Amy and Mike are getting Maui'd, so we're going to Maui

Ok. Bad over-used pun. In a few hours, we're headed to Hawaii for Amy's wedding. Our flight leaves at 6:05, so rather than go to bed and sleep for only a few hours, Aviva and I decided to stay up all night. She calls it getting used to Hawaii time; I call it insane. Oh well. Perhaps that means I'll sleep on the plane instead of fretting over ever bit of turbulence. We'll be back in a week.

Ryuu Aviva

Aviva passed her blackbelt test today! She spent two evenings testing for the belt and this evening they told her she'd passed. Watch out. Though she may look unassuming, she can totally kick your butt.

Running Chicago

Last night, Aviva and I returned from our whirlwind trip to Chicago. Although we didn't have time to really explore the city, I liked what I saw in our short visit. I'd like to return again sometime soon so I can visit some of it's cultural sites, like the Art Institute of Chicago or the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. This time around, the marathon took priority and I had little time or energy for other activities. Because our flight left out of Buffalo on Saturday morning at 7:30am, we had to leave Rochester at 4:45am. Not fun. Needless to say, by the time we arrived in Chicago, we were exhausted.

Approaching the Expo Entrance

Despite our fatigue, there was little time to catch our breathe. Once we arrived at the hotel, we had about 20 minutes to get settled in before going on a mile-walk to catch our shuttle bus to the Expo.

This is where sponsors give out free samples and sell various running paraphenalia. We loaded up on free samples and tried to avoid the temptation to buy lots of expensive Chicago Marathon souvenirs. Can you believe they want you to pay $125 for a track jacket? And pay people did! I settled with my free samples of Silk, organic crackers from Whole Foods, and Powerbars. I was sorry to hear I missed out on wine samples, but several members of our team, including Coach David, ponied up to the sample bar. Perhaps that's why they were a bit late returning to the hotel for the pasta party.

Aviva couldn't resist taking a picture of the world's biggest New Balance running shoe. It was even be too big for my huge feet

Me, Molly (one of my running teammates) and her husband, David.

We also picked up our bibs and collected our runners' goodie bags, which included a t-shirt, a bunch of Tylenol 8-hour (that might come in handy), and brochures for future marathons. They were obviously hopeful we'd all finish the marathon feeling good enough to consider subjecting our bodies to another go at 26.2 miles.

After the expo, we went to our pasta dinner and loaded up on carbs. John the "Penguin" Bingham emceed the event and gave first-timers like me some tips for surviving the marathon. He provided all kinds of practical advice, including the suggestion that we get in the port-a-pottie line immediately after arriving at the start line and get back in line at least three times before the marathon starts. He also warned us not to bore our friends to death with the post-marathon details as they'll only want to hear the answer two questions: How long was the marathon? And did you win? He didn't specify whether writing lengthy, rambling blogs about the experience would alienate your friends. I guess we shall see! After the pasta party, our group had a brief meeting.

This allowed us to ask last-minute questions. Our encouraging spectators also picked up signs and prepared their spectating strategy. How to find us in a crowd of 40,000 runners was not going to be easy.

Ellen puts on her most reassuring face: You're all going to be fine. Trust me! After the meeting, Aviva and went back to our room and went to bed super-early. In fact, I turned out the lights by 8pm in the hopes of getting a good night's rest. I was determined to compensate for the ridiculously early start we'd had to get the day before in order to catch our early flight in Buffalo.

At 5:45 the nest morning, we met my running group in the hotel lobby to discuss last-minute strategy, eat bagels and hydrate, and receive a pep-talk from our coaches. As you can tell from the picture, I was eager to get started. We also took the time to do some stretching. Even though he was in San Francisco with the other half of our team, I couldn't help but hear Coach Dave's voice: "Stretch and talk people, stretch and talk."

He used to say that to us on Saturday mornings as we'd gab away, trying to catch up on each others' weeks before we started our training run. Dave would be proud to see we took his advice--or at least Paul did. You can see him sort-of stretching there in the front, while the rest of us talk away. I'm sure that'll be a familiar site to Dave. I promise we did stretch after the picture was taken!

