The Heart of Vermont Relay - learning about joints, muscles, and tendons in action

Yesterday I and a group of five other friends completed one of the most amazing feats - during our second year of medical school, we ran in a 100 mile relay (each of us ran 3 legs averaging 16-18 miles) on Route 100 in Vermont. Final time: 11 hours 27 minutes, which means we averaged just under 7 minute/mile place, giving us 2nd place in the mixed open (men&women) category and 8th place overall (out of 127 teams)!! As of today, they only have the stats from last year posted, but keep checking back and look for: 

Tight Gracilis!

Our day began at 6:00 when we loaded Krista's big red car with gatorade, extra clothing, food, and six energetic runners (and one very enthusiastic and super helpful girlfriend, thanks Chantell!) and drove the hours to the start. The start times were staggered by predicted finish time - so we were towards the end of the starting times (8:45, the first teams left at 6:30 and the last team left at 10:00).

As soon as the gun went off for our "heat" and Darryl, our first runner, sprinted ahead for his 2.5 mile leg, our crazy day had officially begun. We jumped back into the car, which now had been scrawled with "Tight Gracilis" (our team name) and "Loosen Up" (our motto) and drove to pick him up at the next hand off and drop of Chester (runner #2). We drove to a few spots to cheer on Chester, before dropping me at the next hand-off (I was runner #3). They cheered for me at lots of different spots as I ran through small towns and long stretches of highway. Then I handed off to Katie (runner #4), who then handed off to Luke (runner #5), who then handed off to Adam (runner #5) around 11:00 in the morning - and we were through rotation #1. Lizzie and Krista came and met us to cheer for one of the legs and it was just wild to see them out in the middle of Vermont. So great!

Just as it started to get really, really hot.

But somehow Chester cruised through the longest leg of the course, Darryl kicked it up the hilliest part of the course in under 7 minute pace, Katie rocked a climb that gave her legs no breaks until she got to the top, Luke coasted through rolling hills, I pounded up and down the hardest downhill I have ever run, and Adam sprinted us into the finish - with a final leg at 6:30 pace. We finished around 8:00 at night, with headlamps, reflective vests, and red blinky lights - and all ran through the finish.

Throughout, we tried to quiz about osteoporosis, tendon injury, and rheumatoid arthritis medications - which sort of worked. But the question that came up the most was: what do you do with muscle strains? NSAIDs or no?

we went with yes to NSAIDs, because even if we're preventing all the blood from helping our inflammatory cells get to the injury, it feels so much better.

at the starting line - the Von Trapp Family Lodge!

our first handoff - nice!

adam transcribes our team name on Krista's car 

(which she graciously let us ride in all sweaty for the whole day)

 chester hands off to me in our costume leg

my most favorite couple ever (so adorable, and so sweaty)

we're showing you our gracilis muscle

i ran my last leg in a leopard print leotard (thanks anna!)

for our costume leg - waiting for darryl

we ran the last four legs with headlamps and reflective vests because it got dark out there

at the finish!! (about 11 and a half hours later...)

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And for fun, a video from a dear friend of Antje Duvekot singing "It's a Long Way"
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A throw-back to the road trip, her lyrics:

Out in California
We touched the other ocean
And I still have that jar of sand
In the Arizona desert
The sky goes on forever
You've never seen a thing as grand
And North Montana was cold
She keeps her secrets frozen
Under glaciers way up north
And people have got lost up there
In the home of the grizzly bear
And you can ask the mountain
But the mountain doesn't care

Sausage Fingers and Wrestler's Rash: Othropedics, Dermatology, and Rheumatology in 2 weeks

the specialty that scares me the most right now: dermatology. I know it seems absurd - how can rashes and blisters be scarier than hearts that don't beat or brains that don't recognize themselves as self? My sense is that it's because we are used to seeing skin, and we're used to seeing skin intact and generally clear of bumps and discoloration, whereas most of us don't look at hearts enough to have a visceral reaction to a disfigured heart.

