Sitting Idle / Holiday Recap

I now understand what a race horse feels like when they are behind the gate before a race starts. My return to the university starts in less than a week and I'm so ready to start again that I practically have no attention span for anything else that isn't related towards my goal of becoming a doctor. I think I need to mentally take it down a notch.

The holiday break was nice. For the second year in a row, my family managed to go giftless and emphasize the importance of the holiday on time spent with the family. In a family of adults, gift giving usually just results in wide scale disappointment. At this time in my life, if I want something then I'll just go buy it myself.

My nephew gave me the gift of humility when I decided to play against him in a video game that ressembled the old school Nintendo Track and Field that was played on the power pad. One of the events in this game was the 100m dash and about 5 seconds into the race when I fell behind 30m, he blurts out " I'm owning you " and continues to run to the finish line. A testament to the fact that I am a sound resident of my late 20s.

Jingle Bell Run

This morning I ran in the Jingle Bell Run 5k. Apparently it is the biggest 5k race in Columbus. Pre-registration included a band, a ton of local mascots, and Mary Lou Reton. I thought the Beat Michigan 5k was cold ... I was wrong. This race was ran in 27 degree weather with light snow. So far, the 5k races that I have run in seem to go by pretty fast but I'd like to run my next one with the mindset of enjoying the scenery instead of just mentally concentrating on putting one step in front of the other. I lost about 30 seconds this time from November's race. I'll blame the shoe laces for becoming untied into the last mile. These races have not become 'fun' yet but they are definitely helping me build my mental toughness for when school starts in a month.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The time off work is spent specifically for family, friends, and food. It's a humble holiday that allows me to emphasize the importance of being content with the 'haves' and not the 'have nots'.

This year I decided to take a long drive to visit my brother, sister in-law, and my 5 year old nephew at their home in North Chicago. As an added bonus to getting to spend time with my family, I also had the opportunity of touring their medical school and examining my first cadaver. To my surprise, I didn't feel queezy at all when they showed me the body. In fact, I got hungry for beef jerky. I hope this is a good sign of things to come.