5K Along the Water

     This morning I participated in  a virtual 5K for the blog Runs For Cookies. I have never run for a virtual "race," but it was free and sounded fun, so I went for it.

Scenes From the Pacific Northwest

   

     Craig and I have been enjoying an extended winter break in Western WA. Craig got a new camera and has been taking gorgeous photos. We went for a walk at Lord Hill Park and got some beautiful shots.

Garmin Forerunner 235 Review

      Hi! It's been awhile since I have posted anything on the good-old blog. Mainly this is because through December I was in a mad-rush to finish writing a thesis, defending, and graduating with my Masters. And guess what!? I did it!

     

     As a graduation present, Craig bought me a new running watch- the Garmin Forerunner 235. I was not necessarily needing a new watch, as my old FR15 was still working fine. However, I had mentioned to Craig all the things I wanted in a watch, including activity monitoring, live tracking, text messages, and running features like VO2 estimates, which I had not seen put together all in one product. Until now! 

     Anyways I thought it would be fun to share with everyone my personal experiences with this watch compared to my old model. Below is a run-down of what I found to be  most useful in this product and what I wish I could change. 

Grad School Finish Line

I am finally getting a real taste of graduate school. The gritty, no-time-to shower and too-tired-to-cook-dinner life. It's actually not so bad. Mainly because I know it has to end soon (I defend Dec. 14!). It's been sad because I am not getting to spend as much time with Craig because I have been going in to work on the weekends and after dinner.

Race For A Soldier 2015 Recap

     I haven't written for a awhile. This is mainly due to 2 reasons: the crazy amount of stress being in my last semester of graduate school and a lingering cold. The last month basically has been write, write, write, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep...zzzzzzzzzzz
 
     Despite all this, I had a ton of fun at the Race For a Soldier last weekend in Gig Harbor, WA.

Mt. Rainier and a Bubble Run

      Right before classes started up again, Craig and I were able to escape to Western Washington. We camped and hiked at Mt. Rainier. I ran in the Seattle Bubble Run with a friend (it was so fun!). Then, my extended family had a reunion! It was an awesome trip.

What did I even do all week?... Work?

     Finally! My research project has begun to succeed: this week my DNA extractions worked.

Below is an image from an email I sent to myself. It's probably garbled-ey-gook to everyone but what it basically means is that I was finally able to extract quality DNA from a fungus that I want to obtain a whole genome sequence from. Exciting, no?

Weekend Update

"Copy Cat"- Craig is tired from the early morning run. And Razzy is tired from her life of being Razzy.

     Craig and I have had a fun weekend just hanging around Pullman. We ran, ate pizza and candy, and went to a movie! We also spent some time just lying around home.

A week of adventures

   The past few days have been pretty eventful. I started out not feeling so well last week. My chest and upper back pain returned the beginning of June and has lingered through the month. Last time I met with my doctor, he recommended I get my heart checked out, so I had a "stress test" at the hospital on Wednesday. It actually wasn't so bad. The guy in charge was really nice and we talked about running most the time, so it wasn't super "stressful."

I'm a robot! Me at my treadmill stress test. 

 

Why my dad is awesome

My dad and I running the Yukon Do It half-marathon 2015 last December

     I have always worked hard at school, work and running. It must be genetic. My father is easily one of the hardest workers I know. He has recently begun running again and ran his first half marathon a week before he turned 60.