Anyone that knew her is a better person for it, she was just that awesome...:)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
More running, more parks and more gorgeous weather!
Most of our week is consumed by our three 6mi runs we do during the week, then one day of our weekend is tabbed for out longer runs. Right now its 18mi, but we aren't there yet. We can run most of it, but we at least run/walk the whole thing. Rohan does great on the longer runs, but sometimes when he's really tired he wants to sleep on his stomach, but the jogging stroller doesn't allow that so we usually have to put up with some whining, but it usually isn't too bad.
This last week, with all the running, we were only able to go climbing one night. This will probably continue while we are training for the marathon, but we'll keep our fingers and forearms in decent condition with once a week. Maybe we'll be able to sneak off for a climbing trip once, depending on Mara's schedule.
Speaking of, Mara just finished up her 2wk Hospice & 2wk Allergy/Immunology rotations and is now in her Pediatric ICU (PICU) rotation. It's a busy one for her again, with overnight call every 4th night, but she REALLY likes the people she works with, and she's interested in PICU, so it will be a good chance to see what it's all about.
Friday night we were graced by my Mom who was in Tuscon (about 1.5 hrs South), visiting a friend. they came up and met us at the McCormick Train Park to let Rohan run around. It was just after his nap and he wasn't really in a playing mood. However, as soon as we got to Buca di Beppo's he perked up and was quite a ham. We had a great time visiting with Mom, and she enjoyed seeing Rohan again. Maybe they'll be back this winter and escape the WI winter. After supper we went for a nice walk through the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall (since we ate SO MUCH at Buca's!). Rohan had a blast playing in their dozens of fountains and water features. We also found the LOVE statue we've seen in so many other pictures. The family one we had didn't turn out great, but Rohan had a BLAST climbing all over it. Afterwards we were still feeling full and we went and walked for a few hours after we got home. It was goreous outside, maybe even a little chilly at 65°F...:) Mom is in Tuscon, soaking up the sun until she has to go back on Friday. It was great to see her again!
Saturday hit up the dog park early then we met up with some friends at The Sandbar in Paradise Valley. Greg had always said it was a great Iowa Hawkeye bar...I had no idea they were so hard core. They have a club called the PHX I-Club! It was a blast, even though they lost to WI on some really bad coach/QB decisions...:( Afterwards we ran off our frustrations at the park with Rohan. He's having so much fun kicking a soccer ball. He's dribbled it 10-12 times in a row so far, and getting more coordinated every day. It's a lot of fun to watch. Hopefully soccer will be a gateway to "real" sports like baseball & football...:)
Sunday we did some running around, and hit the dog park again. It's great to wear Rohan and the dogs out at the same time! Rohan has so much fun watching the dogs, and really likes the Golden Retrievers and similarly sized dogs. He's in awe of the Great Danes and Mastiffs, and just stares at them. They are like little horses! After watching a little football we headed out for our long, 18mi run. it felt good, and the hot tub afterwards REALLY helped loosed our hips and calves which aren't used to 18+ miles.
While we recover, enjoy the pics & vids!:
Rohan showing off his swimming skillz:
Rohan throughly enjoys his pasta:
This last week, with all the running, we were only able to go climbing one night. This will probably continue while we are training for the marathon, but we'll keep our fingers and forearms in decent condition with once a week. Maybe we'll be able to sneak off for a climbing trip once, depending on Mara's schedule.
Speaking of, Mara just finished up her 2wk Hospice & 2wk Allergy/Immunology rotations and is now in her Pediatric ICU (PICU) rotation. It's a busy one for her again, with overnight call every 4th night, but she REALLY likes the people she works with, and she's interested in PICU, so it will be a good chance to see what it's all about.
Friday night we were graced by my Mom who was in Tuscon (about 1.5 hrs South), visiting a friend. they came up and met us at the McCormick Train Park to let Rohan run around. It was just after his nap and he wasn't really in a playing mood. However, as soon as we got to Buca di Beppo's he perked up and was quite a ham. We had a great time visiting with Mom, and she enjoyed seeing Rohan again. Maybe they'll be back this winter and escape the WI winter. After supper we went for a nice walk through the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall (since we ate SO MUCH at Buca's!). Rohan had a blast playing in their dozens of fountains and water features. We also found the LOVE statue we've seen in so many other pictures. The family one we had didn't turn out great, but Rohan had a BLAST climbing all over it. Afterwards we were still feeling full and we went and walked for a few hours after we got home. It was goreous outside, maybe even a little chilly at 65°F...:) Mom is in Tuscon, soaking up the sun until she has to go back on Friday. It was great to see her again!
