I liked the idea of a decade in review, which I have seen on several blogs. It's a nice way to look back and contemplate life events. I will only list, not contemplate here. Too much self disclosure, just like too much privacy is not my thing.
So here we go:
2000
- got into grad school
- got married (to a man 9 years older than me)
- honeymoon in Hawaii hiking the islands
- moved to Ohio for grad school.
- experienced huge culture shock
- had my first cry in front of my husband over an upcoming statistics test. He read the entire book and explained everything to me, including the fact that I was smart enough to get a PhD. Statistics became my strength.
-spent way too much time studying and secured the "know it all, nerd status" on campus.
-ran 4-5 miles 5-6days/week, including in the winter, which led to eyebrow raises by both professors and students.
2001
- school, school, school
- got a cat even though I hated cats at the time, as Chris felt lonely while I was in the lab all day long. Squeeky changed my impression about cats.
-made great friends.
-continued running 4-5 miles 5-6 days a week.
-ran a 5K and placed 2nd overall with a 8:XX pace (yes, I know, that would never happen in New England).
2002
-defended masters
-spent way to much time studying, but loved every moment of it.
-dad died of cancer, I studied some more.
-kept up with running
-lots of hiking and white water rafting.
2003
-more school
-loved school and the success I was having
-did some teaching, started to publish a bit.
-lots of cross country skying and hiking.
2004
-defended dissertation
-had to leave USA due to immigration issues (INS lost my marriage paperwork).
-became an illegal immigrant with a PhD
-left the country in tears, along with Chris
-got pregnant by accident
-New Years in Romania
- ran the streets of Bucharest while being chased by dogs.
2005
-toughest year ever
-fought for permanent residency
-applied for psychology residency in US and Canada (since it was uncertain whether I would be able to get back to the US)
- had phone interviews while mom's dog barked in the other room. I think the dog got me into Harvard (my interviewer was a dog lover).
-returned to US in May
-started residency in July.
-gave birth to Petru John on August 10th, 2005. Easy birth which later on left me feeling a bit inferior to all the horror birth stories I heard from other moms.
-back to residency October 1st. Chris stayed home with Petru.
-somehow I (we) survived.
-ran with the jogging stroller and loved it!
2006
-Chris took a full time job teaching inner city. I worked full time as a postdoc. Petru was in daycare full time. Lots of frozen pizza, messy house. Somehow we survived.
-little running with the jogger.
-game night with friends kept us sane.
2007
-Chris quit his job and started teaching PT. I continued working full time. Petru went to day care part-time. Everyone was happier.
-joined a running group of moms.
-ran my first 1/2 marathon injured and finished in 2:06 limping.
-healed and continued to run with the group.
-got faster.
2008
-PRed in 3 half marathons and got my time down to a 1:44. Got 2 stress fractures in the meantime.
-loved my job.
-got my first grants and more independence.
-lots of trail running in the summer.
-forced myself to get over a water phobia.
-taught myself to swim breast stroke.
2009
-got over my fear of injury and started training for Boston along with 2 friends (for charity).
-loved the training.
-became more and more passionate about running.
-started reading about running and learned that, hm, one should never run all out all the time...
-no injuries.
-ran 2 marathons; PRed
-ran 2 half marathons; PRed
-ran a 5K; Pred.
-race my first triathlon.
-realized I need to race more.
-taught myself how to swim free style.
-bought my first road bike and did lots of summer biking.
-a few work changes but landed on my feet and secured a pretty nice setup.
-loved parenting more than any of the prior years.
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10 comments:
Wow, great to read about your history. Hope your next decade is full of awesome memories.
OMG. I think you've lived more in one decade than I have in four! Great read.
More interesting - for you to keep in private - might be to write a similar post now "looking back" on what the next decade will hold. Then check it in ten years to see how much came out as you had envisaged!
Paul :-)
Great recap.
Wow, you've had an amazing 10 years. I smiled as I read and was right there with ya! How did your snowy 15er go today? I just got back. A little slick in spots but not as bad as last week, which is weird since it snowed this week. But whatever, I was just glad to get 'er in! Happy Saturday!
What a nice way to get to know you a little more and see what you've been doing! I hope you receive all the handouts and the Boston schedule I sent. Email me if you have any questions!
What a life! The last 9 years have been crazy. 2004 must have been a devastating year. I can't even imagine. You definitly live adn learn thoguh! Great post. You should do a post on how you got the US. I'd love to hear that story.
Wow - I love this rundown of your life since 2000. My favorite thing was when you said you got over being afraid about getting injured again. That has set you free. Thanks for sharing.
wow, i'm glad you decided to do this post! very cool to look back on, you've certainly been on quite the rollercoaster! surely this next decade will be a little less hectic... :)
Nice recap. I'm impressed you can remember what year things happened. Looks like the last 10 years have had some ups and downs but the ups were much higher than the lows.
What a crazy decade! It got me to thinking about my decade (excluding the running stuff). Mine is actually pretty similar to yours minus the immigration issues. That must have been so awful by the way. Cool post.
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