A thing that I ate

A traditional Chilean dessert/drink is called mote con huesillo, and I tried it on Monday at the work party.  Here's a picture of what it looks like:

It's a dried peach in some sort of sweet liquid with wheat things.  It's really weird, but everyone is really into it.  I tried it and tried to like it, but the peach looked like a brain and the taste wasn't that good.  Tonight I also tried chirimoya, which is a fruit, with similar results.  Here's a picture of a chirimoya, outside and inside:

And now, early-ish to bed because I'm exhausted after a long week of sort of work.  Buenas noches!

New post up on our other blog

If you're interested, I just put a new post up on our other blog (samandcaroline.blogspot.com).  And yes, I'm blogging from work.  This week is sort of weird because it's right before a 5 day weekend for the Fiestas Patrias that are next week, so people aren't entirely here mentally (they're already on their out of town vacations :) ).  So moral of the story is that it's not that busy right now and I'm still getting settled anyway.  Keep checking the other blog for more updates!

Embarrassing injuries

I've had my share of embarrassing injuries.  The latest in this saga is that I think I pulled a muscle in my arm by shaking nail polish.  It really hurts.  Last month, I cut my knee by kneeling onto my fingernails while trying to get under the covers in bed.  So in total, I've gotten an injury by nail polish and a bed.  Not my proudest moments, nor injuries where you get a good story to tell afterwards.  ("Oh yeah, that gash on my face?  I was landing a flip on my snowboard and went through a tree.  No big deal.  Afterwards, I took myself to get stitches on my motorcycle.  What happened to you?"  "I was shaking some nail polish... really hard?")

Anyway, we're getting pretty close to packed for the trip.  This will be Caroline in another Spanish-speaking country: Chile rather than Spain.  We're going to be mostly posting on our other blog, The Adventures of Sam and Caroline.  I haven't decided if I'll keep posting on here much, but definitely check out our other blog, which we're planning to update regularly!

Here's my desk right before I completely dismantled all of my decorations.  I'm going to miss it!  And my job and my coworkers and Cambridge and so many things!  But we're going to have awesome adventures and I am extremely excited about what we have coming up.

And here's the packing process:

It's a messy and complicated endeavor.  But those piles are now (mostly) packed into our suitcases, and we leave on Thursday night!  Chile here we come!

Most of the furniture is sold and the internet is being very slow

Our bed is on the floor and we have almost nowhere to sit.  It's really getting to be real!  We're moving on Thursday.  I'm working Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with my work goodbye party on Wednesday.  And at this time in 2 weeks, it will be the night before my first day of work in Chile!  Yikes!

Almost ready to leave!

We're almost ready to leave!  I only have 5 more days of work, and we've sold a bunch of our furniture.  We're off to Chile in 3 weeks!

Oh, by the way, I did finish the marathon.  Not that long ago.

347 miles down, 26.2 to go...

Tonight was our team pasta party, and earlier today I ran my last 2 miles until the marathon.  I felt pretty good today, but the news if you haven't heard is that Monday's weather is supposed to be in the mid to upper 80s.  So that's not good.  Obviously we have to revise our pace plan, since there's no way we can run a fast pace in that heat.  Stay tuned for updates!

Tomorrow is the BAA 5k, which Sam, Keith, Jenn, and Jenn's mom are running.  I'm excited to have a day of being a fan before my day of being an athlete! 

$110 left to go! And 5 days till the marathon!

By this time 5 days from now, I'll be done with the marathon!  I can't believe it.  And I have only $110 left to raise on my fundraising goal.  Thanks so much to all of my donors so far, you guys are fantastic!  I'd like to give an updated shout-out to my most recent donors - thanks to Allie, Rachael W, Megan B, Jenny M, Laura R, Caroline M, Jenna, Holly, Masha, Matt D, Chuck and Cherry, David R, Doug, and Grandmom (again!)!  I can't believe how much support I've gotten from so many wonderful people.  I'm really honored!

If you want to join these awesome legions, you can donate here if you haven't already: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  Soon I'll be able to stop posting about this!  My mom will be so pleased.

Tomorrow I'm scheduled to run 5 miles, then we're off on Friday, then 2 miles on Saturday, off on Sunday, and then the marathon is on Monday!  Yikes!  I've run 340 miles so far in training.  I'm definitely going to need to get new shoes after this, but for obvious reasons I don't want to change my shoes right before the marathon.  And hey, I'll probably stick with these ones for another week so I can do the triathlon in them too.  And then I think we should get them bronzed.  Just kidding.

In other exciting news, tomorrow I get to meet the first woman ever to run the Boston Marathon.  Her name is Roberta (Bobbi) Gibbs, and she ran disguised as a man in 1966, before women were permitted to run the marathon.  I'm so inspired by her, and I can't wait to meet her!

