Ally's Countdown

I have now posted a widget that shows the countdown to Ally's estimated date of arrival (April 27th). You can view it on the right-hand column of the blog.

Now we''ll just have to wait and see if she's an early bird, right on time, or fashionably late!

Christmas 2008-a memorable one

We spent the week of Christmas in KY visiting Ben's family. At full capacity, we had 9 adults, 2 children, and 5 dogs inside the house. I should note that the 5 dogs were of the large variety and enjoyed being with the people, so maybe it was more like having 16 people all together. All in all, we had a good time. We did a lot of sitting around, reading, eating, talking, playing games, and sleeping. However, once Christmas Eve came, several of us did a lot more sleeping and a lot less eating than we had originally planned.

That was when Christmas 2008 will forever be known in the Evans house as the Christmas that the 24-hr stomach flu hit. It all started when we got up on Christmas Eve morning and we learned that Ben's mom had been up most of the night with various digestive system issues affecting both ends. We were all like, "aw man, hope she feels better," and "hope no one else gets sick." We sure enough, as Christmas Eve wore on, 4 more of us got sick: Ben's dad, Ben's sister, Ben, and me. Yeah, it was not particularly fun, as from mid-afternoon Christmas Eve until early Christmas morning, Ben and I took turns worshiping the porcelain god and/or riding the porcelain bus in one bathroom, while Ben's sister and dad took over another bathroom. Luckily everyone felt mostly better by Friday morning, and no other family members have gotten sick so far.

I will say that while having a stomach bug is no fun, it probably did curtail some of the holiday weight gain that might have happened ordinarily. Plus, it sure does make for a good story that will be talked about for many years to come!

Ahh, semester break!

Yep, Ben and I are both officially now on semester break. We have both decided that we are not doing any more work for the remainder of 2008. Ben turned in all his grades a couple days ago, and my semester grades are now officially posted to my online transcript. I passed all my classes . I will say, I really didn't feel like that was going to be a total guarantee this semester, as my classes weren't particularly easy. My Physiology final was especially difficult I thought (I definitely had a few "oh crap, I should have studied this better" moments when I was doing the renal physiology section of the final). But getting a Pass (aka a "P") is all I, or anyone else, cares about in terms of class grades. As we grad students say, "P's get degrees."

So now, Ben and I are taking advantage of our vacation time by catching up on sleep, pleasure reading, housework, registering for baby items (more on that later), and getting ready for our trip to KY to see his family next week. It is so nice to have relaxed lives again, even if it is only for a couple weeks.

New Blog

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are also expecting a baby in April-a little boy. As such, they have started a blog called "Live from Texas." I have now included their blog in my list of favorite links.

Home stretch

We're almost there. I just have 1 more final tomorrow morning. Ben is giving his first final right now. We are both looking forward to this weekend.

It's that time of the year again

No, I'm not talking about the holiday season, I'm referring to final exams (yuck). I have a biomechanics final tomorrow, motor control on Wednesday, an annotated bibliography due on Thursday, and physiology is Friday. Ben is now on the other side of the table, as he is now writing and grading finals. I still think that when you have one spouse taking finals and one spouse giving finals, they should cancel each other out. Or at the very least, his intro physics final and my biomechanics final could cancel each other out. Well, just in case his chair and my biomechanics prof don't agree with my reasoning, I suppose I should get back to studying.

Sigh.

Happy birthday Isaac!

I am sending a shout-out to our nephew Isaac who turned 5 years old today. Big-kid kindegarten, here he comes!

Highland cows

Ben and I were reminiscing about our honeymoon in Scotland 5 1/2 years ago, and we were wondering when, if ever, we will get to go back. We were on Google Images, looking at some fun Scotland pictures, and I remembered that they had Highland Cows in Scotland. So I am posting some fun pics of Highland cows from Google Images. If we do ever go back to Scotland, I'm going to have to find a friendly herd so that I can pet them and take some pics of my own. I do wonder, how do they see with all that hair in their eyes???

Ultrasound!

On Wednesday, Ben and I went to have our 2nd trimester ultrasound to make sure that the baby is healthy and growing. We had a great ultrasonographer, which definitely made the experience a lot of fun. Baby is doing great, is growing right on schedule, and is a girl! So I guess we are continuing the trend of little girls everywhere (see previous post).

I will attach a few ultrasound pics with their appropriate descriptions below.

A 2D pic with her arm up by her head. Maybe she is scratching her head because she's trying to figure out a science problem ?!

A 3D pic from the front. The pillow-like thing on her left is the placenta, and the twisty thing in front of her is the umbilical cord.

Another 3D pic from the front, where she has her left hand in a fist.

Little girls everywhere

In the last couple years, several of our friends have had babies, and we currently have several more friends who are pregnant. I guess subconsciously we all decided to go through this together! Anyway, it seems like the vast majority of the babies turned out to be girls. It started 2 years ago with two couples in our small group having girls a couple weeks apart. Two more couples in our current small group have recently had girls. One of Ben's former labmates and his wife had a girl in October. My friend Karla had triplets this past summer, two of which are girls. Andy and Michelle just had their 2nd trimester ultrasound today, and they are having a girl.

