Thanksgiving Wrap-up

What a great break for the Thanksgiving holiday! Three items I want to discuss in this post:

1) Philadelphia Marathon

On Sunday, November 21, I ran my first marathon! Ahh! My nerves were crazy up until race day. I took a bus to Philly the day before and crashed at my old roommate's apartment she shares with her husband. I actually met with some old friends from college who were in town that evening too, got to bed pretty late (midnight roughly), and could not go to sleep for the life of me. I must have had only 5 hours of sleep.

At dawn, I made my way to the starting line and joined 23,000 other people participating in the race. In the course of four months of training, I've endured illness, injuries, and a black toenail. All ailments that are common to the endurance runner - these risks are accepted when a person decides to train for and run a marathon. Regarding injuries, I've had minor ones like a "snapping" Achilles' tendon caused by overtraining and numb feet from what I presume to be tight socks and running shoes. My most pressing injury, however, was inflammation/frictional stress of my iliotibial band OR "IT Band Syndrome". It occurred during a Sunday long run about 5 weeks prior to race day. It was debilitating, significantly slowed down my pace, and stopped me from running for a few weeks. It scared the heck out of me. My physical therapist helped me with some exercises I could do to loosen the IT band and cleared me to run the marathon - yet to proceed with caution. She warned that any sharp pains should not be ignored and that I could potentially tear a muscle/tendon along my left hip and leg.
 

With all that baggage, I embraced the challenge along with the crowd of other courageous folk all running for different reasons and causes. I was in so much PAIN my last few miles but the Philly crowd cheering gave me a bolt of energy to push through. For the record, running brings me a lot of joy. I find solace in my runs as it's an outlet for any angst I might have and I enjoy my moments of reflection. Joining running groups here and there can also be fun too since no one person should spend too much time with their own thoughts! I'm also the type who appreciates activities that deliver health benefits so that positive reinforcement has its psychological influence too.



The picture below is me taking my first ice bath. It SUCKED. Your muscles breakdown during a marathon so to ensure speedy recovery and prevent sustained muscle inflammation and soreness, it's advised that elite athletes and even regular joes (like yours truly) have an ice bath a few hours after pushing themselves to new physical limitations. Multiple buckets of ice and straight "cold" water is in the bath tub. My spine and arms were very much clenched and frozen in that position for the duration of the 12 minute ice bath.

Now, one might wonder - why? Why would you do this, you fool? I find myself defending my motive behind this often, especially to my family. To be honest, as painful as this whole ordeal was - it was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. Visualizing a goal, making a training plan, working towards it for months, and  finally accomplishing it feels wonderful. It's a great boost to my self esteem and gives me the sense that I can accomplish anything else I set my mind to. I've also inspired people close to me to run and even that is a reward worth celebrating. I finished in 4 hours and 25 minutes - which is at a 10 minute 6 second per mile pace. I plan to train to get my time down (and qualify for the Boston Marathon), inspire more runners, meet some cool people, and raise money for a charity the next time I race.

2) PC UPDATE - Nominated (check)

The day before Thanksgiving, I received an email that confirmed my nomination as a Peace Corps Volunteer!! I was and still am ecstatic. I'm missing plenty of details from my recruiter (i.e. region location, program selection, training requirements, etc.) but good news is good news. I plan to call the recruiting office tomorrow to see if any more information can be shared. Also, I will patiently wait to receive my medical review packet so I can make my best effort to expedite what I expect to be the most laborious part of the Peace Corps application process. We shall see...



3) Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is indisputably my favorite holiday. I think its a wonderful tradition to bring those that I hold close to my heart together and attack some unsuspecting, delicious food on the table. As with every year, I made my run to Monteleone's Bakery to pick up their amazing pumpkin pie. I should have kept it to one dessert since it seems that the cheesecake I got stole the show from the annual pumpkin pie. :-(

I also picked up a game called Taboo for a post-eating activity. My family and I divided into Team A and Team B - or better put the "A-Team" and "Team Booty", which was really guys vs girls, respectively. Team Booty won best out of three. Taboo was a lot of fun and made the post-eating part of our gathering pretty entertaining. I think this game will be a new holiday favorite for us.

Jim Gaffigan, a comedian, tweeted - "I’m thankful that we are only mandated to be thankful 1 day a year. Can you imagine being grateful year round?" It does seem silly to have the basis of this holiday revolve around dedicating one day to be grateful but I still appreciate it nonetheless... I mean two government work days off? What can make a working man more thankful? Haha! 

Seriously though, as I always am, I'm thankful for the overall good health my family and friends have and the abundance of love and amazing people I have in my life. Thank you so very much! 

Life Up to Now

[02.28.09] - Attended StartingBloc's Institute for Social Innovation - crossed paths with my first Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) and learned a ton about social development and the "triple bottomline". It gave me a good deal of insight into various efforts within the non-profit, private, and government sectors to provide services to improve lives of others. I became very much romanticized with Teach for America, Peace Corps, and non-profit work during this conference.

