Guess who won the Tour de Carrboro -- Paris of the Piedmont 10K ??

Yup, I am proud to say that it was Marc :) He finished in 32 min & some change.

Check out the race standings at: http://www.cardinaltrack.coach-site.com/tour_carrboro.html or http://www.cardinaltrack.coach-site.com/f/2006Carrboro10K_Overall.pdf

Unfortunately we missed Four on the Fourth & will be missing Gallop & Gorge, so Marc isn't in the running for the Tour championship. Maybe next year (if folks would like to come here for Thanksgiving & watch Marc run like the wind!!)

It was fun to watch him run yesterday morning. I even managed to catch him at two of the turns & make it back to the finish line in time to see his finish. Photos have been uploaded to the "Photos of the Month" link on the right. They are a little grainy, as it was a gloomy day and it was early in the AM, but check them out anyway!

We also had some friends of mine over for lunch this afternoon before we went to WSM for their Fall Wine tasting & sale. Marc & I bought a case-full of wine and our friends got a few bottles as well.

Anyway, the main reason we had them for lunch was because Seth leaves on Monday for Singapore, Cambodia and finally back to Italy to start a Masters program in International Development. He is amazingly well traveled. This is his 2nd time to Singapore, 3rd time to Cambodia (he also spent 6 months there on a Hart Fellowship working on health surveys and education), and he basically grew up in Verona, Italy (so, even though he is American, he has wonderful Italian sentimentalities and a bright red jacket to boot). Seth had also spent a semester in Bamako, Mali so he & Marc always connect well and ocassionally sprout out a few phrases of Bambara. It's funny how I am good friends with 3 skinny blond-haired caucasians who have spent more than 3 months in Mali and ended up marry one of them! Seth & Beau, you guys came so close *grins*. Good luck Seth!! Enjoy the food in SEA and then in Italy. Marc & I will see you in Italy sometime, I promise!

Tomorrow we will be heading to one of Marc's research team member's place for a get-together. Many of the team members have just gotten / will be getting married and some are leaving the area, so it will be good to have a gathering without powerpoint presentations, paper shuffling and talk about modeling, validity of findings, etc.

Work-wise, Marc is focusing on this final draft for his Masters thesis to his committee. He's trying to schedule a defense date for November. The crazy boy is also working on 2 other projects and training for the Chicago marathon. He makes me look like a real sloth (well, I do sleep A LOT). I turned in another version of my proposal to my advisor yesterday, so its slowly moving along. I hope to have a committee together by the end of the semester and am aiming to defend early next Spring semester (if all goes well..... we shall see).

~ Shuwen