Running skirt!

So starts a new week. Mondays always seem weird to me because I wake up and don't have to go to work, so I think I have the day off even though I know I have to work in the afternoon. It's a mind game! I woke up this morning and enjoyed some coffee before heading out for a short four mile run. I did a familiar route, but it was different this time because for this run, I was wearing a skirt! We stopped by Target yesterday to pick up a lazy Susan (that's me, har har!), and I've heard about their awesome workout clothes, so we made a detour to that section. Running skirts were on sale, so I had to try one on! The Rocket Scientist wasn't so sure of what he thought about running skirts, but he had to admit it looked cute! Purple running skirt...check! I was going to get a black one, but if you're going to be girly, you have to commit.

I'm not sure how I feel about the running skirt. It didn't feel much different than shorts, and I might have gotten some funny looks while running. I get those anyway, so it's not like it was anything knew! My roommate is dog sitting her parents dog, so I will admit that I felt cute when I took him for a walk around the block as a cool down from my run!

Monday, June 29
4.05 miles in 32:21, avg pace of 8:00

Short run, legs felt a little tired from yesterday's ten miler. Lifting + crunches when I got home, then I headed outside to read in the sun. What a life. :)

doin' time

Today's glorious meal is Zucchini and Chicken Salad. So good!! I definitely recommend this one. Sarah, you will not be disappointed when you get to it! I paired mine with some brown rice and watermelon:

Yum! So good.

Close-up because it's so pretty!

I can't wait for leftover tomorrow. :)

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I love summer weekends!

Weekends are much more exciting when you work full time. I've had summer jobs that were forty hours per week, but it's been awhile! Time off is fantastic, and this weekend was a good one! Yesterday was super sunny, so the Rocket Scientist and I woke up and headed to the pool for some pool-side reading. It was hot enough to enjoy being outside, but not hot enough that we were dying. So nice, and we got a little color, which is always a plus.

Afterward we headed to his parents' house, which is about half an hour away. His parents were out of town for the weekend, so someone had to let the dogs out and feed them. We used this as the perfect opportunity to do a practice bike ride! There's a trail a few miles from my house that runs all the way into Philadelphia, so I decided that we should bike to Philly one day! The problem being:

1) I don't have a bike here.
2) I don't really remember the last time I rode a bike.

Lesson learned: Biking is hard! More specifically, climbing hills is tough stuff! I probably complained wayyy more than I needed to, but the Rocket Scientist assured me I was doing a good job. We did about ten miles...I realized on the way to his parents that I should have brought my garmin, but oh well. I will no longer consider biking to be easy! I think I also swore off triathlons...oops! It was fun to ride around, especially since I used to go find my friends and ride bikes for hours when I was younger...I miss those days!

We came home and jumped in the pool and hot tub for a few minutes before getting ready for a few of his friends to stop by. Burgers were grilled and watermelon was sliced...yum!

This morning I was set on doing a long run...ten miles! Unfortunately we tried to watching the movie Munich starting at around midnight...it was a bit longer than we thought it would be, so we didn't go to bed until about 3am! (I fell asleep on the couch before then...shhh!) Since we woke up around 10, we didn't head out until 11-ish, when it was toasty roasty outside! The Rocket Scientist had yet to be on my fabulous trail, so we headed there...mainly because it is shaded for most of the way!

It was hot, but not unbearable. My legs felt really good until we got to the last mile, which is uphill and in the sun! RS got a little tired with a few miles to go, but we held it together well, even if I did run in front of him for the last few miles. (Note: I would be so angry if he did that to me...) We checked out a map where this trail runs into another one, and I saw that it is close to a different route that I run. Hopefully I can connect the two trails to make a nice long run! Exploring is in my future.

Sunday, June 28
10.08 miles in 1:21:08, avg pace of 8:03

I did a little over 31 miles for the week, plus the bike ride on Saturday. Yay! I'm feeling good, which bodes well for the build up to marathon training! Running at the paces I've been running feels harder, which I would like to attribute to the heat and being on my feet for 8+ hours at work. I do enjoy the fact that I run before work since I switched to evening shift, so at least I'm fresh for my runs.

Back to work tomorrow...hope everyone had as fabulous a weekend as me!
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TGIF

Runner, RN

Yesterday was another horrendous day at work. It started out fine, as we only had four patients and one happened to be away in surgery. I actually had time to start charting during the shift (whoaa!), as well as do a blood draw and a straight cath on another nurse's patient. Woo! Then the madness began when we got an admission (which requires an obscene amount of paperwork), our post-op came back, and one of my patients started actively dying. (We have a lot of hospice patients on my unit.) Soooo then it was run-run-run. I had everything under control in the beginning and even caught a funny order on the new admission, which I clarified with the doctor and life was good.

Then I experienced my first death. The patient died late in the shift, and a family member was with the patient. My nurse kept telling me not to be surprised if he passed on our shift, but it was kind of creepy to watch the patient go through the dying process. I've never seen agonal breathing before. Definitely an interesting experience, especially afterward. Lots of paperwork to do, and you have to call the organ donation company, who immediately wants to contact the family. Not exactly the best timing, but you can't wait too long or else the organs can't be donated.

