Started out in California, by the beach, walking on the rocks. Rachel noted yesterday that my freckles had even come out :)
Wednesday, 7 am, landing at JFK in a snowstorm (#56235632896 for this season), by 9 am I was in bed for a much needed nap after the most uncomfortable red-eye I have ever been on (note: never get the seat that's directly in front of an exit row, especially not on an overnight flight!!!). By noon, I was eating lunch back in the lab, which consisted mainly of penguin-shaped gummy bears (gummy penguins) purchased the day before in Monterey - they were a huge success in lab, of course:) By 4 pm I was done with my weekly meeting with the boss - he never knew I was gone, I am pretty sure - during which we agreed that I would be writing my thesis for the next couple of months and we don't really have to meet to discuss new data during that time, YES!
Thursday, restaurant week lunch at Cafe Boulud (one of Daniel Boulud's NYC establishments) with the lab crew: 3 courses for $24, at a place where the waiters pull out the chair for you to sit and you have to dress in business casual for lunch. Ah NYC! In any case, restaurant week used to make me feel like I didn't belong, like I was cheap, but what the hell, they must make a ton of money off of us poor people who could normally never afford to eat at those places, and besides, "who cares" is the NYC motto!
So this chocolate molten cake with coffee ice-cream for dessert was absolute culinary heaven, especially for someone who doesn't think that dessert without chocolate is dessert at all.
Oh yes, and I did get some work done on my thesis too, although much work didn't really fit into this week. I find that I cannot start really writing until late in the afternoon, and then I am really inspired till pretty late in the evening when things quiet down in the lab and most people leave. Well, a couple of glasses of wine also help bring the muses out :)
I tried something a bit new yesterday: went for a group run that's organized by the nearby running store. They do this twice a week, a pretty big group actually, I see them in the park a lot - after a while, you recognize people who run around the same time of the day, and also I recognize people who live in my neighborhood who run, this is a village after all. The occasion was an information session that was taking place after the run about the Ragnar Relay that I signed up for. So we all gathered in the store at 10 am and 3 of the people who work there were leading 3 different pace groups out to Central Park. The problem was that I wanted to run a bit more but the longer group was going at a faster pace (7-7:30/mile) and my pace group was only running ~5 miles. I, with my "I can do this" attitude headed out with the fast group - about 8 guys and 2 girls, my kind of running team! - and well, surprise surprise, after about 2 miles I almost threw up and had to walk and I was definitely not talking to anyone (I could barely breath) and then finishing my run at my own pace was just miserable too after those horrible first 2 miles. All right, I cannot run at 7:30 min/mile, that's established now. In any case, the people were nice, when I got back to the store finally, they said "Oh, we sped up to way below 7 min so don't worry" hehe, I wasn't too worried, just exhausted and in pain. But I am excited about this relay in May, I only know 2 out of the 11 other people in our team - called Gimpy Kenyans - I am still having some doubts about how well organized our team is because races like this one require a whole lot of organization! It's almost 200 miles, goes over a whole 24 hours or more, 2 vans need to follow whoever is running with supplies and the rest of the team in them, and then there is all that stuff you need for 12 people over 2 days. Huh, it's gonna be interesting and adventurous!
The rest of the day is a bit of a black box, I had some friends over in the evening, made some gluhwein, made some mixed drinks, we went dancing, and then I woke up at 2 pm today with a splitting headache. I think that's a good Saturday. And there is no hangover which cannot be cured by a good run - well, call me crazy but right as my headache went away, I was ready to go! Despite the miserable run I had yesterday, I headed out with confidence - this was also a rare day when the temperature was above 0C, all of 3C, which cannot be wasted by sitting inside feeling sorry for myself!! - and voila, I had one of those rare meditative runs which I barely remember, which felt so good I couldn't stop smiling afterwards, during which my whole body felt completely in synch, legs and arms moving in perfect unison, feeling like I was weightless, almost gliding above the pavement. So good! 7 easy miles, no trace of a hangover and ready to do laundry now!
1 comment:
Despite the weather, may you have additional good-times, luck, and exquisite desserts..omg-severe foodtease! Chin up, lean on in, and perservere with that insane snowfall!!
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