and because all this pathology has me feeling even more like I'm forgetting how to speak like a normal person - some fun terms:

first, proof that all doctors think in terms of food:

strawberry tongue

- in an inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis) called Kawasaki's, where the little buds on your tongue become really red and really puffy

sausage fingers

also known as "dactylitis", found in psoriatic arthritis, which is exactly what it sounds like - psoriasis (rash) with joint pain (arthritis)

onion skinning

a specific appearance on an X-ray that corresponds to Ewing's sarcoma, a type of bone cancer that appears in children, that looks like the bone has onion skin on it, because so many layers of the outer coating (periosteum) are forming in reaction to the tumor

and just because I think it's a cute word: ephilides

(it means freckles)

and finally I can feel confident performing a full knee exam - so NOW you can all ask me why your knee makes that strange clicking sound when you bend it!

but there's been a bit of fun so far also, mostly because we are still all feeling like our whole selves - people who think about things beyond disease and treatments. Pig Roasts, Garden Dessert Party, Swimming and Rock Climbing, and lots of long bike rides.

Some photos of a garden dessert birthday party for two dear friends below - enjoy!

baby I'm back

I started medical school classes again this week - this time as a wise, experienced SECOND year.

gah.

after a lovely and chaotic breakfast, we jumped right into lectures on orthopedics (which we covered in less than one week). For the first ten minutes, my brain couldn't quite get past the one thought "oh my goodness. we're back" and then it just felt completely normal, as if no time had passed and it was just another day of medical school.

except that I feel rested, rejuvenated, and motivated to delve into everything.

I forgot what this felt like

and its' so good.

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"there is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered"

-nelson mandela

"and I flash like that

recognize I'm back

light a match catch a fire"

-T.I.

live your way into the answer...

"...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
in Letters to a Young Poet

(from Krista and a perfect fit for the blog)

from NOLA to the A-T-L

it looks like I'm saluting, but really I'm fixing my glasses (don't worry grandparents) - on the steps of the Montgomery Capitol Building
This is the food we ordered at the Smokehouse - oh man.

the band at dbs getting crazy - the man on the right is rapping about tomorrow being a brighter day
me and krista on bourbon street with our hurricanes


New Orleans is HOT, SWEATY, and crazy, even on a Monday night.
We arrived from Houston in the evening and met our WONDERFUL hosts, David and Michael (I'll try to link to their B&B soon bc it's lovely; thanks, Em!), who told us to walk down the French Quarter, but mostly hit up Frenchmen street, which is slightly past it. We did exactly that - stopping only to get a Hurricane to go (yup, because you can carry your drinks in the street in NOLA) so that we would be hydrated, or something, for our walk.

We ate jumbalaya and fried goodness at a place called the COOP, had some more drinks, and then headed to DSB's, a night club on Frenchmen Street that apparently always has amazing music. Thought we had our doubts because it was a Monday night, they were put at ease even as we walked up to the place - music leaked out onto the street from every direction, and coming from DSB's was a sweet mix of jazz, funk, and hip-hop. Perfect. We ended up staying until close talking to some people our age involved in local politics about the challenging and exciting problems NOLA is tackling post-Katrina.

The next morning, we ate beinets and drank cafe o lait's at Cafe Du Monde, a NOLA staple. Beinets are pretty much exactly the same as the fried dough you get at a country fair, except even more delicious and more sugary. Then we walked through Jackson square, saw a Tulane football team photo shoot, and had our tarot cards read by the lovely Janessa. Krista's reading was a bit more profound than mine, but both were entertaining and made us think about some of the things in our lives.

We decided to skip Mississippi so that we could make it back to Atlanta before Krista's sister, Marisa, left for a year in Zambia, but our route from NOLA took us to some pretty fabulous places.

Must Stop #1: Greenville, AL
at The Smokehouse, which appears to be a country store connected to a gas station right off the exit for Greenville on Rt. 10, but our wonderful hosts in NOLA told us it was the best food they had ever had. The Smokehouse did not disappoint - it was the best food I have ever had too. Stay tuned for photos of: BBQ chicken that comes right off the bone, fried sweet potatoes with sugar, fried okra, cornballs (which Krista says is like creamed corn, but fried), and collard greens. Yum.

