Working on it

I am going to try and post more frequently! I started something a week and a half ago and couldn't finish it that night, and then it became obsolete...


I am in week 3 of my Fellowship at the Tribune and I can't believe how fast the time is flying! I am doing so much - last week I got a behind-the-scenes at the Field Museum to interview an evolutionary biologist. I also got to go to Fermilab for a butterfly release. Though the butterflies ultimately had to wait until Saturday for their freedom (it was too cold and so sad when they couldn't fly), it was awesome to be out in the soggy prairie, documenting the action. I was in my Ann Taylor dress and black flats, in the mud and prairie brush, getting eaten by mosquitoes...and I loved it! Hahaha.


It's work work work all day long at the paper, and there are always 5000 things happening at once. It's sort of like having 5 experiments going on at the same time and you never know when one might demand your attention. I could be in the middle of writing a story and get a call from someone I need to interview for another story and instantly get my brain on the one for the interview and off of the one I'm writing. It's intense.


The people are great - entertaining to say the least. And they have coffee and gum addictions like me! Who knew! I find a lot of my personality traits are reflected in the news room...maybe I am in the right place...


This weekend, Jack and Christine visited and it was awesome to see them. Madison people are the best ;)


On a running note, I set a 5K personal best of 20:35 at the Humana Race for the Taste 5K this weekend, with nothing to speak to as far as training, and without intending to at all. It was a very unexpected surprise! It got me 4th female and 1st in my age division (which is a medal!).

So it begins...

I started this blog months ago, with the intention of using it to write about the science of running, exercise, etc. You see, I decided in late 2009 that I wanted to use my background in science to communicate it, rather than do it. It's not that I have anything against research. In fact, I love it. But I love too many different, diverse fields of science to imagine spending the rest of my life studying one tiny part of one tiny question in one tiny field. What about my interest in African plains animals or the conservation of old forest in Australia? And also, what about all of those people who's eyes get big when I tell them I am a scientist, who tell me they are impressed because science is too hard for them and they could never do it? I don't want what I do to make someone feel that much more estranged from the most natural subject there is. Biology is our nature. Everyone should understand it. It's my mission to help accomplish this goal.


So why writing about running? Well, that's what I do. And I think it's an area seriously lacking in the communication of good, substantial scientific truth. There is a lot of hype and bogus information out there courtesy of the industry...and hey, maybe it will help me become a better runner too.


Look out for this to come. In the meantime, I will be using this as a forum for all things I'd like to share.