Needless to say, I think I clocked out around 1:15 in the morning.

Just Runner

I made myself get up this morning around 8:30...things to do!! I had some breakfast and then headed out for a run. Since it was cloudy, if I figured it might be a little cooler...wrong!! The humidity was quite fun and I was drenched when I came home. It makes me feel like I've worked hard when I'm soaking wet, but then I drip all over the place.

Friday, June 26
5.06 miles in 39:50, avg pace of 7:53

I lifted and did some abs when I got home, while watching an old episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8, where Jon and Kate take a vacation without the kids and comment on how they need time alone to keep their marriage strong. Kind of ironic in light of their recent filing for divorce.

Healthy Runner

Are any readers attending the Healthy Living Summit?? I made the Rocket Scientist register me last night since I was working...good thing, since it sold out in fifteen minutes! I'm already excited to meet the hosts, as well as Sarah. I wonder if it's going to be more a food blog population, not so much of a running blog population, but there is definitely some overlap so let me know if I get to meet you in August! :)
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Nursing Insanity

Work was INSANE yesterday. We had six patients, which was wayyyyy too many since two of the patients had continuous bladder irrigation, requiring hourly checks. Combine that with a needy family, a VIP patient, tons of stuff that day shift "didn't get to," and no nursing assistant, it was a crazy night. My preceptor said she would have been bogged down if she had this assignment on her own. It's really hard to learn to organize when you're overwhelmed for the entire night. At least the doctors I called didn't yell at me...some of them can be quite snippy.

I got home around one in the morning and went to bed around two, but I managed to drag myself out of bed by nine. It helps that I made coffee last night so it was waiting for me when I woke up! I feel like I waste the day if I sleep later, but I feel bad when I start yawning during change of shift report.

I'm totally making up my running schedule on a semi-day to day basis with general "goals" in mind for the week. I don't operate well without a schedule, but I'm building up to marathon training so I just want to get in miles. And strength training so I can be buff. Hence, four miles today + lifting/crunches.

Wednesday, June 24
4.03 miles in 31:58, avg pace of 7:56

I tried out a new running route, which apparently has a ginormous hill in the middle of it. According to my garmin's elevation chart (I have no clue how accurate it is), it climbs 75 feet over the course of half a mile, and 100 feet over a mile. I'm not sure if most people would consider that a big climb, but I certainly did. I averaged 7:45-7:50 for the three miles not on the hill, and ran 8:24 for the hill...it was hard and I had to take a breather at the top of it. I guess I know where I'll be doing any hill workouts!

Fooood!

I've decided that I'm going to make lunch my "bigger" meal of the day, simply because that's when I have time to cook, and I like to take my time eating. Sandwiches and such are easier to pack and take to work, so my usual lunch (sandwich + carrots/veggies + apple) will be my dinner. It's working out so far. Today I made Shrimp Gazpacho, which I was kind of disappointed with. Maybe I'm not that big of a fan of tomatoes, but I don't think I'll be making this again. I've got leftovers for lunch tomorrow, so I'll give it one more go. I also had Spanish rice (a Wegmans prepared mix) and an orange. Both of those were rather tasty!

Shrimp Gazpacho + Spanish rice + orange

Getting ready for work! I hope it's not like the past two days have been because I'm definitely sitting here thinking that I'm not going to be able to handle this. I was doing so well last week, which just goes to show how different one day is from the next.

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Birthday Picture Montage

It actually felt like summer today!! This was good for potential pool time, but bad for the fact that I didn't go to bed until 2am, dragging my butt out of bed at 9:45, and left to run at 11. Oops? This will be a nice routine in the winter, but finishing up my run at high noon is not fun! Luckily the trail I run on is mostly shaded, and it's a little cloudy today so it wasn't a terrible scorcher. I'll definitely be getting up earlier tomorrow to try and get in some pool time!!

Tuesday, June 23
7.10 miles in 56:31, avg pace of 7:58

Either I'm out of shape or it's a bit hot out, but this run was a little tough. I ran the entire way (didn't even have to stop to cross the street...perk of running in the middle of the day), and even made it up the giant hill that is the last mile home without slowing down too much (8:04). I barely got a break at work last night, so I could tell that my legs were tired from running around all night. I wonder how being on my feet 40+ hours per week will affect my training...time will tell!

As promised, here are some fun pictures from my birthday weekend:

We ordered some pizza, and Domino's has an "online pizza tracker" so you can track your pizza being made. It even says the name of the person who is making your pizza! It was fun to watch. :)

I looooove elephants, and I have a stuffed elephant named Gatsby that I bring many places with me. When I saw Tusker beer on Kath's blog, I knew I had to try it! The beer distributor down the street from me had it, so I had to buy a case! It was pretty good, and of course made for an excellent photo shoot.

Reinacting blowing out the candles since the Rocket Scientist missed it the first time.

Cutting the (ice cream!) cake!