There are several other pregnant people that we know who have yet to have their 2nd trimester ultrasounds. My sister-in-law is due the same week as me, so she should be having her ultrasound soon. My cousin and his wife are due in May, so theirs will be coming up in the next month. Also, my college friend Karyn is about 8 weeks pregnant, so hopefully she will have hers in a couple months or so.

However, all is not lost on little boys. My PhD advisor and his wife are due in February and they are having a boy, as is another exercise physiology faculty member in my department. Our friends John and Ashley (another former small group couple) are due in March and also having a boy. Ben and I are having our 2nd trimester ultrasound next Wednesday, and assuming that our baby has not yet learned modesty, we are hoping to find out if it is a boy or a girl. Both my PhD advisor and Ben's mom think it's going to be a boy. If I had to pick, I'd say it's a girl. However, none of us are really working off any scientific information here; it's mostly a mixture of old wives tales, and comparing current and past pregnancies. Well, hopefully we'll know for sure next week!

New favorite dog breed

Ben and I like to watch America's Heartland on PBS on Sunday mornings. Yesterday, they did a spot about a couple that raises goats, and to guard them, they have 2 Great Pyrenees dogs. I think that I must add the Great Pyrenees to my list of favorite dog breeds. They are these enormous fluffy white dogs, and I'm sure that cuddling up with one of them would certainly satisfy my craving for furry animal bonding. I found some cool Google images, so I'll post them here.

Belly Progression, Part 2

And now, for the latest installment of my expanding shape. Since 5 weeks have elapsed since my last belly pic, you are going to notice a difference. I have 1 pair of jeans that won't zip all the way up, and I'm sure the rest of my pants aren't far behind.

7 weeks

11 weeks (total weight gain: 0.7 lbs)

16 weeks (total weight gain: ~6 lbs)

Doctor's appointment this morning

Ben and I had our second doctor's appointment this morning to check up on me and Baby. It was a pretty short visit this time, and everything went fine. We heard the heartbeat again, which was pretty cool. When we heard the heartbeat at our first appointment, I was about 10.5 weeks along, and it took the doctor a while to find it, and when she did, it was a very soft "click, click, click." Today, I'm about 15.5 weeks along, and pretty much the second the doctor put the transducer on my abdomen, we heard a very strong "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." It was pretty cool. The doctor said that the baby's heart rate was around 140-15o bpm, which is normal for this stage of development.

I will be posting a new belly progression pic later tonight or tomorrow.

Diplomas

Ben and I officially received our degrees in August, but our diplomas did not arrive in the mail until this month. They are now framed in official UNC diploma frames and are hanging in our guest bedroom.

Furry Friends

Okay, I'm not sure if this is a pregnancy craving or not, but lately I have really been wanting to hang out with furry pets. Ben and I don't currently have any pets, and I'm not suggesting that we get one at this time, but sometimes I wish I had a big furry dog that I could take running with me, or that would curl up with us on the couch (a cat or large rabbit would work here too). So instead, I'll post a couple pictures of the dogs that live at Ben's parents' house. The chocolate lab is Penny, the dark multicolored mutt is Dakota, and the lighter dog is Katie. Luckily we'll get to see them at Christmas so I can get my large dog fix. I just need to figure out how to take their pictures so that their eyes don't glow.

Running again

Now that my pregnancy nausea is pretty much gone, I have slowly started back to running again. Last week, I ran 3 days, 3 miles each time. Today I did 4 miles. I am enjoying getting out and pounding the pavement, especially since the heat and humidity of summer have been replaced by cooler, drier weather. I will say though, that running feels a lot different now. I think that it is a combination of 2 big things: pregnancy and the detraining effect of not running for nearly a month. It is really funny when I think back to a year ago, how I was doing 40-mile weeks in preparation for a half-marathon, a run of 7 miles seemed like a quick jaunt, and a 9 minutes per mile race pace seemed slow. Now, I am quite happy to be done after 4 miles, and I don't think I could run a sub 9-min/mile race to save my life!

All of these physiological changes make my runs feel harder. I feel like I'm running at altitude, and that my comfortable pace has slowed by probably a minute per mile or more. Also, even if I use the restroom right before I head out the door, I still feel like I have to pee halfway through the run (compression of my bladder from my growing uterus?).

I'll definitely try to keep up the running, and it will be interesting to see if things get easier, or not in a few weeks.

Article about exercise and pregnancy

Here's a link to a recent article about exercise during pregnancy.

http://www.physorg.com/news142691746.html

I will add that a pregnant woman should definitely discuss participation in physical activity with her doctor, in case she has any absolute or relative contraindications to exercise. But for the rest of us, let's get out there and move!!!

Times have changed

My friend Karyn sent this to several of us married women (click on the pic to expand it). It is an article from a 1955 issue of Good Housekeeping. How times have changed in the last 50 years! But I kind of wonder if this is really the way it was for most households in the 1950s, or just in TV shows.

