April Showers, a 12K, & The Match!

It has been raining a lot. My research facility is located on a hill, which means that you get pretty wet from rivulets and waterfalls as you climb up to work. I think we're getting all the downpour we missed out on this winter. I am lucky enough to own two beautiful umbrellas and good shoes, so I can actually enjoy the torrents. Usually with a hot cup of tea. I'm drinking way more tea than will be sustainable on the wards. Yes, it's almost that time -- the moment I go back to the clinical life! Yikes (Which end of the patient is up, again?). It seemed so far away all year, but now I'm only two months away.

Warming up before the race

On the Sunday after St. Patrick's Day, we ran a 12K (~7.5 miles) to benefit the Edgewood Children's Foundation called Emerald 12K Across the Bay. It was a beautiful run, staring at Fort Baker and climbing up the (steep!) hill to the Golden Gate Bridge, crossing the bridge, and then winding down past Chrissy Field and ending near Ghirardelli square. My dad walked the whole 7.5 miles!

Beautiful views of the bay the whole 7.5 miles

Post-race party with live band at Ghirardelli square

Free chocolate milk from the Nesquik rabbit

The weather was breezy, sunshiny, and cold in the morning but perfect for running. As I crossed the bridge, I saw huge, graceful pelicans fishing at the mouth of the bay. I could see Alcatraz like a jewel in the water. It was amazing. I've never run that far before. My time was 1:20:38, for a pace of 10:49/mile. Just for perspective, the winning female runner did it at 5:32/mile. She's a year older than I am!

Speaking of clinical life, the Match happened two weeks ago. The Match is a huge, nationwide event that occurs the third week of March. Medical school seniors crowd into a room, open tiny white envelopes, and find out which residency program they'll be working at for the next three (or four, or ten) years. My friends all matched! Most of them seemed very happy. E is doing internal medicine. CL is doing pediatrics, and had some great advice for me. Dee is doing internal medicine. T is going to LA to do psychiatry, which is great because his wife, K, was offered a teaching position down there (congrats you guys)! Maybe they'll go all Hollywood on me and start doctoring/teaching the stars? Mimi won her coveted dermatology spot, for those of you who were biting their fingernails. Many, many people are staying in or around the SF Bay Area, which means I might see them once every six months during their training...

The evening of Match Day, there was a class party at a cafe near the beach. I went even though I am no longer in their class, just to say congratulations. Unluckily, it was pouring rain (again). Luckily, it was indoors and we had seats by the fire. Butters brewed an awesome, hoppy beer and brought it! Dee baked a pie (her first! With homemade crust! It was delicious). There was wine and excitement and congratulations. I couldn't believe how grown-up everyone looked. I am so very proud of them and all the hard work they've invested. The matched folks graduate this May with MDs. Dear Lord, they are going to be doctors. Our 2013 graduation will be so lonely without them. Can you believe how time flies? And the handful of us that added a year are left to plunge into the breach.

A beautiful gel for Western blot, loaded and ready

Research is going...strangely. After working on a basic science project all year, I'm not sure if it's going to manifest itself or fall through. However, I've also just started a clinical project that might save my behind when the NIH people come after me for Results with a capital R. Crossed fingers. It's interesting work, looking at what types of people don't respond to treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and how their bones erode. It's actually great stuff. We'll see how it goes; the deadline is a conference coming up in May (and prior to that, an abstract due next week).  I can't believe how much molecular biology and statistics I've learned this year. I hope all the clinical info regarding patients is still in my head somewhere. Unfortunately, I've had no time at all to work on my master's thesis, and I'd love to edit it and submit it. My brain is going to explode one day, wait and see. It'll be interesting. Anyhow, this week I get to teach a high schooler volunteering at the lab. She's a bubbly senior, five foot nothing, long dark hair, wants to major in chemistry. Rock on, my little friend.

B continues to work at the pale house in a certain capital city that shall not be named on a public blog. He's coming home weekend after next, though. Yay! Maybe it'll stop raining enough for us to go hiking. It has occurred to me that it's very late and I should go to bed (this is laughable: by hospital standards it's not even the end of the day). But I am so very happy to get a chance to sleep that I should carpe noctem. Bonne nuit.