Studio Mates & Running Buddies

This past week-and-a-half has been pretty wonderful because I've had the opportunity to visit with three different violinist/violist friends from ASU, two of whom are currently in grad school and one of whom plays in a professional orchestra.

Up first was Eliza, in Columbia, SC, who did her master's with Dr. McLin while I was at ASU and graduated with me in 2008. Because her job as Principal Second Violin of the Augusta Symphony is so different from mine, it was really neat hearing about what life has been like for her on the other side of the violin job spectrum. That being said, however, it seemed as though we still have had many similar experiences working as a professional in the music industry. It's refreshing to know that various joys and frustrations of being a working musician apply across the board!

In Houston, my friends Gina (who entered Dr. McLin's studio with me as a freshman) and Padua (a violist with whom I played in a string quartet my senior year) got to come see an absurdly crazy educational program in Houston. By absurdly crazy I mean there were 200 orchestra students playing with us! Definitely one of the loudest audiences I've heard to date.

After the show, Gina was telling me a story involving her running around the Rice University campus (which is a popular 3-mile run in Houston). I then told her that I was going to be running the Houston Rodeo Run 10K the following morning and found out, much to my surprise, that she was going to be running it with friends as well! (Neither Gina nor I were aware that the other ran, so it was pretty exciting to realize this.)

The next morning, Annette, Kiana, and myself arrived in downtown Houston for the race at about 7:45. At the time there was practically nobody there, so we took the opportunity to get a quick picture by the starting line:

We're all dressed strangely because it was very, very cold. Kiana's thick Michigan blood, however, somehow allowed her to wear shorts.

Pretty soon, people started to show up in droves. Because the weather was cold, and because the tall downtown buildings were hogging all of the sun, everyone was crowded into a relatively small area with just a bit of sunlight to stay warm. Before we knew it, 12,500+ of our closest Houstonian friends had joined us in preparation for the race.

When Gina arrived we tried to talk to each other on the phone but pretty much couldn't hear or find each other. Somehow, though, I ended up spotting her as I took my place way behind the starting line.

If you've never run a race of 12,500+ people before, here's a demonstrative example of just how many people that is: after the gun fired, we stood waiting and ended up crossing the starting line about 5 minutes after the race had officially started. That's a ridiculous amount of people packed onto a street! However, it's really fun to run on streets lined with giant downtown buildings dwarfing you and all the other participants, like ants running from an impending flood in a field of grass. Plus, since this is the biggest race in Houston, it was incredibly motivating being cheered on by the many groups of spectators.

One of the best parts of any organized race is the after-party, where you can find all sorts of awesome free stuff! I was able to pick up a bagel, an incredibly large banana, a handful of bite-sized candy bars, and two awesome granola bars. Annette and Kiana also got really nice hats that wick away sweat, and Annette picked up a fold-able frisbee.

Combining fitness with friends, I'm coming to discover, is definitely one of life's simpler pleasures.