Belly Progression, Part 1

Here are the first two pictures highlighting the beginning of my expanding preggy shape. My goal is to take pictures every 4 weeks or so, and I'll try to make them coincide with my doctor's visits so that I can also say how much weight I've gained from picture to picture (hey, you know you're curious!). The first weight gain number I'll post is for the 11 week pic, where I'm using my pre-pregnancy weight as the starting weight.

7 weeks

11 weeks (weight gain: 0.7 lbs)

Staying active while pregnant?

Anyone who knows me or has followed my blog for any thing of time knows that I am a recreational runner. I ran 2 half marathons and a 10K this past year, and I had started to train for the Blue Ridge Relay. Now that I am pregnant, things are a lot different. Up until I was about 5 or 6 weeks pregnant, I kept running and doing strength training, although my runs were all 3-5 miles and easy. However, once the nausea set in, I took a break from running. This was for a couple reasons. Firstly, I usually go running in the morning, but this was the time of day where I felt the most nauseous, and running kind of made me feel worse. I couldn't really go during the middle of the day because it was just way to hot outside. Therefore, I tried going to noon spin class at school, and I enjoyed that. Unfortunately, my school schedule over the past few week has been busy, and I my nausea isn't always just a morning occurrence, so my exercise has become very sporadic. However, I did go for a 3 mile run on Friday morning, the first in at least a month. At the beginning, I was thinking, wow this is really nice. But after a couple miles, I was thinking, okay I'm ready to be done with this for the day!

While women who were active before pregnancy can usually continue throughout pregnancy, some modifications do need to me made. First of all, no more high-intensity cardio workouts. A good guideline is to keep it between "light" and "somewhat hard" (an 11-13 on the Borg RPE scale for those exercise physiologists out there). If you can talk while you're working out, then you're at a good intensity. Secondly, you don't want to get overheated because then you're shunting blood towards your skin to cool off, which means less blood is available to go to your inner organs, including uterus and baby. Thirdly, I think you just really have to listen to your body. If you are feeling good, then you should definitely try to get out there and move. Going for a walk, hopping on the exercise bike, swimming, lifting weights, yoga, whatever you feel like doing. However, if you're feeling really tired and gross, then I would say definitely take a rest-this is not the time to "push through the pain" so to speak (that will come soon enough during labor and delivery!).

So as for me, I am going to try to stay as active as I can. I would like to continue to go for 3 or 4 mile runs a few times a week and lift weights. I'm nearing the end of the first trimester, so I think I'll be feeling a lot more energetic once I get into the second trimester. I initially thought that I'd be sad about losing fitness or not being able to go for a 10 mile run or really train for a race because that's been my mindset for the past year. But I can now honestly say that I'm okay with taking a break from that for a while. I believe that exercise should be fun, and if I focus on what I can't do or am not able to do, then I'm not having fun anymore.

So for now, I am going to enjoy my much shorter, slower-paced runs. Now that fall is here, hopefully there will be some nice foliage to look at while I'm outside.

Big news

I am happy to finally post that Ben and I are having a baby! We are due sometime around April 27, 2009, meaning that I will be 11 weeks pregnant on Monday. We went to the doctor yesterday and got to hear the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. This means that the risk of miscarriage is now quite low (~2%), so we are really happy that we have made it over this first big hurdle.

I have been having many of the classic early pregnancy symptoms including nausea, bloating, tiredness, and hot flashes. Right now, I have a cold, so that's kind of ruling my body right now (I hate it when my nose won't stop running). I haven't had any cravings, but I have had some aversions. Right now, certain diet soft drinks and coffee make me feel nauseous. Early on, it was honey-nut cheerios and granola bars.

We will be taking belly progression shots over the course of the pregnancy so that everyone can have the pleasure of viewing my expanding shape. I'll have the first two ready to post by the beginning of next week.

Breather

I took the final for the membrane biophysics module of my physiology class on Monday. Since I am not taking the next module, I don't have to go to that class again until the cardiovascular/renal module starts on October 22nd. Yay! This is nice because for the next month, I don't have class on Wednesdays or Fridays. Now, this doesn't mean that I will stay at home in my PJs in front of the TV, but it does mean that I can prepare better for my other two classes, and I can finish working on a manuscript that is based on my master's thesis, or other research items that my advisor has for me to work on. I feel like my mood has gotten much better this week, and I have even gotten home early enough to make dinner three nights in a row. And I'm not just talking about heating up a can of soup either; I've actually pulled out recipes and made real stuff! (We're often very improvisational with meals in our house, so it's kind of fun to put together a real dish once in a while.)

The light mood may only last a couple weeks, because I have 2 midterms and a presentation during the week of October 6th. But luckily the week afterward includes Fall Break.

Conservation Laws

This past weekend, I studied for a test while Ben wrote a test. Now shouldn't those two really cancel each other out???!!!