The next night, I put my birthday present to use and made Chili-Rubbed Salmon with Zucchini and Sauteed Corn. It was delicious, especially the corn! The Rocket Scientist says he eats healthier when I'm around. :)

Yesterday I cooked again with success, this time making Shrimp, Tomato, and Basil Pasta. It was quick, easy, and I had leftovers today! Even better. Excuse my terrible photography skills.

That's my version of doin' time! Time to get ready for work...hoping I get home by 12:30 instead of getting out by 12:30...

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First two-a-day

Today I had my first two-a-day! Well, at least the close I'll ever get to running twice in one day. Since I don't have to be at work until 3pm, I stayed over at Princeton last night. We decided to wake up and run before I left, and that we did. However, once we got running, we realized that there really wasn't anywhere to run except on the major roads or the golf course. We ended up giving up after about a mile and a half. I wasn't happy because I haven't been getting many runs in, but we'll just have to check out new places to run. The Rocket Scientist just moved into a new apartment complex last week, so everything is still being scoped out.

Monday, June 22
1.47 miles in 12:27, avg pace of 8:29

We headed back to his apartment, showered, and I headed on my way. It was only about 10am when I got home, so I decided to do another run! I figured I'd do enough to add up to five miles for the day, so it worked out quite well. I even wore my new Princeton running shorts that the Rocket Scientist got me for my birthday...I felt smarter when I was running! (Okay, maybe not.)

Monday, June 22 - Take Two
3.66 miles in 28:24, avg pace of 7:46

Total for the day: 5.13 miles in 40:51, avg pace of 7:58

I had a bit more spring in my step the second time around, so it went much better. I was dragging this morning! I was drenched when I got home due to the humidity...even after a short run! The sun is showing its face now and then, which is a nice change from the constant rain we've been having. I lifted and did some crunches, attempting to set a routine for continued strength training.

Over the weekend, the Rocket Scientist and I were trying to iron out our fall marathon plans. He wants to try to qualify for Boston since the other three in our mini-marathon group qualified in our spring marathons. Since he ran 3:13:XX without really trying to qualify, I think he has a good shot at it, although his humble self will tell you that he just had a good running day. Since we haven't really started training yet, we're considering November marathons that we don't really have to travel to. (I kind of wanted to run the California International Marathon, but maybe next year? It would be a long trip from the east coast.)

In the Rocket Scientist's order of preference, our options are as follows:

1. Richmond Marathon, November 14. Not too big, not too small (4,000-ish in the marathon). Mostly flat. They have gummi bears at their "junk food" aid stations.
2. Harrisburg Marathon, November 8. Small. Flat course. Rocket Scientist's dad ran this as his first and only marathon back in the day.
3. Philadelphia Marathon, November 22. Big-ish city marathon! RS hasn't run a "big" marathon yet, but he worries it may be cold...especially since the water stations turned into ice last year!

We have a few weeks before training officially starts, so we don't have to make a decision yet. If you have any opinions, let me know! :)

Stay tuned for pictures from my birthday and some yummy eats, compliments of Martha! Off to work!
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It's my birthday and I'll run if I want to

I'm a quarter of a century old!! Well, not technically until 5:43 tonight, but close enough. I still look 17 so we'll stick with that for now. :)

The Rocket Scientist and I headed out for a morning run. Since he just moved into a new apartment, we were looking for places to run online. There's a huuuuuuge park/golf course about half a mile away, so we headed over there. We found a mini trail that headed straight to the golf course, so we ran on the cart trail for a little while. It's been raining all week, so there was a pretty steady rain going on with minimal golfers. We got up to where the clubhouse is, and people started yelled at us that we needed to get off the golf course. It's a public course, but I guess we missed the signs that said no pedestrians. Oops? They told us to go to the other trail, but I'm not sure how they expected us to get there since we had obviously ran there. Their main excuse was that they were concerned about our safety...we might get hit by golf balls!! I ran on a golf course all the time in college and it was never a problem. Oh well. It was mainly annoying because very few people were out on the course anyway.

Saturday, June 20 - MY BIRTHDAYYY
4.25 miles in 33:34, avg pace of 7:52

I was going to post this a few hours ago, but we were getting ready to have some lunch, and one of my friends from college showed up! The Rocket Scientist had arranged for her and her boyfriend to drive down from Boston to surprise me for my birthday. :) I was lamenting last night that I'm not going to be with any of my friends on my birthday, and I haven't seen her since...I don't even remember when! So it's an awesome surprise! We went out to lunch and took a rainy walking tour of Princeton since they haven't been down here before.

Yay!

Tonight some of the Rocket Scientist's friends are coming over for some games, beverages, and ICE CREAM CAKE, so I'm excited about that. Should be a fun night!! Hope everyone is having a fantastic non-rainy weekend!

Any words of wisdom for the next quarter century of life??
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It may be 1:30 in the morning, but...

I had an AWESOME day at work today! Busy, of course, but very, very good. My preceptor (who I was warned about) was great...very knowledgeable, told me lots of things that you learn with experience. I got another IV started and drew blood...yay! Everyone gets very excited when this happens. Both patients were younger (aka not 90) and had good veins, so that was working in my favor. Probably the best compliment that my preceptor said was as we were leaving...she said she couldn't believe I'm still on orientation because I was doing so well!! That is such a confidence booster because I still feel like a chicken with my head cut off. Watch me fall flat on my face next week.

