Family Visit

We had our first visitors in our new apartment this past weekend. J & A and the little BB arrived very late Friday night. I felt bad that their flights were so delayed and they had to spend so much time in airports/on planes with the little guy but they finally made it! I can't believe how much he's changed since I last saw him. He is so much bigger and so active! He's talking all the time and laughs at just about everything. Saturday morning I had to get up early and help out for a few hours at a track meet but came home in time for lunch. We took the little BB out to the pool for a quick swim and then had some Pei Wei takeout. Yum. Then we headed up to Anthem for a much needed shopping trip for J. The little guy was so good all day long! Keeper made us some margaritas and then pasta for a late dinner and we called it a night.

Sunday morning was spent relaxing and J and I escaped for a short trail run in the desert behind my school. We got back, showered, and headed out to Scottsdale to see a Giants-Royals spring training game. The little guy needed to be constantly on the move so J and I kept him entertained by people watching/walking around the whole ball park. He finally fell asleep from all the excitement. We stopped in Old Town, Scottsdale for a quick shopping trip and then had delicious fajitas for dinner.

Monday morning, A and I did a 9-mile run along the canal in Scottsdale (my longest post-injury run to date). Then we headed to the Biltmore to shop a little and enjoy the sunshine. We made an awesome dinner last night and spent some time playing wii.

We had a very relaxing few days and Keeper and I were so glad they came out! I will totally miss them but am already looking forward to a few weeks on the east coast when my school lets out this summer!

Update

I have apologized time and time again for not blogging very frequently, and yet again, life gets in the way. My soccer season ended on January 29th and on January 30th I began officially coaching track. The head coach is a friend of mine (who coincidentally also went on the AVID trip last summer in Dallas) who teaches math at my school. I've talked to him numerous times about running and come to him with training questions, as he was a collegiate runner and just recently started running half marathons (to the tune of breaking 1:20!!!). He approached me about coming on board the track coaching staff in mid-January and I told him I'd have to think about it. I was concerned about not having enough to time to train for a spring marathon (which I usually buckle down and do this time of year). He assured me I would get in quality workouts with the distance runners (he wanted me to coach girls' distance) and it would be easy to just tack on a few extra mile here and there if needed to. So I hopped on board and have been insanely busy (and in shape!) ever since.

Training-wise, track is a whole different ball game. I was not used to the intensity of 3 hard workouts per week. The mileage is much, much less than I'm used to with marathon training, but it's so intense! We started our season with pretty much 4 weeks of hill training. We did long hills on Mondays, short hills on Tuesdays, interval workouts on Saturdays (yes, Saturday morning practices every weekend!) and longer, easier days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Fridays being completely slow easy days. I had just come back from my hamstring injury when track started. I jumped right in and pounded it hard for the first 3 weeks. Insanity! I was so proud of how quickly I got back into shape. (I should also mention we lift weights as a team Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and do 30 minutes of core strengthening on Tuesdays and Thursdays BEFORE practice starts). But my body was like, "um hang on a minute...not used to this...." I started having aches and pains that wouldn't go away and last week I got sick.

So after reevaluating the situation (with the help of my sports counselor, Joy) I decided that a) I am not 16 anymore and b) I need to take it easier or I would get REALLY injured and be out of commission for more than a day or two. So last week I took off a few days, went easy on the days I did run, and got over my sickness and felt pretty good this week. We have moved out of our "hill training" phase since meets have started and I am able to run the most of the workouts with the kids. In fact, this morning we had an interval session at the park and I felt pretty good the whole time. I love running on the trails in the desert (which we do most days) and it's especially nice with my new Garmin training watch (thanks JDawg!). My girls (many of whom are new to running) are doing great. We placed 2nd in our first tri-school meet on Wednesday. I am looking forward to seeing the kids progress throughout the season. My training, on the other hand, has turned into "just keep up with these kids!" and I am not planning another marathon anytime soon. I'm thinking long-term, maybe Vegas in December if things work out this summer and fall but for now, nothing on the books for me.

In other news, Keeper cooked me an awesome lobster dinner last week for my 29th birthday (see pic below) and I used Mom & Dad's present to get my first-ever real massage (amazing) last Sunday. Keeper is in the swing of Quarter 7 and is spending this weekend at his fourth (and final) business training seminar. We are eagerly awaiting a string of spring visitors!!! First up, the Tillinghammers next Friday-Tuesday. We can't wait!!!

