Number 4 done and dusted!

This past Sunday I met up with my dear friend Kate to run our 4th half marathon in Verona! Last year we ran a half-marathon together in Paris, and after that we decided that while we both still live in Europe (and after that I hope too!), we want to try and select a race in a different city each year to run together.

I left Lausanne on Saturday morning and had a 5 hour train ride to Verona. I met up with Kate and we checked into our hotel before heading out to collect our race numbers. We then explored Verona - it is a beautiful city with a lot of Italian charm. I am not sure I will ever get tired of narrow cobble stone streets lined with coloured buildings. Due to it being Valentine's weekend, and Verona's history as a city of love (think Romeo and Juliet!) there was a love festival taking place - so the city was bustling with activities and people and was all decorated. We had a yummy dinner of pasta and pizza before heading to bed early before the race!

Our race started at 10am on Sunday morning, and there were about 7 000 runners I think. We had fun running through some nice and not so nice parts of Verona. And I can guarantee that races are best shared with a good friend - we chatted along the way and kept each other going. We were happy to finish in 2h06 - a good time for us considering our serious lack of preparation! The race ended in the old arena, which was kind of cool. Kate's husband came to meet us at the end, and we enjoyed a drink before enjoying some lunch together.

Lunch took longer than it should have, and Kate and I ended up running back to our hotel (because we needed to do some more running!) and showered and packed up in 10minutes as I was rushing to catch my train. We sadly parted ways, but at least we had shared a super fun couple of hours together! Hopefully we will have another occasion to see each other again soon :)

The Valentine's Day decorations and Juliet's balcony

Enjoying a spritz with our token love sunglasses!

All of these stalls were selling something chocolate related - yum!

So charming!

Happy finishers  - outside the arena were the race finished

A look behind the scenes and important lessons learnt!

Today I did a presentation at work that I was not at all confident about. It should not have been a big deal - it is just an internal conference for all the PhD students in our institute, and we each have a chance to showcase our work. Yes there are two experts who review the text we each had to submit a few weeks back, and yes they give you some feedback, but we are allowed to present "work-in-progress" so it is perfectly normal for the outcome to be, "you need to work on this a lot more". But still, I was stressed out yesterday and today. Normally doing presentations does not make me nervous (in fact it is normally the opposite - I enjoy them and often feel energized during and after), but this time round, I felt under prepared and anxious.

Back track to a few weeks ago... For this event, called Doctoriales, we each had to submit an abstract at the beginning of January, followed by a written text at the end of January, and give a presentation this week. I submitted the abstract, which my thesis director approved, after only doing some preliminary analysis which left a lot to be verified. Then due to some other urgent priorities and some other things a long the way, I didn't get down to writing the paper until a week before it was due. I pulled myself together and wrote a complete paper in about a week, and submitted it, without my thesis director checking it (there wasn't time, but I did have some discussions with the post-doc on our project, so I knew my work had some merit). But I wasn't satisfied with the quality of my work.  Fast forward to last week and it was time to prepare a presentation. Turns out that I had found some interesting, but complex, results and my colleague and I spent a long time trying to understand what was going on. I put the presentation together and sent it to my thesis director with lots of time for him to check it. On Wednesday we met to discuss it, and he wasn't sure - he raised some very valid concerns that were justifiable, but also gave me a lot of good suggestions on how to improve the presentation. This lead me to completely redoing all the analysis for the presentation (this was my idea), and reworking the entire thing to get it done by Thursday night. The reworked version was better, but in my mind, still not complete and left a lot of questions unanswered. This morning I put together some notes and went over the presentation once before actually delivering it.

It went really well, and was really well-received, and I was surprised. Both experts offered some very helpful suggestions and some constructive criticism (thankfully at aspects that I already knew were lacking), but they both also complimented the quality of the work (hehe - if only they knew the journey!). One expert even went so far as to say that with only a little more work the paper is ready for submission to a journal!

My thesis director and I had a long discussion afterwards - he too offered some compliments, and then we launched into a long discussion about what the next steps are (in French of course!). This work really developed out of my ideas, and it is really something that I feel is "my research" - and I am challenged by it, but also excited. In the words of my thesis director today, "this is something new and different, but also very complex without a clear path, and you are making your way" - and I was really touched by his confidence in me.