I didn't even START charting until after report...so I got out around one in the morning. Annnnnnnd I have to be back at 8 am for "Arrest Day." Luckily I won't be pushing narcotics on such little sleep.

In other news, my roommate is AMAZING. She's going home this weekend and I'm headed to Princeton, so she left me a little birthday present for when I got home! She knows I love love love love Chinese food, so she left me some take out orange chicken and rice...Lunch/dinner tomorrow?? Woo! I cheated and opened my present early...I'm like a four year old. :) She gave me Martha Stewart's Great Food Fast!! Inspired by Sarah over at ghost world, I was checking out the cookbook with my mom when we went shopping last week, and she tipped my roommate off to the fact that I said I was thinking about buying it. YAY! I can't wait to try new recipes!

Time for bed since it is approaching 2 am...yikes! Read More......

I need more strength training

I can't believe it's already Thursday! This week is flying, which I consider a good thing. Last night was a pretty good night at work. I was with a new preceptor, and she pretty much just let me do my own thing. While slightly terrifying (what if I mess up??), it's really the only way to learn how to be on your own. She jumped in if I was falling behind (everyone wants pain meds or needs a new bag of IV fluids...ALL AT THE SAME TIME), but in general I felt pretty good about how the night went. I spotted an infiltrated IV and restarted it on the other arm...on my first try! I was a bit worried because it didn't look like the patient had any other veins to try for, so I was hoping I'd get it on the first stick otherwise I'm not sure what we would have done. Afterward, my preceptor confirmed my thoughts! Good thing it went it...I was super nervous.

I have a different preceptor tonight, who I've been cautioned about by multiple nurses. They say she's a good nurse, but very intense, knowledgeable, and in your face. Should be an interesting night! Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to "Arrest Day" where we learn all about codes and such. It's during normal day hours...hopefully we don't get out too late tonight!

I'm heading to Princeton this weekend for my BIRTHDAY! I'll be the big 2-5 on Saturday...even though I still look 17. Oh well. I don't really have many friends out this way, so James is planning something that will hopefully involve some of his friends. :)

I had a good morning! I feel accomplished when I get things done, so I made myself get out of bed before nine. I'm hoping to make 8-8:30 more of my routine, but I'm still adjusting. It's a little drizzly out, which actually made for a really nice run! I was only going to do four, but then I decided on five, and once I got running...six was the magic number!

Thursday, June 18
6.09 miles in 48:57, avg pace of 8:02

I'm hovering right around an eight minute mile, but I still freak out slightly when my garmin says 8:10 or something like that. I've definitely lost a little fitness since marathon training since I haven't been running as much, and I got used to dropping 7:30 miles without noticing. I probably sound like a broken record, but I need to remind myself that I'm base building (of sorts...marathon still yet to be determined!) and the time on the clock doesn't matter that much. I should write that on my hand or something...that would be fun to explain to patients!

As for the title of this post, nursing is a very physical job, in which I lift very large people on a regular basis. I am not a large person, which makes moving people difficult! Good posture and technique only goes so far when the patient is twice your size. Therefore, I really need to work on being consistent with my strength training to help reduce the risk of injurying myself. I kind of feel off the bandwagon when I got my massive allergy attacks, so I hopped back on today, and it felt great! I need to find some exercises to strengthen my back...that would definitely be beneficial as a nurse and as runner for a strong core. Any suggestions??

Still catching up on blogs...hope everyone is having a great week!
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Back to our reguarly scheduled programming

I'm back! I didn't really leave, but my mom has been here for the past week, so I had more exciting things to do than blog. She left yesterday before I headed to work, but we had lots of fun while she was here! On Saturday we did lots of organizing in my room...putting together my bookshelf and unpacking some of the stuff she brought me from home. Then we headed to Ikea and FINALLY bought a comforter for my bed. I'm kind of picky about some things, and I LOVE curling up under a blanket (even in summer), so I had to find the perfect one. Ikea had all sorts of various warmth-ratings for their blankets, so I got one with a rating of 5 (out of 6) and a pretty red flowery duvet cover to go with it. It's super comfy!

After our shopping adventure we headed out to Amish country to have dinner with one of my mom's good friends from high school. We saw buggies driving down the side of the road! I've been to Amish country multiple times, and I even had an Amish pen pal for about six years, but I'm still fascinated when I see them "driving" down the road.

On Sunday, we headed to a Phillies game! They played the Red Sox, so the game was sold out, but I got some awesome not-too-overpriced tickets off of eBay. Outside of the guys behind us yell-talking the entire game, it was really fun! We got the typical game food...Italian sausage, nachos, and peanuts! So good. It was a high scoring game, 11-6 (I think? oops), and the Phillies won so that's always exciting.

