Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Winter Activities

This past weekend my husband went to Catoctin Park near Thurmont, MD. Camp David is located in this park, so we run the risk of having our hike severely limited if the President is at Camp David. Luckily this weekend, the president remained in DC. My husband, Tristan, our Bernese Mountain Dog, Gilligan and I hiked to Cunningham Falls. The falls were pretty well iced over and much of the trail was a bit icy at points. After the falls we also hiked to Wolf Rock. This rock formation does not look like a Wolf at all (although my husband insists it does). The weather was sunny but quite cold and brisk; however it was an enjoyable day for hiking.

The rest of the weekend I worked on my Badwater Race Application Essay. I want to compete in the ultimate ultra event, Badwater and this year is the first time I have been eligible (having completed Umstead 100 miler last year). I completed my essay and submitted it electronically on Monday. That day during my lunch break I sent in the required paperwork. Now I wait anxiously for my acceptance letter (I am thinking positive).

Monday and Tuesday I was also busy working on the final arrangements of a seminar and luncheon I had organized for statisticians at my work (the FDA). I have several more of these events throughout the year since I am the president of the statistics association within the FDA. I think this event was well recieved and hopefully I will do a good job as the leader.

Tommorrow my intention is to write about some of my favorite running events that I have competed in during my last 4 years of marathoning.

Friday, January 25, 2008

My life on the run...

Today is my first time blogging so I apologize if it is a bit rustic. I used to be the first person to embrace technology, but somehow I've been left in the dust. This sort of parallels my life in running (although I never was at the front of the pack in running...I just never experienced last place until relatively recently in my running career).

But alas, I hope I can start learning about and using this technology to my best advantage. And hopefully you will find it informative, interesting and humorous!

To give a little background, I currently work as a biostatistician for the Federal Government. My husband and I are lucky enough to travel a fair amount, hike most weekends and we both run.

In the last four years I have taken up marathoning after a 10 year hiatus after being hit by a car. After several surgeries and many years of rehab, it took a while for me to be able to walk. And even longer to get back to running.

But now I am making up for lost time by running marathons, ultramarathons and even documenting my events with photo essays during my marathons in the past 3 years.

In this blog, I will talk about my running, travels and life in general. I hope you enjoy!