The year in recap

One of my closest friends and her boyfriend are holding an intimate New Year's brunch gathering today, which Nathan and I will attend.  Boyfriend will undoubtedly ask each of us to spontaneously reflect on our best and worst moments of 2012.  I always know that moment is coming, and I always dread it.  Boyfriend doesn't wait for the serious and philosophical tone that develops during the latter part of a meal.  He catches everyone off guard, non sequitur, unveiled after you've just sat down to eat or after telling a funny story.  When you balk, he will rephrase as "What was your highest high and your lowest low?"  And even though you haven't really broken the ice for that gathering yet, having only made jokes about how lousy the Jets are this year, he will eagerly await you to spill your guts.

I agree that time has a way of diminishing the magnitude of life events so that they are much better appreciated when recounted en mass at transitional times like this, but Boyfriend insists that you also describe your worst moment.  Gee.  Thanks.  Dude.  I was trying to allow a mental block to form around those memories so that I could move on without my head dragging so low.  But hey, sure, why not reignite them out loud and in front of people who I may not consider appropriate?  Whatever.  He did it at the close of multiple semesters as well as at the completion of grad school.  He does it for your birthday.  He’s bound to do it tomorrow morning.

So this year I've decided to prepare myself by accumulating a list of accomplishments and experiences from 2012.  When he asks for my lowest low, I will think of this list, smile, and politely tell him to shove it. 

Running:

Finished two 50 mile trail races, the second of which bested my previous time while included 4,000 more feet of elevation gain on ski slopes and huge visceral stomach cramps.  Those days were over 10 hours spent in the woods, wherein I learned why I run, why I like distances, why I am pulled to the trail.  I am not religious in any conventional sense, yet this is by far one of the closest things to it.  Putting yourself so completely on the line is, for myself and others like me, how we reconcile our mortal interactions with a decidedly not well understood universe.

Managed three benchmarks in respect to road races.  1) I managed to break time barriers I had never thought possible for myself, beating 1:30 for a half marathon and 3:15 for a marathon.  2) I actually won a race.  Purely circumstantial, since it was in no small part due to an absence of true speedy elite women and it was one of the slowest years they’ve had on record, but I’ll take it.  3) I qualified for Boston.  You have no idea how impossible that seemed five years ago when I took another break from running due to not doing things right (i.e. running too many days per week, prior to learning how to run like a proper old person).

Professional:

Finished graduate school.  Passed the boards on my first try.  Got a job at one of NYC’s premier hospitals.  Most newbies do not begin working weekends until they pass their probationary period, which is six months.  Less than two months in, I took over Saturdays as the person in charge of acute care.  Meaning I’m the boss.  Scary. 

I have completed sub-rotations in orthopedics and medicine (i.e. alcohol withdrawal and renal failure), learning a lot about pain and the complexities or comorbidities.  Currently I am working oncology, where providing quality of life and discharge planning are redefined every day.  (Not an easy setting for me, but that is a much more serious discussion for a different day.)  I am eagerly awaiting neurology, where you really figure out how to be a PT, much like my last school affiliation in brain injury rehab.

Life:

Got married.  And each day I feel even more happy about it than the day before.  Things didn’t really change that much, considering we were already living together and had already sketched a loose future plan together.  Yet they did change, in an abstract way.  Still getting used to the term “wife,” and still getting used to getting letters and packages addressed to “Mr. and Mrs. [insert husband’s full name]” despite my adamancy of hyphenating my last name.  Heck, I’m also getting used to the idea of “Mrs.” in the first place.  Right after it happened, a work colleague started greeting me as Mrs., and I kept correcting her “It’s Ms.!!”  Her argument is that “Ms.” imparts that you are mean while “Mrs.” is reserved for those who are nice.  I’m flattered, but I don’t know if I’m ready to accept that title yet.

Cleaning up my eating habits.  We've dramatically cut down on the amount of meat and dairy, initiating out of exploration for possible food allergies for Nathan's sake, and we have ended up liking the change.  I was vegetarian for a while during college, though much like distance running I did it completely wrong and thus found it inadequate.  At this point we are definitely vegetarian, most of the time even vegan.  I know, icky term, but I'd call it only 95% because we are realistic about how to interact with others.  I’m not going to waste food that was made for me, like when a friend made a big dinner that included little chicken burritos with a special salsa in them that they really wanted me to try.  I’m not going to force it onto others, like when Nathan and I visited his grandparents and made them a vegetable lasagna so they’d have leftovers but used real mozzarella and ricotta.  (Which, we only now tried vegan “cheese” for the first time, and I’d rather make my own substitute or go without it from here one out.  And no, I have never tried tofurkey nor do I ever plant to try it, because eating a “meaty” thing that is not meat is just plain weird.)  My brother was nice enough to buy us an outing at Toast, our local burger joint that makes the BEST burgers in the world, and when we go I will very likely have an Alpine Burger that has swiss cheese and portobello mushroom on an English muffin, and it will be cooked rare or medium rare.  Oh, and when Grandma mails you cookies or Mom sends you chocolates, you eat them.  No ifs, ands or buts.  Preferably the entire quantity is eaten within one or two days.  It's the law, people.  Don't question it.