Glass mosaics has continued to be fun.  I've just finished 2 more pieces I was working on, and I have to decide what I'm going to do next.  I have a few pieces of glass that I really like that I want to use, but I haven't decided what to use them for.  If you have any ideas, leave them in the comments!  The piece of glass that I'm most excited about is orange and wavy and clear and looks sort of like fire, maybe like a dragon would breathe out.  I was thinking of making a dragon, but then the instructor told me that a lot of people make dragons, which made me less interested in making one.  So sue me, I want to be original.  Oh well.  I also have some gorgeous blue pieces, some pretty greens, and one light golden orange.

Enough for tonight, I have to start banking sleep for the marathon!

It's a beautiful day for a run

The weather is beautiful today, around 60 degrees and sunny.  And not too windy, for a change.  I would love if the weather on Marathon Day is like this.  Not too hot, not too cold.  And I definitely don't want any wind unless it's a tailwind the whole way!

I'm going to be running 3 miles today.  We're in serious taper mode now.  It sort of seems like my fundraising is also in taper mode.  I've got less than $400 to go for my goal of $4000, and fundraising ends on this Friday, which is April 6.  If you can help, even a little, I'll really appreciate it!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal 

At this point, I've run 319 miles in preparation for the marathon.  We only have 28 miles left of training before the marathon!  Which means 54.2 miles till the end of this adventure.  I'm starting to think about whether I'd like to do this again, but I think I won't really be able to answer that question until after the marathon.

Glass mosaics has continued to be extremely fun.  I've made almost 6 pieces since I've started.  I'm enjoying trying different things.  I'll put some pictures up, and here's the first one.  No one will be surprised at what I made, I'm guessing.  This is the 2nd thing I made:

In other random news, here is Sam measuring some cheese:

 

You'll have to ask him about this if you want to know why he was measuring cheese.

And here's the puzzle that I finished a while ago.  Jenn and Fiona worked on it also, and it was on our table for a long time.  Isn't it pretty?

 

So that's it for today.  And I'm finally full-time at work!

Happy April! 15 days till the marathon!

I'm starting to get very excited because 2 weeks from tomorrow is the Boston Marathon!  I got a really cool team jersey and long sleeve shirt yesterday at our team run.  Depending on the weather, I'll wear either the jersey or the jersey and the long sleeve shirt for the marathon.  Either way, I will look so awesome!  And Alan, Fiona, and I all went to Marathon Sports yesterday and got our official Boston Marathon jackets.  We are so cool!  Luckily for Alan, I knew and was able to tell him that you aren't allowed to wear the jacket until you finish the marathon.  He didn't believe me, but the cashier was able to back me up.  I'm really excited to wear it!  Here's a picture of the women's version of the jacket:

I was trying to put up a picture of us from our team run on Saturday, but it sort of broke the internet, so I guess you'll just have to imagine me, Alan, and our teammate Chris looking sweaty and reflective after running 12 miles in the rain.

And perhaps most importantly, my fundraising deadline is coming up on Friday!  I've raised over $3400 at this point, but I've still got a ways to go to my goal of raising $4000.  If you can help me reach it, I'd really appreciate it!  Any amount helps!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

Happy April!

I've run 295 miles so far in training

It was supposed to be more, but the stress fracture set me back.  Still, I think 295 miles is quite a lot!  And I'll be over 300 before the long run this weekend. 

My job at the Museum will start being full-time sometime in the next week or so, which is very exciting! 

I have been going to glass mosaics every week, and I'm having a great time with it.  I finished the present I made for my mom, and I'm on to my next project.  I really like glass mosaic-ing!

If you can believe it, I ran 21 miles!

Even if you can't believe it (I can't either, really), I ran 21 miles yesterday!  All things considered, I feel pretty good today.  Yesterday was the official day that many of the charity marathon teams do their long run, so it was actually a pretty big event.  There were so many water and gatorade stops and people cheering along the course.  We started at the actual starting line and ran along the course until the top of Heartbreak Hill.  There were cops stopping traffic and everything!  Alan and I ran together, and we had a pretty good pace for the run.  We're feeling optimistic about getting our goal on race day, assuming it's not 80 degrees.  I feel very proud of myself for getting through the 21 miles!

The weather here this past week was great.  It was like summer for almost a week.  Yesterday was a bit cooler, which was actually good for the long run, but today is even colder and rainy, so it's sort of disappointing.  It's an inside day, for sure.

Last weekend, I had glassblowing class, which was extremely fun.  I made 4 glass flowers.  I really want to do more glassblowing classes in the future.

