout the show (shouting, talking during quiet parts of songs, taking pictures with their cell phones/cameras), they were smelly, and they felt the need to make out and grope their significant others throughout the entire show. Some comments I wish I could've made to them:

1) Just because you go to a concert doesn't mean you have to take shitty picture after shitty picture on your cell phone. Your friends will believe you. Especially if you wear the T-shirt tomorrow.
2)You don't have to turn around and shout "this one's awesome!" when the band starts a song you like (or more likely, the only one you know). We know it's awesome. It's Sigur Ros.
3)You don't have to pratically get it on with your girlfriend in front of me the entire night. Why not do that in your dorm room while listening to the cd? Honestly, you'd have more privacy.

The band was good. They are very talented. I am happy that they are becoming more main-stream but the show had a very different crowd and vibe since the last time we saw them. I just felt very old... and I hope that wasn't me when I was 19. Seriously.