Pittsburgh 40 Under 40

I’m back from the Amazon, safe, sound and parasite-free (I think). It was an incredible adventure and I’m working on some thank-yous and getting caught up before I write up a report. With such an adventure, I think I need some space to process it. I am, after all, still being greeted by friends in the following manner: “Oh my God! You’re alive!” (seriously, multiple people have greeted me that way!) It’s hard to be back in such a different environment. I sort of feel like I landed on a different planet. I often feel like I’m leading two lives, half of me is an athlete, the other half a nerd. Well, my return from the jungle was punctuated by a different type of disparity. The Pittsburgh 40 Under 40 feature was published in Pittsburgh Magazine. After 14 days of no blow driers or makeup or shoes that were neither sneakers nor Crocs, I found myself staring back at this version of myself:

See the full write-up here

I kind of love Photoshop because I don’t really look like that.

But it’s been weird to come from a developing country to being in a bit of a spotlight. I was greeted by lots of congratulatory e-mails, I was mortified to learn that someone put the spread up in our clinic and other media have contacted me to do larger stories about my athletic endeavors. And it all makes me really uncomfortable particularly because I was just in an environment that reinforced a simpler way of living life. Because of my career I need to lead a pretty private life and suddenly I feel a little exposed. Hopefully that exposure will lead to some good things for i2P and Girls on the Run and if nothing else I am looking forward to seeing my family this weekend for the awards event.

Stay tuned for the Amazon redux- if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer them in my post!