Must Stop #2: Montgomery, AL
as we're driving past the exit for downtown, I turned to Krista and said, maybe we could just go check out the capitol? She gamely agreed and we drove into Montgomery. The Alabama capitol is the end site of THE MARCH during the Civil Rights Movement from Selma --> Montgomery (54 miles!!!). It was also the capitol city of the confederacy, based on the huge statue of Jefferson Davis out front.

however, there were two other statues accompanying Jefferson - two physicians. One of whom is James Marion Sims, considered to be the "father of obstetrics and gynecology". Is the universe sending me signs or am I just choosing to see them? I'm not sure what, but oddly, my mother gave me a book earlier this summer called Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese that I have taken with me on this entire trip and hope to finish here in Atlanta. Verghese is a physician and a novelist, so many of his books have to do with medicine. In this one, the main character's name is Marion, because he is named after James Marion Sims. Coincidence? Choosing what to see? I've been in New Orleans so I'm feeling slightly more swayed to the intuitive side for now...

We got into Atlanta just after dinner and surprised the whole Buckley family with our arrival! Everyone, especially Marissa, was so delighted to see Krista come back and so kindly welcomed me. I'm hanging in the ATL for a few days and then heading back home - so this is probably the last post for a while (though I'll try to get some photos up). I need some total rejuvenation time before kicking back into gear for school. But this trip has just been the best. I feel so grateful for the experience and so thankful to everyone who let us stay with them, entertained us, gave us tips of things to do and places to go, and checked in along the way to tell us they were thinking about us! We had people we met all over tell us that when you have the time, you never have they means, and when you have the means, you never have the time. Since this is our last time for a while, we're so happy that you all helped us figure out the means!

THANK YOU THANK YOU :)

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an amazing quote from a friend about writing, but I think could also apply to so many other things, like traveling:

"One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water."

-Annie Dillard (a Pittsburgh native!)

WWJWD

this is a real sign at a real store and Neil tells us it's really true.
krista tried to convince me to trade in Buzz for this car. don't worry, chris, I didn't allow it.

What Would John Wayne Do?

We tried to live by this motto the entire time we were in Texas.

This began with us completing a workout circuit while driving across West Texas that got us more than a few cat calls, odd glances, and even a few “what the f are ya’ll doing’s”. We have provided photos so that this circuit can be replicated by anyone driving across West Texas or somewhere similar, such as Southern New Mexico or say, Kentucky. There are virtually five stations: pushups, lunges, jumping jacks, dips, and jumping on old tractors (stay tuned for photos demonstrating these moves).

We had a total blast in Austin with Krista’s aunt, uncle, and cousin, Neil (who hosted us at his sweet new apartment that he literally just moved into), as well as the night we spent in Houston with her other aunt, uncle, and cousin! Our awesome activities in Texas included that we:

-drank a Shiner Bock at the oldest dance hall in Texas, called Gruenhall (pronounced “Greenhall”, in case you hear it in a country song)

-got my nose pierced on 6^th Street by a the nicest, most tattooed, heavily pierced, man I have ever met

-toobed (yup, that’s how they spell it here) down the Comal River with Krista’s fam, some friends...and the rest of Texas. it felt like a very crowded bar on rapids. so fun.

-ate fast food at Sonic; our dinner choices included tater tots, a frito chilli cheese wrap, a root beer float, several cheery limeades, mozzarella sticks, and chicken on Texas toast – Pat, Krista’s uncle, finished our order by asking for a roll of tums, which the waitress didn’t find entirely funny, strangely enough. But we sure did.

-walked around the streets in a bikini and keens (like the rest of Austin, sort of)

-went dancing to cumbia at Flamenco Cantina, on 6^th street, which was incredible

-ran around (sort of) Town Lake in 99% humidity and 100 degree weather

-swam in Barton Springs, a dammed up creek that looks like a swimming pool except that there’s a kelp forest growing in the bottom

-had texas BBQ at Rudy’s (yummmmmmmm)

-learned that:

1. the largest highway in the US is currently being built in Houston and will have 28 lanes

2. armadillos are the unofficial state animal of Texas

3. texas does not call 911 (see photo)

Next up: NOLA! then Atlanta, Mississippi, and back to Pittsburgh!


Song of the moment: The Nosebleed Section by the Hilltop Hoods (thanks, Elizabeth!)

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"courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway"
-John Wayne