This past week I spent on a wildlife elective on the Grafton campus, and as expected I absolutely LOVED it. Everyone was so glad to have me back in the clinic. I finally met Erica, the new wildlife intern. I volunteered for two on call shifts (so I crashed at friend's places in grafton those nights) and only got called in once for a sad euthanasia of a gull with two broken wings. A ton of people there asked me if I would apply for the internship at the wildlife clinic there, and while that is a dream of mine, I explained no cause they traditionally don't take tufts alumni and since it would be better for me to branch out. A ton of people (including erica and the wildlife technician Karen) told me I should still apply for the wildlife internship at Tufts since if they were going to make an exception for a tufts alumni it would be me, and Erica said taht she had not even met me yet but I already had a reputation and she had heard a lot about me from others about how I was such a great student. I was flattered, but I still don't think I will apply for that internship.
Speaking of internships, I officially opened my account today for my internship applications. I have asked for three letters from various professors, two already happily accepted, one I have not heard back from yet but I just wrote her today. I have changed my ranking since I first made it a week ago, I am including more internships at universities since I have heard that an academic internship increases your chances of a residency so applying to more veterinary schools will increase my chances at a cardiology residency. I am meeting with Dr. Rush tomorrow too (which I am quite nervous about) to talk about cardio residencies (he was excited that I was interested in cardio).
Yesterday I ran my fifth marathon. I ran the Baystate marathon in Lowell. I hate saying this, but it was my worst race yet. Not my worst time, actually it was my second best time, but I was severely disappointed in my time and I didn't really enjoy the race.
Mark got up early with me and drove me to the start. It was cold, and I am grateful Mark convinced me to wear my jacket. I wore shorts though, which might of been a bad choice. I had checked the weather friday night and it said it would be in the 50-60 range for the day, chilly, but good and easy running weather, the type of temp you should warm up nicely in. Boy was I wrong. It was freezing. I started pacing behind these lean younger women thinking they were running the marathon, but then at mile 3 they split off from me on to the half marathon course and I continued on the marathon course.
I had started out behind the 3:40 pace setter, thinking I was at a good steady pace for me. It was cold and windy, and my legs ached from the cold. I kept waiting for them to warm up, but they didn't. Somewhere around mile 8 I was suddenly passed by the 3:40 pace setter, which was not a good sign. I had thought I started behind him, but I must of passed him and was running at a pace faster them him for the beginning (not good, I am not that fast).
However, I was keeping my pace, even though it was not that enjoyable of a race. There were only handfuls of 15-10 spectators every 2 miles at the water stops, as opposed to Boston's thousands along the course. In between water stops I was lonely and bored. And my legs continued to ache. I hit mile 20 and was hurting, but was shocked by my time...I was at 3:01, an awesome pace that if I had kept up I would finish under 4 hours (my goal). And then I fell apart. I had been hurting a lot before taht point, but had pushed through it. Suddenly, my knees (esp. the right) really hurt. Everytime I pushed my pace my right knee had an excruciating sharp pain that brought tears to my eyes and made me limp. For the first marathon in the last 3, I had to walk. I called Mark at mile 22 to tell him I was going to be later then expected at the finish. I felt really bad.
So I chugged along to the finish, and walked a total of .6 miles (.2 mile intervals three times from mile 22 to the end). My pace slowed, and I finished in what I felt was a pathetic 4:17. I have been so used to finishing quicker every race this one was so disappointing for me, but I had to remind myself that all runners have bad races and get hurt at some point, so I just need to try harder for the next race.
And I guess all in all it was not that bad of a time.
So far my races are:
1. Adirondack Marathon, Sept. 2006. Finishing time: 5:10
2. Boston Marathon, April 2007. Finishing time: 4:36
3. Mohawk Hudson Marathon, Oct. 2007. Finishing time: 4:28
4. Boston Marathon, April 2008. Finishing time: 4:09
5. Baystate Marathon, Oct. 2008. Finishing time: 4:17
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