Monday, June 1, 2009

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!

15 comments:

  1. Holy awesome 5.13 miles batman!! You're super fast!! That's awesome!

    And i like the nurse part :-) I vote for keeping it!

    And you mentioned on my comment section at my blog that you help people with cookies?!! Mmmm! Cookies! I love cookies! :-D

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  2. Since I'm physician and also a runner...I pretty much like EVERYTHING you write here 'cause I can relate to it pretty well.

    Case in point...

    about nursing and writing/taking orders...I am pretty unusual in that I have pretty good handwriting when I write notes so I have never had that illegibility problem that afflicts a lot of doctors. My take is that why write notes in a chart if nobody can read them, and it can also be pretty dangerous...

    and about the running: Great job with keeping a consistent pace through your run. One thing to practice on your "hill" is to see if you can keep your uphill and downhill effort the same so that the average of the two sections is the same as your average pace of the whole run. Right now, you did 7:50 average so that's pretty good...see if you can pull it to 7:45. Just something fun to think about and do. Try not to purposely speed up or slow down though 'cause that would be cheating...and you can check your HR to make sure you're keeping the same effort...

    Anyway, I agree that summertime running is a bit rough at the start but you get used to it pretty quick. Enjoy the rest of your work and run week!

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  3. I think the "nurse" part is interesting because I don't know anything about nursing. I am always impressed at all the things you're doing in the hospital. (Usually because I know I would just screw everything up.)

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  4. I like reading about people's days, so yes, keep writing about your job! :) It is very interesting! :)

    Nice, solid run! Those kind feel so good. How many push-ups are you up to?? That's something I ALWAYS forget about but I should do more of!!

    Ohh, and to answer your question, yes, I do coach xc :) I coach at my old high school and it's a bunch of silly girls ;)

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  5. It sounds like you are settling in well in your new environment! I am happy for you. Keep talking about your nursing experience, it's fun. Hope you continue to enjoy your week. I bet your mom is excited to see you!

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  6. I like both parts! It's fun to learn about the person behind the runner haha. Awesome run girl!

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  7. personally i love the nurse part :) i think it's helpful for me to hear that perspective, plus i think 'hybrid' blogs are more interesting (obviously i'm biased though :) )

    you will be a report champ in no time i am sure. and as for the orders -- i'm glad ours are on the computer. no trying to decipher signatures!

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  8. Of course I love to hear about the nurse part, but I'm biased:) Great job on the run! Wish I had 70 degree weather! Think it's gonna be 92 today with like 100% humidity... YUCK!

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  9. I agree, I think it's nice to hear about the nurse stuff cause it's interesting and completely different from what I do. Plus it's part of who you are so why not share?

    Good job on the hills; you'll adjust to the heat in no time!

    And I still can't get my garmin to work SOB so it has to get escalated to tech support. :-(

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  10. Holy fastness! Wow, is all I gotta say about your pace.

    Don't listen to me, I'm biased because I'm also a nurse but I love reading those parts too.

    [sarcasm] LOVE it when physicians put nurses between them because they can't have a direct discussion about what's (not) appropriate for the patient. [/sarcasm]

    And I thought I was passive-aggressive ;)

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  11. Awesome job on the run! So glad you're adjusting to the hills. And I like hearing about the nursing and the running equally!

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  12. I like the nurse part since that work is so interesting to me. But really, I like it all. :o)

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  13. Thanks Susan. And I like hearing about your nursing stuff!

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  14. I like hearing about whatever you like to write about :)

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  15. I love the "nurse" part! It's always fun to hear what other people's careers are like! :)

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