This will be my last post as an admissions GA for GSE. Though I'll likely continue to blog (albeit not nearly as frequently), my time as a GA has come to an end. I thought I'd write this last post about the things I'll take from my time at GSE to bring back to the medical school.
The two most significant endeavors are first, my masters paper, which I'll be working on submitting to a medical journal. It'll have to be shortened considerably, and altered from being written for an Education Audience to a Medical one, changing some of the terminology and writing.
The second one, is a final project I created for EDUC 639. It started as a simulation based curriculum for the basic science portion of the medical curriculum (the first two years of medical school at most schools, the first eighteen months at Penn). While the project has had to be altered for monetary and logistical reasons, it will hopefully get off the ground in its altered form in the next year or so.
I'm also going to be helping the medical school out on another project that the administration is working on. It's an online platform called coursera. I'll be helping out with three of the courses the medical school will be putting together, one on vaccines, another on cardiac arrest and a third on pharmacology.
The final thing is I'm hoping to turn a teen pregnancy prevention project I helped create into something that might be utilized.
It's been a great year. I've learned a tremendous amount, but I'm also excited to get back to medical school. I start in the nursery at Pennsylvania Hospital tomorrow.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Broad Street Run
Two Sundays ago I, along with 35,000 other people ran the Broad Street Race. It's the third time I've run Broad Street, the largest 10 miler in the US (or so they told us at the starting line). The first time I ran it was in 2008 when I was completing my postbac at Bryn Mawr. My good friend Allison convinced me that if I could run 6 miles comfortably, then 10 would be no problem. While I was very dubious of her claim, I trusted her and ran it. It was my first race longer than a 5k and I had a blast. Back then the race was much smaller (only like 15,000 people ran it). Though I intended to run it again in 2009, I was in Ann Arbor for my brother's graduation. I ran it again during my second year of medical school, in 2010. I was in the middle of my psychiatry rotation, so had no weekend call and consequently was free to run it. Once again I had a blast and recorded my best time of the three times I've run it. I intended to run it again last year, but unfortunately was injured, so had to give up my bib.
This year, however, nothing was stopping me. The race sold out in less than 5 hours this year and their system kept crashing, but I kept at it and got an entry. After finishing Ragnar, I took a week off to recover and another to "taper" (in reality, I just took two weeks off), I figured after running close to 22 miles with some hills and elevation I could handle 10 without training the two weeks before the race. I went to the Expo to pick up my bib on Friday. The expo was overflowing with people, probably a few too many. Picked up my bib (said hi to the people manning the Ragnar table who were there to drum up interest in their races), had the idea planted in my head that I should maybe run the Philly Marathon next fall...and headed home.
Sunday morning came, met some people outside the Walnut/Locust "El" stop and we took the train north to the start of the race (SEPTA graciously allows anyone with a bib to ride free all day and the Orange Broad Street line runs from the start of the race to near the end). We stood around for a while waiting for the race to start (they suggest that you get there at 6 even though the race doesn't start until 8:30 because of how many people are in the race). Had the normal pre-race jitters, and I was in the Green Corral (because of how many people are in the race, they organize it by how fast you plan to run), which was one of the middle corrals (second or third not including the ranked runners).
Though it took a while to get out of the gate (with so many people the first half mile or so is tough to get enough room to get into your stride). My first few miles went pretty quickly, I ran them a little bit faster than my intended pace, but things were going pretty well. Around mile 5, I saw Lindsey, one of the other admissions GA's and she and i played leapfrog for the next two miles or so. Around mile 8, I decided to pick up my pace and finish the last two miles strong. Unfortunately, in my zeal to do so, I picked up the pace a little bit too much and didn't have much left by mile 9 to finish strong. Though I did finish, and met my target time, the last half mile or so was a bit of a challenge.
It was yet another successful Broad Street race and I definitely hope to do it again next year. For now though, I'll give my legs a few weeks off before training for the next race...
This year, however, nothing was stopping me. The race sold out in less than 5 hours this year and their system kept crashing, but I kept at it and got an entry. After finishing Ragnar, I took a week off to recover and another to "taper" (in reality, I just took two weeks off), I figured after running close to 22 miles with some hills and elevation I could handle 10 without training the two weeks before the race. I went to the Expo to pick up my bib on Friday. The expo was overflowing with people, probably a few too many. Picked up my bib (said hi to the people manning the Ragnar table who were there to drum up interest in their races), had the idea planted in my head that I should maybe run the Philly Marathon next fall...and headed home.
Sunday morning came, met some people outside the Walnut/Locust "El" stop and we took the train north to the start of the race (SEPTA graciously allows anyone with a bib to ride free all day and the Orange Broad Street line runs from the start of the race to near the end). We stood around for a while waiting for the race to start (they suggest that you get there at 6 even though the race doesn't start until 8:30 because of how many people are in the race). Had the normal pre-race jitters, and I was in the Green Corral (because of how many people are in the race, they organize it by how fast you plan to run), which was one of the middle corrals (second or third not including the ranked runners).
Though it took a while to get out of the gate (with so many people the first half mile or so is tough to get enough room to get into your stride). My first few miles went pretty quickly, I ran them a little bit faster than my intended pace, but things were going pretty well. Around mile 5, I saw Lindsey, one of the other admissions GA's and she and i played leapfrog for the next two miles or so. Around mile 8, I decided to pick up my pace and finish the last two miles strong. Unfortunately, in my zeal to do so, I picked up the pace a little bit too much and didn't have much left by mile 9 to finish strong. Though I did finish, and met my target time, the last half mile or so was a bit of a challenge.
It was yet another successful Broad Street race and I definitely hope to do it again next year. For now though, I'll give my legs a few weeks off before training for the next race...
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