Monday was a fun day of shopping and lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (I'm eating leftovers now!!) before heading to work on evening shift. Evening shift is very different than day shift, which I may elaborate on in a later post, but I think I like it so far. It's going to be different adjusting to going to work later in the day, but we'll make it work. :)

My mom left yesterday about an hour before I headed to work. I didn't want her to go!! It was so fun having her here, and she didn't want to leave either because she was having fun going to local quilt shops and being with me! (Of course!!) I think she's planning on coming back in August before she starts school, so I'm looking forward to that already.

In the midst of all this, I hadn't run since Friday! It was fun to get up and have some coffee and breakfast with my mom before heading out to do our activities for the day. She wouldn't have cared if I headed out for a run, but I wanted to spend more time with her so I was okay with skipping a few days of running. I did get out for a run today, after I finally got myself out of bed! It's kind of difficult to force myself to get up "early" when I don't really have to be anywhere! I'll figure it out.

Wednesday, June 17
5.2 miles in 42:13, avg pace of 8:07

It was warmer out than I thought, and I ran the hilly route...combined with not running since Friday, I was dragging a little! (Or I'm just making excuses? Not that I need to, my pace was fine.) Anyway, not the greatest run in the entire world, but I think I had finally adjusted to running in cooler temperatures so it still feels weird to sweat! Just another reason to get up out of bed and hit the road before it gets too warm.

I will be catching up on blogs so I can find out what you've all been up to! I should be figuring out my fall marathon soon, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
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Home is where Mom is

I've been a little MIA because MY MOM IS HERE!! My parents are the best in the entire world, so of course I'm excited for them to visit! My mom is an elementary school art teacher, so she came out to visit immediately after her school year ended. Only my dad came out with me when I moved here, so my mom didn't know much about where I live! It's been fun having her here. :)

I've had to work while she's been here, but she's good at occupying herself and has been checking out all the local quilt shops since she's big into quilting and sewing and everything. She's made me many quilts, as well as lots for the rest of my family. She's already got some projects lined up for when she goes home. Last night, we tried to register my car (AGAIN), but of course something else was wrong and I had to overnight my title back to Illinois to get it notarized. After fighting with them on the phone today, we got them to overnight it back to us so we should get it tomorrow. What a mess!! After not registering my car, we drove about an hour to have dinner with my mom's friend from when we used to live in Pennsylvania...We moved to Chicago when I was six so I don't remember much about being here! I had a pulled pork sandwich, and the Rocket Scientist met us as well, so it was a fun evening. :)

I got home from work today...EXHAUSTED because in case you didn't know, being a nurse is CRAZY. Especially when you're not good at organizing yourself yet. Because my mom is awesome, when I got home she said, "You can go for a run if you want, it won't bother me!" On my drive home I was thinking I would feel bad if I got home and then went running right away, but it wasn't a problem! I was tired so I only headed out for four miles, but they turned out to be okay:

Friday, June 12
4.03 miles in 32:39, avg pace of 8:06

It was hot today...what else is new? So I was dripping when I got home. My mom made dinner...chicken fajitas! They were yummy and it was really nice to have someone make dinner for me. :) Afterward we headed out for some shopping to get more stuff for my room/kitchen. Full length mirror, bookshelf, toaster, etc. More shopping will be done tomorrow because I still don't have a comforter for my bed! My mom is the only person I like shopping with, so I'm really excited.

As for the title of the post, I once bought a Mother's Day card for the sole reason that it came with a magnet that said "Home is where Mom is." SO TRUE. My mom is planning on staying until Tuesday, so I'm super excited for our weekend that I'm sure will just fly by.
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I need to make friends with Mr. Speedy

Dare I say it...work was actually pretty good today! I only got out about ten minutes later than we're supposed to, which is good compared to the 30-60 minutes I've been averaging. Charting is soooo time consuming and (it's bad but) I sometimes don't get to it until the end of the day. We have at least eight pages of forms to fill out for EACH patient, so it takes awhile. Charting is my least favorite part of nursing (maybe next to bed baths?), but I understand why we need to do it.

On a happy note, I got my first real blood draw on a patient today!! He was kind of a hard stick, but I cheated and went a little above where they had drawn blood earlier in the morning, so I at least knew the vein was good. Flash of blood right after the stick...yay! Luckily the patient was a little out of it so he couldn't see my shaky hands. :)

I headed out for a run when I got home, and I think underestimated the power of humidity because I was DRENCHED when I got home! I thought about going shirtless, but it seemed to be a little on the cooler side, so I threw a tank top on last minute. Bad plan! I headed out for the trail nearby, planning on doing 7-8 miles depending on how I felt, but I wanted to take it slow. For my next (yet to be determined) marathon, I want to train like you're supposed to train...with slower miles included! My mileage hasn't really been much of anything lately, so some slow miles while I build back up are important. I actually succeeded this time!

Tuesday, June 9
8.11 miles in 1:06:07, avg pace of 8:09

I admittedly freaked out a little when I saw a mile split of 8:20, but I calmed down pretty quick. I usually have in my head that "good" miles are sub-8, but that's not true! Gotta change that thinking! It certainly didn't help that Mr. Speedy, who crossed the street at the same time I did. I thought about chatting him up, but the light was changing soon and I'm not the most outgoing person ever. I also saw him right before my turnaround point, still cruising along. He looks so light on his feet, it makes me wonder what I look like when I'm running. Maybe someone should record me sometime?? I'm not sure I want to know!