Hitting the books

The last test I took was a midterm in one class last fall. Therefore, it has been almost a year since I really hit the books to study for a test. I have a physiology test on Monday, and I will be honest, I really don't feel like studying. I kind of just want to go in and take it cold, but I know that would be a VERY bad idea.

I think part of me feels like I should be finished taking tests by now. I guess it's partly because I feel like you shouldn't have to take tests after a certain age, but also because 2 of the classes that I'm taking this semester are core classes that everyone in my program has to take, and for me, they cover material that I will most likely never need again. So in that case, I often feel like I'm wasting my time learning material that I will just forget later (yes, a lot of it is memorization too, yuck).

I think that what it comes down to is that I feel impatient. I want to get this PhD thing going. I just want to take classes in physiology and cancer (my research interests). I've already had a semester of statistics, do I really have to have 2 more? I took 3 semesters worth of classes for my masters, can't that count for something? I guess I really wish that I could spend my time doing research, teaching, and taking a class or two; I think then I'd feel like I'm actively moving forward.

I am sure that I am not alone here; and that this is one of the plights of the PhD student. I also know that there is not much I can do about it. So in the meantime, I guess I'll study physiology!

Reminders of Seattle

The past couple days have been overcast, slightly rainy, and cooler in temperature. It has reminded me of the vacation that Ben and I took to Seattle in June. Sometimes when we are stressed about school and work, we think about defecting to Seattle and working in a coffee shop.

Fun with Bach

This afternoon, we gathered for another Pittsboro Bach Society reading. It was sort of a special occasion, in that it was the 5th anniversary of the very first unofficial get-together of the ensemble, and it was also our director Ted's birthday. We played the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by J. S. Bach and we had a blast. When we gather for PBS readings, we always play through the program once, break for refreshments, and then play the program again. Today, since we were having so much fun, we actually played through the Brandenburg three times!

This particular piece is pretty cool because it is scored for 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, bass, and harpsichord, whereas most string ensemble literature includes 2 violins, viola, cello, bass, and harpsichord. We did have multiple people on a part, so all in all, we had 17 musicians crammed into Ted's 15 square-foot living room. The last time I played this piece was in youth orchestra when I was 12 years old. At that time, we played a transcribed and slightly condensed version, so I was excited to actually play the real thing this time.

Of the 6 Brandenburg concertos, the 3rd one is definitely my favorite to listen to and to play. For one thing, it is extremely familiar sounding (even if you've never played it, you've probably heard it). Secondly, it's nice to play a piece that is scored for more than just 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello, 1 bass, and a harpsichord. Thirdly, no one's part is more important than anyone else's; everyone gets the melody line multiple times during the course of the piece. And lastly the 3rd movement is just super-fun to play!

We struggle together

My post from last Saturday described my current school-related struggles, and I'm sure that I will look back on that in a couple years when I'm knee-deep in comps and dissertation and think, "Man, first semester was nothing!" Well, to update, Pete and I mostly figured out how to do our physiology homework by Wednesday, and we are comforted by the fact that the membrane biophysics module only lasts for another two weeks, after which we switch to the familiar territory of individual body systems.

As most of my friends are also struggling grad students, we understand each others' plight. My cell biology grad student friend Michelle commented that she is presenting in group meeting today, where she has to talk about the progress she's made since April (good luck Michelle!). A couple of our chemistry grad student friends have talked about how they feel like they do a lot of work, but they're not sure if it really is adding up to anything significant. And of course, Ben is learning the struggles of a new professor, and how exactly to set up a research lab and get it going, while not falling behind on teaching. I think I may try my friend Virginia's strategy: drink a diet Coke and stare out the window for a few minutes to clear my thoughts before getting back to work.

Fun neuroanatomy words

Right now in my motor control class, we are learning all about the brain and its parts and functions. We get to throw around a lot of weird and crazy words; I don't think any other body system has such funny-sounding names for its parts. My two favorites right now are "peduncle," "hippocampus," and "amygdala." However, there are some regular-sounding names too, like "climbing fibers" and "mossy fibers." I think there's even an "olive" somewhere in there; I think it's located near one of the peduncles.

School thoughts

I don't know how to do my physiology homework that is due on Wednesday.

I'm not sure right now how learning the minute details of cell membrane biophysics is going to make me a better exercise physiologist.

It is hard to pay attention in a class that lasts for 3 hours, even with breaks.

I am always behind with assigned readings, and even when I read them, I forget what they say.

I guess this is the life of a PhD student.

Snapping Turtle!

On Sunday, we had a visitor to our condo complex-a rather large snapping turtle. The turtle was hanging out at the entrance of our complex in a bit of a precarious position because it was risking getting run over by any entering car. So after looking at it for a while and taking pictures, one guy picked it up and redirected it back into the woods. Hopefully the turtle is back with its family now.

I had never seen a snapping turtle up close, and I was quite surprised by its size and the fact that it had long toenails and a long tail. The guy that picked it up said it felt like it weighed 20 lbs or so. I should say that the turtle did not seem overjoyed with being picked up and definitely made some snapping motions with its head, but the guy was careful and picked it up from behind so that he would reduce the chances of getting bitten. Below are some pics of the turtle.