Saturday hit up the dog park early then we met up with some friends at The Sandbar in Paradise Valley. Greg had always said it was a great Iowa Hawkeye bar...I had no idea they were so hard core. They have a club called the PHX I-Club! It was a blast, even though they lost to WI on some really bad coach/QB decisions...:( Afterwards we ran off our frustrations at the park with Rohan. He's having so much fun kicking a soccer ball. He's dribbled it 10-12 times in a row so far, and getting more coordinated every day. It's a lot of fun to watch. Hopefully soccer will be a gateway to "real" sports like baseball & football...:)
Sunday we did some running around, and hit the dog park again. It's great to wear Rohan and the dogs out at the same time! Rohan has so much fun watching the dogs, and really likes the Golden Retrievers and similarly sized dogs. He's in awe of the Great Danes and Mastiffs, and just stares at them. They are like little horses! After watching a little football we headed out for our long, 18mi run. it felt good, and the hot tub afterwards REALLY helped loosed our hips and calves which aren't used to 18+ miles.
While we recover, enjoy the pics & vids!:
Rohan showing off his swimming skillz:
Rohan throughly enjoys his pasta:
Monday, October 18, 2010
Last 2 weeks in a nutshell...Running, Baseball, & Viruses.
This post will encompass the last couple weeks. We were pretty busy, and I had a work function to prepare for so we didn't get a post in last week.
The weather has been absolutely gorgeous these last two weeks, and we're remembering why we liked Phoenix so much! We've been able to work back into a more rigorous running schedule as well, and try to catch up on our marathon training (without getting injured!).
Last week we did some of our usual routes for our 6-7 mile runs. Mara had the great idea to utilize one of Phoenix's lesser known park systems, the Scottsdale Greenbelt. It's a 25mi trail running from near our house to the NW edge of Tempe. We did a really nice LSD run (Long Slow Distance)from Tempe to Shea hospital, a total of 13+ mi. It was long, but the parks and such were really nice to go though, especially the ones with water. We found a couple new parks to take Rohan to also. We went the next day and hit up one with an awesome play area and TONS of ducks to feed. Rohan is getting pretty good at throwing so most of his bread pieces even make it to the water.
The highlight for me last week was our TGEN retreat with our research partner group Van Andel Research Institute. VARI is out of Grand Rapids, MI so they come here once a year and we go there once a year to help stimulate research and update everyone on current advances in our labs. This year TGEN (somehow) organized a TGEN/VARI softball game at Chase Field, where the AZ Diamondbacks play! We've gone to several games, so it was awesome be able to be on the field. Everyone had a huge smile on their face for the privilege to be playing on a major league field! It was a really fun time too. They played George Carlin's skit on Baseball vs. Football, and gave us drink tickets as well, and rented out the Strike Zone Lounge (a bar usually reserved for VIPs) so it was a very casual atmosphere. That being said, TGEN whooped VARI with a 6 run 5th inning to win 10-8...:) I played pretty good as well. I was 1 for 1 (we had 30 people playing) with an infield hit (see video), and a run scored. I also had 2 catches in left-center and an outfield assist by throwing someone out at 2nd. All in all an awesome night!
Last week we also gave Rohan another haircut. He was in desperate need of one, and in most of our pictures in WI he looked like a little dutch girl with his hair flipped out to the side. We got TONS of ammo before we started. Coloring books, food, drinks, and books. Mara did the cutting and I did the distractions. He did pretty good, and Mara did an awesome job with the haircut too. Saved us $15 if we took him to one of those specialty kids haircut places! He looks like such a little man now...:)
Saturday we took Rohan to a health fair at Scottsdale Shea Hospital (one Mara has rotated through). They had a sweet petting zoo, firetrucks, bounce houses, food, and police cars. Rohan was completely geeked the whole time. He LOVED his fireman's hat, which is almost identical to the one Jackson has at G&G's that Rohan wouldn't leave alone. Rohan also got to take a teddy bear through the Teddy Bear Clinic in the children's ER. He was getting pretty tired at that point, but he did seem to enjoy it by the end. His bear got a band-aid, some medicine, and some TLC. We skipped the Electrocardiogram due to the line and Rohan's need to nap, but we had fun. Afterwards we relaxed and watched IA whoop on MI. GO HAWKS!
Later Saturday we went on another longer run (just 10mi this time). It felt good, and we used the Greenbelt Trail again. We really enjoy running on that with all the parks and water, and a trail that has very few bumps in it. It really is a lot of fun to run on . This time we just went from Shea hospital to the dog park and back. It's also a neat way to see parts of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley we are familiar with in a car, but now we see them from a pedestrian view.
