ticks!!

So remember how I was not gonna turn into a hypochondriac?
Imaginary rash found today on arm (medical term: erythema imaginarians :) ). So I went to the doc with it, and he told me to take antibiotics just in case. Bc we all hate Lyme disease.

Ha.

And starting tomorrow, I am camping accross the country. (For which I am stoked, despite all those fucking ticks!!).

Not gonna turn into a hypochondriac. Not gonna. Nope. Not me. Nope...

Pinchot trail, PA

Tick country

Summer started by drinking beer the day of my last exam (YAYYYYY for end of first year!!!). I did limit myself to less than 72 beers (which is what I craved) because I had that little marathon to run on Sunday. I followed CPS’ advice (who approved of the beer as long as I had water with it), and I PR’d!!! That CPS is something!

The marathon was fabulous (in Burlington, VT). I stayed with my friend Mike at his parents’ house, where I was extensively pampered by his mom. I think I wanna do more races in Burlington just to hang out with them :)
In all seriousness, the course was fantastic. Trees, lake Champlain, lots of cheering, lots of course support, great weather…the only very horrible thing happened at mile 23 (you couldn’t possibly hit the wall at mile 21 bc there was a steep downhill). On top of having to climb over that wall, there were no people from mile 23 to mile 25.5. And that sucks big time. But I recon that these miles aren’t particularly pleasurable in any marathon…
Mike was running for the March of Dimes and ended up raising a lot of money (he raised the most at this race), so that was awesome. He fed us (the people who gave money for this) as a thank you after the race…or rather, made his mom and bro feed us.

Then, during the week, I’ve been just chilling and getting ready for my next “backpacking across the States” trip. Have a book on Olympic Natl Park. Another on Glacier, and a better atlas. Not that I don’t trust my GPS, but sometimes I guess I like to actually look at a map.
And then last weekend my friend Tony and I went backpacking in Pennsylvania, kicking off my backpacking summer. The hike was somewhat similar to Pacific Northwest hikes in that colors were luscious green, and the forest was thick. It was different in how flat it was, but I had chosen that bc I was camping with a “newbie” (who turns out had less trouble going up the hills with a pack than I did) and bc, let’s face it, a year of med school has not done miracles on my fitness. So I thought I’d start the summer easy. No Walawas, no South Sister, and definitely no Grinell Lake. Still, it was beautiful and peaceful and rewarding…save for the million ticks I found on my body, (ok, make that 4, but after studying all the diseases they carry, it feels like 4 million too many!!!). We learned from another hiker that the ticks that were partying at my skin were not the Lyme disease carrying ones, so that made me somewhat at ease. But then again there are at least another 4 diseases that they carry. And if I remembered my Host Defense better, I’d bet that there are more like 10 that I need to worry about. Oh well. I remember telling myself that I wouldn’t let med school turn me into a hypochondriac nor a germophobe. And I am sticking to it!

Next in the agenda is Rochester-Olympic National Park through Canada. I am STOKED. More later…