Off to a running start

That definitely describes this first week of school. I've now been to all of my classes, and the work has already begun. Yesterday I did biomechanics homework and started working on a physiology problem set that is due tomorrow. My officemate and 2nd-year PhD student Pete is also in my physiology class, which is really good because we can study and work on assignments together. We spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon finishing our physiology homework, which is nice because now I don't have to work on it at home. Now, I get to start on the pile of weekly readings for each of my classes. Here's to the next 4 years of my life. . .

New school year, new grad program

Today was the first day of class at UNC. For me, that also means that today was my first day as a PhD student. I am now enjoying several perks in my new role, as I now have my own office space and my name listed outside the door of our lab (ES Evans, MA). I also have my mailbox over by the faculty mailboxes, and I get to go to the exercise physiology faculty/doctoral student monthly meetings.

This semester I am taking 11 credit hours. Today I had my biomechanics class. It's going to be a lot like my physics classes from college, which is convenient because I can consult my physicist husband if I need homework help! Haha! Tomorrow I have physiology, which I'm looking forward to.

Relay Team Troubles

Over the past couple weeks, our team has been experiencing some issues, not much different than those of the USA men's and women's gymnastics teams. We have lost a couple runners due to injury or other conflicts, and to make it worse, our alternates have also had to drop out for some of the same reasons. Unfortunately, we have no Olympic-sized comback story, as we have not been able to replace our lost team members or alternates. With the race less than 4 weeks away, we are most likely going to pull out, regroup, and try again next year. Hopefully we'll be able to stay together as a team and run some local 10K's and 1/2 marathons together as part of our training.

I was looking forward to running with the team, but at the same time, I do feel a sense of relief that we've decided to scrap this year. For one thing, I don't think any of us was really prepared to run that kind of race in those kinds of conditions in the required amount of time (i.e., 13-24 miles per person in mountainous terrain at a semi-high altitude, with all of us having to average 10 minute miles in order to finish the 208-mile race in the allotted 34 hours). Also, if we had decided to do the race, and one or more of us got hurt or sick during the race, the rest of us would have had to pick up the extra mileage, on top of our own assigned miles. While no one likes to give up on a commitment, I think that this is one of those endeavors where it's better to realize ahead of time that you're not prepared and work harder for next time rather than barreling ahead, only to have a miserable time.

So hopefully, the Bear Breasted Second Basemen will make a roaring comeback (no pun intended) in next year's Blue Ridge Relay.

If you could be Summer Olympian, which sport(s) would you play?

If I were going to the Olympics right now, as a 28-year old, here's what I'd choose, in no particular order.

1. 3m springboard diving.
2. 5000 and/or 10,000m track.
3. Marathon
4. Triathlon

However, if I were 20 or younger, I'd also add gymnastics to the list.

What sport(s) would you choose?

Olympics!

I love watching the Olympics, and I am so glad that the competition starts tomorrow. Here are the events that I am especially excited to watch.

1. Gymnastics. The USA women's team won the World Championship last fall, so they are the team to beat. And we have several girls on the squad who have really good chances of medalling in the all-around and event finals. The USA men's team isn't too shabby either, plus they have really nice muscles :) Unfortunately, the Hamm twins won't be competing, but hopefully the team will really pull together and give a great performance.

2. Diving. One of my favorite athletes is USA's Laura Wilkinson, who won gold on the platform at the 2000 Games. This is her last Olympics, so I will definitely be cheering her on.

3. Track and Field. I really like all the running events (surprise, surprise), although I think my favorites are the 5000 and 10,000 meters because they are familiar racing distances to me. Also, one of the competitors in women's 10,000 is Shalane Flanagan, who is a UNC graduate.

4. Men's and Women's Marathon. Will USA's Deena Kastor be able to win a medal again? Will UK's Paula Radcliffe finally grab that elusive gold?

5. Swimming. Team USA has a bunch of awesome swimmers, not to mention all the hype surrounding Michael Phelps.

Degrees Conferred!

Yesterday was August "graduation" at UNC. It is official. We are now Elizabeth Evans, MA and Benjamin Evans, PhD.

Soap Opera Viewer

So for most of the summer, I've had a pretty flexible schedule where I'm able to be home in the middle of the day. When I'm doing stuff like lifting weights or eating lunch, I like to watch TV, and I have started watching the soap opera Days of our Lives. I was semi-familiar with this soap before because my grandmother is a very committed Days watcher. I don't think that I'm going to get that committed, as I won't be able to watch it when school starts back. If I need a fix, I can read the updates online. Here are some observations I've made about soap characters, which I'm pretty sure are universal to all soaps.

1. Everyone dresses REALLY well. I mean, you have two girls going out for coffee, and they're wearing sundresses and big jewelry and their hair and make-up is perfect. I mean, they hardly ever wear jeans! (Okay, I should add that since I'm an exercise physiologist, I'm either in the lab or working out with patients, so sundresses and big jewelry are not exactly reasonable fashion options for me.)

