Sleepy Sundays…

February 1, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

…are the best! Gotta love taking a lazy morning and reading the paper with a nice hot cup of coffee.

How is your weekend going?

Ours has been pretty good so far even though we spent about half the day in the lab yesterday. Research never sleeps. Which is why you should never start an experiment and have to check on it over the weekend….oops.

After work (on a Saturday..I know) we stopped by Panera to grab some sammiches as a late lunch before running a few errands.

It actually warmed up a bit and was sunny so we each went out for a Shelley Lake run. Steve and I don’t run together often since I kick his ass and like to go fast. But sometimes run dates are fun.

We have a great house that backs up to the Raleigh Greenway system (which is probably the best thing about this house) so we can hit the trails anytime!

It also means we get some phenomenal people watching opportunities. Yes….chances are we are shamelessly judging you (nobody’s perfect).

The trail behind our house leads to Shelley Lake.

It’s about 4.5 miles to run around the lake and back so it’s perfect! Except when the evil canadian geese take over the trail but that’s a rant for another day.

I finished up the run in about 37 min @ 8:50 ish pace. Steve took it slow at about 11:30 pace.

We have a Super Bowl party on tap for today and have some puppy plans!!

What are you doing for the Super Bowl?

Who are you cheering for? –I’m going Seahawks all the way! Go Seattle!

It was not rain

January 30, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

Wooooooo it’s Friday! -Does Friday dance-

Yesterday was a bit of a bust. Ever have those days when you just need to accept that nothing productive is going to happen? Yep. That’s it.

Sadly we are out of tequila so that margarita didn’t happen. Maybe next time!

One of the nice things of grad school is that you can make your own hours (if your adviser allows it). So, once productivity halted around 3 pm, I went home to get a run in.

By the time I got home, the sunny day had gotten overcast. I checked the forecast since running in the rain when it’s 40 degrees out is a recipe for disaster and we were cleared for rain for another couple of hours. So I decided to head out with a rain coat just in case.

As I got ready to head out, I heard the sound of a light sprinkle. After looking out and verifying that it was, indeed, a light sprinkle, I decided to continue with a short 2 mile run.

It was not rain.

This was the look on my face as the realization of exactly what was falling from the sky hit me.

It was not rain. Rain does not bounce.

It. Was. Sleet.

Thoughts that went through my head while running:

Sleet hurts when it hits your eyelid. Ow.
My legs are cold. My feet are cold. My face is really cold.
Man up Amanda, you got this.
The greenway is kinda creepy with no one on it.
SHIT what was that noise?!? Oh, wait. That was my jacket.

Did 2.2 miles in 18 min (8:28 min pace) and came in and gleefully sat and watched Dr. Who for the rest of the evening! Where it was nice and warm 🙂

Meeting Meb

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015 / thievinsteven / Leave a comment

So I keep almost forgetting to go to class. No, scratch that. I keep forgetting to go to class and my friends keep reminding me. Thanks Francisco! Today class was actually useful. We learned a bunch of stuff we should have in the first week and that would have been really helpful working on our project. After a very productive morning, a nearly missed class and an afternoon of no motivation we went to a new running store downtown called Runologie for a social run led by Meb Keflezighi!

The crowd at Runologie

Meb won the Boston marathon last year, the year after the horrible bombing. He was also the first American to win the race in over 30 years and is the only person to have won the Boston Marathon, the New York marathon and an Olympic marathon medal. Basically he’s a pretty big deal for runners. I learned all this today and we got pictures and signed running t-shirts along with the free beer and pizza that Runologie provided. They were only serving an IPA, typically Amanda’s least favorite beer style and my most favorite. I may have been smugly satisfied when she said she enjoyed it 😀

The run was three miles and my ankle/foot bothered me a little bit but I’m icing it now and I hope it will be fine. I got a good look at the Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon and half marathon courses on a poster up at Runologie and then got really scared remembered that I signed up to run the half. I’m in week two of my 12 week training program and haven’t spent any time crying so I’ll take that as a good sign.

That’s it for tonight. Signing off to graph some data from today’s experiments and watch some Dr. Who. Season 4 was incredible and we’re a couple episodes into season 5!

Saturday Scotch Surprise

January 25, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

Happy Sunday y’all! The sun is shining! Everything is covered in ice and it’s fucking cold outside! Ahh….perfect day to do absolutely nothing and stay inside.

Yesterday started out pretty miserable…read gray, raining, and cold…and ended up gorgeous. We took advantage of the miserable morning weather and went for a run. Fantastic idea right?! Honestly, I’m a bit of a weirdo and really enjoy rainy/cold running weather. I knooooow, one day I’ll catch a cold but till then, I’mma enjoy it. It was my longest run since the marathon and it felt fantastic.

Just took it nice and easy and ran at what felt comfortable the entire time.

After the run. We spent some time with the ~~torture device~~ foam roller. It was Steve’s first time really using it. I think he likes it!

We went to Beasley’s Chicken and Honey for some late lunch/early dinner. Everything is good there. You really can’t go wrong when the staple of your menu is fried chicken. Even though Steve got catfish…wtf. It was super good, but we totally went there for chicken and catfish is not chicken.

Whilst there, we had the brilliant idea to have a man night. Man night consists of cigars and scotch. Buncha people came over and we did exactly that. We drank scotch and smoked cigars. A rousing game of Cards Against Humanity (with some Crabs Adjust Humidity thrown in there for shits and giggles) finished off the night.

A great way to end the day if you ask me 🙂

Here’s a great picture of Indy thrown in for good measure. Just cause she’s cute.

Do you have a lazy Sunday planned?

Camera Shy

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

Hi! Happy Monday! (If there is such a thing)

Today’s a bit of a slow day since we’ve got the day ‘off’ for MLK day. We lazed in bed and watched 2 whole episodes of Dr. Who before actually getting the day started. Well…ok I made coffee for the second episode but that’s just the basics.

Since it’s such a ~~weird~~ great/gorgeous day outside, we went for a run!!

Now, for those of you in the know I think running is kinda awesome. And during my last marathon (City of Oaks), I inconveniently tore my IT band and haven’t run in a couple months. Needless to say, I’ve been a little cooped up and frustrated….sorry Steve.

So I took it short and slow and had NO KNEE PAIN!!! (insert backflip/happy dance). I also got to try out my new heart rate monitor. That’s the number with the heart next to it, aka my Garmin not-so-secretly loves me or has approximately 167 loves.

Indy came on the run with us and had a great time trying, and failing, to catch the squirrels. One day….

We tried to get a picture of how happy she was, but she’s a little camera shy and refuses to look at me when I’m holding my phone. Seriously, she’ll back up to you when you call her. Weirdo. (Note Steve trying to get her to look at me. Oh well)

I’m off to get a little work done since grad school never sleeps. Seriously. It never does.

What are you up to if you have the day off?

PhDeviants

Misadventures in grad school, running, and life

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