The Blog is Back!

The. Blog. Is. Back. Why do periods make everything so much more exciting? I imagine they teach us that at some point in med school.

Anyways, I briefly started this blog two years ago after field hockey ended as a way to share my pictures and thoughts on life’s awesome adventures. However, shortly after field hockey ended I picked up an extra year to run track and figured that my blogging would probably violate NCAA rules in about ten different ways. To start, the NCAA probably would not appreciate that my fifth year was largely spent reading large quantities of fiction and non-fiction unrelated to school, as well as training a puppy…

... and clearly having a lot of success at both

Then med school started and I was unsure about the ethics behind establishing a blog and having a professional career looming about eight years down the road. I’ve learned though that there seems to be a clear ethical line —just do not post pictures of human brains. This is actually taken from our Neuro syllabus. I may need to cite that.

However, for those of you who are curious about what we see in medical school, there are often references to food. For example, yesterday in class, we saw a picture of a carotid artery that looked exactly like this… though not exactly, mind you, THIS IS NOT REAL.

LASGNA. Okay, yes, that green garnish was not there. But that, my friends, is a big hunk of atherosclerosis in a carotid artery. Be kind to your arteries. Do not eat crap day in and day out. Maybe just day in, please?

Which transitions me to med school. I love it. My classmates are incredible people who are absolutely brilliant. The professors are renowned and have an unbelievable, natural passion for medicine. Plus, the coursework is quite fascinating. There is only one frustrating part--I feel like it’s common for med students to have an air of effortless perfection. Granted, for some of my really, really brilliant classmates, it may actually be effortless, but for the rest of us, it actually takes a great deal of effort. I’ve worked incredibly hard this year, and I’m proud of that. Plus, I enjoy the effort. In my mind, the morning 5:30 AM moon viewed from the medical school fourth floor is pretty darn special.

With my medical school obligations down to a science, it’s time to start recording my epic adventures. Or, to be cheesy, to #AdventureHard. How can you keep a domain name like that inactive? That is horrendously ironic. Or how can you refrain from hash tagging that greatness?

Last year was pretty awesome on the adventure front. California has amazing trails and I had the privilege to race for New Balance Silicon Valley, which involved traveling to some real (read mud, snow, ice) XC races and entering some fast road races. I also had my fair share of random Podunk races with pumpkin or frosty themed names.

Textbook Podunk Race

And slightly more legit...1:16 at Rock n'  Roll San Jose Half Marathon

I also got engaged to my adventure partner-in-crime in August. #AdventureHard4Lyfe --> my 13 year old self would have been really excited about this hashtag and somewhat astonished that I would actually meet someone like David. At some point this year, David is moving out to California and I couldn’t be more excited to get to spend every day with my best friend. Our wedding plans are currently TBD, but we have already agreed on the most important aspect—cake. And beer. There will be both, and they will be well sampled ahead of time.

My bling is tastier than yours.

This year the race schedule is going to focus on trails (I hope to qualify for the US Mountain Running Team), but also incorporate a nice mix of biking and duathlons. I’ve spent a solid three days on the stationary bike creating rivers of sweat on the Stanford gym floor and I’m excited to take my training to epic California hill climbs. My general life philosophy: go up. Currently I'm hindered by the logistical issue of acquiring a competitive bike, but in the meantime I will continue being an electrical hazard in the gym.

Unfortunately, I have a hazardous lifestyle. 

Here’s the race schedule—tentative of course. I promise there will be more running road races and probably some Podunk fillers.

Feb 8 – Golden Gate Trail Half: CA

Mar 8 – Morgan Hill Intl Duathlon: CA (aka figure out what the heck I am doing)

Apr 7 – Golden Bears Duathlon: CA

May 18 – Long Course Duathlon National Championships: Cary, NC

July 6^th – US Mountain Running Championships: NH

July 19^th – Duathlon National Championships: MN

Aug 23^rd – US Trail Half Marathon Championships: WA

Sept 13^th – Mt. Tam Bike Hill Climb Time Trial: CA

Dec 7^th – Xterra Trail Running World Championship: HI

Wow, if you made it this far you are amazing. Thanks for reading!