7th Quarter

I've started a new quarter (7th quarter of 16). Board exams are in August and 9th quarter is the beginning of my clinical education, so it's nervous times right now. I'm starting to feel like a doctor, which is an interesting transition. My professors are starting to see us as equals, as colleagues, which is even stranger. Addressing a physician by his/her first name is still a novelty.

Beyond that, I'm coming to a new understanding of Naturopathic Medicine. I'm sure this understanding will evolve and change for the rest of my life.

Health is not a magic bullet or a cutting edge pill. It's a process. There's a time and a place for all of those cutting edge surgeries and theraphies, but for most of us health is as simple as being present in our body, paying attention to what it tells us. Drink eight glasses of water a day. Get 15 minutes of sun a day. Take a half hour walk four times a week. Sleep eight hours a night. Take a half hour every day for yourself to reflect on the wonders of this life (shit, if you do one thing, do this one) .

Do all those things, and do them right. That's medicine.

A Winning Season

My JV soccer season ended 2 weeks ago on a very high note. We won our last 5 games of the season to finish the year with a 7-6 record (my best coaching record yet!). My team of 19 girls (most of whom do not play club ball in the off-season) really pulled it together and came out on top. I had a great time getting to know the girls and coaching them. We just had our end-of-season party tonight. It was so fun to get together at someone's house and share some laughs. We did a potluck and with all the cultures on my team, we had everything from pasta to tamales to shepherd's pie-- so yummy! Keeper did me a HUGE favor by making a tray of pasta and ordering the cake for the girls. The pic below is of me handing out awards (Soccer Olympics medals) to some of the girls. I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls. They were awesome!

New Apartment

We have finally finished unpacking and getting things (mostly) put away. It has been a crazy 2 months since we signed the lease but it is definitely starting to feel like home. We love the new place!

The Best Part of NJ...

...is definitely hanging out with our pseudo-nephews! We miss you guys!

Christmas Travels

Keeper and I have just returned from a 2-week jaunt around the northeast. We flew into BWI late Friday night on the 19th and spent a whole week at my parents' house. I got some quality running (training for the upcoming 1/2!) done with Joy & Andrew which included 2 x Triple Crown, 1 long run of 14 miles, and some 5-6 mile neighborhood runs thrown in there. Our nephew/ godson got baptized at my home church on Sunday, December 21st. His eyes were wide open and watching everyone during the service and no tears were shed! What a cutie!

On Monday Keeper and I accompanied Jen and the little BB out to Somerset, PA to meet up for lunch with some friends who were visiting family in Ohio. Somerset was pretty much exactly in between us and in fairness to everyone, that's where we chose to meet. There wasn't much out there except a funny smell when we got out of the car...very mysterious.

We enjoyed the usual Christmas Eve festivities with my family. We had a big early Christmas Eve dinner with my immediate family (including husbands & boyfriends), then off to church for the Christmas Eve service. Jill was in the Christmas play and she was fantastic! We loved it. After church, we headed up to my grandparents' house in Hanover for some late night goodies and visting with aunt, uncle, cousins, and their significant others. Christmas day was my long run and then the WHOLE family came up to my parents' house. We had delicious food and it was so good to catch up with everyone I hadn't seen since last Christmas!

On the 26th, Keeper and I headed up to Boston to visit his side of the family for a few days. We picked up Corbin at a train station in NY, then went to his oldest brother's house in Winchester. We were so excited to play with our neice and nephews for a few days. They are awesome! We also got a quality visit in with Keeper's mother, who was visting from Florida. We did Christmas dinner with the Yimoyines on Saturday the 27th, then on Sunday I got a (short) run through Winchester in and Keeper and I headed into Boston to sightsee for a few hours.

We headed back to PA on Monday with a stop in NJ to visit and have dinner with Keeper's cousins and their kids. We had so much fun with them! We got to Jen's house late Monday night and stayed there until New Year's Eve. Keeper took a night off from my family to head into Brooklyn to visit an old friend and hang out with his brother again, while I stayed at Jen's and got to grab dinner and some shopping with my college roommate. Fun! I also got to spend quality time with the little BB.

We got back to my parents' house for New Year's Eve. We did our take-out Chinese food feast, followed by some games of Apples to Apples and a round of Master Detective Clue. Then, for the first time since college, I got up to my grandparents' house for New Year's day. We had pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes as well as a great visit with my dad's side of the family. Our last night on the east coast was spent packing and playing some games in front of the fire in my parents' basement. So cozy! We returned to AZ yesterday afternoon, despite a brief delay in Chicago.