Q: Where Have You Been? A: Running.

I completed my first half-marathon this past Sunday. I ran/jogged/trotted/old-man shuffled for over 13 miles.

I got to run with my best friend from college, Brittni. She flew to San Diego from New Orleans for the weekend to participate in the race. She was sweet and encouraging, and stayed at my (sometimes brutally slow) pace the whole way. She told me stories to keep my mind off the pain and the tiredness of my legs. She helped me finish without walking more than a few steps (due to some, um, stomach issues). She helped me sprint through the finish line.

I couldn't ask for a more supportive friend :).

Maybe in a year or two, after some more practice on my part, we can run together again at a faster pace!

There was pain. But I trudged through. I was slower than I wanted to be, but I finished the race.

There were so many hurdles for me to get to the point of jogging for 13.1 miles. There were injuries in training that went away, and there were injuries that lasted through the race. There was learning to win the battle with my mind.

I survived, and I pushed my body to its limit. I pushed my mind to its limit (as evidenced by not being able to form complete sentences for hours after the race...:)...). I may not be the fastest, but I sure did finish.

For me, even though I was slower than I wanted to be, I achieved something HUGE. And now I have a foundation I can build upon. I didn't have that 6 months ago. I was starting from scratch. 6 months ago, I couldn't even run a mile without huffing and puffing and quitting because of a stitch in my side. Now I can say to my friends "Hey, want to go run 5 miles?" on any given day of the week, and I know I'll be able to finish out the run strong.

At the expo, Saturday before the race:

Brittni and Younhee rockin' out...:)

With sweet Brittni at the cactus garden in Balboa park:

I hope you enjoy the photos from the race, and kudos if you made it through reading my rambling words!

Hanging out in our corral before the race:

32,000 people ran! Can you believe it!?!

My sweet friends, Irit and Younhee, from lab.

Sprint to the finish! Gotta love Brittni!

Wait, if I'm over the finish line, why am I still running??

The whole gang with our finisher's medals!

Whew. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's over...for now!

The Scarves

Time for some pupper pictures. 

I'm in a funk. Blog funk-definitely. Life funk-maybe? Nothing helps both of these funks like some puppies.

Dad is leaving San Diego tomorrow. Ralph and Dad got along so well, I think they are really going to miss one another. I bet money Ralph will remember my dad, even if he doesn't see him for another year. I've never seen Ralph bond to anyone else like he did with Dad. 

Ralph could totally be in a magazine:

Ed doesn't like posing. But look at that FACE. He gets me every time with that mug. 

Bandannas are a traditional accessory for big dogs, especially retrievers. Since they were only $1 at Wal-Mart, I thought I'd try them out on the puppies.

Yiiiikkkeees.

"Gimme that, Ralph."

"MOMMA! GET IT OFF ME!"

"Chomp"

"Despair"

"Nom"

I love my sweet boys.

"How YOU doin'?"

Safari Park

Hi Friends!

This past week I went with Amber, her mom, Shaza and Steph to the Safari Park (formerly the Wild Animal Park), and we had a great time!

There were so many neat animals to see!

Exotic ducks.

Exotic pigeons (really).

Creepy African owls that look like robots.

Below are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

(I feel like this giraffe and I have far too much in common.)

Catch Up

Hi, Friends.

It's been a very long week. Lots of long days at work, and not time for much rest at home have made it a rather dull week in terms of blogging material.

I do have some photos I've snapped over the past few weekends that I'd like to share. There really isn't much rhyme or reason here, I just wanted to post something to let you know I'm alive and well.

Dad and Tony have been working out in the garage almost every weekend together. They seem to enjoy working on cars, though perhaps Tony more than my Dad some days...

 We've had lots of rain recently, which is a great thing for all of our plants, but it requires more upkeep for our front yard's lawn, and all of the random weeds around our driveway.

Boy, do we have avocados. Tasty ones.

The jasmine plants have bloomed, and our entire front yard is lovely and fragrant.

The trees and plants are vibrant, and the birds are singing...

And Ed has his bone.

"Om nom nom nom"

"What? It's good!"

Family: A Retrospective, Part 2

Hi, friends.

It's been an especially rough week. 2 big group meeting presentations (which are always stressful and I can never give myself enough credit for actually doing a good job), bad news about a fellowship that I had put an incredible amount of time into, a stressful collaboration that is requiring me to be far more agressive than I am comfortable with being, a 5 day experiment that looked promising at the beginning, but tanked at the 11th hour, and gave me no data, and finally on the way home from a long day at work on Friday, a semi jack-knifed on the I-15,  and I sat in traffic for over 2 hours.

But, there were some positive things this week:

I ran a total of 11 miles this week (3.5 miles twice and 4 miles on Friday, all without stopping to walk) with my girlfriends at work. This is the most I've ever run in my life, and I survived.

This week is the 3 year anniversary of my small group. I've only been in the group for about a year now, but it's really awesome to hear how community has changed my girlfriends lives, and how it's changed my life. I can't wait to start our new series, Crazy Love, this weekend!

Monday is Tony's birthday, and during my lunch break one day this week I went to Sears to get his present. Nothing says love like manly tools. Don't worry, he doesn't read my blog often enough to ruin the surprise, and he won't know what kind of tools I bought him :).

Needless to say, I am utterly exhausted. No tossing and turning for 30 minutes before I fall asleep. No waking up in the middle of the night to one of Ed or Ralph's puppy dreams. Pure exhaustion envelopes me around 9 PM every night, no matter where I am.

