Back at it, like whoa

It's SUCH a great feeling to be back in Dunedin!  I've been extremely busy with thesis work, MInT study stuff, and finding a gig (or two) to bring in $$$ after the MInT study wraps up.  On top of that I've started getting back into running after a two month hiatus (injuries/illness kept me down, but I'm back!).

The MInT study has been following families for two years to compare two groups: families that did/did not work with a mentor to make healthy changes.  I've been responsible for booking measurement appointments and doing the measuring for height, weight, waist circumference and blood pressure.  We've got about three children left to measure and then the analysis will begin... All children were overweight (based on BMI) at the start of the study and now we'll see what happened to children's body composition and look to see if the type of intervention group may have influenced outcomes.

I've also been through a little bit of training to measure babies' length and weight for the BLISS study-this study will look at baby-lead eating practices.   I also got a job with a qualitative study where I'll be responsible for going door-to-door to interview people on quality of life related issues.

My own research has taken off recently.  I received a lot of good feedback after my presentation on psychological flexibility and women's weight changes at the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science conference in Sydney - it makes me super excited to continue my research knowing that so many people find it interesting in these early stages!

Related to that - I've almost wrapped up the entire analysis for these two questions:

• Does baseline psychological flexibility predict 3-year weight change/stability?
• Does baseline intuitive eating predict 3-year weight change/stability? 

I'll still need to analyze our data to look at baseline mindfulness and weight change/stability, but now that I understand our statistics software and how to run analyses, check diagnostics, blah, blah, blah, the process should go quickly.  All of this data analysis has also got our team thinking about what to ask with the 5-year Women's Lifestyle, Eating Habits and Wellbeing survey, which will take place in 2014.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to explain a little more about my own research findings and share pictures of recent adventures around New Zealand.  In fact, on Monday I should have pictures from my first experience as a spectator at an ultramarathon! WAHOO!

Ironman Lake Placid 2013

I went up to Lake Placid to catch the Ironman triathlon and volunteer with friends from the Broome County Triathlon Club on the bike course.

At the bike aid station we were responsible for handing off water, Powerade, gels, bars and bananas to athletes as they zipped by us.

Caps had to come off all these bottles!

A kiddie pool of ice kept the drinks chilled.

Prepping the Powerade:

 The group waits for athletes:

After the shift, I went into town to look for BC Tri Club members who were out on the race course.  I saw this spectator rocking a fancy orange/pink ensemble: 

Watching the Ironman finishers reminded me that all the effort and pain of training and racing is so worth that feeling of accomplishment at the finish line.

I can already sense that I'm running out of time in New Zealand and so I'm not sure how feasible Ironman New Zealand would be - financially and time-wise.  I brought my road bike back to New Zealand with me, but I think I'll use it for cross training because I've decided to do a little 50k race that will take place in March.  =)

HOME! Boston to Binghamton

I arrived in Boston at 10pm on a Saturday night.  I was absolutely knackered from traveling and lack of quality sleep over the past week.  Thankfully, my friends Peter and Scott were at the airport to welcome me back to the States and treat me to some DELICIOUS pizza (funny thing - I couldn't eat enough pizza when I was home! I craved it all the time). 

View from Peter's apartment:

This is a view from a park in Peter's neighborhood:

Memorial/tribute to Boston Marathon bombing victims: 

I spent a few days in Marblehead and Ipswich and visited with my Salem State College friends before I drove home with Beth.  I was SO excited to be back in my hometown!  It was great catching up with family and friends and exploring the city.

My high school: 

In honor of

Rod Serling, class of 1943

creator of "Twilight Zone"

award winning dramatist

playwright and lecturer

1924-1975

American Civic Association Memorial Park: 

As I took a picture of the memorial some guy drove by wagging his middle finger out the window and yelled, "Hey lady! Take a picture of this!" Oh, Binghamton. You're so classy!

Chenango River:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade: 

As I took a picture of this, four guys walked by and one introduced his friend as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s son and asked if I wanted a picture with him. *facepalm* I declined the invitation.

Court House:

Interesting what you notice with fresh eyes:

Washington St walking bridge to the south siiiiiide!

Monday Afternoon Club, Phelps Mansion: 

Thank you to all the friends and family that made time to catch up with me!  I wish I had more time to spend with you. xo Sara

AUSTRALIA!

Time to get back to blogging!

It's been several weeks since I presented at the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science World Conference in Sydney, Australia.  I presented my analysis of the association between psychological flexibility and body mass index change/stability over 3 years in a sample of middle-age New Zealand women (basically, baseline Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II scores did not predict BMI change (gaining/losing weight) nor BMI stability (staying within 3% of baseline BMI).  The presentation had a few hiccups, but the rest of the conference was FANTASTIC.

I had the opportunity to listen to speakers like:

• Joseph Ciarrochi
• Steven Hayes
• Kelly Wilson

I was particularly interested in the talks related to interventions delivered online and via smartphone apps.  Jonathan Bricker's work was particularly interesting - his smartphone app really caught my eye because it uses ACT for smoking cessation and his presentations gave me a few things to think about as I get ready to start developing a web-based intervention for weight gain prevention.