This year has been brought to you in part by:

Almond butter

American Pickers and Antiques Road Show
Andrew Bird

Aquafor
Avocado 
Bedtime at 9 p.m.
Bruised toenails
Clif Bars
Coffee

Ebay

Falling while running
The George Washington Bridge

Green medical scrubs
The Long Path
Kale 
The King's Speech
Lincoln

Mumford & Sons
The Palisades road, a.k.a. Henry Hudson Drive
Parks and Recreation
A Prairie Home Companion

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Shearwater
Snot rockets 
SpiderDolphinRabbitSealWorms

The Talking Heads, Remain In Light

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

Winesap apples
Your local veterinarian
Vicars

And viewer support from people like you.  

New Year's festivities and contemplations.

Nathan surprised me with baking stone and a sleek running jacket as congratulations for completing the didactic portion of my degree.  Super sweet.  Completely unexpected.

Naturally, I ran out the next day for baking supplies.  The nerd in me wishes I had literally run to the grocery store wearing the new jacket, but the trial run of the jacket has to wait until the current warm spell moves on and temperatures drop below 35 degrees again.  But, the baking had a plan that could not be derailed by weather.  Our New Year's Eve plan included the NYRR Midnight 4-miler fun run in Central Park, with pre- and post-race spent with our good friend John.  Same plan as last year, slightly smaller crowd.  John planned to make a hearty soup, so my party offering became homemade soup-friendly bread and crostatas (barely sweet mini-pie looking things).  I also made scones because I wanted to have a few at home but offer the rest to John, because he really is a good soul and makes a wonderful "locker room" manager.  Twas my second time making bread, which good improvements on that first loaf, and my first time making scones and crust.  Success!  Saturday afternoon became quite a bakefest.  The results:

No knead peasant bread, cinnamon pecan currant cream scones and pear crostatas, all with whole wheat flour.

The run was fun.  Lots of costumes (Angry Birds, shiny/sequined/glittery folks, an Empire State Building, a Banana, mostly naked but for a loin cloth and carefully placed race bib...), way too many shuffle runners, WAY too many walkers blocking the route six abreast, but all good spirits and minimal to no alcohol-related puking/falling over.  I am a very light drinker these days, and saved my one beer until after the race.  Many show up sloshed, hence the shuffle runners, but that is expected and welcomed so long as people are somewhat smart about it.  There are also no timing chips, no corrals at the start, and bib numbers are assigned by the order people sign up rather than by expected pace.  Since John lives so close to the race's start we opted to delay leaving until 10 minutes before the race and join in at the rear of the pack.  This made it more crowded in terms of runners, taking 15 minutes for us to simply cross the start line (three times as long as the longest-awaiting starter of the NYC Marathon!) what with the five thousand tipsy folk ahead of us, but it seemed less claustrophobic than last year thanks to no blizzard-mounded snow narrowing the available space.

Nathan and I were our usual simple runner selves.  John dressed as a Groucho Marx-esque monkey, Kris had celebratory shiny gold tights, and Ashton ran in just his underwear, dapper socks with garters and his wing tip leather shoes.  For reference, Ashton was more normal than his first appearance in the race two years ago where he wore his underwear, boating shoes and a hat shaped as a cow head. 

John and Nathan at the start.

I ran with my camera and took many videos while hot footing through the crowd.  Somehow the camera made it seem much less crowded than it actually was.  My good friend Laura I. and her boyfriend watched from near the Met, so I got a quick hug just before finishing the first mile.  After I finished I walked back through the crowds to get some video of finishers.  Managed to catch Kris, Ashton and Nathan.  After the two yellow Angry Birds, watch in the middle for gold tights with a dark pink top (Kris) immediately followed by a naked skinny guy with sock garters and his arms in the air in the back (Ashton), and 10 seconds later a black shirt with yellow detail and shorts in the back (Nathan).  Here's my experience surrounding the race:

In retrospect of 2011, I am heartened by the many small accomplishments.  I ran my first marathon in a time I am very proud of, finished two 50k ultramarathons and confirmed my love for distance pursuits, my intellectual ability to be done with school caught up to the emotional want to be done (meaning confidence in my abilities as a future therapist), realized why and how I need humor and certain types of people in my life, and developed a genuine life projection that I have never been capable of previously.  All good things.

Looking forward to 2012, my only New Year's resolution is to return my fruit and veggie consumption to an amount for which I prefer.  This will be easier thanks to less school obligations following me home.  More seriously, I have many events to look forward to this year: hopefully running a 50 mile race in May, wearing a robe with a silly hat and having my degree placed in my hot and eager hand, hopefully passing the licensure exam in July, and relocating to Colorado next fall.  Since our moving plans have been pushed back due to a handful of logistics we'll be here for the NYC Marathon on November 4th, so I am debating participating again because I can.  And I'll be an aunt come February.  I have crazy big aunt shoes to fill considering the example set by my aunt Meredyth while she was alive.

Best wishes to you all for this coming year and beyond!