[05.21.09] - Graduated with honors from Stevens Institute of Technology with a Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and a Graduate Certificate in Project Management. One of my proudest moments and milestones in life. Stevens is an excellent school and has a reputation to produce innovative engineers and business leaders. In fact, Leon Febres-Cordero, former Ecuadorian President, was a Stevens alumn and left a favorable impression on me of the opportunities Stevens could provide. I made so many good friends, endured a challenging/rigorous curriculum, and matured so much during my time there. Check the pic below to see how BEAUTIFUL the campus is - right across NYC.

 

 [08.31.09] - I left my beloved NJ to begin my career with Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) in DC. It was crazy to be out on my own and move to a place where I didn't know anyone. Luckily, DC is a cool place and it was easy to make new friends.

 

 My experience with this firm has been outstanding. I've learned a lot about consulting and had the opportunity to work with two different clients: Veterans Health Administration and the Air Force Civil Engineer. I've always wanted to join the military (and a part of me still does) so I appreciate the work we've done to support our veterans and airmen. Work can be a drag but it helps to think about the broader cause. Of course, getting paid a decent salary doesn't hurt either!

.... but working is so different from school. I knew it would be but I've had my growing pains. The hardest part of it all for me - UNCERTAINTY. My first few months were hard to cope with because I no longer felt I had an absolute destination. College, like any experience, is different things to different people. Yet, for those that persevere, the graduation and degree is the final exit of any academic career. Now what was my destination? Where was the structure? What was the plan?

I came so close as to signing up for the Army National Guard to do something meaningful and potentially give me an edge within the defense market as a BAH consultant. However, it felt rushed and I'm too calculated to jump into any commitment.

[01/19/10] - Attended Peace Corps Information Session ... the thought about Peace Corps peaked my interested and I made an impulse decision one day to get some more info and hear from RPCVs. Hint/spoiler: I'm going somewhere with this... and there was a reason why I highlighted the RPCV I met at StartingBloc.

[03/08/10] - Initiated PC Application... it felt right so I started.

[09/26/10] - Completed PC Application: As mentioned earlier, I'm too calculated to jump into any commitment. I spent a lot of time speaking with my family, mentors, and closest friends about this and determining the rationale for committing to a 27-month long service to the Peace Corps. I have a couple of personal reasons that I don't care to share all here but, overall, I think it'd be a once in a lifetime chance to do something adventurous and meaningful. I love working with people and dedicating my efforts to a grass roots project for the international community seems noble. The application process is pretty extensive but my hesitation was the reason why it took months for me to complete it. 

Application elements:

• Two essays - motivation and cultural adaptation
• Three letters of recommendations - work, volunteering, and personal
• All your business! Language proficiencies, resume, transcript, geographical preferences, volunteer work, etc.

[11/02/10] - Received a phone call to confirm my PC interview with a recruiter for nomination.

[11/16/10] - Peace Corps Interview! I was so anxious/nervous up until I went to the Rosslyn recruiting office. I did my best to be myself and be as genuine as possible - let's see if that helped! My interview was at 8AM and the recruiter was pretty friendly. All her questions for me seemed to be some form or iteration from the PC Wiki. We discussed what assignments would be a good fit and she felt that I could be a good science teacher (in Latin America!). She liked my strong academic record for all my science courses, as well as my tutoring and involvement with high school science/engineering projects. I can navigate comfortably within a classroom environment but I'm sure teaching science to a class is challenging, let alone in another language.

My recruiter actually accused me of being "too modest" on my abilities and language proficiency. I tried to be honest and categorized my Spanish proficiency as limited. As defined by Peace Corps:

Limited Language Skills

• Oral Explanation - Able to handle most social situations, including introductions and casual conversations.
• Written Explanation - Able to write elementary documents, such as completing limited work requirements that require no specialized knowledge.
• Listen Explanation - Understands sentences in context, especially words referring to basic personal features, needs, and activities. Understands face-to-face conversations, short telephone calls, and media announcements.

This was almost a show stopper for a tour in Latin America since it's the region of choice for a lot of applicants and Spanish is a common second language. Luckily, I was quizzed on the spot to hold conversation with another recruiter. I didn't stumble and both recruiters seemed to be impressed. If that's not enough, my recruiter said I may have to take a certification exam to "quantify" my proficiency. This is due to my limited formal education in Spanish. I only had two years in high school because that's what was available... and Stevens doesn't offer language courses. We'll see if she decides to give me a waiver on good faith of my abilities or make me take a test to qualify for the Latin American region (which I REALLY want). I'm hoping to hear good news and receive a nomination.

Ultimately, this blog is to keep a log of my activities and progress with the Peace Corps application process. Should I receive an esteemed invitation then I hope to use this as a communication channel to keep my family/friends updated with life as a Peace Corps Volunteer.