your good deed for the day

Hey kiddos. Go here: https://www.lighttounite.org/ and the pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers will donate a dollar to the National AIDS Fund. It only takes a second and you don't have to give your name or email or anything.

I just went out for a 15 mile run

and just got back from a 4.5 mile run. WHAT?? It did not go as planned. After about a mile I couldn't fully feel my right foot and I felt like I was dragging it as a lead weight. I have never had this happen before and I think it's from all the running I'm doing on the Columbia track which is really small and results in lots of turning- which means lots of extra strain on my right shin. It's either that or the whopper hills on the Thanksgiving 7 miler. I would never even entertain the thought that it might be from the day in tight ski boots last week.

About 2 months ago I started noticing the weirdest sensation when I was running. It was almost as if I felt I was going to trip, but not exactly. On Friday I was able to recognize the feeling. Friday was the first day on the slopes in 2 years!!! Skiing!! Oh, how I have missed you. I'm happy to report that I didn't forget completely how to ski. Certainly my form got a little sloppy. And my GS skis from racing days were a little too much for me to handle at times. But who cares?? And besides I can blame it on the poor conditions. The Friday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the first day of skiing for the Bobruffs, and usually the mountains have been open at least a week at this point. Well Okemo, where we skied, was only on it's second day of the season, and they had to bus us up to the lift to the one trail that was open.


Notice the bare ground off the trail on the left where the didn't make snow.

I hope there will be lots of skiing this year. I'm headed to my old Colorado stomping grounds in Jan. And I joined the Columbia ski team. I think it's lot like the Amherst team was, with 30% of it's focus on partying and not very competitive even when there is competition.

When I was testing out my ski feet last Friday there were certainly a couple heart-in-throat moments when I caught a ski tip and my momentum was thrown off wack. And I noticed that's exactly the sensation I'm getting when I'm running. It's like I have phantom skis and am catching the tip on thick snow and have to check my balance. Weird, eh? I've heard of phantom feelings when someone loses an arm or leg. I guess my body feels like it's lost an appendage without skis on.

travel....

high school 10 year reunion

Yup, it's been ten years since high school and yesterday I went to reunion. Well, not MY reunion. I was crashing the Newton North 10 year reunion. I certainly got a few confused looks at what I was doing there, but mostly those were from people who knew me and knew I didn't go to NN. I was pleasantly surprised
that there were dozens of friends to catch up with and there was never a
moment where I was left to twidle my thumbs by myself.

Best surprises:
Seeing my best friend from nursury school who was also crashing.
Reconnecting with a best friend from camp who cried when she saw me.
My friend luke trying to convince people I was his wife and mother of 3
kids.
Meeting all the real husbands and fiances.

Everyone looked great and it was wonderful to see people that I mostly haven't seen in years! Someone there was commenting how everyone looked the same. My 6th grade boyfriend must have said 5 times how I looked exactly the same as I did in 6th grade. I'm just going to assume that wasn't only a commentary on the pimples I was sportin' :).

A taste of the future

A year ago, Thanksgiving 2005, we were coming to the end of our India tour. We were lucky enough to come across a Subway in Delhi and split a turkey sub. Oh how much
has changed in a year. This year we had the traditional Bobruff Thanksgiving
in our NH house. Complete with approximetly 30 dishes from the kitchen of Mama Bobruff.

Thanksgiving day 2005. Henna Tatoos in India.

This year I am certainly thankful for the turkey, something that was in my top ten list of most missed things in Thailand. And I also raised my glass in thanks for the chance to go skiing on Friday! But besides for spending time with the family, the best part of the weekend was a full kicthen and access to all sorts of FOODS!! When in Thailand I had a kitchen, but not a lot of food options. And now in NY I have access to american supermarkets, but not great access to cooking. One day I'll have both!

For now I am able to enjoy the fully stocked kitchens when I go home. Wednesday Mom picked me up from the boston airport and on the way to NH we stopped at a HUGE supermarket. Heaven! We went a little overboard on what we thought we'd make, but the possibilities were just so exciting!

I made a yummy chili Wednesday night for dinner. And then went baking crazy. Pumpkin pie, mini cheesecakes, and peanut butter herhey kiss cookies. mmmmm.



Here's me, raising my glass of apple cider in a toast to all we have to be
thankful for and to all you out there in Blogworld. Happy Thanksgiving
2006!

A new era for the nose

Can we have a moment of silence for the passing of my nose stud? On Friday I took it out- for good. I've been thinking of doing it for a couple months now, but Friday morning it was a quick thinking decision. I had a big fancy corporate meeting at Deloitte consulting offices down town. I though the nose ring didn't really go with my suit. So out it came.

I've had my nose stud for over 2 and a half years now. I got it with Pam and Chris in New Orleans the day after my 1st marathon. I was SO nervous. The guy doing it knew I was so scared that I figured he had to be joking when he put the stud in and said, "oops." I mean only an idiot would say "oops" with a freaked-out girl in the seat in front of you, so he had to be joking. He wasn't. He had accidentally hit the tissue that divides my nostrils; but it was barely a scratch so all was fine. Except that I was so nauseous after it happened that I couldn't get out of the seat for 10 minutes. I think it was a combination of nerves, hangover, and the 26.2 mile jaunt the day before.


It was a toss up between taking the stud out and getting one of these. There's always the next marathon...

Which sounds more impressive 26.2 miles or 42 Kms

Yesterday was the NYC marathon. I was planning to do it, but an injury
derailed my training and I didn't feel ready to do it the way I wanted.
So for the first time in years I was a marathon spectator. I watched the
start on TV and the tears started flowing. I just have SO much respect and
admiration for each of those people and all the work they put in to get to
that start line. Not to mention the finish line. I most especially have
respect for Colleen Brophy who was running because a while ago we decided to
do this one together. Last time I saw Colleen was in June 04 when we ran the Anchorage Alaska marathon together. And by 'together' I mean Colleen waited for me at the finish line.



This run was Colleens 11th marathon. She got a PR time of 3:07
and came in 32nd for her age group!!! Remember this is the largest marathon in the world with over 37,000 people running, including olympic medalist and course record holders. Colleen came in the top 100 of all women! I think she's really a robot.

My friends Malcolm and Maureen and I went early to get good watching spots. We stood in Central Park right behind the MET, and right after mile marker 24. I brought life savers to pass out.





Just after Lance Armstrong ran by my friend Malcolm thought I should get my signs out for Colleen. I had made two: "Colleen, You're a Superstar." and "HOT GUYS, just 2 more miles." Just after I told Malcolm that Colleen wouldn't be there for a while, Colleen came running by in her cute green hat. I started yelling and ran into the road with her jumping up and down. Colleen started yelling and jumping as she ran too. And then the whole crowd of about 100 people we ran by started yelling for her too.

After Colleen went by we made the journey to the finish line to find her. She made it before we did even though we cut through the park. Who wants to meet me at the finish line for NYC 2007??