The Accidental Boilermaker

If you've ever run a race or competed in some sort of event, you might understand this post. My mom emailed me an article about the West Lafayette Circular Logic Marathon . Is it crazy to even consider signing-up for this event? The website makes it sound so fun (and it's cheap for a marathon), you forget that the race is a one-mile loop that you run 26 times! Take for example the amenities: Two sets of real restrooms!! Aid Station every single mile!! Flat course with only 26 feet of elevation change per mile!! No street crossings!! What more could you ask for in a race? But I wonder, you would feel even more insane after running 26 miles in a circle than you do after 26 miles in a line? Or would the quick familiarity of your surroundings make the miles seem to go by faster? The longest I've ever run on the treadmill was 12 miles (and I've done it at least twice). Let me tell you, it wasn't much fun either time. Would this race be like that, except like 10...

I ran my second Indianapolis Monumental Marathon today. Compared to the last time , I did and felt lots better. My family was there to cheer me on. Kate, Meredith and my dad even ran a 5K. It was dark and pretty cold at the start of the race At mile 20 I finished! Final time 4:30.53 - 8 minutes faster than two years ago!

Took a trip to Chicago this weekend to see Kate, watch the Chicago Marathon, and go to the Brookfield Zoo (my birthday present from Nate). Everything was a blast. This guy was my second favorite animal. The river otter did not photograph well as he was having too much fun swimming to pose for pictures. Nate pretending to be a polar bear. Very scary. We really wanted these stuffed animals but Nate said no. With our Dad at the finish of the marathon

Check out the super cool birthday present Kate gave me!

The only present I ever need. As some may recall, Nate gets me a giant cookie cake for my birthday every year. I got to pick this one out and while it seems to be more patriotic in nature, you have to remember that the icing to cookie ratio is more important than the design. 2008 2009 2010

My dad and I ran the mini marathon today in Indy! You can't tell, but it was actually raining pretty good at the finish. Overall though, the weather was perfect. Nate and my mom were there to watch. We finished together, 2:13:13.

Sunday we said goodbye to Montreal. I would love to go back someday. Montreal has a nice Chinatown and on Thursday Nate's lab mate discovered this little shop that sold really good Vietnamese sandwiches. I think we stopped in there everyday and on Saturday made sure we had some for the drive back. We got back to the Burlington early, so we decided to check out Lake Champlain and the downtown before checking in at the airport. Even after walking around Burlington, we were pretty early. For a good hour and a half, we were literally the only people in the airport. Our trip home ended up being pretty exciting. We had to run through the Detroit airport to catch our flight back to Indy, but we made it and so did our luggage. Overall, we had a really great trip : )

Saturday was our last full day in Montreal. The one place I really wanted to visit was the Biodome . Originally built as a velodrome for the '76 Olympics, it now houses 5 different ecosystems of the Americas. A golden tamarin in the tropical rainforest. Penguins from the Arctic. The Olympic Tower Saturday night after dinner, we took the metro out to buy some bagels for breakfast (apparently Montreal has its own distinct variation on the bagel ) and on the way, we noticed these very nice bike lanes. Montreal takes its bikers very seriously.

Friday, Nate and I explored Old Montreal. It's where the first French settlers originally landed and started what they called Ville Marie. We had the absolute best breakfast at this cute cafe/bakery in Old Montreal before going to the Pointe-a-Calliere museum . Pointe-a-Calliere is supposed to mark the birthplace of Montreal. Today it serves as a pretty cool archaeology museum that traces Montreal's history from the Native Indians that first lived in the area to the French settlers to modern day. You can go up to the very top of the museum too and get a pretty good look around. The foundations of the buildings on the left actually sit on remains of the wall that once surrounded Ville Marie (aka Montreal). After leaving the museum, we did some more walking around and stopped in this little chapel, Notre Dame de Bon Secours. It's one of the oldest church in Montreal.

Thursday was a big day for Nate. His presentation started at 8:30. It must have gone amazing because everyone else in his symposium group spent the rest of the trip raving about how well he did. I struck out on my own to explore Montreal while Nate was at the conference. I wasn't sure what to do since a lot of museums and stores didn't open till 10:00 but I found a museum at McGill College that opened early and was free! Called the Redpath Museum , it was a natural history museum featuring mostly minerals, animals and fossils from Quebec and Canada, but also some stuff from around the world too. This triceratops was found in Saskatchewan. The mummy is not from Canada but I thought it was cool how they used x-rays to "look inside" so they wouldn't disturb the wrappings. After that, I decided the best time to shop was when Nate wasn't around so I explored the city underneath the city - Montreal's expansive underground shopping network. On my way back t...

Our trip to Montreal started very early Wednesday morning. We left for the Indianapolis Airport at 3:30am. The first time I felt awake enough to take a picture is flying over Lake Champlain to Burlington, Vermont. From Burlington, we drove to Montreal which turned out to be incredibly easy despite the all French road signs. After checking into the hotel, we unpacked a little and then ventured out to find the convention center for Nate and something to eat for dinner. Both endeavors were successful and I basically relaxed in the room while Nate practiced his presentation for next morning. All in all, it was a long, but good day. I promise much more interesting photos tomorrow.

Okay, you're right - it's Saturday, but we got our new fridge yesterday. Our old fridge just kind of stopped keeping food cold and the beauty of living in an apartment is that you often get stuff fixed for free. And this new fridge is definitely an upgrade. Old fridge New fridge Much better

We were in Chicago this weekend to support Meredith in her effort to run up the 94 flights of the John Hancock building. If the child wasn't crazy enough, she managed to finish in 21:05 - pretty amazing! Getting ready for the climb Lake Shore Drive Navy Pier A view from the top The support team All finished!

I went to a bridal shower today for the future daughter-in-law of a woman I work with. I have never met either this girl or the groom, but I still had fun. We played this game where you had to memorize as many kitchen utensils attached to an apron as you could. Whoever remembered the most won a centerpiece. Well, as you can see, I really wanted to win these beautiful gerbers so with the help of my work friends, we remembered all the utensils. Hurray!

I got my Valentine's Day present early. Nate bought me a box of chocolates. They are made in Attica which is about 45 minutes southwest of us, but they have a little store in Lafayette too. And I can tell you they are really good because we've almost eaten the whole box. Yum, coconut. My favorite.

We have a phase III patient who prints out a stack of jokes for us at least once a week. Most are pretty funny, but this one really made us laugh on Friday. Super Bowl Seat A woman had 50 yard line tickets for the Super Bowl. As she sat down, a man came along and asked her if anyone was sitting in the seat next to her. "No," she said, "the seat is empty." "This is incredible," said the man, "Who in their right mind would have a seat like this for the Super Bowl, the biggest sporting event in the world, and not use it?" Somberly, the woman says, "Well...the seat actually belongs to me. I was supposed to come here with my husband, but he passed away. This is the first Super Bowl we have not been to together since we got married in 1967." "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, that's terrible. But couldn't you find someone else - a friend or relative or even a neighbor to take the seat?" The woman shakes her head and says,...

Another snow day for me and Nate. Here's a snap shot of how we spent the time. Nate's all excited about Purdue cancelling classes for the second day in a row. Plus we had just bought our plane tickets for Montreal! Nate tried to drive me to work this morning but we got stuck, twice. Penny didn't seem to notice that we were home. She settled down in her usual spot on the bed and slept all morning. I made a pumpkin pie for Nate. Then we took a really big nap. I love snow days.