The start was extremely crowed, with almost 37,000 runners participating. We were in the open start area, where everyone was wearing a bunch of extra layers in order to ward off the very cold and windy temperatures. In fact, only minutes before the gun went off, people started throwing their clothes into the air and the streets were soon littered with sweaters, jackets and long-sleeve t-shirts. You actually had to jump over piles of clothing for the first 1/2 mile. Apparently, the marathon organizers collect the clothes and donate it to shelters. Nice to know they won't go to waste! I ran the first five miles of the course with Coach David and he helped keep me from going out too fast, by monitoring my pace. He wisely warned me that it's easy to let the thrill of the event carry you away, though the crowded course also prevented me from being too speedy during that first portion of the course. Once I got to about mile 22 and saw many runners hit the proverbial wall, I was glad I'd listened to David and kept to a reasonable pace in those first few miles. Without the reality check, I might have pushed myself too hard and ended up hobbling to the finish line!

More than 1.5 million spectators lined the route and they certainly helped keep us runners moving. I know I appreciated the dozens of complete strangers who cheered out "go April!" or "you can do it April" as I moved through the course. I actually felt pretty strong throughout the course, though my thigh muscles started to feel a bit tired and stiff by mile 21. Even so, by the time I rounded the final corner and saw the 800 meter mark, I was pumped and broke out into a sprint. I finished the marathon in 4 hours, 4 minutes and 55 seconds.

That put me in 12,737th place overall and 3,559th place for my gender! Unfortunately, they don't give out any prizes for that placing. A long way from breaking any records but not bad for my first marathon! In fact, I'm already thinking about where my next marathon challenge will take place.

That evening, we went to our post-marathon celebration. Although we didn't stay very long, it was nice to celebrate the completion of the race with our team. Unlike some of my teammates who had enough energy to go out on the town afterwards, Aviva and I decided to go back to the hotel and use the pool. I decided I wanted to conserve some energy for exploring the city the next day.

Everyone warned me that I'd dread walking, particularly up and down stairs, for at least a few days after the marathon. Although I was a bit stiff the next day, I managed to spend several hours walking around Chicago on Monday afternoon. Aviva and I spent the day browsing in the shops along Chicago's Magnificent Mile. It was easy to spot the other marathon-tourists: just look for the stiff-legged, limping folks, of which there were many. While I didn't buy much (a marathon hat and shirt and a cheap dress from H&M) it was nice to see a bit of the city and to check out the famous shopping district.

Gesundheit!

Follow this link. I promise that it will make you smile--and you won't believe the sound a baby panda makes when it sneezes.

Free This American Life Podcasts

As all my friends know, I'm a huge NPR junky. While I can't afford to make huge donations to support my local station, I do subscribe as a student member and buy the occassional podcast of NPR programs, which I listen to at the gym, while running, or while walking the dog. One of my favorite shows is This American Life (TAL), hosted by Ira Glass out of Chicago's WBEZ station. I'm not going to attempt to describe the program, because there's just no good way to convey what they do and still make it sound interesting. I suggest you just visit the site, or turn on your radio, and listen for yourself. If I'm not able to catch it live on Sunday nights, I often listen to it via streaming audio on their website. Now, they've just made it free to download the week's episode of TAL and I'm very excited. Although you still have to pay for archived episodes (they're only 95 cents), this means I can take my episode with me at no cost. Yippee! If you've never listend to the program, you must check it out. This week's episode "centers on personal recordings that one person made for just one other person."

Where do you rank on the "F Scale"?

Fifty years ago, the Authoritarian Personality studies attempted to "construct an instrument that would yield an estimate of fascist receptivity at the personality level." Lucky for us, someone has seen fit to recreate an online, interactive F Scale that presents that instrument in its final form. According to the scale, I am a "liberal airhead." Good to know I'm not a fascist. See how you do!

Web M.D. Failed to Make a Diagnosis

For the past two weeks, I've been plagued by a rather annoying pain in my right index finger. The top joint is exceedingly painful to the touch and even doing menial tasks like opening jars or picking up relatively light objects increases the pain. Typing is particularly painful. I guess that means I shouldn't waste my value index-finger energy on blogger, but I'm making an entry anyway. In any case, the pain in my finger is obviously no huge deal, but it is making the task of writing a bit more difficult. Given that I"m spending an exorbitant amount of time at the computer these days, it's probably the result of some repetitive motion problem. I've experienced this same pain before, but never for more than a few days. I've been taking naproxen and that seems to help, which suggests it's some sort of inflammation.