And in perhaps the biggest news, I have an internship confirmed in Chile!  Perhaps you're thinking, "I thought you were going to Buenos Aires.  And that's in Argentina, not Chile."  Well, plans change.  It was proving to be pretty difficult to find jobs that would be able to pay us in Buenos Aires, and there's a program that I'm able to do that will pay my stipend for Chile, plus they set up the whole thing.  It's pretty awesome.  Sam has a few leads on things he might do while we're there, but nothing is certain yet.  Anyway, I'll be working at the Museo Interactivo Mirador (MIM).  Doesn't it look fun?  And we'll be there from September to January or so.  The exact dates are still TBD. 

Fundraising is also going well, but things have slowed down lately.  I've got less than $650 to go, and I could use some help!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  My runner is starting to get filled in in the head, which is very exciting. 

I'll post some pictures next time, and I'll also do shout-outs to my most recent donors in my next post.  Stay tuned!

$723 to go!

Thanks to my most recent donors, Naomi and Joe, Kristen F, Sarah H, Shreya, Don and Bonnie, Keith and Rebecca (again!), Maria G, Caroline H, Chris W, Frank and Sandy, and Jen F!  I can't believe how many people have been so supportive of my crazy endeavor.  I am so lucky! 

And I only have $723 to go!  Help me get that down to $0 by April 16 by donating now if you can: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

More updates coming soon!

I ran 17 miles yesterday!

I can't believe I made it through, but I ran 17 miles yesterday with Fiona!  My foot didn't hurt at all, but my legs sure were tired by the end of it!  We made sure to do a lot of sitting for the rest of the day.  Stairs are sort of tricky today, but I'm feeling remarkably good, considering.  So I would say I'm fully back on the marathon wagon!  Woohoo!  Next weekend we drop the mileage down to 12, and the week after is our longest training run, which is 21 miles.  Running a marathon has begun to seem as insane to me as it did to everyone I told that I was doing it.  But I'm so happy to be doing it!

Also, I've been cleaning our apartment, and I got rid of and rearranged enough stuff to sell one of our bookshelves (the one from the back hall) on craigslist.  It's starting to be time to slim down the amount of stuff we have in preparation for our time abroad.  It's so satisfying getting things organized!  Maybe that sounds weird.  I know Meredith understands :)

The weather starting tomorrow is really looking like it's going to be spring.  I'm so glad about that, everything is better in good weather.  Yesterday's run was a bit cold.  Tomorrow I'm scheduled to run 5 miles, and it will be so nice if I can run in shorts and a t-shirt.

We've been working on another puzzle, and it's taken over our entire table.  Maybe 1000 pieces is too many.  But it's a little late for that conclusion...

Updates

It's been a while since I last posted, but things are going well.  I've gotten back into running, and with the exception of some legs that seem to forget how to run, things are going smoothly.  Tomorrow I'm scheduled to run 19 miles, but due to the setback of the stress fracture, I'll probably run somewhere between 15 and 17, depending on if my friend Fiona decides to run with me.  She's also training for the marathon. 

Last weekend, I went to Houston to visit my friend Rachel.  We went to the rodeo, which was a first for me.  I got to pet a weird-looking bull and we saw a lot of cute baby animals.  It's hard to express how strange it was for me to go to the rodeo overall, but I had a surprisingly good time (I had to try really hard not to think about the machines on display that were specifically for killing animals).  Here are some pictures of us and animals at the rodeo:

There is a thing called Mutton Bustin', which turns out to be 5- and 6-year-old kids hanging onto a sheep while it runs for as long as they can.  I would never have imagined that such a thing would exist.  Anyway, after they get ridden, the sheep look sort of angry:

As part of the rodeo, there's a concert at the end of the night most of the nights.  The night we were there, the concert was John Legend.  I can't say that I'd heard any of his music before that concert, but it was a fun atmosphere anyway.  Check out the stage they built in the middle of the giant stadium that shortly before had had teenagers running around trying to turn baby cows upside down and drag them into a chalk square (for scholarships, no less!):

And since it wouldn't be my blog without some pictures of things I ate, here are some of the delicious things Rachel cooked for me:

 Check out this close-up of a pea.  I think it's really cute for some reason:

And this is Rachel's dog, R2D2:

 The reason she's called R2D2 is that she goes in circles trying to catch her tail.  From what I understand, R2D2 the Star Wars character also went in circles.  Anyway, it's ridiculous to watch a dog doing that.  But she's a sweet dog, and she likes running, which was good because we took her running.

This has been a long post, but I wanted to also mention that I'm having a ton of fun in glass mosaics, and I'm at the polishing step for my mom's present.  I like how it turned out!

Of course, just like I can't skip posting pictures of my food, here are the latest shout-outs to my donors.  Thanks so much to Kschu (again!), Jasper, everyone at the Nerdy Games Night, Meredith and Brian, Jennifer G, and David and Dorothea!  Unbelievably, I'm within $800 of my goal at this point!  If you haven't donated or think there's someone you know who would like to donate to the Museum of Science Traveling Programs, here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

Have a good weekend!

Since I know you were curious...