Sunday was spent in a achy, virus (we think) laden haze. Whether it was something we ate, or a 24hr virus, but we spent most of the day taking turns napping, trying to keep up with Rohan, and trying to eat something. I think we had a few spoons of yogurt & applesauce, part of a candy bar, and a 1/2 bowl of cereal all day. We feel a little better today, but still feeling the effects from yesterday. Rohan seems to be doing just fine and he ate most of what we ate, so we are leaning towards a virus he didn't get. Hopefully it won't interfere with our training too much this week, especially since we have an 18mi run scheduled for Saturday...we'll see about that...:)
Hope everyone had a great week. Enjoy the pics & vids:
My base hit at Chase Field!:
How to wear out Rohan:
Rohan Dancing to a Hispanic dance group:
The weather has been absolutely gorgeous these last two weeks, and we're remembering why we liked Phoenix so much! We've been able to work back into a more rigorous running schedule as well, and try to catch up on our marathon training (without getting injured!).
Last week we did some of our usual routes for our 6-7 mile runs. Mara had the great idea to utilize one of Phoenix's lesser known park systems, the Scottsdale Greenbelt. It's a 25mi trail running from near our house to the NW edge of Tempe. We did a really nice LSD run (Long Slow Distance)from Tempe to Shea hospital, a total of 13+ mi. It was long, but the parks and such were really nice to go though, especially the ones with water. We found a couple new parks to take Rohan to also. We went the next day and hit up one with an awesome play area and TONS of ducks to feed. Rohan is getting pretty good at throwing so most of his bread pieces even make it to the water.
The highlight for me last week was our TGEN retreat with our research partner group Van Andel Research Institute. VARI is out of Grand Rapids, MI so they come here once a year and we go there once a year to help stimulate research and update everyone on current advances in our labs. This year TGEN (somehow) organized a TGEN/VARI softball game at Chase Field, where the AZ Diamondbacks play! We've gone to several games, so it was awesome be able to be on the field. Everyone had a huge smile on their face for the privilege to be playing on a major league field! It was a really fun time too. They played George Carlin's skit on Baseball vs. Football, and gave us drink tickets as well, and rented out the Strike Zone Lounge (a bar usually reserved for VIPs) so it was a very casual atmosphere. That being said, TGEN whooped VARI with a 6 run 5th inning to win 10-8...:) I played pretty good as well. I was 1 for 1 (we had 30 people playing) with an infield hit (see video), and a run scored. I also had 2 catches in left-center and an outfield assist by throwing someone out at 2nd. All in all an awesome night!
Last week we also gave Rohan another haircut. He was in desperate need of one, and in most of our pictures in WI he looked like a little dutch girl with his hair flipped out to the side. We got TONS of ammo before we started. Coloring books, food, drinks, and books. Mara did the cutting and I did the distractions. He did pretty good, and Mara did an awesome job with the haircut too. Saved us $15 if we took him to one of those specialty kids haircut places! He looks like such a little man now...:)
Saturday we took Rohan to a health fair at Scottsdale Shea Hospital (one Mara has rotated through). They had a sweet petting zoo, firetrucks, bounce houses, food, and police cars. Rohan was completely geeked the whole time. He LOVED his fireman's hat, which is almost identical to the one Jackson has at G&G's that Rohan wouldn't leave alone. Rohan also got to take a teddy bear through the Teddy Bear Clinic in the children's ER. He was getting pretty tired at that point, but he did seem to enjoy it by the end. His bear got a band-aid, some medicine, and some TLC. We skipped the Electrocardiogram due to the line and Rohan's need to nap, but we had fun. Afterwards we relaxed and watched IA whoop on MI. GO HAWKS!
Later Saturday we went on another longer run (just 10mi this time). It felt good, and we used the Greenbelt Trail again. We really enjoy running on that with all the parks and water, and a trail that has very few bumps in it. It really is a lot of fun to run on . This time we just went from Shea hospital to the dog park and back. It's also a neat way to see parts of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley we are familiar with in a car, but now we see them from a pedestrian view.
Sunday was spent in a achy, virus (we think) laden haze. Whether it was something we ate, or a 24hr virus, but we spent most of the day taking turns napping, trying to keep up with Rohan, and trying to eat something. I think we had a few spoons of yogurt & applesauce, part of a candy bar, and a 1/2 bowl of cereal all day. We feel a little better today, but still feeling the effects from yesterday. Rohan seems to be doing just fine and he ate most of what we ate, so we are leaning towards a virus he didn't get. Hopefully it won't interfere with our training too much this week, especially since we have an 18mi run scheduled for Saturday...we'll see about that...:)
Hope everyone had a great week. Enjoy the pics & vids:
My base hit at Chase Field!:
How to wear out Rohan:
Rohan Dancing to a Hispanic dance group:
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
A Break In The Heat & Nate Swings Through
After setting a week's worth of record highs (which says something in the desert!), the temps finally broke and we are living comfortably in the mid-80s. After our trip to WI, then 110F we had was a little much. Streptococcus was also a little much for me, and I got taken down Monday. Tuesday, Nate came through after his golf week with some Nebraska buddies in UT & NV. We hit up Papago Park Golf Course while he was here. It was friggin' hot, but the fluids were replaced with plenty of Gatorade & beer.