2. The main occupations of choice for soap characters seem to be cop, doctor, lawyer, or business tycoon. But a lot of the time, you don't even see them at work! And it's the middle of the day! So then do most soap story episodes take place on the weekend?

3. Everyone has either been married to everyone else, or has slept with everyone else.

4. Everyone is related somehow, either by blood, marriage, or adoption.

5. Related to #4, people are not shy about getting into romantic relationships with their adopted relatives. Example from Days: Stephanie is currently dating her adoptive uncle Max. Okay, I know there's no blood relation, but still, ew!

6. Everyone's been in trouble with the law at some point, even the teenagers/young adults, and a large majority have done jail time.

7. Soaps are set in small towns. I guess that's why everyone's been in relationships with everyone else; not much to choose from.

8. Soap characters have a lot of money.

9. Soap characters go into comas a lot. Like, you think someone is dead, and they might have disappeared for several years, but really they were just chillin' out in a coma. Of course, when they wake up, there's no brain damage, and they're perfectly back to normal.

10. Related to #10, soap characters seem to make amazing and rapid recoveries from usually-fatal illnesses/accidents.

11. Kids age really fast on soaps. A baby will be born, then you won't see them for say 5 years, but when they come back, they're already a teenager.

If there are any other soap watchers out there, feel free to add to the list.

Heat

It is summer in the south, which means obscenely high heat and humidity. This makes it fairly unpleasant to go outside, much less train for a race. In any case, I have been running in temperatures well above 80 degrees and equally nasty humidity, and this includes both my easy runs and my harder runs. It's pretty impressive how much sweat comes off after a 45 minute run.

It was about this time last year that I was training for my first half-marathon, and I remember thinking that the heat was horrid and that I'd never get used to it. It took a few weeks, but I did get somewhat acclimated (the physiology of which is quite fascinating, but I'll spare the details). I did lose some heat tolerance over the winter, but I feel like I was able to acclimate faster this summer. Additionally, I do try to pick routes where there is shade and not so many hills, particularly on the really hot and humid days. We're heading into August, so hopefully there will just be another month of the really bad stuff. I know I'm definitely looking forward to fall.

Classmate Happenings

This summer has been quite eventful for a couple of my classmates, with some wonderful and some sad things going on.

First of all, for the good news. my classmate and good friend Karla delivered her triplets one month ago. Mom, dad, and babies are doing wonderfully.

Seondly, for the sad news. My classmate JJ unexpectedly lost his dad a few days ago. From what I understand, JJ's dad was helping him move into his new apartment in Indiana and died suddenly of a heart attack.

Karla and JJ, our thoughts are definitely with you.

Restarting the Training Plan

With the Blue Ridge Relay coming up in a little over a month, I am now back into my structured training program, courtesy of the SmartCoach tool on Runnersworld.com. I had initially started to train in June, but I had to take a bit of a break from it for a few weeks, for good reason.

About a month ago, Ben and I found out we were pregnant, and with that knowledge, I stopped doing tempo runs and long runs. Basically, I just did shorter runs of 4-6 miles at an easy pace, and I did this more to stay active rather than with any kind of racing goal in mind. Unfortunately, our pregnancy ended in a miscarriage a little over a week ago, at the 8-week mark.

So now I am building back up to pace and mileage in anticipation for the relay. However, I will say that my goals are a bit different with this race. Firstly, I've decided not to train as hard as I have in the past for the half-marathons. This is due to a couple factors; the heat and humidity of Chapel Hill in the summer and the short time left until the race. Secondly, this is a team effort, and I am running with people of all ability levels, and so I really just want to have fun with my teammates and enjoy the experience. So I don't think I'll be doing any more long runs over 10 miles for a while, although I still need to do tempo runs and maybe some speed workouts to keep up my pace. But running hilly terrain is probably one of the best things I can do right now, given that the race is in the mountains. Well, they don't call this place "Chapel Hill" for nothing!

Dog Days of Summer, Part 2

Linus the Beagle is staying with us again this week while his owners are at a wedding in Philly. Right now, he is lying on the couch with his head on a pillow, eyes closed, sawing logs like a lumberjack.

Relay Team Website

As I mentioned before, I am part of a 12-member team that will be running the Blue Ridge Relay on September 5-6. We are the Bear-Breasted Second Basemen, and we are running to raise money for breast cancer patients at UNC. Click here to view our MySpace page. It is not completely finished, as we don't have pics or biosketches of everyone, but you can see what's up there for now.

Deep Fried Live!

I rediscovered a website that I really liked in college called 8Legged Entertainment. It is a cooking website that features short animated video clips with Chef Tako the Octopus. He teaches you how to cook various dishes from chocolate chip cookies to pumpkin flan. Usually some sort of drama ensues, like Tako getting too close to the Kitchenaid mixer, or Tako's mom calling in to demand why he won't use her recipes and such. To watch Tako in action, click on the Deep Fried Live! link.

