these shoes are made for running...

It's official: I've committed to run the Maryland Half Marathon this May to benefit the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center at the University of Maryland.

I'll admit that this is a huge (and slightly insane) step towards becoming an "athlete" again. After having to stop swimming competitively -- my first love -- my freshmen year of college, and consequently having to quit rowing my sophomore year due to shoulder problems, I've found myself feeling pretty listless about being active. Instead, I grew to love sleeping in on weekdays, catching up with friends, and watching marathons of Law & Order on the couch.

Of course, there are only so many episodes of Law & Order you can watch before you become pathetic (i.e. when you realize you've seen most of these episodes). For that, I've decided to give the couch a rest, and get moving on running one of the longest races of my life. In the meantime, I'll be using this blog to keep me honest. Stay tuned.

So, this is what Purgatory feels like.

For the first time in my life, I'm in this place in which all I can do is wait. I can't move forward without hearing from my future prospects, but I can't look backward either without getting extremely nostalgic and down.

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Strangely, I've found relief in odd and unexpected ways. I've purged much of my wardrobe. I'm learning how to play the guitar and recorder. I've been getting to the gym more often, and I'm especially appreciative of the greeting my dog gives me every morning when I wake up, something I missed while I was away at school. Despite all of this anxiety I've been harboring, I can say that I am happy. Sure, there is always room for improvement and personal goals to be met, but I can also be thankful for the calmness, the stasis, for moments like these.
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Man, retrospectives are such a downer!
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New website design launch. Man, I missed being a geek.

Greetings from the Land of the Living and Other News

First things first: I am still here. That is sure to be good news to at least one of you. Things have been rough the past couple of months or so (for reasons that I do not wish to elaborate upon at the present moment), but I am relieved to be back in some sense of the word. So, let's start fresh.
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Saw a real Lenape dugout canoe at the Riverside Mall today, which allegedly dug up from the Hackensack River sometime in the late 1800s. It didn't sit well with me.
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What would sit well with me? Seeing some of those Mastadon teeth some kids sifted out of the muddy Hackensack in the 1950s.
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I am currently following the Rookie Marathon Plan. If you said "ouch," you're completely right.
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The anxiety that comes with waiting is killing me.