I sincerely hope this post doesn't come across as arrogant, because that is not my heart. But I think I realized some important things this week...
1) Sometimes it is OK to rely on the confidence other people have in you, even when you may be lacking in self-confidence
2) I am so incredibly grateful for the team I work in - my thesis director and the post-doc on our project are so experienced and knowledgeable, and they are always willing to give their time to me - I learn something new from them all the time
3) I am not going to get it right the first time, but the act of taking another look at something gives me the occasion to stay humble, to broaden my horizons, discover new things, and make things better
4) I am really where I am meant to be at the moment - yes I sometimes have doubts, but I actually well and truly know that is exactly what I should be at the moment, and for this I am grateful.
5) And finally, I don't underestimate the provision, favour and grace of God in all of this - He was with me this week, and He ordained my steps and guided my thinking. He closed the gap between my efforts (or lack thereof) and the result. As my devotional very appropriately said this morning:

 "Give yourself gully to the adventure of today. Walk boldly along the path of Life, relying on your ever-present Companion. You have every reason to be confident, because My Presence accompanies you all the days of your life"(Jesus Calling, S. Young)

Winter Days

It is no secret that I love to ski, and thankfully there have been some opportunities to head to the mountains! One of these occasions included a 2 night stay in a chalet with some good friends which was a lot of fun! Gorgeous mountain views mixed with good food and wine, fun friends and a few entertaining games definitely makes for a good time! Although it is easy for me to get from Lausanne to the mountains to ski, there is something fantastic about walking out the front door straight to the ski lift :)

I will never get tired of this!

View from our chalet

Another popular winter activity here is taking a trip to the thermal baths. There are a multitude of these all over Switzerland, with a good many within a 1.5hour trip from Lausanne. These places are pretty wonderful - normally hidden away in snow covered villages, with a view of the mountains, a series of heated indoor and outdoor pools invite you to soak away for a few hours and become wrinkly! Most thermal baths also have jacuzzis, saunas and steam rooms, so there is no shortage of relaxation. One trip this year was a Sunday afternoon trip with the ladies of the connect group (talk about a good way to spend some time together!) to Lavey-les-Bains and another was an overnight stay with two dear friends at Ovronnaz.

Ovronnaz is a really great place - it is a small town in the mountains and from the outdoor pool we were surrounded by snow-covered mountains. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and after checking out our cute apartment we donned our robes and slippers and walked to the thermal baths through a series of indoor corridors which connected all the rooms to the baths. Talk about convenience! We spent the afternoon exploring what was on offer - switching between relaxing places! For dinner that night we had fondue in our little Swiss apartment and continued the indulgence with wine, tea, chocolate and face-masks - all the ingredients necessary for a girl's night! Sunday morning brought more relaxation at the spa followed by a tasty lunch and a lazy drive home.

I am always amazed beneficial a short trip is. The change of scenery and an opportunity to switch off was just what I needed. But of course the key ingredient was my two lovely friends - the weekend wouldn't have been the same without them!

Snowy village of Ovronnaz

Contemplative Claire

I was skyping with my sister Nicola on Saturday night and was expressing to her my frustration over the disappearance of "energetic Claire". A combination of being a little sick, some unique work pressures, new responsibilities at church, anxiety about the future,  and some personal challenges have left me feeling a little low on energy and zest for life. I am used to a fast-paced and full life, and although my plate is still full, I find myself needing (and sometimes wanting too) a lot more down time made up of quiet evenings and weekends. And I find this frustrating.

Nicola in her wisdom, reminded me that "contemplative Claire" is OK too - it is OK to have "quieter" seasons that have a different rhythm and that offer the chance for new insights, and unique ways to grow and learn. She is very right. Being frustrated and annoyed in this season will only mean I miss out on what I could learn. I need to listen to what my heart, mind and body are telling me.

On Sunday we heard a message at church that rang true for me. Our pastor was talking about how there is often a gap between where we are and where we want to be in life (this could apply to multiple areas of life, dreams and goals). It is really easy for this gap to become filled with doubt, frustration, fear and anxiety. Instead, he encouraged us to let this gap be filled with things of God - His peace, His strength and His joy. It was a pertinent reminder to me to shift my thinking. This week, my devotional (Jesus Calling, S. Young) also contained words of encouragement along these lines...

"Remember that I can fit everything into a pattern for good, including the things you wish were different. Start with where you are at this point in time and space, accepting that this is where I intend you to be. You will get through today one step, one moment at a time. Your main responsibility is to remain attentive to Me, letting me guide you through the many choices along your pathway".