My mom comes tomorrow!! We've got a jam-packed week ahead of us!

Giveaway!!

If you've been trying to get your hands on some of the Mix My Granola, head over to Emily's blog, The Health Nut, for a Mix My Granola Giveaway! Yum!
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Back to it

Annnnnnnnnd it's Monday again. This is my last week orienting on day shift, which will be good and bad. The bad part is that during day shift, I get to live like a normal person...work during the day, do other stuff at night. The good part about switching to evenings is:

1. I do NOT like waking up at 5:45 in the morning. It is definitely not natural for me.
2. Day shift is busy in a way I don't necessarily like. Report-assessments-meds-food-bath-send people to tests, and suddenly it's 11! This may make me a bad nurse, but I am not a fan of bed baths, and with our limited nursing assistants, we end up doing a lot of them ourselves. They take time! I think evenings will be a different kind of busy that I might like more.
3. I don't really know many people around here, so I spend my evenings running and cooking anyway. Easily done in the morning/early afternoon hours. The only downside is Friday night will be spend at the hospital...boo.
4. I get paid $1.50 more per hour! Yay for shift differentials, which add up over time.

So that's that. I think my allergies are calming down, or the allergy medicine I'm taking is kicking in. I have a weird cough, and I can't figure out where it fits in to everything, but I'm hoping it goes away soon.

I didn't feel like a truck ran me over today, so I went for a run when I got home! Of course, I had forgotten to plug in my garmin, so I had to quick charge it and hope it lasted for the run. I came so close! I planned on six miles, and garmin made it through 5.37 miles before dying.

Monday, June 8
6.06 miles in who knows how long, avg pace of ??
Stats from Garmin: 5.37 miles in 41:38, avg pace of 7:45

I ran on the nearby trail, and I got SMOKED by some tall skinny runner guy who must have been running 6:30's as an easy pace. I rarely get passed by people while running (whether I'm that fast or whether the general population isn't as fast is yet to be determined), so I felt a little defeated when he flew past me. I got over it since I was just happy to be running and not feeling like junk. It started to rain shortly after I headed out, which was actually nice since it cooled down the 80-ish degree weather, but there were TONS of puddles on the trail! I had to dodge some deeper ones to spare my shoes, but I landed in a deep one and my shoes got pretty squishy. Luckily I was close to home so it was actually kind of fun. :) Then I ran past a cop, and he waved to me! Yay for nice people.

My mom is coming on Wednesday, and I'm super excited about that!
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Allergy/Cold Blahness

Sadly not too much is going on here in the land of Nurse on the Run. Whatever sickness/allergies I had last week is not going away, and in fact got worse. My eyes starting oozing gooey stuff on Friday, so I popped out my contacts and the Rocket Scientist and I raided the pharmacy aisle at Target. I got some eye drops and allergy medication. The funny part is that I never really had allergies! I think I'm allergic to the east coast because I used to get crusty-gooey eyes when I was in college at the University of Maryland, but never when I was back home in Chicago. There must be some tree or something around here we don't have in the midwest. Either way, this is miserable! I have a cough too so I'm not sure if it's a cold, but the antihistamine I'm taking seems to be helping the "head in the cloud" feeling. Whatever it is, I hope it goes away...fast!

Lo and behold, this doesn't bode well for running since I'm a bit tired and all.

Friday was fun before the eye gunk showed up, as the Rocket Scientist and I headed to California Tortilla, the BEST burrito place ever. They had one right in College Park (home to my fabulous University of Maryland), but sadly nowhere else close to where we live. However, I moved a mere ten minutes from one! Woohoo! I normally order the Spicy Sunset Salsa Chicken, but since I'm so close and can have it more often, I branched out and ordered the Fajita Burrito...which was good, but not as good as my Sunset! We split an order of chips and queso, so yummy! I highly recommend it if there is one in your area!

Saturday my eye was crusted shut in the morning, but we felt like going for a run and I felt up to it so we did a short four miles. The Rocket Scientist (who LOVES running hills) confirmed that my running route was indeed hilly, so I feel more confident about the fact that I wasn't running wimpy hills or anything. I felt kind of tired during the run, but the stats ended up being okay:

Saturday, June 6 (D-Day!)
4.01 miles in 31:47, avg pace of 7:55

We helped my roommate paint the hallways with the help of her friends, and we had a mini-bbq on our deck. It was a fun summer evening!

The Rocket Scientist left early this morning for a family medical emergency, and I felt terrible this morning so I'm scratching running today. I really wanted to get in a 10-miler, but it's hot and I'm thinking recovery would be a better choice. Instead, I laid out by the pool for about an hour and a half...I love the sun so it was nice to be out there! I multi-tasked by reading Advanced Marathoning, which is the book by Pete Pfitzinger. Many people use his training plans for marathons, and I think I might try it for my fall marathon. Probably his 18/55 plan for a yet to be determined marathon!

