Early bird miles

I started running again yesterday. I started a new training program, which means a new routine. It's always hard to adjust to a new schedule, and I was feeling skeptical because the new program requires a 60 minute run once a week during the week. I thought: with my work schedule, that's going to be…

Switzerland: Travel & Baden

Nick won a trip to Switzerland because of science* (*the short and simple version is he was the 10,000th person to upload something to a database, and won a trip to the company). Since we just got back from the US, since a company was paying for the trip, and since we both like trains,…

Utrecht in the gloaming

Thunderstorm!

I saw on the radar that it was going to rain heavily. I didn't bring my raincoat (for once!) and decided that I didn't need to be caught in the rain today. So, I rushed to the station, caught the first train, and cycled furiously home. I made it just in time because about 15…

Longest day of the year!

This picture was taken at 10:48pm.  Even though the sun has set, it's still bright enough that the twinkle lights are pretty much ineffective. I look forward to June 21st all year,  especially on the difficult winter days when the sun sets at 3:30pm. And, the cat seems to be pretty ok with the extra…

In Stock, Utrecht

Tonight we went out for dinner in Utrecht. The restaurant we went to is called "In stock" and it's a no-waste restaurant. Their ingredients are the items that grocery stores can't sell because they are too ugly or because no one wanted them. As a result, the menu changes regularly based on the ingredients that…

Amersfoort Half Marathon (long post)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ran the Amersfoort Half Marathon yesterday. This was the 3rd half marathon that I've signed up for and trained for in the last year and a half, but (due to injury), the first one where I've actually made it to the start line. So, already it was…

Monday morning

Yesterday was an eventful day at the Amersfoort Half marathon (full update coming soon). Today, I'm back "at work"... It's always hard to get back into the swing of things on Mondays, but especially if you ran 13.1 miles the day before and wake up feeling like you went through a tumble dryer. So today…

All the books I read this week

I'm back at work this week. I wasn't sure how to start again, or how to find (re-find?) my momentum on my research. I had a few small tasks that needed to be done on Monday, but aside from that I felt pretty lost. So I decided to read. To explain: before going to Minnesota,…

Good Morning!

Thursday, I was finally able to get over my jet-lag enough to get out for an early morning run. This photo was taken at 6:39am, and it was already pretty steamy (it's been a warm week in the Netherlands). But, the early alarm and the heat was worth it--there's nothing like the bright and quiet…