Ok. Enough complaining. Back to editing my article, which I have to submit this weekend. I'm also using the article as a writing sample for job applications, so I'm feeling double the pressure to get it right. With any luck, I can convince Aviva to look at it and help me eliminate any really dumb ideas or embarrassing typos.

Honor the Runners in Purple

Something has been getting under my skin lately and I was finally inspired to write this rant. Over the past several months, I have occasionally come across articles in which other runners diss Team in Training, saying that inexperienced runners (actually, most of these articles refuse to even call TnT participants runners) use the program as a way to get a "free" trip to a marathon city. I even read one article that called the organization a "purple scourge" that makes marathons less enjoyable for "real runners" by allowing too many slow and inadequately trained runners onto the routes. Those claims simply infuriate me. Not only do such remarks smack of elitism, suggesting that only fast runners should be allowed to participate in marathons, they also fail to acknowledge that such training programs encourage people to lead more active and healthy lives. Many TnT runners are serious about the sport and are seriously good at running. And from what I can tell, many participants continue running in marathons long after their first TnT experience comes to an end. In fact, I spent one Saturday running with a woman who ran her first TnT marathon in under 4 hours and qualified for Boston during her second marathon. The TnT alumni who often show up to our group runs looking strong and running fast prove that the program encourages people to get off the couch and stay off the couch.

These critics also fail to recognize the serious dedication, time, and energy it takes to raise a large amount of money for such an organization. Obviously, participants have lives, with time-consuming jobs, and have to find time to host parties, send out letters, staff donation tables, run car washes and bake sales, sell bracelets and chocolate bars. Like many other TnT participants, I have donated a considerable amount of my own money to the program, buying supplies and making outright donations that total many hundreds of dollars. And all that on a very meager graduate student stipend. I can think of easier ways to get a "free" trip to Chicago, or any other marathon destination.

It certainly would have been much easier (and cheaper) for me to simply go to Chicago on my own. Instead, I decided to take the difficult road to Chicago, raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of my grandmother and I don't regret the decision. Despite its difficulty, it's been a wonderful opportunity to honor her strength and collect funds for the organization's important research and education programs. When my grandmother passed away several weeks ago, getting up to go for my group run the following day was vital therapy. That day, I rose at 5:30am feeling tremendously sad. However, during my 18-mile run, I thought about my grandmother with each and every mile. The critics who mock someone's desire to memorialize a loved one in such a way are, to be frank, heartless.

I have also run with lymphoma survivors who began participating in the program as a way of reaffirming their strength and victory over cancer. I have listened to coaches tell me inspiring stories about mothers and daughters who have struggled to cross the finish line together after enduring months of treatment and months of training. Anyone who thinks people do this for an "easy" ticket to a marathon needs to spent more time around a real group of Team in Training participants. I promise that you will be inspired by their athleticism and their selfless dedication to such an important cause.

The Academic Job Market is Evil

I'm deep into the process of applying for academic jobs and it's hell. I met with my advisor today and I left feeling like I have an impossible amount of work to do before sending out my first round of applications. Some applications require that I send everything up front--including my writing sample. Others only want a cover letter, abstract, and C.V. I've been working all day, everyday, to get the samples into shape, but they're still a long way from where I want them to be. I will continue to plug away and hope that I can get it all together, and that someone out there will see fit to hire me. Sigh.

On other fronts, I'm getting psyched about the marathon. I"m feeling physically ready, given that the training runs have gone well and I'm still running injury free. I just received my confirmation ticket from the Chicago Marathon today and it made the whole thing seem much more real. I'll be leaving on Saturday morning and staying in Chicago until Sunday night. Aviva and I will have a hotel room in the heart of Chicago and she will probably meet up with other partcipants' husbands/wives/partners to travel along the route and cheer us on at various points along the way. Though we won't have much time to explore the city, I'm looking forward to my first visit to the proverbial windy city.