Tomorrow starts my last week of orientation on day shift before switching to evening shift...woo! Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!
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Because I like to blog even when I don't run

No running today! I still felt kind of "eh" all day, so I decided to take today as a rest day in hopes that I can power my immune system through rest. I went to bed around 10:30 last night, which meant seven hours of sleep, and it was AMAZING. I need to go to bed "early" more often! Note: All of this will go out the window when I switch to evening shift in a week and a half.

Anyway, I decided to make up for my missed strength training yesterday by doing it today, but all I got through was the hundred push up challenge (week 2, day 2). I was kind of exhausted and just called it a day. Total rest day! Hoping I feel better tomorrow.

The wonderful Mica tagged me last week with this survey:

Post a picture of/tell us a little about where you blog.

Not the best picture, but here is my (bare) desk in my new room! It's actually just a table. My whole room is lacking decorations right now...still getting settled! And yes, my "mouse pad" is a piece of scrap paper. Classy. For the picture, I moved my paper towel that I use as a place mat out of the way. I need to go shopping.

What are you wearing right now?

Green shorts and a tshirt that was actually the Rocket Scientist's dad's race shirt from like twenty years ago.

What’s the last thing you read/what are you currently reading?

I've been reading my medical-surgical nursing textbook when I get home so I have a clue as to what is going on with my patients! It's over 1,000 pages, so there's lots to learn that we never got to in school.

Do you nap a lot?

Rarely. I either have to be sick (like earlier this week) or have woken up ungodly early (like when I used to open at the restaurant and had to be there at 5:30 in the morning...but even then I didn't nap all the time). Otherwise I'm pretty good at staying awake. Maybe something to do with my affection for Diet Pepsi.

Who was the last person you hugged?

Probably the Rocket Scientist? I think one of the nurses at work hugged me this week...maybe.

What’s your current obsession/addiction?

Animal crackers? Trying to figure out life on my own?

What’s for dinner?

I was actually going to make this post food blog-like, but the survey took care of that! I made this orzo with zucchini, tomatoes, and parmesan cheese dish. It's supposed to be made with goat cheese, but I don't like goat cheese so I added extra parm. It was quick and tasty! I had pineapple on the side, and a Diet Pepsi because I like it, and I hadn't had one in a few days. Best part? Leftovers for tomorrow!! (Note the paper towel placemat!)

What was the last thing you bought?

Tylenol...last minute addition to my grocery shopping list.

What are you listening to right now?

I just turned on the TV and the NBA finals are about to start.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

To be a morning person. That HAS to be a superpower because I find it mind boggling that someone could wake up at 5:30 in the morning without an alarm.

What is your favorite kind of weather and why?

For running? 50-ish, although I did get used to running in 20 degree weather with my awesome Under Armor. For the rest of life, hot and sunny!!

What time do you usually wake up?

For work? Currently 5:45 in the morning. That will change when I start working 3-11pm! Without an alarm? Around 10-ish. I don't consider it "sleeping in" unless it's in the double digits.

What is your most challenging goal right now?

Life on my own in a land far, far away. Where I know no one.

Favorite pair of shoes you keep going back to over and over again even though you have a zillion others?

Brooks Adrenaline!! I've been running in them for like eight years. That's A LOT of shoes. Otherwise, I'm not that much of a shoe person. (I'm missing that part of the woman gene?)

Name one thing you can’t live without.

I agree with Mica...the internet. Sad, but true. Also, ice cream and M&M's, preferably together. And pineapple and bananas.

What time is bedtime?

Hopefully 10! :) On my own, more around midnight.

If there was one place you could be right now, where would it be?

I will always miss Chicago.

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So excited that tomorrow is Friday!! One of my difficult patients was discharged today (right after change of shift, of course), so maybe tomorrow will be a good one! If not, it's Friday anyway so it has to be good. :)

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Happy National Running Day!!

Like every other running blog on the planet, I'm celebrating National Running Day! I didn't feel so super when I got home from work, so I headed out for short four mile run. Celebrating National Running Day with a not-so-fun isn't the best way to celebrate, but at least I got out there! It rained this afternoon, so it cooled off quite a bit and therefore was pretty good weather-wise. I didn't feel too awesome during the run...I felt sluggish, but my pace was fine.

Wednesday, June 3rd
4.15 miles in 32:43, avg pace of 7:52

I was going to lift weights/do crunches/do the pushup challenge for the day, but I didn't feel good at all post-run. Attempts at push-ups and crunches lasted about twenty seconds until I scratched them for today and ate animal crackers instead. I took some Walgreens brand sudafed, so I'm hoping that will knock this out of me. I'm currently a little drowsy, but I should go to bed early (so hard for me!), so I guess that's not a bad thing.

Nurse!

My preceptor and I took five patients today, which is more than I've ever had before. It's still hard for me to gauge how things are going because my preceptor does a lot for me...feeding patients, giving them baths, helping people to the bathroom, etc. They sometimes (99% of the time) send a nursing assistant home because I'm there (and therefore we're overstaffed), which makes sense for money purposes/in general, but then I don't really get an idea of what I will be doing on a daily basis versus what the aides do and how we communicate and work together. Then again, I'll be on evening shift which is a different kind of busy than morning shift, so who knows.

