It's been a whirlwind of a week, and after five days of struggling to tread water among crap, crap, and more crap (courtesy of our move), I'm finally coming up for air. We're settling in to our new abode, slowly ridding ourselves of boxes, and making ourselves a lovely home here in Hoboken. I'm loving the neighborhood, the extra space, the pretty hardwood floors, the washer, the dryer, the dishwasher, the bathtub, the big windows...and well, I could go on and on. It still has a ways to go, but I think we've made some good progress, thanks to Karl's cleaning and Mark's handyman skills.

Despite my obsession with unpacking and organizing, I allowed myself some fun over the weekend. First off, Karl and I bussed into Central Park early on Saturday morning to meet Bec and catch the men's marathon Olympic Trials. It's times like these that I truly miss working at NYRR--it would have been awesome being a part of all of that action. But being a bystander isn't so bad, either. We found a great spot to spectate and were able to cheer on all of the runners by name (thanks to our track-geek knowledge, plus handy bibs emblazoned with their last names). We even had a Deena Kastor spotting and were happy to see that she is decidedly *not* a noassatall runner, unlike the many other women we saw throughout the morning!

We went home with all intentions to continue the clean/unpack project, but were soon met with the news of Ryan Shay's death. I was completely shocked, as everyone else was. Just a few days before, I'd watched a video interview with Ryan and his new wife, Alicia, and I was thinking how sweet and cute he was, and how he seemed like such a good, loving husband. It's unimaginable what she and his family must be going through right now--I can't quite get it all out of my head yet. It's the last thing you'd ever think would happen at an Olympic Trials, espcially to someone so amazingly fit. I suspect that, like Pre's untimely passing in the 70's, Ryan's death will have a profound and eternal impact on the running community. But the fact that he was merely running--not driving a car at a high speed around a sharp bend--makes it all the more tragic and just so, so sad.

On a MUCH happier note, we celebrated Sam's baptism on Sunday! I made an appearance at the Urban Run, then scooted up to the church to see our boy be officially welcomed by the Lord. Hah hah. He is as cute as ever, and didn't even make a peep when the priest doused him with the holy water. He is such a good baby. Maybe because he has such great parents! All of his "greats" were there (except for Grandpop Irv and Grandpa Ron/Grandma Karen), so it made for a nice little get-together. The spread was great, the company excellent, and it was a nice way to end the weekend!