Here's a picture of the tiger puzzle as far as we got before we had to put it away:

That's all for tonight.  I didn't run today because I'm sick with a fever.  Hopefully I'll be good to run tomorrow.

I survived the kale

Not only the kale, I also survived my second attempt at returning to running!  I ran 3 miles yesterday, and my foot feels fine.  I'm taking it very carefully, but I'm feeling very relieved that things are so far so good.  Last night, we had a fundraiser party, and Alan and I raised $139 together.  We had a lot of fun, because it was also a birthday party for him, and we played all sorts of games and did a puzzle.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to finish the puzzle before the end of the party.  To my dismay, no one else wanted to stay to finish the puzzle.  It is a picture of a tiger with a lot of greenery around it, and the greenery was very difficult to piece together, even looking at the picture on the box. 

On Friday, we had a visit from my cousin and her two kids.  They are so adorable!  Here's a picture of one of them making pizza for lunch with Sam:

So cute!!!  Also, can you believe that spring starts in less than a month?  I can't wait!  And daylight savings starts or ends in 2 weeks!  Spring is so much better than winter, even though this winter hasn't been very wintery.  The days are getting longer and it's getting warmer.  This week has been very windy, though.

Only $1338 to go on my marathon fundraising!  It's getting pretty close!  Help me out if you can - even one dollar gets us closer to the goal of bringing science education to kids around New England!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

I ran today!!!!

I am thrilled to announce my triumphant (but tentative) return to running!  Sam and I power-walked a mile, then ran a mile, as instructed by the foot doctor.  It felt fine!  I felt like I was flying, and I was so excited to be running.  We kept it pretty slow to be careful, which I think was important.  I'm not going to run tomorrow, then on Saturday I'm going to go to the team run and do 18 miles.  Just kidding, only 3.  But I'm very excited to get back and see everyone!

This week is school vacation week, so we're having a lot more relaxed time, especially in the evenings.  We've been watching The Wire, which is a really good show.  It's helpful to watch it with Sam because he can tell me when the gory scenes are over, and also help me figure out what's going on.  We're probably going to finish season 1 tonight.  I think I've earned a night on the couch after such an intense run!  (Also just kidding.)

In random other news, Sam got kale at the fruit and veggie market this week, so we've been having adventures with kale.  I'm about to go try kale chips.  If I don't blog again, you'll know why.  :)

I'm getting ever closer to my $4000 goal!  Please help me support the Traveling Programs at the Museum of Science!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

A map of my donors

As I was looking through my list of donors, I was really impressed to see how far and wide everyone is spread around the country.  It feels so great to have support from all over the place!  So I decided to make a map of it, since I like maps.  Don't worry, no one's address is included, just the towns or cities where one or more people have donated from.  I hope you like it!  Here's the map:


View Marathon Donors in a larger map

If you're feeling inspired by the map and want me to add your location, you can make a donation here: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

Thanks to all my donors so far!  I'd like to add a few shout outs to Ben and Christie, Rick and Sal, Grandma and Poppa, and Joe Y.  You guys are so great!  I really appreciate your help!  Only $1445 to go...

P.S.  It would make my mom happy if I stop asking for money on my blog.  But I can't do that until I meet the fundraising goal.  So, if you donate, you get the extra bonus of getting us closer to making my mom happy!

I'm done with the boot!

I'm so happy to announce that I'm done with the boot!  After wearing it for just over 2 weeks, I'm so ready to be done with it.  Today, Sam and I went on a walk, and I'm supposed to walk again tomorrow, then I can speed walk on Thursday with a little run at the end if it feels ok, then I can go to the team run on Saturday and run 3 miles (instead of 18, like the rest of the team).  But I'm very happy to be getting back into things!  Now the only issue is keeping myself injury-free from here on. 

When I was a the foot doctor today, she told me that it would take a while to build back the muscles in my foot that had gotten weak from being in the boot.  She had me do a couple of agility things like squatting on one leg, and it was much easier on my left (non-injured) foot than my right.  I couldn't believe the difference.  She gave me some exercises to do to strengthen those muscles, and I'm supposed to do them for 5 minutes every day. 

I'll update more soon, but I just wanted to share the good news!

I'm almost back to running, plus many thanks!

It's been a week and a half, and I'm only 5 days away from being done with the boot, if everything is going according to plan inside my foot.  I'm so excited to get back to running!  It's not hurting at all anymore, which is definitely a good sign.  And the boot hasn't gotten too stinky, luckily. 

Today I'm going to jump right in to the thank yous to my donors, because I'm so excited about how awesome things are going.  So here goes - thanks so much to Marc and Rachel S, Rachel P, Sam and Shari, Fiona, Brent, Emily and Scott, and Zuzka!  I'm so grateful to you guys!  I'm up to $2555 out of $4000, which is well beyond my halfway point goal of $2000 by tomorrow, February 17.  Thanks again to all my donors!  Only $1445 left to go!  Here's the link, as usual: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  And here's an idea - send it to your friends!  Especially the ones who like science and/or kids!  I'd really appreciate it!