Dog Days of Summer

Linus the Beagle is once again spending a week at Uncle Ben and Aunt Beth's house while his owners are away. Linus is a great house guest because he is really mellow. He spends most of the day sleeping on the floor or on the couch. He sure can snore! Later in the afternoons, he likes to look out our sliding glass doors at the action below. Sometimes he paws at the glass; I guess maybe he sees something interesting. I wonder if he's secretly glad that he is away from his 3 cat siblings. If not, he'll see them soon enough.

New Training Period

This week, I officially start to train for my next race, which is the Blue Ridge Relay on September 5-6. The route is divided into 36 legs. I will be running legs 4, 16, and 28, which total about 18 miles. I'm going to train like I would for a half marathon, with a couple modifications towards the end of the training period in order to get ready for things like running twice in one day and running at night. Since I've already provided detailed accounts of two past training endeavors, I'm not going to do that for this race, unless something comes up that I think is particularly interesting. Like doing a track workout in the heat. Yep, that could be really fun!

This is a YouTube clip of the Zatten Concerto for trumpet and strings. The composer is Roger Petrich, our awesome music director at St. Thomas More, and the trumpeter is Paul Neebe, who is an awesome trumpet player (Juliard educated, no less!). Paul plays quite a bit at St. Thomas More, and I've had the pleasure of playing oboe and singing with him several times. The Zatten concerto was performed on May 29th by Paul and the East Chapel Hill High School orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaXaeRIqPo8

Back from Seattle

Ben and I spent the greater part of last week on vacation in Seattle. We had a blast. Neither of us had been to the Pacific Northwest before, and we definitely hope we can go back sometime. We did a lot of touristy things, like visiting Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium, the Woodland Park Zoo, the Experience Music Project, the Pacific Science Center, went kayaking, took a harbor cruise, and drank lots of coffee. Below are some pics we took-enjoy! Also, I've linked the stuff we did to their respective websites in case you too are planning a trip to Seattle and are looking for things to do.

Downtown Seattle with with the Space Needle poking out in the background.

The Seattle skyline from the harbor.

Me and Ben on the boat taking a harbor tour. Yep, we are wearing jackets because the high temperature was in the low-mid 50s all week. It was AWESOME!!!

Pike Place Market downtown.

Some really big fish at one of the stalls at Pike Place Market.

Me and Rachel the Pig at Pike Place Market.

The original Starbucks coffee shop downtown. The original logo is a little more provocative than the current logo.

The marina at the Agua Verde Paddle Club where we went kayaking.

A heron at the marina.

A view of the Experience Music Project from the monorail.

Apparently the gorillas were having a meeting when we visited the Woodland Park Zoo.

A duck in the bear exhibit!

Ben and the duck posing for a photo.

Me feeding a bird in the birdhouse at the zoo.

Me and an octopus at the Seattle Aquarium.

Ben taming the wall octopus at the aquarium.

Wedding Anniversary Festivities

Today, Ben and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. We started the day by eating lunch at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro. Then we browsed the samples at A Southern Season. We ate dinner at Spice Street, and then went for coffee and dessert at Caribou. Next week, we'll be going on vacation to Seattle to celebrate both our wedding anniversary and our graduations from UNC.

Laziness

Well it's summer, at least if you're mind runs on the academic calendar. Graduation was 2 weeks ago, my master's thesis is completed done and submitted, so I am very much on summer vacation. I am trying to make the most of it by being really lazy. Now, I must say that this is not hard for me to do at all, because I am really really good a finding trivial things to do to pass time, like playing Tetris on my computer, surfing the NBC Olympics website (Go Team USA!), sleeping late, and the like. But I have done a few productive things, like getting the oil changed in the car, grocery shopping, and cleaning the house once. And I'm still going running 5 days a week and doing resistance training; gotta keep in shape for the Blue Ridge Relay in September. The laziness will be slightly interrupted in June because I'm teaching a PE class during second summer session, and I will probably also shave down my master's thesis into something that could be submitted for publication.

In the meantime, I don't feel terribly bad about my laziness because my advisor, Dr. B., told me to make sure I get lots of rest this summer because all the craziness will start again in the fall with the PhD program.

Graduation Pictures

This past Sunday was UNC graduation. Ben and I aren't officially getting our diplomas until August, but we still walked in our departmental ceremonies. Ben is receiving his PhD in physics and I am receiving my MA in Exercise and Sport Science (Exercise Physiology). Below are some pics from the event.

Me and my parents

Me and Dr. Bob McMurray. He is the specialization coordinator for the Exercise Physiology group in our department.

Me and my advisor, Dr. Claudio Battaglini. He was my master's thesis advisor, and he will be my PhD dissertation advisor. Dr. B. also won a departmental award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, which he has already won several times.

Me and Ben, all dressed up in our regalia.