On an unrelated note...

With summer coming, I've noticed that there aren't really water fountains around where I run. Therefore, I'm thinking about buying a water bottle/fuel belt thing. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions? I've never ran with any water/fuel on me, except for pinning gels/chews to my shorts. I might be partial to a water bottle carrier versus a fuel belt with a bunch of smaller bottles, but I'm open at this point. Thanks!
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The power of Tylenol

Oh my goodness WHAT A DAY. It was one of those days at work where I was like...I don't think I can do this. It took forever to do morning medications between getting a late-ish report, only have one nursing assistant for the entire floor (so when all "fall risk" patients, which is 95% of patients because EVERYONE is on fall precautions with a bed alert, decide they have to go to the bathroom, you have to stand there with them), having paper charting (entering orders in takes at least three steps, not to mention the fact that your book with medication lists needs to be taken away in order to enter the orders), and just the general fact that this is only my third week. We got about 15 minutes for lunch (we get half an hour knocked out of our pay), and then I started charting after giving report, so I got out about an hour late. The amount of charting we have to do is obscene!

I'm kind of jealous of people who do twelve hour shifts (which appears to be every nurse that reads this!) because when I had twelve hour shifts in nursing school, I actually felt like I could get everything done. There was usually a little afternoon lull (about where the 3pm shift change occurs!) where I could play catch up. Not to mention the three day work week! I wasn't offered twelve hour shifts, but I would snatch them up if I could.

Around 4pm I felt like I got hit by a truck, and I had a grumpy drive home because the traffic patterns here never cease to amaze me. When I got home, I took some Tylenol and laid down for about 45 minutes. I have NEVER been one to nap, so I have to feel pretty bad/tired to do that. The Tylenol definitely helped and I felt much better when I woke up! I reheated my leftovers for dinner (glorious!), and ended up heading out for a run around 8pm.

Tuesday, June 2
5.20 miles in 40:20, avg pace of 7:45

I did awesome on the hills today! Even my biggest climb was under an eight minute mile. It got up into the low 80's today, but since I headed out kind of late, the warmth from the sun was gone and it was warm, yet cool. It makes sense, I promise! I had wanted to do eight miles today, but I was trying to beat the sunset so I cut it to five. This worked well because I pulled up into the driveway as the sun was going down!

Time to head to bed and do it all again tomorrow!
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Summer summer SUMMER!

June is HERE!! I'm excited about this because:

1) I love summer.
2) SUN. POOL. WARMTH.
3) It's my birthday month.
4) My mom's coming to visit next week!
5) We got cable today! We have Fios with a million channels, and the cable guy (haha) set up my TV in my room even though I wasn't here! Yay!

Nurse...

One of the crazy/fun parts about the unit I work on is that the patients are all completely different. At Rush, there was the ortho unit with all hip/knee replacements. And the transplant unit with all liver/kidney transplants. Where I work, we get pretty much anyone that doesn't need a telemetry monitor (they go to a different floor). This means that the average age of your patients could be 25 or 95! It's very odd for me to walk into a room and look at someone my own age.

I got my first massive questioning by a doctor today over the phone. He kept asking all these questions about what had been ordered and by who...which is fun when you can't read their signatures! :) Luckily he came in later and actually saw the patient instead of continuing to ask me eight million times why another doctor ordered a certain test. He ended up canceling it because neither him nor I could figure out what the purpose of it was. (Not that I'm an expert in test ordering, but I like to think I have a clue!)

Anyway, that was exciting. And I'm terrible at change of shift report. Yikes.

On the run...

Running! Today was BEAUTIFUL, but a little on the warm side. Mid-70's? I was wishing for that all winter when I suited up in twelve layers to run in five degree weather, and now I think it's a little too warm! Give me a couple weeks and I'll love it again. Especially once my legs aren't a terrible shade of white! :)

Monday, June 1
5.13 miles in 39:55, avg pace of 7:47

I ran this route two weeks ago, and I did MUCH better with it today! My overall pace was similar (off by one second!), but I had a much stronger finish and I didn't take any walk breaks. Last time on this route, the hills were draining and I took a couple breaks, but this time I told myself it would get easier if I pushed through...and it did! It's fun to look at my garmin and compare the elevation changes to my splits so I can see where the hills were and what effects they had on my pace. Splits for an example:

Mile 1: 7:43
Mile 2: 7:47
Mile 3: 8:04 (holy uphill!)
Mile 4: 7:36 (holy downhill!)
Mile 5: 7:43
Mile 5.13: 7:32 pace

Crazy what a difference the elevation changes can make. I also did push-ups, crunches, and my weight routine today. Working on the buff factor.

Food!

Not a food blog, but I have to share that I made this tortellini pepperoncini salad for dinner, and it was fantastic! It was quick and easy, and I forgot how much I like tortellini. My only subsitution was a red pepper for the pepperoncini peppers because I couldn't find them at the store. Best part? Leftovers for tomorrow!

Do you guys like hearing about the "nurse" part of "nurse on the run," or should I stick more to the running? I know it's my blog and I can write what I want, but just looking for some feedback! Thanks!
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