I'm starting to get into the rhythm of going to work every day.  Well, 4 days a week at this point, but hopefully it will be full time soon.  And of course, the last day of the week isn't all couch and bonbons.  I'm babysitting for more hours now, which is actually really fun.  When I have 5 hours with the kid, I can take her to do more fun stuff, like going to museums.  We've been to the Museum of Science and the Children's Museum, and both were really fun.  Tomorrow we're going to go swimming!  I used to teach swim lessons, so I'm pretty excited about it.  Apparently she's pretty enthusiastic about going in the water.  And this will be my first time navigating a locker room with a kid, not to mention the boot.  It's going to be interesting!

Work at the museum is going pretty well.  We're getting ready for a bunch of different events that are coming up, and there's a ton of variety in the things I'm getting to work on.  Life is pretty good!

Happy Birthday to Sam!

Today is Sam's birthday!  Happy Birthday to Sam!  He had some good days of teaching this week, which is appropriate for a birthday week.  We're going out to dinner at Stella on Friday to celebrate!  Thanks to Sam's parents!

My foot is doing ok, but I'm getting pretty ready to be done with the boot.  It makes my ankle pretty tired wearing it, because it is heavier than regular shoes.  I've taken to biking distances that I would normally walk because it's so much easier to bike than walk.  But only 12 more days of the boot, which is pretty manageable.  At least the doctor gave me a smaller one than Erin had lent me, so it's only to mid-shin instead of all the way to my knee.  I'm really missing running, and I'm worried that I'm losing all the progress I had made.

Both of us got a lot of nice birthday cards, so thanks to everyone for thinking of us and for sending birthday wishes!

Fundraising is going well, but I haven't gotten a donor report yet this week, so I can't do my shout outs to donors yet.  I think I'll get a report tomorrow, so I'll do shout outs in my next post.  In the meantime, thank you mystery donors!  If you'd like to become a (short-term) mystery donor, here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

That's all for now!

Yep, it's a stress fracture, but I'm only out for 2 weeks!

So I finally sorted out the insurance situation and went to the doctor today, and it turns out I have a stress fracture, as I had thought.  I got x-rays and everything.  It's pretty small, and it's just a stress fracture, not a complete fracture, which is better.  I have an aircast boot to wear for 2 more weeks (thanks Erin for lending me one for the last few days!), and then I'm allowed to get back to running.  In the meantime, I'm supposed to cross train on the exercise bike and lifting, so that I'll be ready to go in time for the marathon.  The doctor was really nice and she totally seemed to understand how I'm feeling about running, and she really helped me feel like it will be ok and I'll be able to get back to running in plenty of time.  So overall, good news! 

I'm also completely done with my thesis and with school, so that's a huge relief.  I'll get my degree in another couple of weeks, and that's it!  I can't believe that I made it!

For anyone who wasn't already aware, my birthday is tomorrow.  If you haven't donated already, a donation to my marathon fundraising effort would be a great birthday present!  I'm going to be 25, so you could donate $25 in honor of my age!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  I'm more than halfway done with my fundraising, and I'm really grateful to all of my donors.  I don't have any new shout-outs this time, so please donate so I can thank you on my blog!

Foot situation

So, my foot situation has worsened.  I think I may have a stress fracture.  For diagnosis purposes, here's a photo:

The area with the circle is where it hurts the most when I push on it.  When I walk, it also hurts more towards the ankle bone.  I've taken off of running this week, and I'm going to have to skip the long run this weekend.  I think the important thing is to make sure I get better now, so I'm taking it easy and cross training for a bit.

I've also surpassed my midpoint fundraising goal, which is wonderful!  Thanks to my most recent donors - my parents, Junjay, Aunt Ruthie, Wendy and Howie, Katherine and Sheldon, Raquel, Liz, Jen D, and Eitan!  You guys are great!  Here's the link, as usual: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

14 miles on Saturday, but now my ankle hurts, and more shout-outs to my donors!

On Saturday, our long run was 14 miles - well, 14.55 miles to be exact.  Alan's phone tells us exactly how long it was.  But this was by far my most painful run ever.   I had been having a little bit of a feeling in my right foot lately, and on Saturday at about mile 7 it started getting much worse.  By about mile 9, I didn't think I was going to be able to finish the run, but obviously my personality wouldn't let me quit.  Luckily, Alan is such a great friend, and even though I needed to slow WAY down, he stayed with me and didn't complain, even though he really wanted to finish the run.  I'm lucky to have such a great running buddy!  I'm taking a couple of days off of running, so I'll cross train instead today and tomorrow.  Probably I'll swim or bike.  It's too bad, because the weather is really good for running today, and I'd like to be out there.  I think the problem is related to my shoes, so I'm also going to try switching back to my old shoes for a bit to see how that goes.