Running Free

Last Saturday I tried something new: running without wearing my stopwatch. I had heard of people doing this for a change of pace (heehee, no pun intended) as a way to just enjoy a run, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was actually quite nice to just go out and run, and not be bound to the pace readout on my watch. To gauge my effort, I imagined a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale and tried to keep the effort in the "somewhat hard" range (it was a easy run day, so I wasn't really concerned about pushing it too hard). I did the same thing yesterday, so I think that I may try running like this once a week.

Successful Defense!

Today, I defended my master's thesis. It went pretty well, although I did get some challenging questions from my committee. I have a few minor edits to make on my written document, and once I submit it to the graduate school, I will be officially done with my master's degree.

Updated Race Results

The results from the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon are now posted on the web, although I think they will be updating them through the rest of the week so that they can keep adding people who didn't wear timing chips. In my post yesterday, I stated that my official race time was 1:49:24, and that was the time by the race clock. They've now posted our chip times, and mine was 1:48:57. The chips time you from start line to finish line, whereas the race clock starts from when the gun goes off. So if I compare my chip time from yesterday to my chip time from November's race, I set a PR by 1:40.

Post-race pic

From l-r: Brittnie, me, and Christina after the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon yesterday. Brittnie and Christina are senior Exercise and Sport Science majors at UNC. The three of us also spend many hours exercise training participants at Get REAL & HEEL.

Race recap, and barely a new PR

Yesterday was the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon, which is my second half marathon race. In the days leading up to the race, I was feeling a little worried because the weather report was calling for thunderstorms all day on Saturday. The race website said that the race would still go on in the rain, but that it would be postponed or cancelled if there were thunderstorms. As it turned out, there were no thunderstorms on Saturday morning, just very overcast skies and a slight drizzle. However, the temperature was already above 60 degrees and it was really really humid. That said, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to set a PR because I didn't want to run into a situation where I'm halfway through the race and I have to stop and walk b/c I'm really dehydrated. When I ran the half in November, the weather conditions were completely different; it was about 20 degrees cooler, clear skies, and dry. I didn't stop for any of the water stops on that race, but yesterday, I did grab water at several points. My official race time was 1:49:24, which is a 1:13 better than before, so I did end up with a PR, but not by much. In hindsight, I kind of wish I had run harder, but at the same time, I don't know if that would have been a good idea. I guess it's better to come out of it feeling good physically with some fuel still in the tank rather than injured or ill and mad for being too aggressive.

So now I enter maintenance mode, at least for the next couple months or so. I will keep doing a mix of easy and long runs along with tempo runs and some speedwork to maintain fitness. My next race is the Blue Ridge Relay at the beginning of September, so I'll probably start seriously training for that race at the beginning of the summer. I'm part of a team with about 12 other breast cancer researchers from UNC Hospital. Training for that race will be a bit different because while each individual leg is not terribly long, the total number of miles I'll run in a 24 hour period will be slightly more than a half marathon, and it will be in the mountains (hills and altitude effects!).

But for now, I rest and enjoy a big bowl of ice cream.

Training summary-Weeks 11 and 12

These past two weeks were my last hard weeks before the race, with weekly mileages in the 40-45 mile range, and long runs of 13 and 14 miles. Since we are now in that time of the year where the weather can't decide if it should be like winter, spring, or summer, deciding what to wear when I go for a run has been slightly challenging. For example, last Wednesday I went out in shorts and a t-shirt and came back pretty sweaty. But on Sunday, I had to wear leggings, a fleece pullover, and gloves because it was overcast, drizzling, and only about 40 degrees.

When I was training for my first half, most of my training happened in the summer and fall, when it was still pretty hot out. I remember thinking how I couldn't wait until it got colder because I was sort of assuming that running in the cold would be a lot easier than running in the heat. Now, I'd have to say that if given the choice of running in 80-degree weather or 30-degree weather, I'd probably pick the latter. However, I have found that it is really hard to run fast in the cold, just like in the heat.

This week is my final week of training, as the race is this Saturday. I have 3 short runs and 1 final tempo run. If all goes well, hopefully I can report a new PR!

12 weeks down, 1 to go.

Pics from Easter weekend at St. Thomas More

Happy Easter to all! Below are some pics from Good Friday and Easter Vigil at St. Thomas More. It was a great time of celebrating faith and fellowship, and the liturgy and music was excellent, as always.

Proclaiming John's Gospel on Good Friday. At St. Thomas More, we do this Gospel reading set to music, with the solo parts in chant-style and the choir sings the parts of the crowd. Here, Doug (in the foreground) is singing the part of Jesus, and I'm in the background singing the part of the Narrator. Deacon Phil is standing to my right. Photo taken from the photo album page on the St. Thomas More church website.

From l-r: Anne, Fr. John, me, Michelle, Danelle, Alessandra, and Jim. Anne, me, and Michelle are all bell choir members, Danelle is a lector, Alessandra sings in Celebration Singers, Jim is the director of Elementary and Adult Faith Formation, and Fr. John is our pastor.

Me and Roger, our music director, after the Easter Vigil Mass

Me, Anne, and Drew (another bell choir member) after Easter Vigil Mass.

The altar, all decorated for Easter.