I was supposed to do this run tomorrow, but mother nature decided today was better. Today it was f-ing freezing; 22 with a wind chill of 3, lots of gusty wind. The cold front was only supposed to get worse, and by tomorrow, the wind chill will be below zero. No way was I about to run 18 miles with a wind chill advisory in effect. So, I switched my long run to today, when at least it was sunny out. It was a tough run because I'm not used to the cold, in addition to the fact that there is a lot of snow on the ground, and I came really close to twisting my ankle on more than one occasion. My nutrition was funky because my gatorade froze early on, and I only ate 1 gu the entire time, because I need something to wash it down. Despite the fact that I was hungry and dehydrated, I only lost 2.5lbs for the run, and survived. I hope I run my long runs a bit faster in the next few weeks, but we'll see. This pace was :20s/mile slower than I want, but I think running 11mi yesterday may have slowed me down for the day, who knows. Anyways, running in the cold isn't as bad as I thought it would be, you just have to have dress right. I still don't know how you crazy wisconsin/minnesotan folk do it everyday in weather colder than this- you all are nuts!

Visiting with my family is going great, they're thrilled that I'm home. I love seeing my family and all, but one of the best parts about being home is playing with my dogs. They were soo friggin excited to see me, it's just the best feeling. I can't wait till I can get my own pup! Anyways, busy day of interviews all day, and then a faculty dinner tonight. Thanks so much for all the encouragement again, but you guys are going to get bored soon- I still have at least 2 more of these interviews to go on! Have an awesome friday, and great weekend- and to all of you racing- goodluck and have fun!

I made it back to Rochester just fine, and go figure, it is snowy, cold and overcast. Home sweet home! I have interviews all day tomorrow, but I'm not nearly as worried cause I've already done this. Oh yeah, I got a great e-mail yesterday: the program that I interviewed with last weekend sent me an acceptance e-mail yesterday! Woo-hoo! At least I know I can get a PhD from somewhere. In case I don't have time to write tomorrow, have an awesome weekend everyone!

Another 3 day week at work for me- this is great! I'm headed to the University of Rochester (NY) tomorrow for another interview. I'm originally from there, so this trip doubles as a free trip home to see my parents. The weather is going to SUCK- it's supposed to snow every day- so hopefully I can keep myself motivated to run in what everyone else deals with every day ;) This AM, it actually rained for a bit of my run- craziness!

So the doc says my cough is just really bad allergies. I guess that's good, because I don't have bronchitis or pneumonia, but it still seems lame. He said running shouldn't be a problem (not like I would've stopped anways). On another note, I realized the title of my blog is no longer entirely accurate. Granted, I didn't start tri's until July, but it doesn't feel like the first season anymore. Anyone have any witty suggestions? So I'm taking jmwebs suggestion for now, giving it a test run, since it seems moderately appropriate ;) We'll see, I may change my mind- but thanks for all the input!

I was soo tired last night that I hit my snooze button for 1.5hrs this morning and couldn't drag myself out of bed. Could be the 17 miler, could be the non-stop traveling and partying, who knows!? I'm going to try and get a spin or swim in this afternoon, but life might get in the way. Happy Monday everyone!

What a busy weekend! We went out with all the grad students friday night and went dancing and got drunk, so my saturday run didn't happen- oops! My flight home was this morning, and as soon as I got back to SD, I got out and did my long, slow run. A friend is visiting from rochester, so he rode a bike while I ran, and we did a run/riding tour of parts of san diego. We went all the way to OB and back, and it was a lot of fun! Tough run overall, mainly because I was sick for so long. I think I'm going to the doctor though, because this cough thing still hasn't gone away. I am still coughing about once per hour, and it is still productive. That is bad. So overall, the interviews went well. The school basically said they only invite people out that they are most likely going to accept, so it was laid back. The city of Portland is awesome- very biker friendly, very green, very outdoorsy, very hip, and lots of music and culture (something SD lacks). That being said, I don't know if the program is exactly what I want to do for my PhD work; my research interests don't perfectly align with the faculty, and that is more important than anything else. Next up: University of Rochester!