Fast

I feel fast right now.

Our lives have fallen into a rhythm that sees me running more at night. We are too busy to run together during the week, so it works better for me to run at night. I have found a route, where I run 5 minute intervals with 2 minute breaks. I have run that same route five times and gotten considerably faster every time.

The weight is slowly coming off but it has really taken some serious dieting. I was down to 65.7 this morning. Hoping to see 64 next week at which point I will consider the diet complete.

Last night, the legs were so smooth and fast. It's been a while since I have felt this good. I will be curious to see how I fare in competition. Now watch me get injured, of course.

We signed up for the Transalpine race and are getting really excited. Since we are running as a couple, the Girl will be the deciding factor. We do have to find a way for me to push or pull her, though. That will take some strange training sessions, probably running intervals with my hand on her butt. It's 8 days of running, from Germany to Italy (through Austria and Switzerland).

Work is okay. I still feel unprepared. Last weekend, I was at a weekend retreat for young hematologists and was told that my department was notorious for poor supervision. So it's not just me.

One patient encounter still creeps me out. I was seeing a 41-year old woman with lung cancer. It was apparently my job to inform her that her cancer was now everywhere in her body. That her chemo hadn't worked at all, and that she most likely just had a few months left. Naturally, a young woman like that has a million questions and needed someone with more experience than me. It was terrible to be in that room, listening to myself stumble over words. Her type of cancer can be very responsive to a new kind of targeted therapy so I am crossing my fingers she will get some months or, even, years from that.

And. Daughter is turning 8 tomorrow. Exactly 8 years ago, my ex-wife was going into labor during the biggest snow storm of the year. We walked outside to bring out the contractions. Tomorrow at 8:38 it's 8 years since Daughter was born. She looked around with wonder for that first lucid hour, while I kept her warm under my shirt. She has been a daddy's girl ever since, even now, with the Atlantic between us. She is visiting in 10 short days and I can't wait.