------

Mom, sleeping: mid 1970s, New Orleans

When I was little, I used to have a terrible time falling asleep. I was scared of things unseen, like the aliens and monsters that lived in our basement who would come upstairs at night to scare me. This resulted in an awful time for my parents. Dad, who I wrote about in my last blog entry, would sleep on the floor beside my bed, and to help me fall asleep, we would play the "capitols" game, whereby he would name countries of the world, and I would recite back their capitol cities. This shouldn't be a surprising tactic, given that my dad is a history professor. Then, after a bit, he would sneakily crawl out, being careful to avoid the squeaky boards in our hallway.

My mom's technique was to use soothing imagery to help me fall asleep. Our favorite "place" was lying on rafts on a lazy river (we got to pick out new colors for the rafts every time), feeling the warm sun on our faces. Approaching our favorite, pink speckled rock, and lazily sunbathing. Truthfully, when I'm so stressed out I'm not functioning, I still go back to our place.

I'm so glad for my mom, and the joy she brings to all her friends and family, especially me :). I think the photo above of my mom sleeping is one of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen. Though, I guess we must all think that our mothers, particularly when they were young, are the most lovely of all women.

Mom, early 1970s, New Orleans

Family: A Retrospective, Part 1

(Dad's 1971 911 Porsche)

Hi Friends.


I am starting a series of posts revolving around some pictures I found during my most recent trip back to Ohio.


If there's one thing in photography I love more than taking a good picture, it's appreciating the photos my family has taken in the past. The waaay past.


Did you notice the awesome picture of Mom and Granny in my last post? Well, there's more where that came from.


Each post I'll try and tell a story about that family member, or about the special meaning that photo has for me. I'll also post some of my own photos taken of that person (this is, after all, a blog highlighting the photo's I've taken).




The first family member I am going to focus on is my dad.


----------------


Everyone who has met my dad will agree that he is a very unique person. He's an interesting blend of intellectual firepower, extroversion, introspection and goofiness. There really is no one like him. He's probably the most intelligent person I know, but he gets along well with people of all walks of life. Perhaps this is why he's such an effective teacher and communicator.


When I was growing up, Dad and I fought. A lot. We mostly picked on each other in order to push one another's buttons, and eventually irritate Momma to the point of her yelling at both of us to cut it out.


My appreciation for my dad has grown substantially in the last 10 years, particularly the last 3 years. 


Not many people understand what it feels like to go through graduate school in order to get a Ph.D. There is a sense of under-appreciation that permeates the experience. Little to no pay, long hours, grumpy bosses, the ebb and flow of data and results (for us scientists), and the creeping feeling of being an impostor flood your everyday life. As a graduate student, one must also weather the onslaught completely annoying questions from old friends and distant relatives about when you anticipate graduation, and whether or not you are doing good in your classes (for chemistry and biology Ph.D.s, classes rarely extend beyond the first year, and all subsequent years are spent at the bench, actually doing research). 


Family members and close friends (and even sometimes spouses!) have a hard time grasping the emotional, physical and psychological pain graduate school inflicts on even the strongest students.


But, my dad does. My dad was a graduate student at John's Hopkins in the late 70s and early 80s, studying the history of science and technology. My parents have told me stories of long hours studying, reading, and writing they endured when my dad was trying to get his Ph.D., and my mom was getting her MBA. 

(Dad working on his Ph.D. in Baltimore, MD)

I have found my dad to be an invaluable resource as I try to navigate through my Ph.D. training. Randomly, I will receive emails from my dad saying things like "Don't lose heart!" and "Keep your identity in your Creator!", and they seem to come during times when I am feeling most isolated and awful.

I'm going to quote my dad (without his permission, though I doubt he'll mind) from one of my most treasured email conversations with him. This email came directly after I began having serious doubts of whether or not I could continue graduate school, and I was questioning whether I should take my Master's degree and run:

"Being young isn't easy, but if you keep your faith in God and yourself and work your way through the hard times you will be rewarded in the end.  Times are really difficult now, with the economy and jobs, and it is very hard to be right out of school. It is easy to take the path of lesser resistance, but if you keep going, and make good decisions with God on your side and Christ inside of you, in the end life will settle down and you will have a good harmonious life. So I just want to say keep doing your best despite all the obstacles and challenges.  But whatever happens, Momma and I will always be proud of you and love you."

So far, I haven't given up, and I'm now half-way through the Ph.D. Here's to finishing by 2013!

Starting in  January 2011, my dad is living in San Diego for a few months as a visiting professor at the University of San Diego, teaching a course on his favorite topic,  The Automobile and American Life. Recently, he published a book on the topic, which has had great reviews and has done  well in the collegiate market. 

(Purchase Here via Amazon)

While he's here in SD, he plans to finish up another book focusing on automobile theft. You can follow his adventures at his own blog (who else has a dad who blogs!?!).

So for the next few months, I have a great support system just down the road, and Tony has a buddy who knows how to work on cars.

Thanks, Dad. Let's enjoy San Diego!

Granny

Today is my Granny's 86th birthday.

(Granny and Mom, 1980-ish)

For those of you who don't know, my Granny helped raise me my whole life. She still lives next door to my mother and father in Ohio--in the house she has lived in since I was born.

She helped teach me how to read and write, how to behave in public, how to say "y'all", and what it meant to have to cut a switch from the row of bushes that separated her yard from the neighbors (it meant--Lisa's in a heap of trouble).  She was not a replacement for my mom, who holds a very special place in my heart, but instead, she was an augmentation of that motherhood.

She is definitely a survivor, who, despite numerous maladies, manages to make it through the day, and can still reserve enough energy to talk with me on the phone for hours. 

Happy Birthday, Granny! You are loved.