I would have posted a picture of my foot/ankle, but there's really nothing to see, it looks just like the other one that doesn't hurt at all.  Very strange.

Also, yesterday was our forum, and boy was it a busy day!  I started reasonably early in the morning, and was go-go-going all the way until 7pm.  It was very tiring, but it went well and I was very proud of our team.  We had hundreds of people attending the event, and I think most of them were very happy with how it went.  I got one really nice comment at the end about how this woman really appreciates that we have these events and that they're so well run, which made me feel really good.  But I'm also glad that we don't have another forum for a few months, because they're a ton of work and I am ready for a slightly more relaxed pace!

This is also my last week of classes, and I'm really glad about that.  I have one more class session on Thursday, and then I'm done for real!  Actually, if you count glass mosaics class, I'm not really done :)  I signed up for the spring semester, because apparently there's a one semester grace period where you can still get the student pricing after you're done being a student, so I thought that was a pretty good offer and signed up again.  I'm really enjoying it, and the non-student price is more than $100 more, so now seems like a good time to do it.

I'm also signed up for a glassblowing class in March, which I'm really looking forward to.  I've never tried glassblowing, but I think it's another thing that will make me the coolest person I know.  I'm enjoying having time to try things like this now that I'm done with school (or very nearly so!).

If you want to donate, I'd appreciate it!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

And a shout-out to my most recent donors - thanks to Jen B, Erin, Vidya, Clara, John and Sassy, Stephanie, and Tali!  You guys are so great, and I really appreciate your help at the midpoint!  Everyone else, feel free to try to be as awesome as them by donating through the link above!

Whew, just ran 5.8 miles

I was supposed to run 6, but I got confused about my route and accidentally cut off a tiny bit.  I felt ok while running, but it was snowing a little (not like it was on Saturday).  When I got back, I realized I had run a very fast pace!  But not quite as fast as I thought, since I accidentally shortened the run.  Oops!

Yesterday I started learning to read Hebrew for when we go to Israel.  There's a requirement that you spend 8 hours learning Hebrew for the program, so yesterday I had my first 4 hours.  Next week I'll have the remaining 4 hours.  Now, you might think that 8 hours is not very much to learn to read an entirely new alphabet.  Well, that's true.  The class goes very fast, and our only goal is to be able to read, not to have any idea what we're reading.  I showed Sam what I was reading last night, and he laughed.  They could make us say anything, and we wouldn't know the difference.  It turned out I was saying, "Who is large? Dad is large! Also uncle is large!"

After Hebrew, I went to work a little more on my glass mosaics, even though it wasn't class time.  I grouted my second piece, and I did a little bit of work on one that is a present for my mom.  Mom, if you're reading this, don't worry, I won't spoil what it is.  But it's not my first try, so hopefully it will be a little better :)

Then I went to yoga, which was one of the less enjoyable yoga experiences I've had.  As with almost every class, what I've realized is that it's not so much what you're doing or learning that matters, it's the instructor.  A good instructor can make a boring subject fun, and a bad instructor can make an interesting subject miserable.  And it's the same for yoga.  I realized that I've been doing yoga on and off for almost 10 years, which is very strange to realize.  Anyway, yesterday was not the best.

We're getting ready for a big forum at work, and things have been super busy this week.  I feel like I've sent approximately a million emails.  But I'm having a ton of fun getting ready for it, and I like that I get to do so many different things.  I've gotten to coordinate speakers, design the program packet, research facts, figure out logistics, and a bunch more.  It's not all that science-heavy for this particular forum, but I don't mind the change of pace. 

Ok, now my sweat is making me freezing, so I'm going to go take a hot shower.  I'll do some more shout-outs to my donors in my next post, so if you want to be one of them, here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal My runner is totally wearing pants now!

My runner is wearing pants!

And I'm officially registered for the Boston Marathon!  I received my confirmation email and everything!  This is getting pretty real! 

Check out my runner, who is now wearing pants: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  Woohoo!  I'm 38% of the way to my goal!

I'm also having a lot of fun with my glass mosaics class.  It's slow going, but I think I'm going to be able to register for the class again in the spring.  Ok, back to work!

Half marathon in the snow

This was a big weekend for me.  My dad came to visit for his birthday, and I turned in my thesis on Friday, and Alan and I ran a half marathon in the snow on Saturday.  It was a lot of fun overall!  Here's a picture of us from during the run:

And here we are after the run:

We thought people wouldn't understand how hard core we were if we were smiling, so we decided to make serious faces:

Afterwards, my hands were way too cold.  Here's why: we got back, checked our distance, and realized we'd only done 12.4 miles.  I knew Alan wouldn't be happy about that, since this was supposed to be his first half marathon.  So I said if he wanted I would do the rest with him, and we went out and ran 0.7 more miles.  But by that point, my gloves were wet, and my hands got so cold!