John & Heather were kind enough to take Rohan Friday night & Saturday while we climbing and caught up with Nate. We REALLY appreciate them being so close to do that! That and Rohan loves the break from Mom & Dad too! :)
We hung out at Greg & Nico's a couple nights, and then Saturday we celbrated Mara's birthday and headed back to Jack's Canyon for some climbing. It had been a while (~6 yrs) since Greg & Nate had been out, so they had a lot of fun getting back into it. It rained on us a little, but not too awful. We're tough mid-westerners who can take a little rain. They bugs were a little much, but we toughed it out as well. We all got to lead & top-rope at least 2 routes, and Mara got to practice cleaning the wall and self-belaying down. All in all a great trip.
We had to cut climbing short a little since we had a going away party for a friend, Heidi, from AZR. Nate came back, but unfortunately Greg & Nico didn't make it. We headed to Jeanette's house for cake, apps, and of course, beer pong. Nate & Mara dominated! It was a LONG day, lasting until 3am. Add in climbing and it was exhausting. Rohan didn't help us too much, and slept until about 5am. I let the birthday girl sleep it off...:) We wish Heidi the best in NV. Rohan will miss his babysitter!
We hit up The Good Egg with Nate and he headed back on his long drive to Des Moines. We were REALLY glad be made the time to stop by PHX. It was great to see him.
We capped off the weekend with dinner at Ruby Tuesdays with Heather & John for Heather & Mara's birthdays. It was great to catch up with them, and thank them again for taking Rohan, who by the way, charmed every damn waitress in the restaurant, and even a couple of customers. He was playing hide & seek over the booth and being about a cute as he can be...:)
Not much planned this week. Just getting back into running and climbing. With WI, strep & Nate, we neglected our running a little, but if we don't get back into it now, then when? :)
Hope everyone had a great weekend. Stay warm Midwest!!
Nate warms up & NASCAR yells in the canyon:
Nate climbs the aptly named "Jack Off" route:
A view from the top of "Jack Pot" courtesy of our free Flip cam:
One more look over the edge for Michelle...:)
Mara's Post Climb Birthday shot of Jack Daniels:
Rohan Enjoys listening to 50 Cent & playing with light saber apps:
John & Heather were kind enough to take Rohan Friday night & Saturday while we climbing and caught up with Nate. We REALLY appreciate them being so close to do that! That and Rohan loves the break from Mom & Dad too! :)
We hung out at Greg & Nico's a couple nights, and then Saturday we celbrated Mara's birthday and headed back to Jack's Canyon for some climbing. It had been a while (~6 yrs) since Greg & Nate had been out, so they had a lot of fun getting back into it. It rained on us a little, but not too awful. We're tough mid-westerners who can take a little rain. They bugs were a little much, but we toughed it out as well. We all got to lead & top-rope at least 2 routes, and Mara got to practice cleaning the wall and self-belaying down. All in all a great trip.
We had to cut climbing short a little since we had a going away party for a friend, Heidi, from AZR. Nate came back, but unfortunately Greg & Nico didn't make it. We headed to Jeanette's house for cake, apps, and of course, beer pong. Nate & Mara dominated! It was a LONG day, lasting until 3am. Add in climbing and it was exhausting. Rohan didn't help us too much, and slept until about 5am. I let the birthday girl sleep it off...:) We wish Heidi the best in NV. Rohan will miss his babysitter!
We hit up The Good Egg with Nate and he headed back on his long drive to Des Moines. We were REALLY glad be made the time to stop by PHX. It was great to see him.
We capped off the weekend with dinner at Ruby Tuesdays with Heather & John for Heather & Mara's birthdays. It was great to catch up with them, and thank them again for taking Rohan, who by the way, charmed every damn waitress in the restaurant, and even a couple of customers. He was playing hide & seek over the booth and being about a cute as he can be...:)
Not much planned this week. Just getting back into running and climbing. With WI, strep & Nate, we neglected our running a little, but if we don't get back into it now, then when? :)
Hope everyone had a great weekend. Stay warm Midwest!!
Nate warms up & NASCAR yells in the canyon:
Nate climbs the aptly named "Jack Off" route:
A view from the top of "Jack Pot" courtesy of our free Flip cam:
One more look over the edge for Michelle...:)
Mara's Post Climb Birthday shot of Jack Daniels:
Rohan Enjoys listening to 50 Cent & playing with light saber apps:
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