Nostalgia, Memory, & Toronto

Last week I had the immense pleasure and honor of going to a Festschrift, a conference honoring an academic for their lifetime accomplishments, for my postdoctoral advisor. It was an incredibly moving celebration of his intellectual legacy. So many of his trainees (my academic siblings, so to speak) came from all over the world to honor him in Toronto. It was simply amazing to get to see my friends/academic family all at once for the first time in a long, long, long time. Some people I hadn’t seen for YEARS! At several times during the two day conference, we laughed at old stories, were stimulated by research, and were moved to tears by the sheer amount of love that we had for him. It truly is an honor to have been his trainee. I’ve been lucky in several different aspects of my life, and having him as my advisor was one of the best things to have happened to me academically.

Friends from my Toronto Days

I wasn’t in Toronto all that long because I had to be back for work on Friday, but I did get to get a nice six-mile progression run in on the Lower Don Valley Recreational Trail. One of the nice things about Toronto is that it’s a city surrounded by ravines. Basically it means that there’s a huge stretches of green space magically hidden among the city streets. The largest of the ravine systems is the Don Valley. When I lived in Toronto, I loved walking and exploring the different paths in the ravines. Honestly, I’ve forgotten how great these paths are.

Keeping cool with Headsweats & Simple Hydration

Mile splits

1. 10:16
2. 9:20
3. 9:05
4. 8:35
5. 8:15
6. 8:18

Total time: 54:00

Lately I’ve been really enjoy progession runs. Maybe this will teach me to not start out too fast in races???? Nah! let’s be realistic.

It was really fun flying to Toronto because I had a business class ticket (thanks to Ben!!!!). Ben is incredible at finding great deals. That business class ticket was actually cheaper than my economy class ticket back home. I flew on TAM airlines and had an international quality business class seat, which meant a fully reclinable seat. So as soon as we were up in the air, I promptly had my seat turn into a flat bed and snoozed for most of trip, which was slightly over an hour long. I woke up when they served us a quick lunch of two small sandwiches. Flying business class is very nice. I was sad on the trip back when I was back to my usual life of economy seats (I know, #firstworldproblems #richpeopleproblems).

Have you ever flown business/first class?

Have you ever run in Toronto?

What do you think of progression runs?