Luckily, this time I thought of bringing warm clothes to change into afterwards.  What a difference!  I was still cold, but it was much better. 

And in bigger news, I finally turned in my thesis!!!!  I have now completed everything I need for my dual masters degrees!  Woohoo!  And I've cleaned out my office at school.  I just have 3 more sessions of the class I'm taking, and then I'll really be done!

It was really nice having my dad visit this weekend.  We had a celebratory dinner and saw a play, and my mom sent cookies for dessert. 

If you're glad you weren't out running in the snow on Saturday morning, that's a great reason to donate so that I'll do it instead of you!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  My runner is so close to wearing pants!

Today I filled in my Boston Marathon application

Today I got my application form for the Boston Marathon.  It asked for occupation, and I wasn't sure what to put.  I ended up putting Scientist, after debating between Student, Scientist, and Teaching/Education.  Museums weren't a choice.  This is the first time I'm not a student!  Even though I'm still a student now (for a couple more weeks, at least), the form asked for your age on the day of the marathon, so I figured it would also be fitting to put my occupation on the day of the marathon.  Maybe I should have put professional runner...

There's a number inside, but I don't think it's my bib number, just my application number.  I first thought it was my bib number and got very excited, but I think I was wrong.  Anyway, it's 4302, but we'll see if that turns out to be my bib number.  I don't think I'll know till March at the earliest.

I completed another round of edits on my thesis today, so hopefully that will be the last round.  It's supposed to be due on Friday, but my advisor said he emailed the department and we can have a few extra days if we need it.  I DON'T WANT A FEW EXTRA DAYS!!!  I just want to be done! 

I've been hard at work at the Museum of Science, and I'm feeling very productive.  I like it a lot!  There's a forum coming up on January 29 about the farm bill, and we've been very busy getting ready for it.  Over 300 people have signed up so far!

Fiona mentioned my blog on her blog, so I would like to return the favor.  If you're interested in a different take on the marathon and training, or if you want to support Community Servings, which gives healthy meals to critically ill people and their families, head on over to her blog at http://fionarunsboston.tumblr.com/

And if you haven't yet donated to my marathon effort, there's no better time than the present!  http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal I'm trying to reach $2000 by February 17 (our midpoint goal), so please help me out!

Thanks to Jen B, Erin, and Vidya for your donations!  You guys are so great!

Finally, I suppose you're all waiting on the edge of your seats for a blister update.  Well, things are looking good.  I popped it as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, and now it's almost back to looking like a normal toe!  So things are good.

1/3 of the way through fundraising!

Woohoo!  Thanks to my donors!  I'm currently just over 1/3 of the way to my fundraising goal.  Today we ran 3 miles and it was supposed to be an easy run but we were a little too excited and ran a bit faster than we should have.  But I'm feeling good about my shoe situation.  If you want to help me get up to $2,000 by February 17, which is our team midpoint goal, you can donate here: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

I also got some feedback on my thesis from my thesis reader, which means I have a bit more work to do writing about policy implications and recommendations.  So obviously the way I'm handling that is by procrastinating and blogging.  I also am procrastinating working on my assignments for my class that I'm taking. Ugh.

Tomorrow night I have glass mosaics class again.  Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera and take some pictures of what I'm working on.  I'm very excited for that!

12 miles today and shout outs to my donors!

Today we ran 12 miles at our team run.  The weather was pretty nice for January in Boston, but it was pretty windy.  I wore my cool new shoes for the whole run today, which doubled the longest distance I had ever run in them in a single run.  Here they are:

And for comparison, here's a picture of my me wearing one of my old shoes and one of my new shoes.  I tried them on at the same time today almost incidentally, while I was switching into my new shoes before the run.  It felt really weird to have them on at the same time.  You can really see how much less substantial my new shoes are.  I feel so cool when I run in them.  And so far, my calves and Achilles are holding up to it.

My friend Fiona came to run with us today.  Here we are before the run:

And I wore my new glittens which were a present from my supervisor at the museum.  They kept my hands very warm:

Here's a picture of all of the members of our team who were at the team training run today.  We sure are a reflective bunch:

And here's the three of us after the run, only a little the worse for wear:

But my blister was significantly worse for wear, at almost double its original giant size.  Check it out:

I decided to pop it, against my dad's suggestion.  But the team coach recommended popping it, and I really wanted to, so I did.  It was really fun.  Now my toe is back at the normal volume, and I have a bandaid on it.  And a note to Keith and Rebecca: I'm wearing those fuzzy warm socks you gave me!