I spent most of my days at the conference, but I stayed at a hostel in nearby Coogee (I honestly cannot recommend the hostel for a variety of reasons...travelers to Coogee would do themselves a huge favor by avoiding the place I stayed at).  Despite the less than ideal accommodations, the beach was pleasant to walk around before heading off to the conference.

I wasn't able to spend much time in Sydney, but I did treat myself to a harbor cruise - that was cool!

It was a nice way to wrap up my travels in the southern hemisphere before my trip home - the first visit in 1 1/2 years!

Next stop - San Fran then Boston!

*Crickets*

There hasn't been much action with the blog lately, but (hopefully) I'll be back at it in no time!  Long story short, my laptop got left behind in the Sydney airport and I also needed to replace my camera.  I assumed that figuring out how to get my laptop back was going to be my biggest worry of the trip, but here I find myself... 7 hours away from leaving for New Zealand and I don't have a flight from Auckland to Dunedin. *facepalm*

Yeaaaaaaaah, soooooo...

Albatross and Harbour Cruise

So, back to my birthday...

I mentioned that my birthday took a few days to celebrate.  Well, the weekend after my birthday started off with a trip to Mt. Cargill to catch a beautiful sunrise with Jen, Alex and Will.

Next, Will and I set off to the peninsula to visit the Royal Albatross Centre.  It was a pretty neat place to tour.  Below, you'll see a picture of an albatross chick.  Can you believe that these guys have to lose weight before they learn to fly?!

There are other interesting facts about these albatross...for example, they'll circumnavigate the globe and then come back to this spot in 5-6 years to reproduce.  

Also, the adults are huge!  Well, actually, their wing span is quite impressive-roughly 9ft!  Here's a video of some adults flying above the chick:

Included in the tour was a visit of Fort Taiaroa which was built to defend against the Russians.  Hmm, it's such a long flight to New Zealand, I can't imagine Russians wanting to sail all the way there!

The BIG surprise of the day was a cruise on the harbor.  It complemented the tour of the albatross colony so well!

I thought it was pretty neat to see the colony from the water:

(If you squint you can see white dots - those are the albatross chicks in the middle and just a little to the left)

Behind the boat was a pretty nice view, too!

Who would have thought we'd end the tour with a kiwi pirate ship spotting?!

Ah, I just love being out on the peninsula and out on the water - the colony tour and harbor cruise were fantastic surprises for my birthday!

I highly recommend that visitors combine the two in one trip, but keep an eye out for deals on GrabOne or the local Entertainment book to make it more affordable.  

First Marathon in New Zealand

Clearly, I'm having an "omg,Ihaven'tupdatedinages" moment.  When I was looking at my photos of the albatross colony, I realized that I didn't post anything about my marathon!  

The Christchurch Airport Marathon was my first marathon in New Zealand (other marathons include: Philadelphia, Wineglass, and the run leg of Ironman Lake Placid).

On our way to the start:

And the finish...

I pulled off a 4:08 with minimal training, so I'm confident that I can go sub 4 hours if I'm not injured or sick.  However, it has been about 5 weeks since the race and I'm still dealing with a sprained foot.  There's another marathon in September that I hoped to train for, but I'm not confident that I can build up my training volume in time.  I have a feeling that I'll look into an ultra marathon later in the year instead.

New Yorker in New York.... soon!!

Man, oh, man. I have been extremely busy getting ready for the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science WorldCon in Sydney.  I am the recipient of a scholarship to attend the conference - thank you to the Australia and New Zealand Chapter of the ACBS!

Who would have thought a 15 minute oral presentation would require so much work?!  I spent a lot of time nailing down the analysis of our baseline and 3-year follow-up survey data to look at the association between psychological (in)flexibility and body mass index changes/stability.  Then I had to type it up into a PowerPoint presentation.  It took a lot of work to polish it off, but thankfully my supervisors were amazingly supportive and I got it done.

So, before I write about my experience at the conference, I'll catch you up on the past few weeks.

First off, I turned 30.

I went to Signal Hill to catch the sunset on my last day of my 20s.

On my birthday, I set off early in the morning to catch the sunrise from the top of the Pineapple Track, but, uh, in good old Sara fashion I had a few detours and didn't quite make it to my destination.  But, I still caught the sunrise (just to the left of Mt. Cargill).

My friends joined me for a trip to see the butterflies at the Otago Museum to celebrate my big milestone.

Nicole and Jen were the hugest sweethearts ever and made butterfly cupcakes for the occasion!

The birthday shenanigans continued, but I'll write more about them in the next post...

Antarctic Adventures in Christchurch

The International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch is a must-see for any visitor.

I had SO much fun!  We went on Queen's Birthday and so the price was more affordable then non-holidays ($25, I think, compared to $65).  With the entry fee we got to watch the penguin encounter (penguin feeding and talk), experience an antarctic storm (complete with frigid temperatures and wind gusts), view a 4D movie of Antarctica's scenery and wildlife and travel in the super cool all terrain amphibious Hagglund (think of a Duck Tour going up and around short steep hills).

I mentioned penguins... here they are!

Okay, so maybe the picture leaves a bit to be desired.  How about a little video of some of the little blues?

I enjoyed all the interactive aspects of the center.  I even left my mark here:

What is the one thing you would take with you to Antarctica? Emerson's Pilsner.

So, the whole experience got me thinking... New Zealand isn't that far from Antarctica, right?