Well it has been quite some time since my last posting and mainly because life has been such a flurry of activity, lately…and I am happy to report a flurry, ripe with mind.body.belly.soul fulfillment! First of all…thank you to the kind bloggers who have liked my posts, commented on my blog, and started following me 🙂 I had created this blog initially as an outlet for my introspective thoughts and as an account of my journey towards progressively living a more enriched lifestyle…so I am so thrilled that there are people out there whose experiences resonate with that of my own.
I guess now the next fitting thing to do is attempt to explain my temporary blogging hiatus. In one succinct yet distinctly-me type run-on sentence, since I was last here I: had my first interview of the residency match season, finally got my 14 thank you letters written/printed/mailed off to my interviewers, adopted and have been training a puppy, fell into the routine of starting a new semester of a new online MBA course, house hunted like on HGTV, and ran another 5k and a 4-miler set a new PR each time…whew!
First we must start with Hank, the rambunctious Alaskan Husky mix. 
He is currently going on 5 months, & was 3 1/2 mos. when we adopted him. BF was such a sweetheart to acquiesce to his adoption from the Humane Society. He picked him out and even re-named him from the name he was previously given (Dean, so blah for our Husky) to the more apt Hank, as well as financially/emotionally supported my proclivity towards spoiling the bedogggiez out of him. I am certain people say this about their dogs all the time…but ours is super smart!! He knows how to sit, shake, lie down, roll over, and respond to his name…all within just three days of his adoption. The pup can learn tricks and behaviors within hours to a few days…and currently lets us know when he needs to go out for bathroom business, by ringing bells we’ve placed on the doorknob! He picked this up quick, and even let us know when he wants to go outside to play and eat…essentially training us to heed his hedonistic puppy whims. (We are currently in the process of navigating the balance between un-training this quality with repudiation while preventing him from micturating in front of the door in blatant defiance). He appears to use his urine as a power play, if we ignore his bell rings or him for too long and give each other more attention than him. This may appear to be us reading too much into his behavior which may be viewed simply as an untrained dog, but he is honestly that smart that we wouldn’t put it past the mongrel! Like all young puppies, he does have his occasional missteps, involving the aforementioned urea spiced liquid elimination as well as biting his leash while growling like a rabid hyena when he doesn’t get his way/when he is in an energetic mood, but we are working with these issues. I even have a method for dealing with his leash biting/hyena growling that seems to be working and I have high hopes I will be able to eventually eradicate this behavior. Dog Whisperer this, Cesar Millan! (jk) He is the sweetest puppy, and loves a good cuddle…even inserting his furry body in between/on top of human cuddling that goes on without him. 
Although my previous post showed wishful longing for a Viszla, I couldn’t be happier with my Alaskan Husky Mix…and the plus side with him is that he can withstand being outdoors in the winter weather, so I have no second thoughts!! But, I ramble on about this loveable mutt…I suppose I should devote a category now to him, since I feel I will have much to blog about him in the future. So I will cease with the puppy blogging…for now.
As for the running…I am pleased to report that although I haven’t been as consistent with my half-marathon training as I should be, the two races I have recently run keep me motivated and have refocused me into being more consistent with my training! First was the Hot Chocolate 5k in Columbus. BF and I ran this together, and we were better prepared for the frigid conditions with warmer wicking apparel this time, which improved the experience. Although BF can run sprints around me, he always runs at my pace (unsolicited, and even when I tell him he should run this race at his pace, not mine!) when we’re together so he can encourage me, and I tried my best this time to not slow him down too much. I ran my first PR…even compared to all the other 5K distances I had run previously at home in addition to the Color Run 5k I ran less than a month before:
Check it out people! Way better than the Color Run (especially since there were no Porto-Jon breaks ;P) The one below is me and the top, BF. He was encouraging me the whole way although I was hurting and felt that I couldn’t keep going. Previously I could not get past running a 10+ min/mile…but placing ourselves in the 9 min/mile pace group in Corral A and forcing myself to run at a guy’s pace truly helped me get over the mind block standing in the way of staying comfortable at my slower pace. I suppose the hot chocolate and chocolate fondue + dippings was fantastic motivation as well, however honestly and truly it was the furthest from my mind during the run!
Four days later was the Flying Feather Four Miler on Thanksgiving Day. Two things kind of freaked me out about this run…one was that I was attempting to run it not soon after the Hot Chocolate 5k and two that it was 4 miles, a distance I had not yet trained for! I told myself I would at least try to get one run in…however life and a puppy got in the way, and I only found myself outdoors for the pup’s sake and unfortunately he’s not yet ready for a regimented run. Anyway, with much trepidation I prepared for my run, hoping for an under 40 minute time and was pleasantly surprised to know that BF wanted to attend with our puppy to support me at the start and finish line 🙂 He was on call that week & couldn’t participate, but thankfully his dermatology residency allows him to take call from home, or in this case in the suburb of Dublin in one of the Metroparks of Columbus, OH.
So I took off, at the back of the pack, behind the 36 and the 40 min/mile pacers with their signs since I had no idea how my body would react to this race. However, I don’t know if it was the encouragement of seeing my BF and puppy when I finally crossed the start line & anticipated seeing them at the finish line, the adrenaline pumping music I had ringing in my earbuds, or the beauty of running through a peaceful metropark as opposed to a big city, but I felt energized and took off faster than I realized! Before even feeling it, I passed the Mile 2 marker keeping pace, double checked my Nike watch to ensure I was truly running at an under 10 min/mile pace, soon before realizing I passed the 40 pacer and was keeping good distance ahead of her! It wasn’t until after Mile 3 when I felt comfortable in my pace that I realized I would be completing this run in under 40 minutes and had my sights set on that 36 pacer! For the first time in any of my three races, I started sprinting towards the finish line, once it was within sight. I had no idea where this newfound energy came from, especially after running further than I have in the past. When I crossed the finish line, I read the time above by the FINISH sign as 39:43, and knew I had finished much faster, and was thrilled! I collected my medal, my banana, my water & granola bars, and my finisher’s bottle of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages red wine…and went in search of my BF and pup, my endorphins at an all-time high. At the time I didn’t care what my time was, I just knew I ran faster than I thought I could, and was filled with pride. I wore my medal home as though it was a gold medal, to the slight chagrin of BF when I told him I wanted to wear it into Kroger to pick up supplies for our Thanksgiving meal. (I didn’t though, to his immense relief!) It was my first racing medal, and I truly felt I earned it…even though everyone who participated got one. We all chose to wake up extra early on Thanksgiving Day, prior to all the cooking festivities, to tackle a 4-miler for whatever intrinsic motivation we had, so yay to us 3,546 people and our alike medals which meant probably 3,546 different things to each of us. I found out today how fast I completed it, check it out 🙂
Whohoo! Even though it was a longer distance, I competed it at a faster pace (yeah I realize it was only 2 seconds faster!). Here’s to continuous improvement.
Well, this was an unusually long post…and though I have more to say I will probably try to split it up into several different posts like a normal person. Now, I have to work on my statistics homework, hopefully with enough time to take Hank on a hike/run before going to a pre-qual session with BF and Hank’s first puppy training class. Before I go, here’s another Hank picture for your enjoyment!
Hank eagerly anticipating being let outside to play with his friend Parker a Lab mix he met at the dog park.
We refer to Hank when he sits by the door in this manner as his mischievous “badger face” since he usually does this when he has recently come back from a walk and just wants to go outside or if he wants to eat even though it isn’t his meal time. As you can see, the resemblance is uncanny.
mind.body.belly.soul. 