As usual, here's a plug for my fundraising effort.  Things are going really well so far, thanks to my donors.  I'd like to thank Keith and Rebecca, Lindsey, Sarah R, Sam N, Farah, my parents, Sally C, Sally P, Mike M, Jessica, Nancy and Mike, Debbie and Gil, Nicole, Bob, Louise and Jerry, Kirthi and Isaac, David F, Kevin M, Catey, Sarah S, Danny and Mindy, Lin, Connie, Pranay, Kathryn, Jayson, and Luvena for being so awesome and donating to my marathon fundraising effort.  You can all be expecting something in the mail soon!  Here's the link if you want to donate: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  Thanks!

Today was cross-training, and I finished the edits on my thesis!

Today I swam with the masters team for my cross-training.  It gives my blister a little break :)

And in bigger news, today I also finished going through the enormous mountain of comments from my advisor on my thesis!  Which is not to say that there won't be another round of this, in fact I'm sure there will be.  But it can only be less from here!  And the whole thing is due next Friday, January 20.  Unfortunately, I got stuck taking a class this month, so I'm not going to be quite as done as I wanted on that day, but the class is pass/fail and I'm trying not to worry about it too much.  Certainly having my thesis done will be a big relief, and a big weight off. 

And hi to my friend Rebecca, who also made calzones.  I'll try to remember to take some pictures of my mosaic projects so I can post them.

That's all for tonight!

And now, 100 miles of training complete!

Today, after a 5-mile training run, I have completed 100 miles of training!  Which leaves only 402 miles of training, plus 26 miles for the marathon itself.  So far so good, except that I've got a giant blister on my big toe on my right foot.  Check it out:

Side View

Top View

So you can see, it's pretty giant.  And since I haven't posted any food pictures in a while, or any pictures for that matter, here's a picture of what we had for dinner last night.  They're delicious homemade spinach gruyere calzones with red sauce for dipping.  So  yummy!  

Also tonight, I had my first session of Glass Mosaics class.  It was really fun!  My first project is a mirror with a mosaic border.  It's quite a lot of work, but it makes me realize that I should take some more art classes because I'm really enjoying it. 

And as usual, here's my plug for donating to my marathon fundraising effort: please do!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

Enjoy the oddly warm weather!

100 days till the marathon!

It seems like a lot when I put it that way, but it's coming up in just over 3 months!  Tomorrow we've got a 10 mile team run.  I'm going to run half of it in my new running shoes and half in my old running shoes.  I read the book Born To Run, and it inspired me to try the new (or old, depending on how you look at it) minimalist running.  I tried barefoot running a few times, but I don't think I'm really cut out for that, especially in Boston in the winter.  So I got some minimalist shoes, the New Balance Minimus (women's).  They look like this.

I feel very cool when I'm wearing them.  But I'm being very careful not to jump into using them all the time, because you have to reformat your running style and you can injure yourself if you go too fast.  Depending on how the switch goes, I'm considering wearing them for the marathon!

As for fundraising, I'm very proud to say that my extremely generous donors have helped push me over $1,000!  My runner almost has pants on now!  Our team goal is to have raised $2,000 each by Friday, February 17.  We're celebrating by running 17 miles the next day!

I'm also making good progress with my thesis.  It's due January 20, and I can't wait to be done!  I have most of it written, but I still have to write the second part of the abstract and my conclusion.  Other than that, it's just revisions to go.

In extremely random news, I am doing an experiment where I am trying lactaid milk.  I've been a little lactose intolerant since about sophomore year of college and I've been using soy milk on my cereal.  I tried the lactaid milk yesterday and didn't notice any problems, so I'm trying it again today.  We'll see how it goes!

At English High School...

Last school year, the Traveling Programs went to English High School.  In October they had the Heat and Temperature program in the 9th grade.  160 students attended, and it was scholarship funded.  Here are the things the teachers had to say:

"Liked how it was very aligned with the MCAS standards for Heat and Temperature"
"[The educator] did a great job not just of demonstrating and explaining the concepts behind the demonstrations, but also of getting the students involved and managing the large group of unruly kids."

In November, they had the Motion: Speed, Velocity, and Acceleration program, again for the 9th grade, with 160 students, and again it was scholarship funded.  As one teacher said,"The content was perfect!"

As for a running update, I am happy to say that my heart is still intact after Heartbreak Hill, but I can definitely see how it's going to be quite a challenge 20 miles into the marathon!  It's not unbelievably steep, but it sure is long, and it comes after a bunch of other smaller but still intimidating hills.  Good thing we're practicing!

Also, yesterday I went running outside in conditions I would not have imagined running in, worse than in Minnesota!  It was 25 degrees with a huge amount of wind, and by the time I got back I couldn't feel my ears even though I was wearing a hat!

Ok, time to stop procrastinating on my thesis by blogging :)  It's due in 16 days!  Yikes!

By the way, here's the link to donate to my marathon effort: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal