nurse on the run

New feed!

2009-10-23T12:36:00.001-05:00

Don’t forget to update your google readers for my new site:

http://www.susanruns.com/feed/

Click on that link to set up my new site…I’ll miss you if you don’t follow me over! Don’t forget to update your blogrolls either! :)

(Let me know if that doesn’t work…or if I’m missing something! I think that’s all you need to do. Maybe.)

Made an impulsive move…

2009-10-22T19:53:00.001-05:00

So I got called off of work today, and I made the impulsive move to buy my own site! It’s a major work in progress (I have NO clue what I’m doing!), but you can check out the new site at…

susanruns.com

Yayyyy! Update your google readers and such…not that I know how to do that!

If anyone has insight into how to find a good theme that is easy to customize (I’m no good at this web design thing!), please let me know. I’ve been trying all day to get the site to look how I want it to!

Pumpkin + Veggies + Apples = STUFFED

2009-10-21T09:59:00.001-05:00

You may notice that I rarely mention my current roommate on the blog. Due to our opposite schedules, I never see her, which is a bit sad because despite the randomness of our meeting (go craigslist!), we actually have a lot in common and she’s pretty awesome. She likes to cook and even ran a half marathon (her first!) last month, so you can clearly see what we’ve got going for us. This weekend she asked if I wanted to cook something together on Monday (my day off!), so we did. And kind of went all out.

My roommate dug out an old Martha Stewart Living magazine from last year and found a "Stuffed Pumpkin Stew” that she wanted to try. She invited a bunch of people over (since it serves ten!) and away we went. I hope you like your veggies…

Here’s the deal:

You find a cheese pumpkin. Yes, a cheese pumpkin…not your ordinary carving pumpkin. I called five grocery stores and everyone gave me funny looks when I asked if they had them (okay, I imagined the funny looks since it was on the phone…but I know it was happening on the other end!). My roommate went to a local farm (yet more proof that I live in a small town) to get one. Anyway, you cut the top off, scrap the insides, lather with olive oil, and roast for an hour:

Cheese pumpkin!

Next up is veggies galore. Step one involves ten brussel sprouts, six ounces green beans, and four ounces sugar snap peas. Boil them for about two minutes, then transfer to an ice bath. (I’m not sure why the boil/ice bath combo is necessary…feel free to inform me!)

I hope you like your greens!

Now for all those weird veggies that you look at in the store but have no clue what to do with. Including: 12 white baby potatoes, two leeks (light green and white parts only!), five carrots, two turnips, four parsnips, half of a butternut squash, and half a celery root. I admittedly have never had half of these veggies before!

Toss with oil, salt and paper…then roast for 40 minutes! And remember to invite your friends…

For those meat eaters of the blog world, here’s some chicken! Ten chicken legs and thighs, with the skin on. Season with salt and pepper, then cook in a skillet with some oil for 3-4 minutes on each side. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 40 minutes. Once the chicken is removed from the skillet, add one cup chicken stock to the skillet, bring to a boil, then place in a bowl.

Yummy!

Just when you thought all the flavors were covered, we’ve got three baking apples and seven ounces vacuum-packed whole peeled chestnuts! Heat some butter in a skillet and brown the apples for about ten minutes…then add the chestnuts!

I’ve never had a chestnut before…new adventures!

Once everything is done roasting (it takes awhile…), add the brussel sprouts, green beans, snap peas, and apples along with two tablespoons garlic to the giant veggies mix and toss. Then roast for ten more minutes.

Now for the fun part…take EVERYTHING (chicken, all veggies, 1/2 cup parsley, stock, and two tablespoons reserved pan juices) and combine. Then stuff the pumpkin!! Roast until “heated through,” about fifteen minutes. Note: over half of the veggies didn’t even come close to fitting in the pumpkin, so we stuffed what we could. I have no clue where Martha got a gigantic pumpkin.

STUFFED!

Look at all those flavors!

When you’re finally done roasting, turn off the oven!! (Since it’s been on for hours…) Slice the pumpkin and serve with the chicken and stew. It will look something like this:

Devour!!

This was a labor-intensive meal, but it was something totally different than anything I’ve had before, and it was quite tasty! Since we had a bit of a dinner party, it was fun to cook with other people and then enjoy the food. I rarely eat with other people (unless you count eating while blogging!), so it was nice to actually sit and enjoy a meal. I definitely recommend this to enjoy an evening with your friends/family. It kind of felt like a mini-Thanksgiving, especially with the addition of dessert:

Blueberry pie and ice cream!

There you have it…an absolutely amazingly ridiculous meal like I’ve never had before. I think it’s fun to try new recipes and eat new foods, especially when you can share it with others! Give it a try!

i’m still a runner :)

2009-10-20T12:56:00.001-05:00

Another successful run today! The weather is so perfect for running…it was in the high 50’s and sunny! I was warm in my long sleeve shirt, so I guess it’s still short sleeve weather. Fine by me. :) I took it easy again today, going for five miles this time! My left calf/quad actually felt a little tight, so I guess I spent too much time stretching my right leg yesterday and not my left leg. I evened it up after my run today, so no worries there.

The hardest part about getting back into running after my month off is trying to not get caught up on the pace. My legs can feel that they haven’t ran in a month, and I need to remember that any pace is a good pace as long as it’s pain free! One of my miles was 8:50-ish, and I admit that I did a double take when my garmin beeped. Not that 8:50 is actually slow, but when I’m used to more around eight minute pace, it doesn’t seem quite right. I reminded myself that for my second day back, that’s not too shabby. There will be many more days to run faster…eventually.

Tuesday, October 20
5.04 miles in 42:41, avg pace of 8:28

We’re getting there!

Time to get ready for work…only having one day off (which is how it works when it’s your weekend to work…we get a random day off the week before and the week after) really doesn’t seem like enough to reenergize! Hurry up, Friday!

Stay tuned for the absolutely ridiculously amazing dinner I had last night…you won’t be disappointed!

I RAN today!!

2009-10-19T16:03:00.001-05:00

Short but oh so so sweet post!

Saturday marked the official one month anniversary of the last time I ran…not exactly something I wanted to celebrate! After sitting around for a little bit today, I decided that I wanted to give running a try. I ran about a block and the pain wasn’t too terrible, and I remember the sports medicine doc saying that sometimes IT Band Syndrome is a little better after a warm up. So I kept going. My leg loosened up after about a quarter mile, and away I went! While it wasn’t perfect, my stride actually resembled something of a running gait, which it definitely hadn’t in recent times. Yay! I told myself to take it slow and not push the pace at all…just run. It felt great!

I passed a guy in a truck, sitting in the parking lot of an office building I pass on most of my runs, since it’s on the way to the trail. He gave me a thumbs up and yelled, “I see you running by every day! Run five miles for me!” This comment was kind of funny since I haven’t run by in about a month, but it was fantastic in that I haven’t been out of commission long enough for the locals to forget that I run! I kept it short and went out for four miles:

Monday, October 19
4.10 miles in 34:15, avg pace of 8:21

I came home and stretched stretched stretched…and iced! My leg feels pretty good. :) Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow!!

Iliotibial Band Syndrome for the win!

2009-10-16T12:31:00.001-05:00

I just got back from the sports medicine doctor, and it’s the iliotibial band for the win!! My internet research/running injury savvy told me that this was most likely the culprit, but I figured an expert opinion couldn’t hurt. More or less, I have classic iliotibial band syndrome…pain right outside the knee, radiating up towards the hip. This excellent visualization helps show the IT band:

As you can (hopefully) tell, the IT band is kind of important in running and is a pretty common injury. The IT band functions to help stabilize the leg during “knee-bending activities” (aka running), so with repetitive motions, it can become irritated. The friction created between the IT band and the underlying anatomy at the outer knee (the lateral femoral condyle, if you really want to know…the outside bony part on the bottom of your femur) can result in pain and inflammation. Fantastic.

Risks for IT Band Syndrome include:

Distance running! And other knee-bending activities such as cycling
Increasing mileage or intensity too quickly
Lack of flexibility, especially in the IT band
Lack of proper warm-up prior to activity
Anything that puts increased stress on the outer leg…such as always running on a banked surface (think: always against traffic on the road) or wearing improper shoes

Treatments for IT Band Syndrome include:

Rest! Ahhh, every runner’s worst nightmare.
Checking your shoes to make sure they’re the right type for your feet (check the wear on the bottom!) and making sure to rotate/replace your shoes at the proper intervals
Change the direction you run! Run on both sides of the street, run both directions on the track.
Stretching! Increased flexibility, especially of the IT band…when your muscles are warm. “Sweat before you stretch.”
Apply heat to the area prior to exercising, apply ice after exercise.

Here are some examples of stretches for the iliotibial band, compliments of Running Times:

So what’s the main treatment for IT Band Syndrome? Figuring out what the cause of it is and removing that factor. I’m not necessarily sure what caused mine to flare up. I’ve worn the same shoes since I was 17 (that’s eight years!) and I replace them at the proper intervals. I run mostly on a trail which is flat…even if it’s not, I run out and back on the same side (mostly), so I’d be mixing it up. I increased my mileage properly, and I’ve successfully trained for marathons before so I know my body can handle the volume.

One activity I don’t do religiously is stretch. When my mileage creeps up, less time is available for stretching and strength training, and they tend to fall by the wayside in my life. Perhaps my IT band is just tight and I need to do some stretches to loosen it up. I’m not flexible by any means, so hopefully some flexibility work will help with the pain. I’ve certainly done the resting part…I haven’t run in a month, and I took the first week completely off…no biking or anything. I’m hoping that by stretching and continuing to ice, I’ll be able to run again soon. I would still like to run the Philadelphia Marathon, although at this point I realize I won’t be setting any records!

Hopefully this post was at least somewhat informative! I’m hoping that I will be able to implement some stretching that will allow me to run again…stay tuned!

New Domain Help!

2009-10-15T10:31:00.001-05:00

It’s a rainy day here in Pennsylvania…that doesn’t bode very well for my biking adventures! I’m much more wimpy when it comes to biking than running…I can run through most anything, but biking isn’t quite the same. I still have a little bit of a sniffle, so I won’t chance it. I’m going to the sports medicine doctor tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll sort out this whole not-running thing. It’s been almost a month! Yikes.

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In blog news, I’m thinking about transferring to my own domain…moving up in the blog world? Maybe not, but I think it would let me try new things with my blog and such. I’ll think of it like a new toy! Anyway, the current problem is that “nuseontherun.com” is already taken! I suppose I should have looked into that prior to naming my blog…but then again, I never really thought that I would try moving to my own domain. So the dilemma presents itself…Do I:

Change the name of my blog to fit the URL? This would involve actually thinking of a new name…
Come up with something similar to “Nurse on the Run” for the URL? Such as: runnerRN.com. I feel that could be confusing.
Just do "susanruns.com”…Right to the point, if nothing else.
Something else? I’m open.

I ask you, blog world, to help with my little dilemma! It’s nothing earth-shattering, but I know some of you have made the switch to your own domain and may have some insight. Let me know!

Thank you Frayed Laces!!

2009-10-14T14:53:00.001-05:00

If you’ve been around the blog world, you probably know about Frayed Laces. If you don’t, you should…go check out her blog now! She’s a Hawaii-living, grad student researching, marathoning and triathloning blogger…who happens to lead a pretty cool live! Recent adventures involve spending some time with Brooks in a lab and at camp! To share the Brooks love, Frayed Laces had a Brooks Run Happy Giveaway! The idea was simple: If you were Brooks CEO for a day, what would be the top three things you would change in your running shoes? You could enter some practical ideas, as well as not so practical ones for the Frayed Laces Special. I love a good giveaway, especially related to my favorite running shoe company, so enter away I did! Little did I know that my nerdiness would pay off with my entry of:

Add moon bounces to the shoes!! When I was at Space Camp (nerd alert!), we all had a chance to be in the 1/6th gravity chair simulator, where you could bounce around like you were on the moon with 1/6th of the gravity of the Earth. How fun would marathoning be if you could moon bounce your way to the finish line??

Yes, I went to Space Camp when I was in the sixth grade. It was AWESOME. I saw a shuttle launch and got to go on all these cool simulators. You’re jealous, admit it. (The Rocket Scientist also went to Space Camp…add that to the cuteness factor.) Moving on.

I looooooove getting mail, so I was super excited when an envelope was sticking out my front door! I won the Frayed Laces Special (quite an honor, if you ask me), and my package of goodies arrived today. Here’s the magic:

Nothing excites me more than a package in the mail!!

Look at all that good stuff!!

Time for some close-ups:

Brooks stuff…and a note from Frayed Laces herself!

Note from Frayed Laces…how cool!
A Brooks Guide to Injury Free Running…how timely with my current running hiatus! It even has a little chart with eight common running injuries…Iliotibial Band Syndrome included! (Which is what I think I have…to be confirmed or denied on Friday!)
A Brooks book…Handmade by Frayed Laces from an old Brooks shoe box. I love it!

Recovery and Injury info and prevention…definitely timely.

Japanese injury and stretching book…complete with interesting pictures and lots of Japanese that I don’t understand! I will try to decipher if any can help me with my current injury. :)
“Pain Relieving Plaster”…also Japanese. Looks like an icy-hot band-aid.
RECOVERY SOCKS!! I kept putting off buying them…Soooo excited! I may or may not have put them on right away (okay, see below for photo evidence), and I’m definitely wearing them tomorrow and work. Yes!!

Recovery socks!!

Some running necessities. :)

Hand wipes! You never know when you’ll need some on a long run post-bathroom.
Toilet paper…see above!
Power Bar for pre-long run energy…can you believe I’ve never actually had a Power Bar before? I’ll have to give it a try!
“Pocari Sweat” = Japanese Gatorade…we’ll have to see how it compares.
Lava Energy Gel…maybe this will be a gel I can actually swallow??

This made my day!! I was so excited win the Frayed Laces Special and check out the goodies. I love it…Thank you so much Frayed Laces! Be sure to head over and check out her blog…you won’t be disappointed!

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Time to take off the recovery socks and head to Princeton. I’ve got a fun activity planned for tonight! I took a rest day today because I’ve got the sniffles and am a little achy. I got the flu shot last night, and she definitely got it into my muscle! (Note: I don’t think my sniffles are from the flu shot…I had a headache last night so I think it’s just an October cold…woo!)

Alright, I’m off! Thanks again FL!

Mediterranean Chicken a la Martha

2009-10-12T12:52:00.001-05:00

Being a faithful reader of Sarah’s blog, I have come to love Martha recipes as Sarah cooks her way through one of Martha’s cookbooks. When in a bind (or at the Rocket Scientist’s and therefore sans cookbooks), I hit up the Martha Stewart Food website for some ideas. The recipes are usually pretty quick and fairly healthy, so they’re right up my alley! Yesterday prior to grocery shopping, I selected Mediterranean Chicken as my meal of choice for the week. (Cooking for one for me means making one meal to last almost all week!).

Let’s see how mine turned out:

Mediterranean Chicken + Kashi Pilaf

I admittedly set off the smoke detectors while cooking…I guess the olive oil reached it’s smoke point! Oops! I opened all the windows, which makes it a little chilly in here, but that’s what sweatshirts are for. :) I really like the Kashi pilaf…it was easy to make (threw it in the rice cooker!) and has a nice nutty flavor. The chicken is quite tasty…anything with olives is made infinitely better!

Spinach salad!

On the side I’m currently eating a spinach salad…complete with strawberries, dried cranberries, feta cheese, pecans, and a raspberry walnut dressing. Gotta squeeze that iron in. :)

on the ~~run~~ bike front

I biked in Princeton for about an hour and a half yesterday…my garmin’s battery was dead so I have no clue how far I went. Back to the old days of just using a watch! Although I didn’t even have a watch, so I just went by the time on my cell phone. A little more relaxed environment than staring at the data on my wrist. The Rocket Scientist ran seventeen miles while I was biking…his training is going well, and we’re hoping he qualifies for Boston in November so we can run both run Boston in April. He finished the Delaware Marathon in 3:13 this year, so he’s close! Fingers crossed.

I’m also heading to a sports medicine doctor on Friday, so hopefully I can at least get some direction in what’s going on with my leg.

giveaway!

The aforementioned Sarah is having a giveaway! She’s a planner galore and wants to assist you in your future planning. Check it out!

A Photographic Philly Wedding

2009-10-11T22:02:00.001-05:00

It’s Sunday night…where did this weekend go?? I know exactly where…Philly! The Rocket Scientist’s sister got married this weekend in downtown Philly, and it was quite the site to be seen! Lucky for you, I took lots of pictures. :) This was our second wedding in three weeks (first can be viewed here!), so it was interesting to see the differences between the two. Here we are, a photographic journey into my weekend!

Friday Night – Rehearsal

I was actually supposed to work on Friday night, therefore missing the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner…I was just going to head down on Saturday for the actual ceremony and ensuing festivities. When I showed up at work on Friday, I jokingly said that I would go home if they didn’t need me, but they hadn’t heard about staffing yet. We got the word on how many nurses we needed…and then another nurse showed up! She had been called off but didn’t have her cell phone with her, so she headed to work anyway. Since we had an extra nurse, they said we could battle it out about who would stay and who would go. The other nurse remembered that I had something else to do tonight, so she said she would stay. Yay! Night off. :) I raced back home to shower and pack and head down to Philly. I ended up missing the actual rehearsal, but I made it in plenty of time for the rehearsal dinner!

The rehearsal dinner was hosted at the Vesper Boat Club, which is on Boathouse Row in Philly. The area is very pretty at night, with all the boat houses lit up…definitely gives a good view from the highway, but it was fun to be on the other side! When we first showed up, some of the crew teams were still out on the water. The view of the city was quite nice:

It’s no Chicago, but I guess it works.

Lights of Vesper from the deck.

University of Pennsylvania’s boat house.

Hanging out in the window.

Rocket Scientist sporting his mom’s lovely leopard print jacket.

Saturday – Play Time

The Rocket Scientist’s family are not city people in the least. Soooo when Saturday rolled around, there was no actual plan of action. (And I quote: “What is there to do around here?” Ummm…anything your little heart desires! Anyway.) No one had to be anywhere until 3pm, so we had plenty of time to play. After sitting around in the hotel for awhile, we finally headed out into the city. The wedding was to be at the Franklin Institute, so we headed over there to check out the exhibits and such beforehand. It brought back memories because we visited there many times when I lived outside Philadelphia as a wee little one. (Ages 1-6!)

The Pendulum that demonstrated that the Earth rotates…every 25 minutes it knocks off a different peg.

Touring the giant walk-through heart!

Learning about arteries and blood flow…keep your heart healthy!

The Rocket Scientist learning about lift! Not that he didn’t know about it already…

We’re flying!

After we left the Franklin Institute so the boys could get changed for the wedding, the RS and I went on a hunt for a card…because he was clearly planning ahead. After walking a few blocks, some friendly pedestrians pointed us in the direction of a CVS. As we ~~strolled~~ power walked along, we passed this beauty:

BAKERY!!

When my dad lived in Philly back in the day (like…wayyyyy back in the day), he used to live a few blocks from the Swiss Haus Bakery and loved one of the cakes that they had. When my parents came to visit in August, we walked outside his old apartment and found this bakery. While he said the cake was different than he remembered, the goods were still fabulous. Since I can’t pass up the chance to stop at a bakery, I went in while the RS powered on to CVS. Please note that the guy working in the bakery laughed at my photography as I stood outside. Maybe I should try to get a job there…then I could eat/bake this deliciousness on a daily basis:

Rocky Road Brownie!!! Normally I hate nuts in my brownies, but this was tasty.

Saturday – The Big Event

Saturday night was the big night! Since it was at a museum, it was a rather late event. The actual ceremony was in the Planetarium, so of course the crowds had to clear out before we could head in! Pictures were first taken outside…luckily the sun came out in the afternoon for some pretty pictures.

Rocket Scientist’s family with the bride and groom. Three other wedding parties were also taking pictures.

Woo! Thanks to my friend for actually picking a bridesmaid dress I could wear again!

View of City Hall (and Ben!) from Logan Square.

Married!

The reception was in the main hall…no joke, we ate at the feet of Ben Franklin.
Menu!

The salad was AMAZING. I had Sea Bass for dinner…tasty tasty! Definitely some of the best wedding food I’ve ever had…I usually feel like it leaves something to be desired, but this was awesome.

Not going to lie…I wasn’t too impressed with the cake.

Okay…LET THE AWESOME PICTURES BEGIN.

I told you he’s nerdy…the socks/glasses were for the wedding pictures…each groomsman had a different color!

The Rocket Scientist found another scientist!

The heart is an awesome muscle…so I flexed mine!

Flashing our gang signs…that’s “EAST COAST” for the Rocket Scientist and “MIDWEST” for me. :)

Okay…that’s actually kind of cute.

It was a really fun weekend, filled with lots of good food! Dancing was a little limited at the reception…everything was kind of broken up so it didn’t really get started. Annnnd we got pulled away for lots and lots of pictures. But that’s okay, fun was had by all. It was one of the fancier weddings that I’ve been to, and I can’t say I’ll ever see anyone get married in the Franklin Institute again! I hope everyone else has glorious weekends as well.

Clearing My Mind: A Realization

2009-10-08T12:24:00.001-05:00

One of the hardest parts about working my evening shift schedule is the fact that I can’t call and talk to my mom whenever I want. Yes, I’m twenty-five years old and want to talk to my mom on a daily basis. It was nice when I first move here because my first month was spent on day shift (evening chats!) and by the time I switched to evenings, my mom (the elementary school art teacher) was on summer break…I could call whenever I wanted! I try to catch her during her lunch break now, but any longer chats are reserved for weekends or days off. Therefore, when I do have a random day off work, I’ve been known to call my mom two-three times throughout the day. I had already called my mom three times yesterday when I had a realization on my way to Princeton…so I called her one more time.

It’s no secret that I’m not really happy right now. I don’t like my job (and being my first and only job in nursing, it makes me question my career choice), I don’t really like where I live (middle of nowhere…I really wanted to be in a big city), I don’t know many people around here (I’m shy + work odd hours…it’s probably just excuses), and I can’t even run right now (biking just isn’t the same). All of these are a bit difficult to contend with, but the main thing I realized on my drive to visit the Rocket Scientist was this:

For the first time in my life, I am not actively working towards a goal.

In high school, I was busy studying, running, playing in the band…to get into college. Once in college, I wanted to go to medical school, so I was working hard at that and I had classes. Once I realized I didn’t want to be a doctor, I put my effort into figuring out what else I wanted to do with my life…and I still had classes with immediate goals in front of me. After graduating from Maryland, I had some time off but knew I was headed back to nursing school. I spent all of 2008 in nursing school with little breathing room (that’s what you get for cramming two years into one!), and then post-nursing school was spent job hunting. Like crazy. My goal was getting a job. Now I have that job, and I don’t have any immediate goals made for me.

If I stayed where I am for the rest of my life (as some of the nurses at my hospital have!), it wouldn’t be totally crazy. After all, I went to college (twice!), got a well-paying, supposedly rewarding (some days…not so much) job, and I could get married, have kids, and live the American dream. (Okay, that was a bit over the top.) Anyway, the point is that I no longer have those straightforward goals of midterms, projects, and applying for the next step in life. For me, this is very disorienting because I feel like I have no direction. I’m obviously not going to stay at this job forever, but I don’t really know where to go from here. I keep looking at graduate programs (in a wide variety of topics) because it seems like the next step. The Rocket Scientist and all his grad school friends are still living the academic life (go PhD programs!), and my college roommate just went back to grad school for a PhD as well. Not saying that’s what I need/want to do, but the academic life is definitely different than the “real world.” Schedules are ruled by semesters and exams, while I don’t even know if I’ll be working on Christmas or not.

But that’s not the point. The point is that I feel lost because I don’t feel like I have goals right now, which is such a foreign feeling. It’s never really been up to me to dictate my goals (outside of the larger “I’m going to nursing school” plan, etc), and this feeling of being stagnant and lost may contribute to my current unhappiness. I called my mom to explain this to her, and she definitely agreed. The working world is full of different goals than the school world. For now, my goal may be to plan a vacation, make a new cupcake recipe every week, or learn a new hobby. These are definitely different goals than learning the steps of the Krebs Cycle or creating a care plan for my patient at the hospital. (Although I’m immensely glad that I no longer have to make care plans!) My mom reminded me that I have a well paying job, and although I tend to get stuck upon the fact that I have loans to pay back, I have money to do things I want to do, like travel or take cooking classes or learn to paint or whatever my little heart desires.

In the end, work is work. Although it’s a big part of my life, at the end of the day, I go to work and get a paycheck. That sounds terrible because I feel as though nurses are expected to say that they were called to nursing and care and would help people despite the paycheck…but let’s be serious. Nursing is way too stressful for me to say anything like that. The point is that I need to find something else to make me happy. Whether that’s planning a trip to Europe for next summer, working part time at a bakery, or learning to teach group exercise classes (all things I’ve thought about doing!), I need to pick something and do it instead of dwelling on how much I don’t like my job or how I think other people are happier than me.

Easier said than done.

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That was a bit long winded, but thanks to those who stuck through it. Here are some questions for my readers!

For those who have graduated and are working, did you feel anything like this? I can’t possibly be the only one who is (has) experience(d) this.

What goals do you have for yourself? Are you planning a wedding? Taking a dance class? Joining a flag football team? Let me hear them!

My two best friends

2009-10-07T13:59:00.001-05:00

My leg still hurts! I will be making an appointment to see a doctor. Still pain when I try to run. I start my workout by running half a block to see if today is the day…and it’s usually not so I hope on the bike. I would like to introduce you to my two current best friends:

The foam roller

THE ICE CUP

During high school cross country when we had shin pain, we would all flock to the trainer’s room and grab some ice cups to use on our shins. Admittedly, I did this even when I didn’t have shin pain because it was kind of fun. The idea behind it is very simple…you fill some (wax-coated) cups with water, freeze them, then peel down the sides and rub all over where you have the pain for about 10-15 minutes. For me, I use it on my outer thigh/knee. This method has been shown to be more effective than icing alone, as you have the massage factor going on too. It feels good for me. I recommend the ice cup.

some good rides

When we got back from Maryland on Sunday, the Rocket Scientist had his 20 mile long run to do…and I had some biking to do. I figured I’d go bike about ninety minutes, as the longest I’d gone this far was about seventy minutes. I live right by a nineteen mile trail that I go on all the time, so I headed over there. Once I got about 45 minutes out, I figured I must be near the end of the trail…so I kept going. The end of the trail ended up being about fourteen miles away, so at that point I decided to go for an even thirty mile ride. That’s a long way to ride, but I made it! I think I did pretty good for my first two hour plus ride!

Sunday, October 4
30.08 miles in 2:13:07, avg pace of 4:26 (13.6 mph)

Rest day on Monday…my legs were tired! On Tuesday I decided to ride for about an hour, exploring a different part of the trail. I ended up getting lost in the local state park, but a friendly park ranger pointed me in the right direction. Yay! This ride was pretty hilly…hills on a bike are so difficult! But I made it and had a really fast ride based on my overall speed. I must be getting better at this whole biking thing.

Tuesday, October 6
14.72 miles in 1:02:44, avg pace of 4:16 (14.1 mph)

Ahhh legs were ridiculously tired today…and it was crazy windy! I almost fell off my bike sideways…good thing I wear a helmet! Really nothing else to write about this ride other than I wish I was on my feet! I rode past a couple runners and all I wanted to do was tell them that I’m one of them…not that they really cared about my biking!

Wednesday, October 7
11.22 miles in 49:02, avg pace of 4:22 (13.7 mph)

cancelled-ish

I got called off for the first four hours of work tonight since I stayed about 45 minutes late last night. I have to call at five to see if they want me to come in at seven…I don’t know whether to hope that I get called off the rest of the night (day off, woo!) or hope to go in for four hours (how bad can four hours be? Plus, money is always nice.) I guess we’ll see…

Hellooooo College Park!

2009-10-06T09:23:00.001-05:00

This is a bit overdue, but I had a glorious weekend in College Park! It was very odd to go back to my alma mater and not really know many people. Last time I was there, I had only graduated a few months earlier and therefore still knew many of the people on campus and in the band. It was also homecoming so many more people showed up. This time was quite different…the people who were freshmen when I was a senior are now seniors themselves (crazy!), and it was a random game instead of homecoming so the spectators were few and far between. I was able to see many people who I went to school with, so that was exciting…but let me tell you…I felt so old. Something about being around eighteen year olds really makes you realize how far you’ve come. My goodness.

Can we also note that I am not a fan of noon football games? We left my house at about 6:45 in the morning to make it to campus in time for some tailgating…soooo early!! Anyway, here’s the fun in pictures:

Maryland has these specially decorated Testudos all over campus…and this one is a Marching Testudo! Love it.

I hit my knee on the corner…showing Testudo who’s boss!

Pre-game tailgate with my dorm neighbor from sophomore year!

Maryland flag in the end zone. Fantastic.

The band all lined up for pre-game…I remember those days!

Spelling out “Maryland” on the field…I remember being in the “a”!

Pretty view of Byrd Stadium.

My band buddy from senior year is now drum major…here she is leading the band! I like to think I shaped her into what she is today. :)

Aw I love Testudo!

Crowd surfing mascot!

The Rocket Scientist and me and after the big win!

With one of the gigantic Testudos on campus…rub his nose for good luck!

Chris was my bus buddy senior year…we sat together during all the band trips, so when we hopped on the shuttle bus, I knew it was picture time!

At the bar with Julianne, my band buddy! I’ve never felt so old in a bar before…

The game itself was quite exciting…We were expected to lose (boo!), but we managed to pull through and win. Both teams spent about ten minutes going back and forth on our 30 yard line, which made for a nail biter in the end! The Clemson field goal kicker missed two (yes, two! I know what he’s doing this week…) field goal attempts that would have tied the game. Luckily, we pulled through and won. Woohoo! I think the Rocket Scientist and I are good luck and we need to attend more games. Obviously the solution here.

After the game, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner (which is now open in College Park! Oh how I wish they had one when I went to school there), which was quite tasty. Then we headed out to the bars with my now of-age friends. I can’t believe they’re seniors!! Next year I won’t know anyone at all! Very sad. The bar was an interesting experiencing, as apparently the style these days is to wear dresses that aren’t quite dresses…in fact, I’m not sure what you would call them, but they certainly didn’t cover much. Also, while I may not quite look the part of 25 (even though my birth certificate says so!), I definitely felt old among this crowd. So young!

I always say that I would love to go back to college. I love the college life…learning, going to class, projects, being involved in all the activities, etc. I was never a huge partier or anything…I’m such a nerd. :) While I miss college, I realize now that I was done with it. A part of me is sad saying that because walking around campus, I didn’t feel like it was “mine” anymore. I’m no longer a student…other people call campus “home.” I definitely miss the freedom and automatic group of 250 friends (go band!), but I suppose we all have to grow up sometime!

Marching band nerds…I mean awesomeness

2009-10-02T11:30:00.001-05:00

Dear doctor,

Thank you for not biting my head off you returned a page that the previous shift had made and I wasn’t fully prepared to take your call. I appreciate the fact that you kindly reminded me to have all the information at hand instead of screaming at me for wasting your time.

Love, Susan

In my defense, the patient had only been back about ten minutes, most of which were spent getting her back into bed and changing her diaper. Like I said, I appreciate constructive criticism much better than I enjoy getting yelled at. Overall, not a terrible week at work. KNOCK ON WOOD. This is probably the first week that I’ve worked all five days since…July? That’s a bit crazy and super tiring. My legs are tiiiiiired. And I’m not even running much…blah.

I’m thinking I should have a doctor check out my leg…I don’t even have a primary care doctor here yet. (Is that bad? I don’t know…) My insurance website has a doctor look-up where you can search for doctors that take my insurance, and I found a sports medicine doctor nearby. Maybe I should make an appointment…It’s been about two weeks since I’ve run and my leg still hurts. Better safe than sorry…especially maybe with time to salvage my marathon attempt. I hope.

M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D

I’m so excited for tomorrow! The Rocket Scientist and I are headed to Maryland to watch our Terrapins take on Clemson. I haven’t been to a MD football game since Fall 2007…long overdue! My post-college football experience is a bit different than my college football experience, as I spent four years in the glorious marching band. While I loved it, I never tailgated or anything like that.

Then:

Pre-game rehearsal…freshman year!! Guess which one is me??

Massage line? Yes, please!

With the Rocket Scientist! (Yes, I played the trombone…AWESOME.)

Trucking into the game!

Awesome pre-game picture of (half of) my section. :)

Maryland shield on the field!

Now (circa Fall 2007):

My first tailgate EVER with my roomie. :)

SOOOOOO EXCITED. Jess! Let me know if you’re going to be there…we can exchange numbers and have a bloggie meet-up! I’m working tonight, but I’ll check back late tonight/tomorrow before we leave. I hope to see you!

in a rush

2009-09-30T12:47:00.001-05:00

always in a hurry

Yesterday was just another day at work…I started with four patients with the knowledge that I would be getting a post-op at some point during the night. As the night went on, I realized that my post-op wouldn’t be coming up until late in the night. While this bodes well for the rest of the night, it makes for a madhouse when they come up from the PACU at 9:00pm and I have ALLLLL the paperwork to do and four other patients to deal with…all while trying to get out on time. I wouldn’t have been worried if my manager didn’t yell at me on a daily basis about getting out on time. We’re just supposed to leave stuff for the next shift to do since nursing is a 24/7 job, but no one likes having stuff left for them. I did most of the paperwork (OBSCENE AMOUNTS), but I did it in a hurry and I left hoping I didn’t forget to do something. That’s all I think about all day.

You’re not supposed to dread going into work, right? Ugh.

the job search

On Sunday night, I applied to a job I (think I) would like…it’s at a large university hospital in the city. Any tips on getting my foot in the door? Should I call HR to “make sure” they got my resume? Maybe it’s too soon to start looking…but maybe not.

biking, day three

I went “the other way” on the local trail today, which was fun to explore. I don’t usually go that way because it becomes pretty isolated after about 2.5 miles, and I’m wayyyy too much of a worry-wart to be a female runner on an isolated trail. But, on a bike…I worry less because I can fly away from any scary people. :) I biked the furthest that I have yet (okay…not say much) and for the longest time. Woo! The only problem with this way on the trail is that it is mainly downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back…yikes! But I survived…my shin is kind of sore right now…I don’t think that’s from biking? Biking isn’t supposed to hurt…right? Gah. I foam rolled when I got home…fantastic.

Wednesday, September 30
16.31 miles in 1:12:27, avg pace of 4:26 (13.5 mph)

My speed was in between my two previous rides, so I’ll count that as a victory. I guess. I just miss my running shoes.

Okay, I don’t really have anything exciting to report today. Off to work…hoping it’s a good day…

It’s All About the Bike

2009-09-29T12:13:00.001-05:00

If you haven’t tuned in for awhile, you may not know that I am currently taking a break from running. I haven’t successfully run more than two miles since September 17…yikes! It started in my shin, and while my shin feels better now, something is weird with my knee. My form isn’t correct at all, and it would be impossible to get through any sort of mileage without lots of pain and slow, slow, slow running. Basically, it wouldn’t be constructive at all, and I’d probably ruin my shot at the Philadelphia Marathon. So, I’m riding a bike for now.

I’ve never really had to deal with any major injuries in my running career. This is a pretty good feat, as I’ve been running since the seventh grade (circa 1997…check out my running story!). That’s a long time to go without any major injuries, so I think I’m pretty lucky. Every now and then my shins would hurt at the end of cross country season (and there was that one time when I ended my season during marching band practice…but I guess I tried to keep that out of my mind!), but overall, no major problems. I’ve always been a runner and never much of a cross trainer, so I’m a bit at a loss of what to do. The gym that I signed up for doesn’t open until November, so that doesn’t help me much now! I would totally jump in the pool and such if I could. For now, I am stuck riding the bike that I borrowed from the Rocket Scientist’s parents.

I have no clue how to bike. Sure, I rode my bike all the time when I was younger. I was known for riding around the neighborhood, asking my friends to join me on a bike ride and we would ride and go play on local playgrounds for hours. Those were the days. Anyway. Not for speed or a workout or anything. I don’t even know what a “good” bike workout is, what gears to be in, how far to ride to attempt to simulate marathon training (although never a real comparison), etc.

Any insight would be lovely! I know there are bloggers out there who faced similar situations. Help this non-biker runner out!

I took the bike out for a spin yesterday and didn’t hate it too much, so I took it out again today. I was a bit jealous biking by anyone who was running…it made me so sad! I’ll be back there soon, I hope. At least I’m getting in some cardio. Here are my stats from garmin, even though I have no clue what they really mean or if they’re really any good at all!

Monday, September 28
13.51 miles in 1:03:01, avg pace of 4:40 (12.9 mph)

Monday’s ride was on the local trail where I run, which has minimal hills. Is 12.9 an okay pace? Beats me. Although I was thinking about it, and I was riding about as fast as the top male marathoners run. That kind of made me sad…

Tuesday, September 29
10.02 miles in 43:25, avg pace of 4:20 (13.9 mph)

HILLS ON THIS ROUTE. I’m not sure which I like less…running up hills or biking up hills. Neither one is particularly pleasant, although it is definitely more fun to bike down the hills! I was flying on some parts…woo!

foam roller

Yowza! Rolling out your IT band is painful! I was going through the exercises on the DVD that the foam roller came with, and I kept thinking “oh, this isn’t too bad.” Then we got to the IT band…gahhh what pain! I guess that means it’s working??

Time for some mental preparation for work…I had a good night last night and actually got out on time, but I’m always scared to go into work to find out that I missed something or that I made a mistake and didn’t realize it or something. It happens…although I wish it didn’t…

Wedding weekend!

2009-09-27T23:59:00.001-05:00

Okay, I lied…here’s the wedding post now! It was so much fun! While the weather wasn’t 100% perfect, the rain held off until everyone was in the reception hall, so I think it was cooperative enough. The Rocket Scientist’s two friends from high school made up the lovely wedded couple…they’ve been dating since high school (we graduated in 2003!), so it was about time. :) RS has some fun friends from high school who I’ve met and seen throughout the years, and they were fun wedding company. Since we all know a picture is worth a thousand words, let’s relive Saturday via photography…and you can see which dress I chose. :)

We saw this dog chilling in the driver’s seat at a location prior to the wedding…I thought it was HILARIOUS.

The bride and groom exchanging vows!

On the way to the car…

Check out their ride! An English taxi!

Rocket Scientist and me…in the blue dress!! (It boogies quite well!)

Each table had its own pasta, and the favors were homemade pasta sauce! The groom is Italian and has traveled Italy extensively.

Blurry as can be first dance to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

LOVED the cake! So pretty. And tasty too!

I got the only vanilla slice at my table. :)

Rocket Scientist and his high school boys…and his dad…haha

High school girls/girlfriends of the boys…and RS’s mom.

I didn’t bring my camera on the dance floor, although lots of fun dancing was performed! I may not have many moves (the only dance class I took was for a girl scout badge…), but I know how to have a good time! We tried requesting Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA, but it hasn’t reach the Billboard Top 100, so the DJ didn’t have it. :( That’s okay, we still got to boogie down to other classics. The open bar is always quite nice, but I don’t remember the last time I had three glasses of wine and two beers…that may not be much to some of you, but I was quite sleepy when we got home! I thought that the wedding ended a bit early, as we were cleared out around 10pm. There was much talk about who was going to be fighting for the bouquet, but the bouquet toss never ended up happening! I know I saw a bouquet labeled “tossing bouquet” on the head table, but they must have decided to skip that tradition. It’s probably overrated, but it’s fun to watch girls fight for the bouquet! I guess you can have a wedding without a bouquet toss…

Overall, the wedding was quite fantastic (what wedding isn’t??), and I have to gear up for the Rocket Scientist’s sister wedding in two weeks. Wedding season is upon as…as is marathon season! Or both, in some cases…

I’m totally putting off going to bed…the later I stay up, the less quickly Monday comes…right? Please say yes…

Foam Roller Fun

2009-09-27T23:23:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to do a quick post to demonstrate the glory of my recent purchases. Since I’m still experiencing shin and knee pain while running, the Rocket Scientist and I headed over to his parents’ house to borrow a bike for my cross training purposes. Since it’s been awhile since I rode a bike, we stopped at Dicks Sporting Goods to pick up a bike helmet (safety first!)…and we checked out their foam roller stock. Score! See below for fun.

Foam rolling is dangerous business…helmet needed!

Happy foam rolling!

Foam rolling is exhausting…

Wedding recap coming tomorrow!

Target: FAIL. Run: FAIL.

2009-09-25T12:48:00.001-05:00

nursing personality

Last night at work wasn’t too bad…until my post-op came back at 10pm! I waited for her all shift, and then they sent her up a little after 10. This does not bode well for getting out on time! We’re supposed to leave stuff for the next shift (since nursing is a twenty-four hour job), but I hate leaving all that for the next shift since I hate being dumped on. I got her fluids up, her pain under control, and called the doctor about her blood pressure. That’s all I could do…and I still got out late since three of the nurses I was giving report to were coming from other floors. They had to give report on the floor they were pulled to and then come up and get report. I have a feeling I’m going to go into work today and be told that I just should have left without giving report because my manager is telling people to do that now. That’s safe, right? I have a license that I would like to keep.

Anyway, one of patients (easy as pie patient to take care of!) told me last night that I went into the right profession for my personality. It’s nice to hear that every once in awhile because we never really get positive feedback from our manager…just criticism. For example, yesterday we were reviewing mistakes that I made a couple weeks ago. You know, the second to worst night of my life at work? (With the worst night being Wednesday of this I-hate-my-life week.) I hate to say it…but mistakes will be made when I only have three months of experience and you give me six patients and zero time to think on a floor I work on. Just saying.

target: FAIL

So I went to Target today to get a foam roller, as I’m willing to try anything to help my shin (and now knee…more on that later) feel better. First of all, there were mad amounts of traffic on the way to Target. I live in a town of 4,000 people (okay, 5,600 now that the local college is back in session), but urban planning is nonexistent and I don’t think people work…at all. Or maybe tons of old retired people live around here. Either way, traffic was backed up for two miles. I don’t understand this place.

Anyway, I find the “exercise” section of Target, and the ONLY THING that they’re completely out of is the foam roller. I had no clue they were so popular! Time to hit up Amazon, I suppose…

run: FAIL

My legs felt a little better today, so I figured I would try to go out for an easy, easy (emphasis on EASY) four mile run. With the option to do three. Or five. Well, I made it to the end of my street (read: about a tenth of a mile) and my knee felt all funny and my form was wayyyyy off. This run clearly wasn’t going to go well. I decided to detour and run around the block (about half a mile) to get a better gauge of how I was feeling. With my limpy form, I decided to call it a day when I returned home. I looked up Caitlin’s (from Healthy Tipping Point) knee exercises and did them…I’m open to anything, I just want to run again…

brrrr, it’s cold in here

Icing as we speak. That was the only non-fail part of Target.

the dress dilemma

Looks like the blog world is split on my dress dilemma! I’m going to consult my mother by phone tomorrow (pre-wedding…cutting the decision time so close!), but I do think that I need to consider the boogie factor. Yasi reminded me of this important consideration…you have to be able to do the electric slide in the dress! This makes me lean more towards the blue dress. I know you’ll be on the edge of your seat all night waiting for my decision!

Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Happy Friday to everyone!

Dress Dilemma

2009-09-24T11:13:00.001-05:00

After work yesterday, I headed to the local (huge, massive) mall to get my mom’s birthday present (it’s in October…I can’t believe it’s almost October already!), and I walked around a little bit because I had some time to kill before heading to Princeton for the night. I wandered into Macy’s and just happen to look at their dresses. I have multiple weddings coming up, so for the past few months I’ve had my eye out for a new dress to wear to at least one or two of them. However, I’m a bit picky and hate spending money, so I better really like what I buy! It is also a little known fact that my mom is my favorite (and only!) person to shop with, which makes shopping a bit difficult when we are 650-some miles apart. I narrowed down my choices to two and decided to buy both and then ask for opinions. So, here we are! My two options are:

Black with red flair. I loooove the color red, and I think adding anything red to a dress gives it a boost!

Black top with a blue patterned bottom. I love the shape of this dress, especially the neckline…which is surprising to me because I’m usually a strapless dress kind of girl!

So, which one do you like better? I really like the black/red dress, but I think that the black/blue one is more versatile. It can be dressed up with heels or dressed down a little with some flats (or flip flops, as the case would be in my line of fashion). Also, it seems a little more wedding-appropriate, if there is such a thing. The black/red one seems much more formal to me, but I like the bottom on it a little better. Thoughts? Opinions? Hate them both?? One wedding that I would be wearing this dress to is on Saturday (yay!), so I need to make a quick decision…totally not my style! I look forward to hearing your picks!

on the sidelines

Taking another day off of running…I don’t remember the last time I went five days without running! I don’t understand how people can sit around all the time since I feel like such a slug! (It probably doesn’t help that I’m still eating like I’m running fifty miles this week…oops?) I iced last night (with a bag of green beans, if that counts), and I’ll ice today before work and then when I get home. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try heading out for a short run…we shall see. I’d rather play it safe for the time being.

IV Master

2009-09-23T20:05:00.001-05:00

if you need an IV, i’m your girl

Instead of working a normal shift tonight, I went to the hospital’s pre-op area to practice starting IVs all day. People who are having outpatient surgery show up about an hour and a half before they’re scheduled for surgery, and a nurse starts an IV, draws any necessary labs, goes over the pre-op checklists, etc. Basically, I got to start IVs on a bunch of people. Let’s just say I was at 100% for the day! I got each one on the first stick…woo! However, I must say that these people have much better veins than some of the people we see up on the floor. Since they’re coming and going from surgery in the same day, they’re generally a little bit healthier. My confidence is still up, however! This area of the hospital is MUCH less stressful than the floors, and it’s easy to see why older nurses work there after working at the bedside for so long. I could see it getting old day after day, but it was definitely a nice change of pace.

mercy

As I blog, I’m watching the new nursing/medical show Mercy. While I was slightly annoyed that the first five minutes of the show included a patient yelling about “stupid nurses,” I haven’t really seen enough to form a real opinion. I identify slightly with the new grad nurse, who one review says she looks like she’s never been in a hospital. For the record, I looked like a deer in the headlights for at least the first two weeks of orientation! It doesn’t help that I look twelve. I may not watch the show on a regular basis (since, you know, I’m usually working now!), I may tune in now and again. I think that the media plays a huge role on how the public views nurses and the medical profession in general, so I think it’s important to tune into shows that have a nursing emphasis. One of my patients today asked if the three little bubbles in her IV tubing would kill her like she saw on TV last week. (The answer is no.)

i love me some leftovers

Over the weekend, I made some a Black Bean Tortilla Casserole, compliments of allrecipes.com. (Love that site!) Anyway, this is a quick and easy recipe and makes for awesome leftovers…especially when you’re cooking for one. :) I probably should have halved the recipe, but I’ll be happily eating it all week!

Mmmm fresh out of the oven!

My slice with some tomatoes and green onions on top!

injured reserve

Took another day off from running. It hurt while walking around at work and going up and down stairs, so i figured another day would be a good idea. Maybe tomorrow…

I’ve thought about getting a foam roller…maybe that would help loosen me up a bit? No clue.

randomness

Sorry about the randomness of my posts lately…I kind of like the variety, and I hope you do too!

Rest + shoe advice + dress! + pasta

2009-09-22T20:05:00.001-05:00

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven’t posted about running for the past few days. My last post about a “run” was on Saturday, and we all know what a disaster that was. My shin still hurts, which is terrible. I decided to take some time off because it was very painful to run and I don’t want to risk injury at this point in the game. Training has been going well and I don’t want to risk losing the marathon that’s two months away still. I have plenty of time to recover (hopefully…) and still be in great shape for the marathon. I kind of wish I had a bike or something so I could be doing some sort of cardio…sadly the gym I signed up for doesn’t open until November otherwise it would be PERFECT right now. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow…maybe I’ll just try going out for a few miles.

it’s all in the shoes

I switched my shoes at work to a less old pair of old running shoes…I definitely need to buy better shoes. Do any nurses/doctors/other people who spend wayyy too much time on their feet have any recommendations for good shoes? I’ve heard about Dansko shoes, but they’re a bit expensive…although worth it if they’re really as great as people say they are. Especially because I bet they last longer than three months, which is about how much I’m getting out of my running shoes! (and that’s with rotation…yikes!)

here comes the bridesmaid

My friend who is getting married actually picked our bridesmaid dresses, as well as the color! This is none other than a major victory, so I’m pumped. This is the winner, color and all (no, that’s not me!):

I headed over to the not-so-local David’s Bridal to try on sizes and placed my order, so it will be all mine in about six weeks! We’re going to wear silver shawls during the ceremony because we have to have our shoulders covered. My friend (another bridesmaid) is making them with her mom, so at least that will cut down on costs a bit.

cooking light presents

My mom sent me a subscription to Cooking Light (yay!) since I always read hers when at home, and they have some tasty recipes. When I got my first issue, I immediately bookmarked some recipes! I started with this Fresh Tomato, Sausage, and Pecorino Pasta recipe.

Not the best picture, but it was tasty!

I haven’t had sausage in awhile since it’s not really all that healthy, but it added a great taste to the pasta. I would definitely make this again! I also had some lemon-y asparagus on the side, which was fantastic. This recipe seemed to make many more the the four servings that the recipe says it makes, which just means I get to enjoy it that much longer!

Back to the Biggest Loser!

Yumminess: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough CUPCAKES

2009-09-21T09:51:00.001-05:00

So I love to bake…no hiding that. However, when I bake, I’m going to eat ALL of whatever I make, so I haven’t been doing that lately because I don’t have anyone to pawn my goodies off on on a regular basis. I don’t feel comfortable taking them to work for whatever reason. Anyway, I overcame my fears this weekend with a fantastic result.

I love chocolate chip cookies…and cookie dough! My favorite ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough (especially of the Turkey Hill variety), so what could be better than chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes? If your answer is “nothing,” then you would be correct. Read on for the deliciousness.

I’m not that creative, so I scoured the internet for some recipes…yum!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling and Icing

For the cookie dough filling, I headed over to the Cupcake Project to steal the eggless recipe, which allows you to have a chewy center and cookie dough frosting without any raw egg. Sounds good to me! For the frosting, all you do is take a cup of the filling and mix it with a half cup of heaving whipping cream. Spreadable yum!

2 C all-purpose flour

1/2 t salt

3/4 C unsalted butter, melted

1 C packed brown sugar

1/2 C white sugar

1 T vanilla extract

4 T milk

Mini-chocolate chips to taste

Throw everything into a bowl and mix! As as ~~pie~~ cupcake!

I recommend freezing the dough before baking it to help it maintain its “chewiness” instead of baking. A nice surprise in the middle.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Now, you could safely use a vanilla (or chocolate, whatever) cupcake mix from a box, but where’s the fun in that? I went searching for a super yummy vanilla cupcake recipe. Success was found over at BURP! Where Food Happens.

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Put butter in mixer and beat at medium speed until somewhat smooth. Pour in sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs. Mix well. Add: vanilla, baking powder, salt, flour, and milk. Beat it!

Cupcake Assembly

This is where I had to experiment. Do I just fill the cupcake liners like normal and then drop the cookie dough in the center? Fill halfway, drop the cookie dough in the center, and then top with some more batter? Well, after my experiment, I would recommend the first method. The cookie dough ball drops to the bottom anyway, and the batter bakes around it. It may poke out the top a little, but it looks cute too.

Photo Evidence

Frozen cookie dough balls!

Trial #1: Covered cookie dough balls

Trial #2: Uncovered cookie dough balls…success!
Post-baking…cookie dough peeking out!

Frosted and decorated with some more mini-chocolate chips!

So pretty!

Cookie dough surprise!!

From the top!

Taste test by the Rocket Scientist!

The result? Yum!! HIGHLY recommend this recipe. So tasty and a definite crowd pleaser.

Sometimes all you need is some good old fashioned comfort food

2009-09-19T18:39:00.001-05:00

Thanks for all the support on my last post. It’s been a really bad week, and I was super excited to be called off of work today. I’m not sure I would have survived working today. I was very angry this morning and called my parents crying and cried for awhile this afternoon…hopefully that got out a bunch of emotions. Maybe.

I know once I have a year of experience, I will be much more marketable and be able to move to a job/location that I like more. But to think that I have to do this for eight more months is very difficult to think about. I’m going to start looking and maybe applying when I get closer to the six month mark. Unless I get fired before then? …I’m only kidding. I think.

Running this morning was terrible. The Rocket Scientist showed up and we headed out for six miles, and my right leg hurt immediately. I’m a mess from all this work junk, and I was really upset that running hurts! I made it for 2.5 miles (not fast, let me tell you), then we walked home. A loooong 2.5 miles. And I was not a happy and/or pleasant person, let me tell you. Maybe I should take a few days off? I don’t know…I’ve never really been injured before. My runs this week have been fine…starting off a little stiff, but I usually loosen up. Maybe I’ll start out slow tomorrow and see how it goes. I reallllly hope it’s nothing.

I was trying to figure out what to eat for dinner…the Rocket Scientist had plans to go to his parents while I was at work, so he still had to go. The last thing I wanted to do with my day off was to spend time with his mother, so I stayed behind. I sat around, watched tv, and called my mom. I also got a recipe for some cupcakes that I will share when they’re actually made. :) They’re going to be tasty, I just know it. Anyway, I have all the ingredients to make a really healthy dinner, but all I really wanted was some grease and such. Nothing makes you feel better like French fries. :) I researched local places and found a restaurant that does sandwich/fries take-out, so I ordered up a buffalo chicken cheesesteak and French fries. I like to think that I eat healthy most of the time, so meals like this are totally deserved. In all its glory:

I’m pumped.

I just rented 17 Again from the local Redbox, so it’s going to be a fantastic evening. Especially once I get my cupcakes in the oven. I fully appreciate Zac Efron. And French fries. Yummmm.

A marathon of a nursing post

2009-09-19T00:47:00.001-05:00

I haven’t posted all week! Yikes! That’s probably because I’ve had a miserable, miserable week. Work has been an absolute nightmare all week, and today I sat staring at my phone, hoping to be cancelled for the night. I know my turn is coming up again soon. Let’s backtrack and see why this week was so…not fun. I hope you have something to drink because this is going to be LONG.

Monday

Seven nurses, no nursing assistants. I had an admission (a young person admitted with diarrhea, otherwise healthy), and I didn’t get her vital signs by the time the doctor came around. I should have gotten them, but with only four blood pressure/temperature things floating around and seven nurses trying to do vital signs at the same time, I didn’t get to her. While an admission is a priority, so is my 80-something year old woman who I found with an oxygen saturation of 75% on room air (apparently the last shift forgot her oxygen??). Of course, the doctor decided he needed to speak with me NOW, while I’m trying to get my other patient’s oxygen saturation back up to an acceptable level. Basically, he told me that I needed to get the vital signs (to which I said, “okay”…it wasn’t anything I didn’t know), then told me “No, you can’t just say okay, you need to get them.” (I’ve been standing here for five seconds…) Then told me that I need to get my nursing assistant to do them.

I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying, “We don’t have any nursing assistants.” Anyway, she asked that the patient have a new nurse. Nothing says “welcome back” like “you suck as a nurse.” Whatever, no one likes this doctor anyway. The patient was upset about having to be stuck multiple times for IVs and labs and what not and almost signed out AMA. I often wonder why some people even come to the hospital at all.

Tuesday

Since we are having so few patients, management is really trying to crack down on any overtime. Which is fine, I don’t really want to be there past 11:30 anyway, but many times it’s not in my control. My manager told us that we should be efficient by three-six months, so she doesn’t understand why we late. We told her that we often don’t even get a dinner break, or at least that the “full half hour” that we’re “entitled to” (aka: not getting paid for). I actually had a good night until I got a post-op at 9:30 and an admission at 10:00. I clocked out around midnight. No worries, I got yelled at on Wednesday for not leaving all the admission paperwork for night shift…which is obviously what the next shift wants. The oncoming nurse already gave me a hard time because I didn’t give the post-op one of her medications. But everything else was done!

Wednesday

I don’t even want to talk about this day. I swear this hospital is setting me up to fail. I’ve been a nurse for four months (as of today…Friday, that is), and many people say that it takes one-two years before you actually feel comfortable. I spend a lot of time asking questions and looking things up because I don’t want to make a mistake, and it’s even more difficult when you’re feeling the pressure to not get out late. I’m doing the best I can! I started with five patients, one of who I was waiting to come back from surgery. All of my remaining patients had some sort of electrolyte replacement running, two had blood products infusing, and one was getting a bowel prep (don’t ask if you don’t already know!), but she was too nauseated to drink it. One of the families interrupted our report in the hallway to ask for mashed potatoes for dinner (obviously an emergency). Then, I got an admission from a doctor’s office, so she needed an IV started and labs drawn and all that stuff because she didn’t come through the ER. Then she needed to go for a test, but was complaining because she didn’t get to eat yet and her med schedule was all messed up. She actually yelled at me later in the night. About twenty minutes after that admission came, my other patient came back from surgery. This family was absolutely ridiculous…they stood in the hallway and stared at me as a ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. I don’t want to go into too much detail (for HIPPA reasons), but if you are a doctor, and your family member is the patient, please know when it is appropriate to hunt me down in the hallway to point out when you think something is wrong. If the machine says your family member doesn’t have a pulse, but she is happily chatting away, you, as a physician, should know that she indeed does have a pulse. Or should at least know how to check for it. Please don’t attack me the hallway (when I have a handful of stuff) and ask me what’s wrong. Because nothing is wrong, your family member just moved her finger the wrong way.

Okay, this is really long. Long story short, I ended up sobbing (literally) at least three times and tearing up multiple more times. I could not get caught up at all…I passed my 5pm medications at 6:30, etc etc. I was terrified to go into work today because I knew my manager would be yelling at me about not being efficient and getting out on time. The night nurse was talking to the nursing administrator and said something like, “They really need to stop short-staffing second shift. Over 75% of those nurses have less than one year of experience, and they expect them to take patient assignments that even seasoned nurses would have trouble managing. We’re either going to push them out of nursing or out of this hospital.” THANK YOU. I almost quit yesterday. No joke.

Thursday

Praise be to God, I had the day off. I went for a dentist appointment to have cavities filled, but the dentist said he didn’t need to fill them…back to bed! I slept until one in the afternoon. Glorious.

That is, until my neighbor came and yelled at me. When I first moved here, I had my credit card statements sent to the wrong address (I can be a bit dyslexic with numbers), and I didn’t realize it because I actually pay my credit cards online. She came and talked to my roommate about it, and I switched my address. My mom ordered me a magazine and apparently switched the numbers as well, so the magazine went back to the same lady. She must have brought it over when my roommate was home, but I’m sure the magazine sold my address to some ad companies, so she got junk mail for me. She brought it over and told me that it was “really bothering her” that she was getting my mail and that I needed to change my address immediately. I told her I can no clue what the mail even was. Honestly…if it bothers you that much, just throw it out! Nothing important is coming to your house.

People here are so unfriendly.

Friday

Not too bad of a day, outside of a family yelling at me within ten minutes of being there. They wanted to go home and the patient needed an IV taken out. I need to get report so the day nurse can go home (and therefore not get yelled at…), so you can hold on for twenty minutes. I actually caught the patient as he was walking out into the hallway to go home with his IV in. People in this world are so impatient. Overall, I had a pretty good night (once I talked myself out of crying in the parking lot before going in). I got out on time, so hopefully no one yells at me on Monday. I really hate this place.

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Doesn’t this sound like fun? I’m going to do a “life post” on where I might want to head in the future…I can’t keep going on like this. Last time my parents were here, my mom actually suggested I go talk to someone…like a counselor/psychiatrist or something. Everyone says that this is normal for a new nurse, but this is miserable. I often dread going to work. I like nursing…I think. I just hate not knowing what I’m doing (or at least not being confident in it…) and getting yelled at for not being perfect…it’s only been four months! Gah.

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It’s safe to say that I’ve also had a pretty blah week when it comes to running. Something in my right leg doesn’t feel right…I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think I need better shoes for work. I just wear an old pair of running shoes that probably don’t have any support anymore. I need to look into that…

Short and sweet because I really don’t have much to report…

Tuesday, September 15
6.01 miles in 52:41, avg pace of 8:46

Painful run, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I actually had a 9:03 mile in there. It was uphill, at least.

Wednesday, September 16
6.03 miles in 49:23, avg pace of 8:11

I ran behind two bikers for about two miles…so annoying! I didn’t want to speed up because I wanted to take it easier, but it was so annoying to be fifteen yards behind them for so long. They clearly weren’t cruising at all since I wasn’t even going that fast…

Thursday, September 17
14.16 miles in 1:54:01, avg pace of 8:03

An awesome run with negative splits. I ran in the afternoon since I slept the day away, but it was still cool out so that was nice. People were actually running on the trail since it was later in the day, and I think I passed the entire local high school cross country team. Woo! This was a good length for a run…I needed a longer-ish run to clear my head a little, so this felt great. I like medium-long runs because you can feel accomplished running for so long, but you don’t feel like you’re dying at the end. Works for me.

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Working the weekend this weekend…I hope it’s not terrible. Thanks to anyone for reading all my complaints…I need to vent somewhere and I think my real life people are growing tired of my misery…

Sweet Home Chicago – 20 Miler!

2009-09-13T00:11:00.003-05:00

After the fiasco that was flying to Chicago, I’ve actually had a good time so far! I’m a bit sad that I’m sitting here posting on Saturday night, as that means I’m all by myself (cue: tears), but my friends are tired and my parents aren’t back yet from the University of Illinois football game. How sad. Anyway.

Last night I headed out with my friends to try on bridesmaid dresses, as my friend from high school is getting married in January and two of us are bridesmaids. Awesome. My friend (the other bridesmaid) and I are generally the life of the party when it comes to David’s Bridal, and this time was no different. We like to dance around (you have to dance-test-drive the dresses!), and we’re pretty fun so people in the store enjoy our silliness. Basically, we’re fantastic. On two separate occasions, people at David’s Bridal have told us we’d be fun to party with. THAT’S RIGHT. Haha. Anyway, here are some snapshots to describe the event:

Bride to be, trying on veils. I thought it was particularly cute with her “Muck Fichigan” shirt. (She went to Notre Dame.)

My friend Katie (another bridesmaid), playing with the shawl that we need to wear to cover our shoulders in the conservative Catholic church where the wedding will be. She is actually wearing the dress that the bridesmaids will be wearing, although color(s) are yet to be determined.

FYI, wedding planning seems insane. I go back and forth between “All that for one day?!?!” and “But that’s MY day! I want it all!” Note: I’m not even engaged. (Wink wink, nudge nudge, Rocket Scientist…haha!)

Just kidding. Moving on.

My parents have season tickets to the University of Illinois football games (my dad is a proud alum…He attended back when tuition was like $78/semester…no joke!), so they headed down for the day. Tonight was the only night I could see one of my friends, so I stayed back in the lovely northwest suburbs of Chicago. Since my planned twenty miler would take a long time, I decided to wait until they left (around 2-2:20pm) to head out on my run to maximize family time. Luckily, the weather is pretty nice so it wasn’t a disaster to wait later in the day.

Let me tell you, I had an AWESOME run! I planned out my run to incorporate three shorter runs that I used to do all the time when I lived here. I had a four miler, a six miler, and a ten miler all strung together, so I ran back my house for water twice…and I was able to hit up water fountains along the way…love that! I miss my running routes from home…I could probably run them blindfolded, and I’m speedy on them! Here are the glorious stats:

Saturday, September 12
20.05 miles in 2:35:52, avg pace of 7:46
Splits: 8:09, 7:55, 7:55, 7:53, 7:56, 7:57, 8:02, 7:56, 7:54, 7:53, 7:58, 7:59, 7:49, 7:35, 7:40, 7:31, 7:28, 7:30, 7:22, 7:00, 0:18 (6:15)

Ahhh look at those splits!! And it felt so easy! I guess it’s better to have a day off and not run 18-20 miles eight hours after a terrible shift at work. (Not like I’ve done that…) I ate my Honey Stinger Energy Chews (love!) at miles 4, 8.5, 10, 13.5, and 16.5. I didn’t even notice I was speeding up until I looked at my garmin and it said 7:35 pace! What? It didn’t feel like that at all! I wasn’t dragging at all like I was last week, and it definitely felt amazing. I’m trying to decide between going for 3:20 or being a bit more realistic and trying for 3:25, and this gives me a little more hope that 3:20 is in reach, especially with a taper.

Definitely check out that last mile party! My watch actually showed 6:58 during my run, so I’m sad that it comes up as 7:00 flat on Sport Tracks! Boo. Oh well, I think I’ll make it.

I just realized that I need to register for the BOSTON MARATHON. Who’s in for 2010?? Lurkers, come out and comment…I want a HUGE meet up in Boston!

How I almost missed my flight…or, Why I Dislike Philly: Reason #684

2009-09-12T19:07:00.001-05:00

I’m HOOOOOOOOME. I can’t possibly express how awesome it is to be here. But let’s recap how I got here because quite the story it is. Last time we met, I explained that I would be leaving at no later than 3:45am to catch my 6am flight out of Philly. It’s about a 45 minute drive to the airport, so this would put me at the airport at 4:30, giving me plenty of time to park, catch a shuttle, get through security (it was 9/11, after all), and head to my gate with time to spare.

Let it be known that nothing ever goes as planned. Read on to find out why.

I actually left early since I was ready, so I packed my car and headed out in the pouring rain to drive to the airport. I don’t believe the state of Pennsylvania believes in street lights, so it was a dark, rainy drive. Luckily I had to concentrate super hard on driving (especially through the mist of the semi-trucks…does anyone else hate that??), otherwise I might have fallen asleep. However, there is little-to-no traffic at four in the morning, so I get to the airport at 4:20, ahead of schedule. Good to go, you think? Ohhh how wrong you are.

I pulled up the economy parking lot, where there is a line of cars waiting to get tickets to get in. I would assume that all these people had 6am flights like me because, honestly, who else is at the airport at 4:30 in the morning? I notice that no cars are pulling into the economy lot, and we’re just waiting in a line to get in. Two maintenance trucks show up. Ten minutes go by, and we haven’t moved at all. This looks suspicious…and then another truck shows up! I realize that I should probably go look for other parking, but it’s 4:45, I have no clue where other parking is, it’s pouring rain, and I don’t want to spend $30/day to park in the parking garage. Finally 4:55 rolls around and I realize I should find a Plan B. But I have no clue what that is.

Since the Rocket Scientist is a very forgiving boyfriend, I call him and ask what to do. He says there’s another entrance to economy parking, but he doesn’t know where it is. I ask him to give me the number for the parking authority (I don’t think I was being very nice…remember, I hadn’t slept yet!), so I called them. A lady answered the phone and provided directions to the other entrance…but I had no clue where I was and I definitely had no idea where she was trying to send me! I drive around and end up back at the entrance where I was first, so I pulled in and asked the maintenance guy how to get there. He points me in the right direction and off I go. All is good until I come to an unmarked-Y in the road, and I don’t know where to go. As luck would have it, I picked the wrong one and end up heading towards the employee parking lot. I turned around and drove in the other direction until I finally found the other entrance to economy parking. I pull into the first spot I see and join about ten other people huddled under an awning waiting for the shuttle bus.

Three shuttle buses pass us, and I begin to wonder if we’re even going to get picked up. Luckily the next one stops and we all get on, but then the bus proceeds to stop at every. single. bus stop. All which have NO ONE under them. Gahh. Finally we get to the departures section of the airport and I get dropped off at my spot. I RUN (with two bags and flip flops…so not so much of a “run”) to security. The guy in front of me has no idea how to get through security…they have him go back through about three times. Finally it’s my turn, and I get through quite easily, but my bag does not. The security guy looks at me and says, “Is this your black bag?” “Why yes, it is.” “Mind if we look through it?” “No, not at all.” Dirty look ensued.

Let’s note that I am a 115 pound white female. My bag is a black duffel bag that says, “United States Army” on it, compliments of my brother from when he was at West Point. I understand that it’s 9/11, but I am the least threatening person alive. Let it be known that my bag did not contain explosive material, as noted by the little swippy test that they do at the airport.

I finally get through security at 5:35, and as I’m walking to the gate, I hear, “Final boarding call for United Flight 337 to Chicago. All ticketed passengers should be on board.” Um, THAT’S MY FLIGHT. I start to run, again. I must have been quite a sight to see. Luckily I made it with time to spare…water was leaking through the window in cockpit, so we were delayed while maintenance fixed it.

Let me tell you, I would have absolutely lost it if I missed my flight because I couldn’t get into the parking lot. Add that to the list of reasons as to why I don’t like Philly.

Off for a hot date with my friends…stay tuned for my best 20 miler yet!!

I’m going HOME!!

2009-09-11T01:46:00.001-05:00

Let’s start off with the most amazing news ever…I’m going HOME so sooooon. I have a 6am flight on Friday morning to head home. It’s currently 2:30 am, and since I got off of work at 1:00 am, I’m just going to stay up because otherwise I’m not sure I’ll get my butt back up to head to the airport at 3:45…and we can’t have that! I have not been home since I moved here wayyyy back in May. I love love love Chicago, my friends, and my parents, so I am ridiculously excited to head home. I have big plans to eat at all my favorite places, hang out with my parents/friends, and run twenty miles. (Okay, less pumped about that last one…but I guess I’ll squeeze it in.)

You cannot possibly fathom how excited I am. I will be exhausted when I get there, but ridiculously happy.

Let’s rewind to Wednesday, aka the WORST DAY OF MY LIFE. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but work was an absolute nightmare. I was pulled to another floor…again. I was tearing up while getting a patient into bed, and since I kind of knocked her nasogastric tube, she got mad, looked right at me, and exclaimed, “You don’t know what you’re doing, do you??” Well, actually, I don’t really, but you’re not supposed to know that. Miserable, miserable day. I had six patients, an aide who somehow didn’t even manage to get vital signs on my patients, and everything was non-stop. Half of my patients were very dependent, needing to be changed, a couple needed to be fed, and one complained the entire night that he was nauseated no matter how much anti-nausea medication I gave him. My shift is technically 3-11:30pm, but I clocked out at 2:30 in the morning. I had all my paperwork to do, and the nurse before me didn’t sign of any orders, so I had to go through all the charts and check them. The night nurse asked me eight million questions and looked at me like I’m the dumbest person alive (which I really must have been…what a mess).

Since last night was so miserable, I was PRAYING to be called off today. I couldn’t go back. Not yet. I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m a terrible nurse. But alas, my floor actually has patients on it (like 20-24…don’t ask me where they came from!, so off to work it was. And I got to work on my floor…thank goodness!! I had five patients, one of which was suffering from severe dementia (it was bad…really bad), and two family who called me non-stop. I think I talked to people on the phone at least ten different times. I’m busy, remember?? Anyway. The highlight of my night was when a doctor called (randomly…I didn’t page him), and I kept apologizing because I didn’t have the chart or any of my information in front of me.

He stopped me and questioned, “Are you new here?”

”…Kind of” (Me thinking…”Okay, that’s obvious, but please don’t yell at me!”

”Okay, now stop saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ You have nothing to apologize for, and I’m the director of surgery, so if any doctor yells at you, you tell me and I will let them have it. And if any of them tell me that you say ‘I’m sorry’ one more time, I’m going to let you have it.”

He was very nice and I appreciated him telling me to calm down about not having everything right in front of me. I often freak out because so many people get worked up about “calling the doctor,” and I really think it’s made up to be a bigger deal than it needs to be. I apologize way too much in general, but I think I lay it on stronger when I think I’m obviously being an idiot…which is quite often these days.

Running these days hasn’t been much better than work has been…and if you read this blog just for the running, the nursing has taken over this post! Short recovery run on Wednesday:

Wednesday, September 9
5.21 miles in 43:33, avg pace of 8:22

Nothing to write home about…just got in the miles! I just my brand spanking new pair of Brooks Adrenalines…my old pairs have lots of miles on them, so I figured it was time to bring in a new pair. I’ve got another pair with about sixty miles on them, so I’ll probably need another pair before marathon day.

Today was supposed to be a tempo run…11 miles with 6 at lactate threshold pace. I wasn’t feeling like running at all after my disaster of a night last night, but I dragged my butt out, telling myself that it would get better if I just got out there. My warm-up felt okay, but I was tired. Mentally exhausted, physically tired too. I gave my LT miles a go and ended up quitting after a mile. My pace was around 7:20, which is fine, but I knew there was no way I was going to get through this workout. I decided to stop, more for my mental health than anything, and headed home. Ended up with a seven mile easier run…whatever, I’ll take it.

Thursday, September 10
7.01 miles in 57:23, avg pace of 8:11

Twenty miles up for this week…we’ll see how they go! Time to shower and finish packing…then off to CHICAGO for the weekend. People at work got really confused when I told them I’m going “home” this weekend…Pennsylvania is not home for me after living in Chicago for seventeen years. I can’t wait!

Work Mumbo Jumbo…and Cashew Chicken!

2009-09-08T19:46:00.001-05:00

Here I am, blogging to you from the couch while watching PS I Love You with my roommate. Glorious! Except that I got cancelled again. Work last night was TERRIBLE. Who admits a patient with back and abdominal pain and then only prescribes Tylenol for them? That doesn’t even make sense. Then, the doctor on call is a bit tight with his pain meds (which is fine…until a patient is in pain and wants something NOW). I called twice before another doctor came and ordered her what she had in the ER. Luckily she was nice about it, unlike my patient on Friday who was ridiculous and the family was crazy. Anyway.

In other news, I was told last night at work that my floor would be “closing indefinitely.” We were told we would floated to other floors until our floor opens up again, but today I was told that my floor opened again and just had low census. I’ve been getting cancelled once every week, which is a bit much. I don’t know whether to start looking for a new job or just wait it out. I only have about 3.5 months of experience, which isn’t much at all! I would like to think I’d be better off this time around (versus having zero experience), but you never know. By the time I get my resume out/apply for jobs, I’ll have around four months experience…so maybe six by the time I would start a new job (if I get one?)…ahh! I don’t know what to do. Find my dream job? Get whatever is close to the Rocket Scientist? Hold on for dear life at my current job until I figure out a life plan?

I don’t know. Any ideas? I need a life coach.

I got off work at 1:30 last night, so I ended up sleeping until 10:30…oops! I was still planning on going to work, and I had to squeeze in my twelve mile run. Luckily it was pretty cool today so waiting until 11:30 to run wasn’t a big deal. My back wasn’t too tight, but my legs felt a bit tired. My pace was fine, but my legs weren’t happy with me at all. It was just kind of a “getting in the miles” type of run, and I was just happy to have it be finished.

Tuesday, September 8
12.01 miles in 1:36:51, avg pace of 8:04

Before this post seems like a bit of mumbo jumbo, I’ll share with you one of my favorite dishes…Cashew Chicken Stir Fry! My mom found it on the internet, and it’s one of the best stir frys I’ve had…and it’s easy to make!

Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

1 1/2 lb. boneless chicken breasts
3 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. cornstarch
3 tbsp. water
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. both walnuts & cashews
1/8-1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 tbsp. cooking oil
1 med. green pepper, cut into 3/4" pieces
3 green onions, bias sliced into 1" lengths
1 pkg. frozen pea pods

Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces and set aside. Combine in saucepan: soy sauce, cornstarch, water, sugar, salt and red pepper. Cook until it begins to thicken. Set aside.

Stir fry green peppers, green onions, pea pods. Remove them from wok. Stir fry walnuts. Remove walnuts. Stir fry 1/2 of the chicken; remove from wok. Do the rest of the chicken. Place all of the chicken in the wok. Add soy sauce mixture, cook until thick and bubbly. Add vegetables and cashews. Cook. Serve over rice.

I took a little liberties with the recipe (although you definitely don’t need to!), and I switched the green pepper for a red pepper and added mushrooms that I forgot to put in my baked ziti last week. For the record, I never use walnuts and only use cashews. Highly recommended!

Yum yum! Make enough to share!

Back to the movie! Have a great night everyone!

Non-Labor-Free Labor Day

2009-09-07T12:38:00.001-05:00

Happy Labor Day everyone! Labor Day is one of my holidays to work, so I’ll be headed to the hospital later today. I think this means that I won’t be working Thanksgiving, which will be nice. We had a get together/dinner type thing at the Rocket Scientist’s parents’ house on Saturday, so I got in my holiday festivities. Woo!

As my first Labor Day where I actually have a job in the “real world,” I thought I would share some of what I’ve learned thus far.

Working is for the birds. School was so much better! You determined when to study, how much/how little effort you would put in, and if you wanted a day off, you didn’t necessarily have to show up for class. That being said, I only knowingly missed a few classes in college, and I studied alllll the time. But I liked it! Learning is fun. If only I could get paid to learn…grad school, anyone? Maybe I should be a teacher.
Being paid hourly has pluses and minuses. Being paid hourly means that I get overtime the second I work more than I’m schedule for, even if I only work 72 hours! Time and a half adds up VERY nicely. (I’ll get time and a half today…and another day off to use some other time…woo!) That being said, if I get called off work, I don’t get paid. I can use vacation time, but I currently only have ten hours of vacation time, so I would have ran out if I used it for all the times I’ve been called off.
My job is really hard. Yes yes, I know everyone thinks that they have the hardest job…but really, nursing is really hard! The idea behind it isn’t terribly complex, but being on the front lines means I get the grunt of anything that goes wrong. Where I work, everything falls under my job description (we even empty trash cans…), so many things don’t go as planned and it’s up to me to fix it. With a smile, of course!
Being paid is AWESOME. Getting my first paycheck, I was astonished at how much money I was getting…and that I get it every two weeks! What a deal.
The world is geared toward the 9-5 lifestyle. As someone who doesn’t work 9-5 (go evening shift!), I’ve found it very difficult to meet people. While it is convenient to make a dental appointment and be able to say, “Anytime in the morning works for me,” meeting people is so hard. Any recreational leagues, pottery classes, or church groups meet in the evening. Running groups meet at 6am or in the evening. I could join a book club with stay at home moms…but we probably have different interests/priorities in life.
I totally understand “working for the weekend” now. Many days, I don’t like my job. My roommate doesn’t like her job either. I appreciate my days off so much more now than I did before. I’ve realized how important it is to find something that you love to do because you’ll be doing it the rest of your life! I’m still on the hunt for the organization/job that is best for me. I just hope I find it soon…

I’m sure I’ve learned more along the way, but I think that’s a good start. Today is a rest day from running…my legs are tired! I definitely needed it after a long week of running last week, and my legs will appreciate it before all the miles planned for this week. My back also is still sore, so it’s not a rest day from stretching. I received a comment on my last post saying that I should dance around to loosen up my lower back…I’ll try anything once, as long as no one is around to witness it! :)

Yesterday was an attempt at walking around the town where I work, as cute shops and restaurants line the main street. However, they were all closed! I guess they closed for the “holiday,” even though it was today! I was kind of sad and we only got to go into two stores. The highlight of the adventure was spotting a Hawaii license plate in the parking lot…don’t ask me what it was doing in Pennsylvania, but I’ve never seen one before so it was very exciting! I had to snap a picture, Frayed Laces style:

Hang Loose! (I think…)

The Rocket Scientist said I was embarrassing him…oops! I thought it was funny. :) I hope everyone has a great Labor Day, filled with BBQ’s and sunny weather!

All I do is run…

2009-09-06T17:41:00.001-05:00

It’s been a busy week since I got my laptop on Tuesday, and I’m happy to report that I am putting it to good use by sitting on the couch, blogging, and watching Mean Girls. Life doesn’t get much better than this! Okay, that’s not actually true, but it’s the small things in life that are important. Let’s get onto the running for this week! Lots to report:

Wednesday, September 2
11.02 miles in 1:23:04, avg pace of 7:32

First of all, can we mention how fun it is to have the time of my run be 1:23:04? 1-2-3-4! I personally think it’s awesome that my 3200 PR in high school was 12:34…while I would have liked to run faster, it’s a cool time. :) Nerd alert! Anyway. This run was…awesome! The few days before, I was telling the Rocket Scientist how I would like to run 3:20 for Philly, but running 7:38 miles sounds intimidating! I know I’ve been running slower because of the heat and adjusting to life/work, and at one point I even thought I could go 3:20 for the Wisconsin Marathon. When I saw that my splits were around 7:25-7:40-ish, I felt a little more confident about possibly running 3:20. My actual goal is up in the air, but having a great fun that didn’t feel crazy fast (the day after a tempo run!) was fantastic.

Friday, September 4
7.10 miles in 56:55, avg pace of 8:01

This run may have looked good in the numbers, but my back as been hurting me all week. At first I thought that I might have hurt it at work (you know, lifting 250+ pound people all the time), but it doesn’t hurt when lifting people and it hurts a lot when I’m running/moving. Luckily it loosened up after I stretched for a little while, but any sudden movements while running (such as avoiding snakes on the trail…yikes!) really hurt. It still hurts, and I even had the Rocket Scientist’s brother stretch me out since he’s an athletic trainer in training. Definitely need to stretch more..

Saturday, September 5
18.32 miles in 2:27:43
Splits: 8:11, 8:06, 8:11, 8:10, 8:01, 8:11, 8:14, 8:31, 7:33, 7:50, 8:09, 7:54, 7:54, 7:54, 8:07, 7:59, 8:04, 8:02, 2:34 (8:02)

Long run! And what a long run it was…gah! Most of my long runs have felt good, but this run went on foreverrrr. I was dragging like crazy for the last four-five miles, and the Rocket Scientist was my personal cheerleader. I got off work at 1 am on Friday night (I had a terrible night), so we didn’t get started until about 9:30. Luckily it wasn’t too hot, but I was still tired. We headed out on the trail near my house (where I do 75% of my runs…), and tons of people were out! I don’t usually see many people since I run at an odd time, so it was fun to see other people running. Mostly bikers were out, but plenty of runners. Lots of them had fuel belts on, so I’m assuming that they were doing their long runs for marathon training! I guess the Rocket Scientist and I need to get in with the cool kids and wear fuel belts. We were old school and just carried plastic water bottles…haha.

I also think I need to carry running business cards to make running friends around here…has anyone else done this??

Anyway, the run was going great until we had about four-five miles to go. At around mile eight, there was a huuuuge hill! A warning sign on the trail said 12% grade, which for those of us from the Prairie State, that’s HUGE! I made it up about 75% of the way before I had to walk, which I considered to be a victory. Running up hill hurt my back, so that didn’t help at all. Breaking into song helped me get through this run. While running uphill, I sang to the tune of “We’re not going to take it.” by singing:

I’m going to make it…Yes, I’m going to make it! I’m going to make it…up this hill!

Then the Rocket Scientist told me random cheers that he created, “S-U-S-A-N! Goooooo Susan!”

He’s an engineer…forgive his creativity skills. :) I recommend songs to get you through long runs…making them up is much more fun than any ipod would be!

Sunday, September 6
6.12 miles in 51:37, avg pace of 8:26

I’m still trying to get ahead in my runs since I’m going HOME on Friday, so we skipped the rest day and went right into running for this coming week. My legs were tired, and we ran up some hills to mix our routes up a bit. I’m not sure our pace would have been much faster if I had tried. But that’s what recovery runs are for, right? I just closed out a 50 mile week (my mileage PR!), so I feel pretty good about how I’ve done so far. 55 miles are on the list for this week, so I’m hoping my legs (and back!) will hold up.

My week has mostly been running…and working! It’s funny when people ask me what I do for fun, and I tell them that I run. Then they ask if I do anything else, and I’m like…I run…A LOT. (And bake. Details.)

Off to dinner with some of the Rocket Scientist’s friends! Yum. :) I hope everyone is having an a labor-free labor day weekend!

Shiny, pretty, and RED!

2009-09-01T12:50:00.001-05:00

playing nurse (because i still don’t feel comfortable calling myself a nurse!)

Last night was an okay day at work…I got pulled (again!) to another floor, which was nearly as traumatic as last time. I went to the same floor as before, as I was at least a little familiar with the territory, and I recognized some of the nurses. I actually had a positive experience last time and everyone was super helpful, so I didn’t cry or anything this time around. One of my patients was apparently the former chief of surgery (yikes?), which I learned upon discharge when his doctor informed me of that. (By the way, his doctor was super nice…he introduced himself to me using his first name and actually made small talk…crazy!) But anyway, I had a successful blood draw and successfully started an IV all on my own, without anyone even leaning over my shoulder. Yay! Confidence is half the battle.

(Annnnnd I just got a call saying that I’m cancelled tonight. I think I need to start watching my spending if I’m going to be cancelled once a week! This is getting a little out of control.)

delicious eats

I’m really trying to do better with cooking since I do enjoy it! I just lose motivation when I’m cooking for myself. Yesterday I tried to make baked ziti, already it really wasn’t baked ziti at all since I used penne pasta…but it was baked! I basically sauteed a bunch of veggies (red pepper, green pepper, onion, zucchini…I forgot I had a mushrooms!!), added some spices (pepper, garlic, “Italian medley”), and then threw it in the oven mixed with tomato sauce, cheese, and pasta. Thirty minutes later, voila!

I may have already eaten some before I took the picture…

Do try this one at home!

It was easy and I will have this ALLLLLL week. Works for me.

running machine

Okay, I may have been a teensy bit nervous for my run today. On the schedule was ten miles with five at LT pace, which went well the first time, but not so well the second time. The difference with today was that it was a cool SIXTY degrees when I headed out! AWESOME. I actually got my butt out of bed before nine (a major feat for me, I promise) and was running by 9:15. Here’s out it panned out:

Tuesday, September 1 (Really? That’s not okay.)
10.04 miles in 1:17:11, avg pace of 7:41

Warm-up: 2.52 miles in 21:12, avg pace of 8:26
LT miles: 5.01 miles in 35:39, avg pace of 7:07
Splits: 7:17, 7:13, 7:02, 7:02, 6:51
Cooldown: 2.52 miles in 20:21, avg pace of 8:06

Check out those negative splits!! I felt soooo much better on this run than I did my last one. One of the main reasons was probably the weather…60 degrees versus 80-something? Obviously I’ll run better when it is cooler! Also, my mindset was totally different for this one. I didn’t put pressure on myself to hit 7:00 right away, especially since I don’t really need to be running 7:00 miles! By telling myself that running 7:20 would be better than fine, and reminding myself that I don’t need to be sprinting from the get-go, I felt much more relaxed and less worried about being a speed demon. These runs are easier when I don’t go into them thinking about how hard they’re going to be and how much they’ll hurt. Woo!

i love the fedex man

From my bedroom window, I can see the delivery trucks drive by, and I always hope that they’re going to bring a surprise for me. I loooove getting mail, especially when I’m not expecting it, but today I received something in the mail that I’ve been waiting a couple weeks for. Here it is, all shiny, new, and RED!!

Please pardon the terrible picture, although I think it is kind of artsy with the reflection of the picture of the Rocket Scientist and me. Anyway…my new laptop!!! The computer that I currently have is the one I got right before I went to college (in 2003…), so it’s about six years old and is having some troubles. I finally bit the bullet and bought a new computer, which is my first laptop! I’m excited to lay on my bed and blog. :)

And yes, although I’m the most frugal person EVER, I did pay an extra $40 for the red top. That’s my Terrapin pride, thank you very much.

Wastin’ away again in Margarita(cupcake!)ville…

2009-08-31T10:37:00.001-05:00

What a weekend! It went soooo fast! I’m sad that it’s Monday, but I’ve got some exciting things coming up! Let’s rewind a bit:

Saturday was BBQ day! My roommate like to entertain, so she invited a bunch of her work/church/high school friends over for a BBQ, and I invited the Rocket Scientist’s grad school friends to venture over to Pennsylvania for a good time. We had TONS of food (and beer…), and it was generally a good time. Mainly people sat around and chatted while eating food, but there was some volleyball playing, which the Rocket Scientist always enjoys. I think I spent more time avoiding the volleyball than actually bump/set/spiking it, but with a little practice I don’t think I’ll be half bad.

Although my volleyball skills leave much to be desired, my baking skills never seem to fail me. (Knock on wood!) If you’ve been around for awhile, you may remember the fantastic cruise that the Rocket Scientist and I took in January. (Towel animals, anyone??) Anyway, while on the cruise, we took a trip to Margaritaville in Grand Turk, where we took pictures with a giant parrot:

And sipped margs by the pool:

What does this have to do with this weekend, you ask? Well, this was my baking inspiration! I’ve always wanted to try margarita cupcakes since I like venturing out and baking new things. I searched the internet and decided on this recipe from the Hostess with the Mostess.

Margarita Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream Frosting

INGREDIENTS

Cupcakes:
1 box white cake mix
8 oz margarita mix (liquid)
2 oz tequila
1 oz Grand Marnier
3 egg whites
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp grated lime zest

Lime Buttercream Icing:
8 Tbsp butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp lime juice (approx 2 fresh limes)
1 Tbsp margarita mix
1 tsp lime zest
5 cups powdered (confectioners’) sugar
cane sugar & fresh limes (for garnish)
*****

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350º and prepare muffin pans.

2. Combine margarita mix, tequila, and Grand Marnier in a large glass and stir well.

3. In large bowl, combine cake mix, egg whites, lime zest, vegetable oil, and margarita mixture from step one. Stir ingredients together, then beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for approximately 2-3 minutes.

4. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pans. Fill each cup/liner about 2/3 full.

5. Bake at recommended temperature on cake mix box (usually 325º – 350º) for 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Icing:

6. In a large bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, lime juice, margarita mix, and lime zest. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

7. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and continue beating until smooth. If icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar, a couple tablespoons at a time.

8. Spread icing generously on each cooled cupcake* or use a pastry bag to frost. Sprinkle cane sugar around the edges of the cupcake for a “salt rimmed” look and garnish with lime wheels & wedges.

*Make sure to remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely before frosting.

Tip: Leftover frosting makes a great dip for fruit!

******************************************************************

Here’s how they turned out:

Complete with sugar “salt” rim!

I get a C- for presentation, but I really like the straws. :)

Margarita cupcake and a Corona? What an excellent pairing, especially when I put that lime garnish to good use!

While I prefer super sweet desserts (I have a huuuuge sweet tooth), this was definitely something different and fun for a party! I might try strawberry margarita cupcakes next time…

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With all the cupcakes and BBQ food I ate on Saturday, it’s definitely a good thing I like to run! I headed out for a short four miles on Saturday before the baking craziness began. Nothing too exciting, just a little recovery-get-in-the-miles run.

Saturday, August 29
4.05 miles in 33:30, avg pace of 8:16

Sunday..a cut-back week “long” run. Twelve miles doesn’t really seem that far, especially since we’ll start doing that during the week now! However, I was just not feeling it yesterday. It was a little warm by the time we got out the door since the Rocket Scientist is usually a pretty good alarm clock (waking up around 8-ish no matter what), but we didn’t get out of bed until 10:30. Oops. My legs felt heavy, and I definitely suggested walking back when we were six miles out. Luckily the time difference between running and walking was definitely a motivator in making me run back.

Sunday, August 30
12.05 miles in 1:39:03, avg pace of 8:13

I’m messing with my schedule in order to minimize the running I have to do when I’m at home next weekend. (!!!) I’ll have to do 20 miles when I’m home, but I don’t want to spend all my time running…I want to be with my family and friends! Therefore, I’ll be cutting out a rest day this week in an attempt to move everything up a day. We’ll see how my legs like that…haha. Starting easy with a four mile recovery run…

Monday, August 31
4.02 miles in 33:14, avg pace of 8:15

It was 60 when I woke up this morning!! I had to close the window a little because I was chilly. This should make for some good running weather this week, but I was hoping for a little more pool/deck time. I have a love/hate relationship with summer because it’s amazing for everything except long distance running.

Back to work today…I’m supposed to work five days this week, but the big question is how much I’ll get cancelled or pulled to another floor…

Pulled…and some good eats!

2009-08-28T12:56:00.001-05:00

I had my ninety day review at work on Wednesday, which meant that my “trial period” is officially over. My manager went over the official checklist, which I personally think is a bunch of administrative mumbo-jumbo, but whatever. My feedback was basically that I asked lots of pertinent questions (mainly because I have NO CLUE what I’m doing…shhh!), and that I’m progressing well. I’m “where I should be or a little bit ahead, even,” per my manager. Soooo I guess that’s a good thing? Of course I would love to be light years ahead of where I am at the moment, but it’s only been three months, so I still need some time.

Since my ninety days is up, I can officially be “pulled” to another floor. Basically, this means that if my floor is overstaffed and another floor is understaffed, we can be sent to a different floor to work. While this is better than being cancelled (and therefore not being paid), it still isn’t so fun. Annnnnd guess what? I got pulled on my first day! Of course.

I was sent to a telemetry floor, so most of the patients are on heart monitors. (We don’t have anything of that sort on my floor!) Overall, it was fine. But naturally I freaked out when I got there and I had to draw blood right away and I was convinced that someone was going to throw a crazy rhythm or something. Obviously I was overreacting, but I had finally gotten to a certain comfort level on my floor, and then I was ripped out of it. I don’t do well with that in any situation.

I broke down at the beginning of the shift, which I hate doing because I hate crying, especially in public. One of the nurses pulled me into a supply room and told me that she wasn’t going to let anything to happen to me or any of my patients, and that I could ask her all the questions that I needed to. Half of my anxiety is in not knowing anyone and not knowing who to go to for help, so that calmed me down. The rest of the night was smooth sailing, and I thanked the nurse who helped me throughout the night. She reminded me that what I’m feeling is totally normal for the first six months to a year (or two…or three…as one of the other nurses pointed out!), and that I did great and will make it with time.

I just hoped I don’t get pulled tonight!

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As promised yesterday, I have some good eats to share! I really do love to cook and bake, especially new, tasty things! On Monday I asked the Rocket Scientist what he wanted for dinner on Tuesday (since I had off!), and he said pesto. The only time I’ve made pesto was when I studied abroad in Italy one summer and we received cooking lessons. I looked up a recipe online, which turned out fantastic! (Not that I can find it now…boo!) I cooked up some pasta, added some asparagus, grape tomatoes, and chicken, threw on the pesto, and voila! Tasty tasty:

Yum! Definitely a keeper.

Post-dinner coma, it was time to cook up some dessert! I wanted some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so I did some googling and came up with this recipe from Tammy’s Recipes.

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening or softened butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups quick oats
12 ounces (2 cups) chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Cream butters and sugars in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, stirring until smooth.

2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and oats. Add to creamed mixture and stir to make a thick cookie dough. Add chocolate chips, mixing with hands if necessary.

3. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on greased cookie sheets. Press to flatten tops. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until cookies are browned and cooked to your liking.

SO GOOD!!! And it’s healthy because there’s whole wheat flour and oatmeal…right?? Baking in progress:

Mmmmm cookie dough!! I may have had a few samples…

Ready for the oven!

Final product!! I may have eaten this entire plate that night.

Okay, I didn’t eat the entire plate in one sitting, but I could have because they were so good!! I definitely recommend them if you need a new cookie recipe to try. I thought that the oatmeal + chocolate chips + peanut butter would be too much of a flavor combination, but it was quite tasty. Enjoy!

TiaRT: Pre-Long Run Fuel

2009-08-27T12:51:00.001-05:00

I haven’t participated in Runners Lounge’s Take It and Run Thursday in awhile, but I just remembered it was Thursday and popped over to see what the topic is:

It's the morning of your weekly long run... what do you eat and why?

I’ve tried various foods (or lack of foods!) over the years, and I’ve pretty much settled on what I think works best for me. In my high school summer running years (6 am practice!), I would often show up without having eaten anything, or I would eat some Frosted Mini Wheats if I needed a little boost. Our long runs probably only got up to around ten-ish miles, so in the scheme of things, it wasn’t that far and I was able to get by without fueling pre-run.

This whole marathon business is a little bit different. For runs of eight miles or less (maybe even up to ten?), I can get by without eating anything, especially if I’m in some sort of a time crunch and just need to get out the door. However, with my current schedule (hello, evening shift!), I’m never really pressed for time. My go-to pre-long run breakfast is pretty simple and very similar (if not the same) as what many runners eat. Toast with peanut butter and a banana. Sometimes the toast (usually whole wheat) is traded out for an English Muffin, but English Muffins tend to sit a little heavier in my stomach. Not a good feeling, but it depends on the day.

For beverages, I usually stick with water, although I did have coffee before my eight mile run today. Before my 17-miler on Monday, I sipped on some Gatorade prior to heading out the door since I knew it was going to be a little on the warmer side. I have yet to achieve a perfect hydration plan, but I’m working on it!

***********************************************

This week is a cut-back week in the great Pfitz 18/55 plan, which is very welcome! I think I hit 47 miles last week, which may be small for some people, but for me and my 40+ hours on my feet job, my legs a little tired! However, I just looked my Sport Tracks and since I did my 17 miles on Monday, then jumped right back on schedule without a rest day, I’ve done 38 miles in the past four days…that’s nothing to sneeze at! Definitely looking forward to my rest day tomorrow!

Tuesday was an evening run in Princeton with the Rocket Scientist and his marathoning friends. They run a tad bit faster than me (especially faster than I’ve been running!), so I was a little worried about keeping up, but it ended up being fine. No worries! Strides afterwards were quite funny since I have no leg speed whatsoever and came in a few seconds after everyone else, but at least I had good form?? Haha.

Tuesday, August 25
8.27 miles in 1:03:09, avg pace of 7:38

I drove home on Wednesday and headed to the dentist, where they cleaned my teeth with water…it was basically like they were power washing my teeth and it took about a minute. Does anyone else have a dentist who does this? It was the actual dentist who did the power washing, not the dental hygienist, and I kind of miss the feeling of my teeth being all scraped and the gunk removed. I’m not sure how I feel about this dentist…I have to go back in a couple weeks to get some cavities filled (boo!), but I might try someone else for my next go-around.

Anyway! That was quite the tangent. I had a relaxed five mile run after I got back from the dentist. Didn’t push the pace at all, and it felt good. Go recovery!

Wednesday, August 26
5.22 miles in 43:42, avg pace of 8:22

I woke up this morning and I did NOT feeling like running…at all! However, like a good marathoner in training, I headed out the door anyway. Why is it that you have some of the best runs when it is the hardest to get out the door? My legs felt light and springy…almost too much! Should have kept the pace down a little, but too late now.

Thursday, August 27
8.00 miles in 1:03:19, avg pace of 7:50

I think part of the pacing problem was because I picked it up as I ran by a prison area. The trail I run on goes by a fence with signs that say “Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Corrections: Keep Out”…or something like that. The Rocket Scientist says it’s the fence to keep people like me out versus keeping prisoners in. Anyway, as I got to this part of the trail, I heard lots of gun shots…or what sounded like gun shots to me! Maybe a shooting range is around there somewhere…but you never know!

Off to get ready for work…stay tuned tomorrow for some more of my good eats this week!

Mind reader

2009-08-24T13:26:00.001-05:00

I survived the weekend!! It actually wasn’t bad at all. We only had fourteen patients on the floor on Saturday (we can take up to 38 when we are completely full), and then on Sunday we only had eight when I showed up at 3pm. I guess people aren’t getting sick or are deciding not to come to the hospital. It doesn’t help that there are no scheduled surgeries on the weekend. (A surgeon is on call for emergencies, but no planned surgeries occur on the weekend.) My patients were fairly easy as well, except one of my patients was a bit different .

She was old old…there’s old, and then there’d “old old,” which is people 85 years old and older. Although hard of hearing, she was totally with it. I walked into her room to check on her, and she had been throwing tissues on the floor and exclaimed, “Where have you been?? I’ve been yelling all this time!” Maybe I just didn’t hear her, but I’m fairly certain she wasn’t yelling. Also, she had been using her call bell throughout the day, so if she needed something, she most likely would have used the call bell. I asked her what was wrong, and she just kept saying, “You’re the nurse, you’re supposed to know!” I explained that I can’t help her unless she tells me what is wrong, but she repeatedly told me that I just needed to know. After going through a series of questions (Are you in pain? Having trouble breathing? Do you need to go to the bathroom? Are you uncomfortable in bed? Are you nauseated? etc etc), examining her, and checking her vital signs, I ended up repositioning her and she thanked me for my help. And then continued to throw tissues on the ground.

I have no clue what any of that was about, but I’m apparently supposed to be a mind reader. However, she later told me that one of her friends was blind, and she prayed for her and then she could see. I’m not really much of a religious person (but if you are, more power to you), but that seemed a bit of a reach for me. Interesting people in this world, let me tell you.

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Since I switched my running schedule around, I had my 17 mile long run this morning. The nice part about working evening shift is that I can get long runs in before work without waking up at 4am! I ended up getting off work around 1am last night (we had two admissions and a transfer between nine and ten…yikes), so I woke up at nine and was on the road at ten. The run was really nothing to write home about. I carried water with me and was able to refill, but it wasn’t even that hot so it was a nice run. Lots of people said hi back to me as well. :) Nine miles to go after 17…woo!

Monday, August 24
17.1 miles in 2:20:53, avg pace of 8:14
Splits: 8:17, 8:23, 8:36, 8:14, 8:21, 8:10, 8:08, 8:17, 8:41, 7:48 (oops?), 8:12, 8:35, 7:57, 8:03, 8:07, 8:05, 0:46 (7:36)

Garmin got a little crazy in the middle (it was telling me I was running a 4:30 mile…ummm no), but I was kind of consistent overall and able to drop the pace a little at the end. I should probably still be going slower, but overall I’m pretty happy with this run.

I got cancelled from work today, so I’m off to work on my to do list and then head to Princeton until Wednesday…yay! Mondays aren’t so bad sometimes. :)

Cooking up a storm…literally

2009-08-22T13:06:00.001-05:00

After my ten mile run yesterday, I set to work doing some cooking! It’s been awhile since I really cooked something (instead of like…scrambled eggs on toast or mac and cheese), so it was fun! I really do like cooking, especially trying new things. It’s just hard to put all the work into cooking just to sit and eat by myself. But it sure tastes good and I really only have to cook one-two times per week since leftovers are my best friend. (Unless it’s pizza…I hate leftover pizza!)

For my first meal, I did some searching for a good recipe for quinoa. I’ve heard about this grain before and always wanted to try it. After searching allrecipes.com (your best friend and mine), I went with this Quinoa and Black Beans recipe, mainly because I love black beans and the reviews said that it is very easy to customize. I added a red pepper and zucchini to make the dish complete, and it was quite fantastic. Easy recipe, although I left out the cayenne pepper (realized we didn’t have any) and used red pepper flakes instead…and I left out the corn because I’m not the biggest fan of corn when it’s in things. Anyway, it was tasty…and I’m eating leftovers now. Check it out:

Yum! Sorry about the quality…I’m no food blogger!

Next up was this “Bean Concoction” as seen on Heather at Run Lean Green. It looked like a good dinner alternative to my usual turkey sandwich, which isn’t my favorite, but it’s quick and easy so I fall back on it. Simple recipe:

One can cannellini beans
Lemon juice
Minced garlic (sautéed in olive oil with red pepper flakes)
Sliced grape tomatoes
Cilantro (leftover from the quinoa recipe)…my own addition

Mash up the beans and add everything else and you’re good to go! Simple and tasty. I wrapped it up in a whole wheat wrap with some spinach…I was going to add avocado, but it was rotten! $2 down the drain! Oh well.

Mixed up and ready to eat!

Some other good stuff that I picked up at the grocery store:

I’ve seen this peanut butter on some blogs, and I’ve thought about buying it before, but it’s $5+/jar. I saw it on sale for $4-something, so I went ahead and bought it. I have yet to taste it, but I’m excited.

Peanut butter AND white chocolate?? This has to be good

The Rocket Scientist thought I was crazy when I was excited for Chobani yogurt 10/$10. That’s cheap for Greek yogurt, but let’s face it…that’s still expensive yogurt! I stocked up anyway, and I’m excited to try new flavors like pomegranate! I’m not a huge fan of fruit on the bottom, but we’ll make it work.

Yogurt taking over the fridge!

After my cookfest yesterday, I headed to work. Storms were on the way, as it was really windy as I climbed into my car. I was hoping to beat the rain, but just as I pulled into the parking lot, it DOWNPOURED. Like monsoon. I had no umbrella. Being late for work isn’t much of an option, so I made a run for it…annnnd got soaked. We hunted for an extra scrub top in the closet at work, and we found a white one that was giant (even though it was a size small…), so I wore that with my wet pants. FUN.

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Easy recovery run today. Cloudy and 78-ish, MUCH less humid than it’s been. Awesome.

Saturday, August 22
5.23 miles in 44:04, avg pace of 8:25

Working this weekend…hopefully it goes better than my first weekend!

It’s like breathing water…

2009-08-21T13:08:00.001-05:00

I don’t know about where you live, but it is obscenely HUMID here! And hot. We’re talking in the 90’s here. Yes, yes, I know you crazy Texans and Floridians are roasting as well, but there’s no denying the heat here. Of course, I’m crazy enough to try to run in it. Not overly successfully, mind you.

Yesterday I finally got in my nine miles with four at lactate threshold pace. Well…sort of. I headed out and did about 2.75 miles as a warm up, then geared up for speedwork. I nailed the LT miles last time, but the weather was much more forgiving at that point in time. I pounded my miles out for the first 2.5…thennnn I took a break. I was breathing wayyyy too heavy and I felt terrible. Took a break, moved on. Half a mile later (at LT pace), I still felt awful. Stopped and took another break. It’s hot out here, I thought to myself. My miles were in the low 7:00’s, which is about where I was last time. My target range is something like 7:00-7:15. I told myself I only had one more mile to go, and that I was going to NAIL 7:15 pace. And that I did.

Here’s how it went down:

Thursday, August 20
9.02 miles in 1:11:23, avg pace of 7:55
Warm-up: 2.76 miles in 23:31, avg pace of 8:32
LT Miles: 4.00 miles in 28:30, avg pace of 7:08
Splits: 7:06, 7:03, 7:06, 7:15 (With breaks…oops)
Cool down: 2.26 miles in 19:19, avg pace of 8:32

I think my mistake in doing this LT runs is that mentally I think that these runs should feel super hard and that I should be pushing the pace the entire time. LT pace is somewhere between 15k-half marathon pace (or a pace you can hold for about an hour), and that’s still a long way to go! I shouldn’t feel dead at the end of this workout. In the first two miles, garmin told me I was dropping under seven minute pace, so I had to pull back. I think I need to remind myself to run comfortably hard. For me, 7:15 isn’t crazy fast. While I’m sure the heat didn’t help, I can definitely improve on my pacing for these runs.

Onto today! Another scorcher. I checked weather.com when I got home, and it said “Feels like 97”…yikes!! It’s a flashback to the 2007 Chicago Marathon…you know, minus 16 miles. I managed a ten mile run thanks to:

Carrying water with me. Little sips make all the difference.
Keep pace in check. No records were broken today!
Running on the more-shaded direction of the trail.
Taking some breaks. This direction on the trail has many more street crossing, so forced breaks were worked in.
Cool shower upon returning home. So refreshing!

Some high school boys yelled some highly inappropriate comments at me (…thanks?), but other than that it was fairly uneventful.

Friday, August 21
10.05 miles in 1:24:41, avg pace of 8:25

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I had an extremely productive day off yesterday. I located doctors around here in order to get a dentist and dermatologist appointment, went grocery shopping, bought a calendar so I can stop writing my schedule on scraps of paper, researched bridesmaids dresses for a wedding I’m in, got a package ready to mail, and did some laundry. I feel accomplished.

Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we didn’t have to work?? I certainly think it would be.

On that note…off to work! I hope everyone has a good weekend, I’ll be working. :)

Healthy Living Summit Recap!

2009-08-20T17:46:00.001-05:00

I promised I would get to it ~~today~~ ~~three days ago~~…whatever…so here’s my recap of the Healthy Living Summit!

Friday Night – Cocktail Party!

I was SO nervous going into the cocktail party…I am an incredibly shy person, so walking into a large group of girls where I didn’t know anyone was a huge deal for me. I ordered a beer (Sam Adams Summer!) when I got there to try and calm my nerves, although I’m not sure how much it helped…at least it tasted good! Heading into the party, I thought that I would recognize more people. Of course I knew who the organizers were, but I honestly didn’t know anyone else! I’m more into the running blog world than the food blog world, so that’s probably why. It was a good test for my social anxiety, and I think I passed with flying colors.

I mingled around a few groups and eventually met Heather from Running Leaner and Greener. We chatted for most of the night and sampled some of the wonderful eats that were out. It was so funny to see all the food bloggers taking pictures, and now I wish I had snapped some too! Oh well. Here’s Heather and I the next day at the Summit!

It was really fun to meet other bloggers, especially those who share my interests in healthy living…and good food!

Saturday – The Summit!!

As noted earlier, I ran with Sarah on Saturday morning, so I was hungry when it was time for breakfast. Breakfast did not disappoint! I jumped in with all the food bloggers and snapped a picture of my breakfast:

Stonyfield yogurt, Mix My Granola, blueberry muffin, and pineapple! I tried the smoothie because I hadn’t had one before and snagged the Kashi TLC bar for later.

Let the Summit begin!!

Nutrition

First up was Janel Ovrut, a dietitian in the Boston area. She gave us basic tips on healthy eating, provided examples from her own life, and answered questions from the crowd. Having a degree in dietetics, nothing that she said was too surprising to me. In general, I believe that healthy eating is common sense, but hard to follow. Most people could tell you that you should eat more fruits and veggies than burgers and fries, but it’s difficult to put that into action. (Especially when someone thinks that fries = vegetables because it’s a potato!)

Blog World

Next on the list was Blogging 101 with Zesty Cook. I learned a lot about the blog world that I didn’t know before. For example:

- People make money off of blogs…I had no clue!

- Self-hosted is the way to go. Sadly, I think nurseontherun is already taken (probably should have looked into that prior to picking that name…oops?), but I convert to self-hosted sometime soon.

- Have a logo that people recognize as you. I like my self-made header at the top…I’m sure no one else has it!

- USE WINDOWS LIVE WRITER. It is a life changer. Why didn’t I know about this before??

Stonyfield – Go Organic!

After lunch, Regina Beidler, an organic dairy farmer, spoke to us about her farm and what it means to be organic. I haven’t spent too much time looking into organic foods, so this was an interesting session for me. It seems obvious that allowing animals to graze and be fed naturally will result in more nutritious food. That may be why I bought Stonyfield milk at the grocery store today! I would buy more organic food, but it’s just so expensive, and let’s face it…I’m a cheap girl.

POM Wonderful

Gatsby came out for the juice!! We had a POM juice bar as an afternoon snack. After seeing POM juice on many blogs, I was excited to try it. Like many reviews I’ve seen, I’m not so sure I would drink this straight…I’m not a juice person to begin with, and it’s a bit tart. It would definitely be amazing when mixed with seltzer water…or vodka. (Oops?)

Fitness for Everyone

The main gist of this part of the Summit was for all the headlining bloggers to talk about how they workout, demonstrating that there is something out there for everyone, and that what works for one person may not work for you…and that’s okay! Some people are runners, some people are not. You may love yoga, others may think it’s crazy. Being a runner, I can’t imagine NOT liking running (okay…maybe I can).

The only part that bothered me about this presentation was when the presenters talked about marathon training. Not an exact quote, but it was presented that you don’t necessarily have to do high mileage to train for a marathon. While there are plans out there for running fewer miles (like the FIRST program), I don’t think it’s the best idea to advocate low mileage programs. For my first two marathons, I did Hal Higdon’s Beginner program, which peaked at 40 miles per week, and I think that was a little low, at least for me. I definitely didn’t feel like I was overexerting myself, but I did get to the starting line and finish line without injury. While I understand that cross training can complement marathon training quite well, I also think that it’s important to realize that marathon training is not for everyone. If you are injury prone and your body can’t handle the higher mileage, maybe marathoning isn’t for you. There’s nothing wrong with that at all! I’m not coordinated and would break my neck doing gymnastics, so I stay away. Same idea. (Maybe.)

Okay, I hope that didn’t come across as mean…or something. It’s just my opinion. I get a bit bug-eyed when people run long distances on little training. Moving on.

Saturday Night – Tastes of Boston!

After the Summit, I headed out to the North End with the Rocket Scientist and our friend from college who lives in Boston. I had intentions of meeting up with bloggers at the Fisherman’s Feast, but it didn’t happen…oh well! We headed to this place:

SO GOOD! And super crowded.

Holy Cannoli Sampler! My chocolate mousse one was the best. :)

Rocket Scientist post-cannoli. Awesome.

We then wandered around Boston and I got some good photo ops:

Don’t mess.

They mean business. I do not.

Boston is such a pretty city.

I am in LOVE. Oatmeal cookie hard yogurt. SO GOOD.

My thoughts

The Summit was an awesome experience and I would highly recommend going to it next year…if you can get a ticket! It was great to be around so many health-minded people and to get so much free swag. The presenters opened my eyes to things I didn’t know before, and I learned much more about organic farming.

As a non-food blogger, it felt like I was in a different world. Food bloggers are so dedicated! While I could make the time to have a food blog, I don’t necessarily want to. Nor do you all want to see the ice cream and Sour Patch Kids I down on a daily basis. I love food blogs because I get ideas for recipes from them and they inspire me to cook more. I’ve been a bit down lately (related to my job/moving/new life), so I’ve been less motivated to cook/bake, which is something I love to do. Being at the Summit helped bring back some of that motivation, and I have a whole list of new blogs to get ideas from!

In the blog world, I realize that I am quite small, although I do have readers that return day after day. It blows my mind that some of the bloggers have thousands of people who read their blog every day! I like the connection that I have with the readers who comment and who have blogs that I read, although it would be crazy to be big one day! I think that it would be awesome to do a running version of the Healthy Living Summit, or maybe just a blogger meet-up race?? I like the idea that Kristin from ChasRunner has about a blogger relay race (which some have already done!). I’d be in…

The Summit made me think about where I would like to take this blog in the future, as well as where I want my life to head. My blog is very focused on what has already happened…my runs, how work went, and I would like to incorporate more content about healthy lifestyles. I have a few ideas in my head, so look for some upcoming posts! In my real life, I’m not sure where I want to head. I like nursing (really, I promise!), but I like the idea of focusing on preventative health and health promotion. On the drive home, the Rocket Scientist and I came up with the idea of being some sort of health/wellness consultant. Grocery store tours, kitchen makeovers, cooking classes, exercise tips! I want to go to grad school at some point, and I’m torn between becoming a nurse practitioner (because I really do like medicine/nursing/health) and doing some sort of MPH/Health Promotion degree. This could be a totally different post in itself! It probably will be…haha.

I hope you enjoyed my recap of the Summit and my ramblings. The Summit was a fantastic opportunity to meet other bloggers (I mean…I don’t really know any in my real life!), to get free swag, and to make me think. What more could you ask for?

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Never fear, I will post about my MISERABLE lactate threshold run tomorrow…

You spin me right round, baby, right round

2009-08-19T12:16:00.001-05:00

…like a record, baby, right round round round.

What odd lyrics…I never thought of that until I just typed them out! Anyway, they totally describe me this morning. I woke up and just felt…off*. I was quite thirsty of the world was spinning just a tad bit. Being a stubborn runner, I still had hopes of getting in my nine miles (with four at LT!), so I consumed a breakfast of an English muffin + PB + banana. And loooooots of water. Of course, I did circles down the stairs, but nevermind that. Still feeling a little queasy after breakfast, I figured dehydration might be the culprit, so I grabbed some gatorade and laid back down in bed. I ended up sleeping for another hour and a half (oops?), but the world isn’t doing flip flops anymore, so victory is mine.

My past two runs have been in the crazy heat…about 88 degrees on both days, and even though I took water with me, I probably wasn’t drinking enough. Sometimes I don’t drink AT ALL during work, so a combo of all these factors probably led to the turntable effect this morning. I need to make a conscious effort to drink more water and gatorade (electrolytes…11 miles in the heat/sun definitely requires some replacing!) in these final weeks of summer.

Lo and behold, no nine miles for me. By the time I felt better, it was 88 degrees, and I’m not THAT stubborn. I have the day off tomorrow so I’ll just do some shifting of my runs. Hopefully I can pull myself out of bed before the heat hits…this evening schedule will be much nicer in the cooler temps, at least running-wise!

HLS Recap coming tomorrow…I promise. It’s my day off…no excuses!

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Awesome night at work last night…I started off with four patients, one who was getting on the elevator to go home as I was arriving, and another patient who was discharged before I even got report! Another patient was off the floor for tests for almost four hours, and my last patient was basically independent and just in the hospital for monitoring and IV antibiotics. AWESOME. I needed a day like this. I ended up getting an admission later in the day, but I still couldn’t have asked for much better.

Another nurse poked her head into the room that I was in and said that someone was outside looking for me. That normally makes me nervous because I thought it was a family member with crazy questions or something. It ended up being a patient that I had last week, and he wanted to thank me specifically for all the care I gave him when he was here. He brought me (and the other nurses!) a huge plate of assorted chocolates…so good! This was the same patient that bought me a Diet Coke last week. This job can be soooo hard ~~sometimes~~ most of the time, but the little recognitions every now and then really remind me that I do something right from time to time!

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* I love when patients tell me “something just doesn’t feel right.” While that can be a good indication of something, it also doesn’t help much.

“Do you have a headache?” No.
”Are you nauseated?” No.
”Are you in pain?” No.
”Can you tell me what feels wrong?” No, but something isn’t right.

Hmmmmm. Doctors don’t like that description much. At least it’s better than “Can’t you just switch my pain medication?” Yessss, I obviously have the prescription authority to switch your dilaudid to morphine. Hmmmm. Gotta love it.

Shoe Love

2009-08-18T13:12:00.001-05:00

Sooo I have yet to do my recap of the Healthy Living Summit, but I figured I should at least post about my runs! As soon as I sit down to blog, I realize that I don’t have enough time to do my recap justice. Tomorrow, I promise!

Friday was a rest day…driving to Boston + the cocktail party! Woo! I will say that I got extremely excited when we drove past a sign for Hopkinton. I can’t wait for the Boston Marathon next year!!

On Saturday, I woke up bright and early for a run with Sarah from ghost world. We agreed to meet at 6am to get in a run before the Summit, and when I told the Rocket Scientist this, he looked at me like I was nuts! Since I work the evening shift, I haven’t seen 6am since I started on evenings. I consider waking up before nine “early.” Therefore, I took a picture to prove that yes, I can wake up before six.

Take that!

I had an awesome run with Sarah, and we actually did the first fifteen-ish minutes with Caitlin, Meghann, and Kath! They were heading out just as we were, so we all headed to the Charles together. We took it slow (as I promised I would!), and it was an awesome run! It was cool and the scenery was BEAUTIFUL. It felt awesome to be running along the Charles in Boston…I could totally move there. The five of us ran together until the three planners headed back, and then it was just Sarah and me! We decided on doing eight miles, which led us along the Charles and then back through Boston University. My garmin didn’t end up picking up signal, but Sarah had a Polar foot pod, so we were good to go! It was so much fun to run with her…I felt like I knew her even though we’d never met before!

Saturday, August 15
8 miles in 1:12:00-ish, avg pace of about 9:00

Sunday was another rest day, visiting with my friend from college and then driving back home. Since we did eight miles on Saturday, and I was scheduled for 4 with a long run of 15 on Sunday (which I obviously didn’t do), I decided to just get the miles in and do 11 on Monday. It was TOASTY. I decided to carry a water bottle with me, which turned out to be a good plan. The water fountain was about at the halfway point, so I filled it up when I got there. Worked out perfect! Carrying a water bottle didn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would, so I’ll definitely be doing this in our final days of summer when it’s hot out!

Monday, August 17
11.04 miles in 1:30:13, avg pace of 8:10

I really didn’t want to do a tempo run (as scheduled) the day after a long-ish run, so I was just going to take today as a rest day and do my long run next Monday or something. I’m working this weekend, so it doesn’t really matter which day I do the long run since I won’t have a day off until Tuesday. However, I realized at about 11 that I could do my recovery run today and do my tempo run tomorrow…excellent! Off to run. Of course, it was almost 90 degrees when I decided this. I figured it couldn’t be any worse than yesterday, so I grabbed a water bottle and headed out. It actually wasn’t too bad…I think I do okay running in the heat, especially when I’m not trying to set any records!

Tuesday, August 18
5.20 miles in 43:55, avg pace of 8:26

Recovery runs should probably still be slower…working on it!

This run was awesome because I was able to take out my new pair of Brooks Adrenalines! I bought two new pairs (one yellow, one blue!) at Sports Authority, as they were half price, so now I should be all set for marathon training. I might need a new pair closer to the race, but I should be good for the next few months.

Love them! They look so pretty…I really like the yellow.

Off to work…I promise I will post my recap tomorrow!

Holy Cannoli!!

2009-08-17T13:04:00.001-05:00

After leaving on Thursday, I’m officially back from Boston and the Healthy Living Summit!! It was an awesome, awesome weekend, and I’m so glad I made the trip up to Boston for it. I’m running short on time to do a full recap before I head to work, but I can sum up the weekend with the following picture:

This weekend gets a thumbs up! Not necessarily because of the cannoli (although it was quite fabulous), but because I was able to meet so many people and be around people who share my interests in healthy living. It was also great to learn about organic farming and more about blogging. It’s made me think about this blog and where I would like to take it in the future. In the coming days, I will post a recap of the weekend and my thoughts about the Summit, especially as a blogger who is more focused on blogging about running than blogging about food.

Off to work!

Chicked!

2009-08-13T12:23:00.002-05:00

I totally jinxed myself yesterday. Work was not easy at all! All of my patients had pain control issues, and a couple of them were having trouble with their pain medication...it either made them very nauseated or they didn't like the way it made them feel. I could go into the really annoying stuff that happened (if you have to go to the bathroom and it takes ten minutes to get you there, don't wait to call me until you can't hold it any longer!), but I'll contain myself.

I will say one thing though...if you are three-four times my size, I cannot pull you out of bed. I like my back and would like to keep it.

To end work on a good note, one of my patients bought me a Diet Coke. He really wanted one, and I told him that if I went down and bought myself one, I'd get him one. He ended up walking to the vending machine himself and came back with two...he said it was the least he could do for putting up with him! Fantastic.

Although I got off work around 1:30 last night, I dragged myself out of bed at nine and hit the road for ten miles. It actually cooled down a little bit and was cloudy, so the weather conditions were quite nice for ten miles. It rained a bit overnight so the trail was wet, which usually means that fewer people are on them...so I didn't see too many people. However, I did pass two guys going the opposite direction right before my turnaround point, so I was about a minute behind them then when I turned. I could see them ahead of when I turned around, and I really wanted to catch them, but I knew I shouldn't sprint or anything. I held my pace and slowly caught them a little over a mile later. It happened to be right at the top of a hill, and the one guy took of his head phones and we had the following conversation:

Him: Now you're embarrassing me!
Me: Haha I do what I can! (or something equally dumb)
Him: Are you a school teacher? (I mean...not many young people are running at 11am on a Thursday)
Me: No, I'm a nurse.
Him: I may need you in ten minutes!
Me: Keep me posted!

And then I continued on my way. Looking back, maybe I should have tried to stay with them for a little bit...they were probably running 8:45-9:00 miles, and if they were out running now (teachers?), maybe I could have a running buddy? They didn't look too old (30's?), so it could have worked. I'm shy so I'm not one to do that, but I'll have to remember if I see them again.

Thursday, August 13
10.04 miles in 1:22:08, avg pace of 8:11

Time for some final packing and then off to work...and of course Boston tomorrow for the Healthy Living Summit!! Sarah and I (and maybe a few others?) are meeting for a run on Saturday morning, which should make for a great start to Saturday! I'll definitely be blogging about everything when I get home...I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Happy birthday, Dad!

2009-08-12T12:12:00.004-05:00

You know, Wednesday doesn't seem so bad when you didn't work on Monday and you're not working on Friday! That probably means that I'm going to have a terrible night at work since I just jinxed myself...we shall see. Twelve hour shifts seem like a pretty good idea most of the time...

I started packing for the Healthy Living Summit...so exciting!! I think I way overpacked...and I'm not even done yet! Oh well. I'm leaving after work tomorrow to head to Princeton, and then the Rocket Scientist and I will drive up to Boston on Friday...woo! I'm extremely pumped to check out Mike's Pastry and JP Licks, both of which I hear are fantastic! I've been to Mike's before, so a return trip is definitely necessary. (What? This is a Healthy Living Summit? Oh dear.)

Five mile recovery run today...with half the run uphill, of course! Hills never feel like recovery, but I did a good job keeping the run ~~slow~~ slower...that is, um, until I REALLY had to go to the bathroom. Like pronto. But even then I didn't break an eight minute mile. Woo. My legs felt tired today...I think a little left over from my long run this weekend (which I should have run slower...next time, I promise). Either way, nice recovery run, even though I returned dripping in sweat. I miss runs like this in the winter, I promise.

Wednesday, August 12
5.15 miles in 43:49, avg pace of 8:31

Last, but not least...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad! He's a young 62 today. Here's a picture from his birthday two years ago...

We went to Chevy's and they gave him a hat since it was his birthday...nice! I called him to wish him a happy birthday, and he said that they're having a "Lunch and Learn" at work today, so he didn't have to make his own birthday lunch...but he doubted they would have cake. I might have to have some for him...haha. Anyway, my dad is officially better than your dad (I will fight you on that one), so hopefully he gets cake one way or another.

Philadelphia, Here I Come!

2009-08-11T11:55:00.003-05:00

Last night I officially registered for the Philadelphia Marathon, so there's no turning back now! I just hope it doesn't snow or something on race day. Who else is going to be there??

Week four of marathon training is under way, with eight miles on the charts for today. It was another hot day! August is not a fun month for running. Luckily it wasn't too toasty, but I really think the world needs to invest in more water fountains. The exciting part today was that most people waved back to me! Some even initiated! Eastern Pennsylvania is slowly becoming more friendly...I don't think it will ever get up to my friendly Midwest standard, but I'm seeing improvement.

Tuesday, August 11
8.06 miles in 1:06:27, avg pace of 8:14

I skipped the strides because...well...I just didn't feel like doing them. It was hot. Excuses, excuses...but I think I'll make it.

In other news, I got a monstrosity of a hair cut yesterday. I'm VERY picky about how I like my hair, so testing the waters with a new stylist is a big deal. Looking back, I should have waited until I'm going home in about a month and just had it cut with my tried and true stylist, but hindsight is 20/20. The cut itself isn't too terrible, it's just not at all what I asked for! It's about two inches shorter and has zero layers in it. I pointed to how long I wanted it to be and then said "with long layers...like I have now." Gah. After telling her that I've always parted my hair down the middle, she attempts to style it with a side part. Then charged me extra because my hair was long. Well, it's not anymore!

I'm debating between attempting to damage control and get it fixed somewhere (my layers would be way short...at least for me) or just let it grow out and then deal with it. I wear my hair up five days out of the week (thanks, nursing!), but it's still annoying.

Okay, end rant. Hair grows, life will go on.

I'm alive, I promise

2009-08-10T19:09:00.007-05:00

Don't worry blog world, I'm still here! You were obviously all fearful about the week-long hiatus, but I'm back now. My parents were here all last week (yay!), so I did fun things like...

...touring Philadelphia!

...eating cheesesteaks!

...checking out Valley Forge!

...touring Princeton!

...and finding crazy squirrels in Princeton who let you get close and take their picture!

Among other things, we also baked chocolate chip cupcakes (SO GOOD), went to a wedding shower, and played cards. My parents entertained themselves once I went to work by going to quilt shops, going to a Phillies game, and having dinner with the Rocket Scientist's parents. My dad waited up for me to get home from work each night, which was nice because I usually come home to a dark house. We ate cupcakes and watched Conan O'Brien until he was falling asleep. I don't really see people during the week because of the hours I work, so I really enjoyed having my parents here...and I really like my parents, so that helps as well.

My parents left on Friday and I headed to Princeton after work. Saturday was a PERFECT beach day, so we got some sun and I (finally!) learned how to throw a football. Luckily we watched Shark Week on demand AFTER we got back from the beach. Sunday was a rainy shopping day, where all I ended up with was two new pairs of Brooks Adrenalines. Exciting, yes, but I had high hopes for a new dress! I guess I'll make it...

I got canceled from work again today, which is exciting because I'm sitting here writing this, but sad because that's the second time in a week and a half! I hope this doesn't keep happening...once in a while might be nice, but consistently is not a good sign. No work = no money! We can choose to use vacation days to get paid for our canceled days, but I only have one vacation day so far! I'm looking around for new jobs anyway.

Miles Upon Miles

I've done LOTS of running in the past week! They've been pretty good too. Here's the wrap up:

Sunday, August 2 - My first lactate threshold run!
Warm- up: 2.15 miles in 18:26, avg pace of 8:36
Lactate Threshold: 4.03 miles in 28:37, avg pace of 7:06
LT Splits: 7:16, 7:09, 7:00, 6:58
Cooldown: 2.07 miles in 17:05, avg pace of 8:16

I was really nervous about this workout because I haven't done ANY sort of speedwork in a longggg time! The first mile at LT pace was a bit nerve-wracking because I didn't want to go TOO fast and burn out, but I didn't want to take it too easy. The run ended up going really well and I felt good the entire way. The plan was to average somewhere between 7:05-7:15 (paced on a 3:20 marathon goal...that's just a guess for a marathon goal, by the way!), and I did quite well with that. We'll see how these workouts go as they get longer!

Monday, August 3
4.03 miles in 34:12, avg pace of 8:30

Recovery run...nothing too exciting.

I then took off Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to do things with my parents. Priorities!

Friday, August 7
10.02 miles in 1:20:08, avg pace of 8:00

General miles after my parents left, which was an emotional experience. I'm sure people thought I was weird as I cried running along the trail, but whatever. Despite running at 11:30 after my parents left, it was surprisingly cool and felt really good. Glad I could squeeze it in before work!

Saturday, August 8
4.21 miles in 34:58, avg pace of 8.18

Post beach run! Worst idea ever. The last thing you want to do after laying on the beach is go for a run. However, four miles is four miles so we made it. Obviously.

Sunday, August 9
14.03 miles in 1:52:48, avg pace of 8:01
Splits: 8:04, 8:03, 8:04, 8:15, 7:56, 7:58, 8:35, 8:28, 8:08, 8:06, 7:48, 7:46, 7:39, 7:31

The Rocket Scientist and I met up with his two marathoing friends for our long run. It POURED for the first two miles of the run. Like, soaked to the bone pouring. At least it wasn't hot, right? The Rocket Scientist didn't exactly know the route, so we ended up on the wrong side of a park and then adding on miles on a trail (like...through the woods! haha.) which ended up adding in those slower miles. A bit of a speed up at the end, but it felt good to know that I could still move that fast after so many miles. We were soakeddd when we got back, but I had a good run. The Rocket Scientist not so much. Fifteen weeks to go!

So that was my quick wrap up from running this week. I got canceled from work AGAIN today. Good for a day off, bad because I could have stayed in Princeton another day if I found out sooner. Oh well. I don't think it's a good sign that I've already been canceled twice in the three weeks I've been allowed to be canceled...I'm keeping my eye out for other jobs, but I still think it's a little soon to call myself "experienced."

Only three days of work this week, then off to Boston for the Healthy Living Summit!! I'm so excited for the weekend and to meet Sarah and other bloggers! It's going to be awesome. :)

Canceled!

2009-07-31T13:53:00.002-05:00

Sooo I was out running some errands before work, and I got a phone call from my manager saying that the census is really low so I'm being "mandatorily canceled" for tonight. I was secretly terrified to check my voicemail because I thought I was being fired or something. Anyway, three day weekend for me! I don't know if I'm going to have to take "vacation time" (which I don't really have yet?) or if I just won't get paid for today...I'll find out next week, I guess!

This morning I got up early ("early"...like 8:20) to beat the heat for my long run! It was actually pretty nice out for July...low 80's and humid, but cloudy cloudy cloudy so I didn't have to fight the sun! Fantastic. After some MISERABLE runs this week, it was so nice to have an awesome long run. Thirteen miles were on the schedule, but I added on a little so I could say that I ran a half marathon today. :) My roommate is training for her first half in September, and I caught her before she headed to work...I feel a little bad about my training run being the length of her big race! I'll just have to get her into marathoning!

There were actually a fair amount of people on the trail today. I usually don't see many people, which is probably what I get for trying to run at 11:00 in the morning...most people are smarter and beat the heat! For this run, I really wanted to focus on keeping it slow and relaxed. After a terrible run earlier this week, I just needed some confidence that I can still run long! One bad run doesn't make a bad runner, but it's been a long week. Looking at my splits, I had thought that I was running slower during the run, but I guess not...I could still run slower.

Friday, July 31
13.32 miles in 1:50:05, avg pace of 8:16
Splits of glory: 8:34, 8:30, 8:22, 8:21, 8:12, 8:19, 8:15, 8:10, 8:13, 8:14, 8:02, 8:15, 8:09, 2:20 (7:17...yikes!)

Halfway to the marathon distance!

Thanks for your input on my gym question this morning. I'm the cheapest person alive (...almost), so I find it hard to justify joining a gym when my main activity is running...outside, year round. Then again, it would be money well invested (it's my health!) if I actually used it. I'll think about it a little more...

Off to watch Ellen Degeneres (I miss her show!!) and curl up with a good book...loving this day off!!

Joining a gym??

2009-07-31T08:12:00.002-05:00

Fly by posting to ask a quick question!

I'm thinking of joining a local gym...It's still being built and is supposed to open in late October, so they're having membership specials to get people to sign up before it opens. Any thoughts from those who belong to a gym? It's an LA Fitness and looks really nice! It's only about 5-10 minutes away and would offer all the cardio equipment, weights, and, classes. Just looking for some thoughts...I've never been one to run on a treadmill, so I'm not sure how much I would utilize a gym. Maybe I could actually take up cross training?

Thanks for your thoughts! Have an awesome Friday, I'm heading out for a long run!

MIA

2009-07-30T12:14:00.003-05:00

I've been a bit MIA this week, both in posting and commenting. It's been a very, very trying week at work slash in life. I made it through Saturday at work, and I was scared of going into work on Sunday. When I arrived, I was given five patients, one with eight million things to do, including hanging tons of blood. I've never hung blood by myself before (it's really not that hard), but I was already overwhelmed and worked up from Saturday night, so I just lost it. I spent the first three hours alternating between crying and trying to pull myself together. If it weren't for the other nurses on the floor, who essentially took over half my assignment for me, I wouldn't have made it. There's no time for an "off day" in nursing, or even an off couple of hours.

It's always interesting when one patient is telling you how happy he is with the care he's received during his stay, while another is telling you that you're just not doing enough.

Monday rolled around, and I had eight miles up. I was supposed to do ten strides with it, but I considered it a blessing to just be running...I was so physically and emotionally tired.

Monday, July 27
8.09 miles in 1:06:02, avg pace of 8:10

I was DREADING going to work on Monday. I couldn't do it. I kept trying to figure out if I could afford to move home/in with the Rocket Scientist and pay my loans/live off of tips from waitressing again. (I loved my days as a server...I actually liked going to work!) Of course that's a bit silly, so off to work I went. My manager took me into her office to talk about what happened this weekend, so I started crying then and just saying how hard everything was. At this point, we set up a time to go over "how everything is going so far" and to have my trial period review session. Is it just me, or shouldn't this have been set up a long time ago? Or shouldn't we have talked about this before I've been there for ten weeks? The only feedback I've gotten is from my preceptors, which is basically "you need to be faster" and "good job today." I'm not sure what else I expect, but I don't feel like there's much help in the development department.

ANYWAY. I survived work on Monday and had a MUCH MUCH needed day off on Tuesday. Of course, I slept in because I was so exhausted and then attempted to run ten miles. In the hot humidity. Worst. Plan. Ever. As a result of the combination of being emotionally and physically exhausted, not eating dinner for the past five nights (and therefore scarfing ice cream and animal crackers at one in the morning), and the heat, I had a terrible, terrible run. I ended up turning around after 3.25 miles and ran/walked back. Garmin ended up with a little over six miles, so I walked about half a mile of the way back. It was hot, I was miserable, and I spent part of my run crying. This was the first run I haven't completed in a looooong time. (Ever?) For my long time blog readers (okay, it hasn't been that long), I'm not even sure if I've had a "bad run." This resulted in me being more upset because not only was I so depressed about my job, I couldn't even complete a run.

This, of course, was a stupid thing to think because trying to run ten miles at noon was a terrible idea anyway. Stats, for no good reason at all:

Tuesday, July 28
6.04 miles in 50:46, avg pace of 8:24
Plus: another half a mile of walking, total stoppage time of 14:47 (go garmin!)

So basically those numbers mean nothing. Oh well.

With the rest of my glorious day off, I went grocery shopping and headed off to Nerdville (also known as Princeton). I ate an entire bag of Swedish Fish (small bag, but still). Don't listen to my nutrition advice.

Okay, this is getting long. Speed blogging!

Work on Wednesday was AMAZING. All the nurses had four patients, and we all got out ON TIME. I was wrapped up with everything by 10pm. I attempted to eat dinner (my sandwich was bad since I actually made it like three days ago...), and I wasn't rushed and I had time to spend with patients and help out other nurses. So good! I only had four scheduled medications to give (versus the usual bajillion...or 15-20). Getting out on time makes a HUGE difference, and it's exactly what I needed. I hope the next two days go smoothly before my weekend off.

Run this morning! I slept in a little too long, so it was a bit toasty when I was out, but not too bad. My legs are tired from this whole being-on-my-feet-forty-plus-hours-per-week, but we made it. Five "recovery" miles, which went well. My legs rarely feel fresh anymore, so I take what I can get. If anyone has any tips for not destrying my legs, please let me know. Should I wear recovery socks every night? Nightly ice baths? Anything?

Thursday, July 30 (When did that happen??)
5.31 miles in 43:36, avg pace of 8:13

My parents are currently driving through Indiana on their way here for a week! I'm so excited to see them, but it may also mean that I may continue to be a bit MIA for the next week or so. We shall see.

Sorry for the massive non-running-related talk. I don't know too many people here so I need to vent my life to someone...even if no one is actually listening! (Just kidding!)

First Breakdown

2009-07-26T10:01:00.002-05:00

Everyone told me it would happen...I'm not sure I believed them. Everything finally got to me yesterday at work and I broke down and teared up a little. I had five patients to start, with two who were demanding right off the bat and one who needed to be transferred to another room closer to the nurses' station. The transfer itself took awhile since the patient was pretty much non-weight bearing and was sitting in a chair, not in the bed...so that was quite the effort. Two families called about half an hour after I got there, and I hate when families call for updates right after I get report because at that point, I haven't even met the person (except to say "Hi, I'm Susan, I'll be your nurse tonight"...which, FYI, is still so weird to say) and don't really know what's going on quite yet. I was still behind, and I was told I was getting an admission, moving me up to six patients...which is about when I lost it. Luckily the other nurses weren't as crazed and someone else took the admission.

So that was fun. I was wayyyy behind until about 7pm, then I thought I'd be good. HAHHAH, not quite. I was reassessing one of my patients, and something just seemed...different than before. Blood sugar low? No. Grabbed some vital signs...whoaaaa! Something's not right. Put on some oxygen, called the doctor on call...who immediately came up. The patient went into new-found atrial fibrillation (thank you, EKG) and was then transferred to a monitored floor.

Soooo that was a good find on my part (nurses were like...how'd you find that? "Something just seemed...different"), but the rest of the night was terrible. At the same time that the above event was happening, another not-really-with-it patient had a low blood sugar. Time for some dextrose! Blood sugar came up, life is good.

Another one of my patients was having a terrible time getting her pain controlled, so I finally called the doctor and got her pain medication switched. By the end of my shift, her pain was at a 0/10. Victory!

Overall, I felt like a good nurse and an absolutely terrible nurse all at the same time. Someone please tell me if I just totally violated HIPAA. (I always want to write "HIPPO"...oops?)

Anyway...running! I'm moving my schedule around so my long runs are minimal when my parents are here...They're arriving Friday night, so I'm hoping to do my long run on Friday before work. I'm doing the schedule shuffle, which basically means cutting out some rest days, which will be added in next week when my parents are here...good plan. This past Friday I headed out for four "recovery" miles. I did a new route, which apparently included a gigantic mile-long hill. Recovery certainly doesn't feel easy with giant hills thrown in, but I can't escape the hills, so I guess we'll make it work.

Friday, July 24
4.03 miles in 33:49, avg pace of 8:24

The Rocket Scientist came over Friday night (he was sleeping in his car until I finished work...I should get him a key for the house...), so we did a long run on Saturday morning. In a perfect world, I would be home by midnight and we'd be able to get up at a decent time, but I think I got home more around 12:45 and didn't get to bed until 2. Let's just say that we didn't exactly beat the heat for our long run on Saturday. By the time we woke up and finished getting sucked in by the Tour de France (did you see that mountain they had to climb?? I hurt just watching them), it was about 10:30 and in the high 80's.

Saturday, July 25
12.03 miles in 1:37:48, avg pace of 8:08

We passed few other runners on the trail...mostly bikers. We stopped at the water fountain along the way, and it's not until I step into the bathroom that I realize how drenched with sweat I am...what a lovely feeling! The run felt good until we had about 2.25 miles left to go, when I just felt...tired. We took a little stretch break and were back at it. It was the first time in a long time that I actually stopped in the middle of a run (water stops not included), so I was really feeling it. I love summer, but running in the heat isn't so fun.

Time to mentally prepare for work. Ugh.

It's like Monday all over again

2009-07-23T12:37:00.002-05:00

It feels like Monday all over again...why?? Because I work for the next five days! At my hospital, we're required to work one weekend per month, so starting this weekend, I'll work every fourth weekend. (I think that's how it works?) It was nice to have the day off yesterday, but I'm not looking forward to the next five days! I hope that the weekends are a little slower than the week days...When I worked weekends during nursing school, the weekends were easier because people weren't coming and going for tests and procedures all day, and the census was generally lower...less patients! A girl can hope, right??

Since I had yesterday off, I had big plans to hang out by the pool...but it was cloudy soooo I scratched that idea. I was feeling a little homesick yesterday, so I figured I would get some retail therapy in at the HUUUUGE mall by my house. Of course, the only person I really like to go shopping with is my mom, so that led to a little breakdown. I think I called my mom five times yesterday...that might be a record.

I ended up going shopping anyway, and I'm a TERRIBLE shopper by myself. Half the stores I walk into, I walk out thirty seconds later because I'm like...I don't actually NEED anything from Pottery Barn. I'm not good at browsing by myself...unless I'm in a bookstore, which is a bit like a time warp because you walk in and then don't walk out for an hour...and you would never know it! I ended up buying these shorts (in navy), which I realize are $10 cheaper online...but then shipping is $10 so it's not worth it to buy it online. Why is shipping $10?? That makes no sense.

I headed to Princeton after my retail therapy, and we stopped by Dick's on our way home from getting pizza (yum!) for dinner. I needed some more therapy, so I bought some Nike compression shorts (in black, although the hot pink would have been...well, hot. Red is a possibility as well for future purchases.). I went running in them today, which was definitely a...freeing...experience. They're very short! But nice to wear in the muggy weather we're having. According to Pfitz, week one, nine miles were up for today. I extended my semi-hilly route a little and it ended up being a little over nine. Perfect!

Thursday, July 23
9.18 miles in 1:13:16, avg pace of 7:59

I got this run in just before the rain...it POURED about ten minutes after I got home. I still need to slow down my runs a bit...the first few miles are uphill, so I think I'm doing okay with pace, then the elevation levels out/goes downhill and I realize I'm running faster than I thought I was. Good, but bad! I think I found a trail that connects to the other trail I run on (that makes sense, right?), so that will be exciting for long run purposes!

Kind of dreading going to work today...I'm not sure I like my job. More importantly, I'm not sure I like missing dinner on a regular basis. Need to work on that...

Let the Marathon Training Begin...for real this time!

2009-07-21T11:12:00.002-05:00

Since we've officially decided to run the Philadelphia Marathon, marathon training got moved back a week, making this week the official start of training. Woo! Sooooo basically I'm doing the same thing I did last week. Good enough for me!

I went to bed around 2am last night...It seems that I go to bed about an hour and a half after I get off work, and I clocked out around 12:30. By the time I drive home, ~~snack~~ shove my face full of ice cream and animal crackers (need to work on that...), read some blogs/play on the internet, and get settled in to sleep, it's about 1.5 hours. The funny part is that I was SO tired when I was driving home last night, but it still look the usual time to actually get into bed. I think I need that time to wind down. Maybe.

This morning I woke up around 9am (I know...life is rough) so I could be running around 10. I drank my coffee and had an English muffin with Naturally More peanut butter and a banana. Not sure how I feel about the peanut butter...I saw it in the store and decided to try it, but it is a bit different so maybe it just takes some getting used to. Maybe I didn't wait long enough after eating, but breakfast kind of felt like a rock in my stomach for the first three miles. Perhaps I should go back to toast instead of the English muffin? My old standby!

Tuesday, July 21
7.09 miles in 55:51, avg pace of 7:52

I was doing so good on keeping it slow for the first three miles, and then I picked up the pace without even knowing it. I realized that I was heading uphill for the first half of the run, so once the elevation leveled out, I naturally ran faster. Oops! Working on keeping it slow! I threw my strides in on mile 6, which also made for a speedy mile (7:02), so that factors in there.

Also, awesome day for running...66, cloudy, barely misting. However that really cuts into my "sit outside and read" time. Hopefully it'll clear up for my day off tomorrow!

Twitter!!

2009-07-20T11:02:00.003-05:00

I just joined Twitter...We shall see if this sticks! I'm still not exactly sure what it's all about, but it could be fun. :)

Follow me either on the link above or on the sidebar...Yay!

Weekends > Work Days

2009-07-20T08:45:00.004-05:00

The weekend has come and gone! They always go so fast. Luckily I got out on time from work on Friday, but I didn't eat dinner...again. Friday was such a mess...We had 16 patients on the floor with three nurses, no nursing assistant. That might not have been so bad, except the nurses included me, the nurse who started a month before me, and the nurse who precepted both of us. I don't know who thought that staffing was a good idea, but even I could tell you that it was a recipe for disaster. Since we each had so many patients of our own, we can't really help each other...and I need LOTS of help. Annnnnd then a doctor called and yelled because I hadn't called with the results of blood work yet...mainly because I didn't have results yet! I drew the blood on time, it's being tested in the lab, don't yell at me. Thanks.

No wonder nurses always talk about leaving this hospital.

ANYWAY. Good weekend. Saturday was a short four mile recovery run, which I definitely took sloooow. Neither the Rocket Scientist nor I were feeling like moving too fast, so that worked to our advantage.

Saturday, July 18
4.02 miles in 34:23, avg pace of 8:34

I normally have a hard time slowing down, but my legs were not feeling it, so it was quite easy. I'm actually not sure how much faster I could have ran if I wanted to. I guess that works out well. After running, we headed into town to check out a farmers market, which I was sorely disappointed with. I'm not sure what I expected, but it was so tiny and the produce was super expensive, so we left after five minutes. We ended up going to a giant produce stand where everything is super cheap, but you have to buy in large quantities. I sent half the fruit home with the Rocket Scientist, but I still have TONS left. Fruit filled week, for sure!

Saturday night we went to see The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. It was HILARIOUS. Seriously. Go see it.

Long run Sunday!! After some debate over which marathon we're actually going to run this fall, I think we finally decided to go with the Philadelphia Marathon. We're crossing our fingers that it's not actually as cold as it was last year, but otherwise it should be a good race. The website says that the average temperature at the start is 45 degrees, with an average finishing temperature of 54. Hard to imagine with summer running, but that sounds pretty good to me.

Running Philly means that training actually starts TODAY instead of last week, but we decided to go ahead and do twelve miles yesterday anyway. It was cool-ish when we started...low 70's! I felt terrible for the first five miles...until we got to a bathroom and then I felt MUCH better. The trail near my house is awesome to run on, and the miles can (almost!) fly by.

Sunday, July 19
12.13 miles in 1:38:55, avg pace of 8:09

First six miles: 49:31, avg pace of 8:15
Second six miles: 48:23, avg pace of 8:04

Good run overall, with the second half faster than the first. Can't ask for more than that! When we got home, we showered up and then my BROTHER arrived!! He was at a conference in Lancaster this weekend, so he booked a late flight home so he could spend the afternoon with me! We went out to lunch and then played some mini golf...I won. :) We hung out for a little bit at my house before he headed back to the airport, so it was a short but sweet visit. It's good to see my family because I miss them, and it was quite convenient that my brother's conference was nearby. I can't wait to see my parents in a couple weeks!!

Back to work today, but I have to share my beautiful breakfast with you! On days where I don't run, I'm a big yogurt + fruit + granola fan, and it was so pretty today with all the fruit from the fruit stand.

Stonyfield French Vanilla + Zoe's Granola + Banana + Blueberries + RASPBERRIES!!

So good. Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Let the Marathon Training/Posting Begin!

2009-07-17T10:41:00.003-05:00

Whoaaa...it's been a whole week since I posted!! Oops! I had a busy weekend in Princeton, and then when I got home on Monday, the video card on my computer was making dying noises, so I put in a new one that the Rocket Scientist got me from school. However, that didn't work with my internet (or something?), so I was without internet until just before heading to work on Tuesday. I ended up having to get a USB wireless thing, and it works MUCH better than the internal wireless card I originally bought. Back online! It was so weird to be without it, much like The Laminator. But now we're back. :)

Like I said, it was an eventful weekend! On Saturday, the Rocket Scientist and I dragged ourselves out for a hot, hot eight mile run. After driving from work on Friday night, I was tired and don't like to get out of bed early anyway, so we didn't leave until the early afternoon. Oops! RS does not do well in the heat, but we managed okay. I just wish there were more public water fountains! Most of our arguments tend to be around running, which is probably a good thing if that's all we have to "fight" about. He doesn't necessarily like the garmin nearly as much as I do...he goes by "feel" much more than I do. (Because I don't at all!) I think we'll make it.

Saturday, July 11
8.13 miles in 1:04:55, avg pace of 7:59

Saturday night was GUSTO 2009! It's a game that one of the grad students played in college, and it's basically drunken kickball. We divided into teams, East/South vs. West/Midwest/International, and then we played kickball. You get a point for traditionally scoring a run or for, of course, drinking a beer. It definitely gets interesting as the night goes on, and I think the West/Midwest sneaked out a victory by a few "runs." Being a native of Chicago, I played on the West/Midwest, so go us! :)

Sunday we headed to the driving range. To sum it up very quickly: I am not Tiger Woods. Done and done.

Onto this week! I will divide it into Running and Nursing so you can read the section of your choice...or both!

Running!

Let the marathon training begin! We are undecided about which marathon to do (kind of?), but we're leaning towards Richmond. We've also thrown the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon into the mix. Philly is a possibility, but RS thinks it might be too cold, and I'm probably working that weekend...I don't know how "switching weekends" works yet. We still have time to decide, although I would like to avoid the "sign up ten days before the marathon" that happened this spring...oh well! Either way, I've decided to go with the Pfitz 18/55 plan. I've used Hal Higdon's plans in the past, and it's time to step it up with some speedwork! Plus, I think it will be good to try a new technique/outlook and see what works best for me. I'm already in for Boston 2010, so it's time to experiment.

Monday started off with a bang...rest/cross train! I consider nursing to be "cross training," so, um, I guess it was a rest day for me. :) Tuesday, the real fun began! Seven miles with 10 x 100m strides. I want to keep the paces under wraps, not doing all my runs at the same speed...I did well, maintaining 8:05-8:10 until I got to the "strides" part, where my overall mile pace was 7:15. I just worked the strides into the 6th mile, leaving mile seven as more of "cool down" mile. I'm not sure if that's how you're supposed to do them...any Pfitz followers have some recommendations??

Tuesday, July 14
7.09 miles in 56:21, avg pace of 7:57

My next run was yesterday...nine miles! Only four runs this week, so they are a little on the longer side. Before heading out, it was partly cloudy and a little breezey so I thought it would be a nice run. WRONG. It was so toasty outside! I ended up trying a new route which ended up being very scenic, through some fancy, big house neighborhoods. Annnnnd HUGE HILLS. They never ended. I like to think I did well, only stopping when I realized that I missed a turn somehow and was lost. :) I retraced my steps and figured out where to go, but I ended up adding half a mile to my run. Oh well.

Thursday, July 16
9.51 miles in 1:17:13, avg pace of 8:07

And that was that. Good start so far!

Nursing!

Gahhhh first week on my own! I haven't cried yet, although I was close on Tuesday. I don't even currently remember what happened, but I know I didn't eat dinner (common theme). Oh! Now I remember. I started with five patients, then two went home. One took FOREVER to discharge and ate up and a bunch of time, and then I got an admission. Basically that amounts to an obscene amount of paperwork, and it's really hard to get organized, especially as a newbie and no real time to get organized. I think I got out around 1:15am.

Wednesday was good...busy, but good. Two patients on contact isolation, all four with accuchecks (blood sugar checks!). We rarely have a nursing assistant, and those accuchecks and just eat up your time! I ask a bajillion questions throughout the shift, so I feel bad for the nurses I'm working with. They assure me that I'm not bothering them and that it's good to ask questions. I still feel like nuisance.

Thursday was a train wreck. I had four patients to start, and then we got tons of admissions right at shift change. Being new, I managed to escape them at that time. However, in the first hour of being there, one patient's IV came out and another started to vomit. Behind from the get-go. I missed dinner again...I'm going to lose so much weight with this job, and that's not a good thing! Annnd a doctor that I called wasn't exactly pleasant and told me to tell the other nurses on the floor not to bother him tonight with requests like mine. I'm sorry that my patient was requesting something to help her sleep, but it's my job to call you and have you say yes or no. I'm not allowed to do that. Luckily the other two doctors I called were nice and (gasp!) professional, but I hate how one can ruin the reputation for the entire bunch. (I'm sure all my doctor readers are nice people!)

We had a nursing assistant last night, but with one for twenty patients, they just do vital signs and accuchecks, and I'm not sure it's enough to really reduce my workload as a nurse. At Rush, where I went to nursing school, the aides were awesome...They cleaned patients, helped them to the bathroom, etc. While I don't mind doing that, it's so nice to have an extra hand when two patients are ringing for you, or when one is in the bathroom and you can't just leave them there.

I keep asking the nurse who started a month before if it gets better, and she says it does. Other nurses on the floor tell me to give it a year. I hate feeling like I don't know what I'm doing and being frenzied all the time. Nursing is much harder than I ever thought it would be. One more night tonight, and I'm totally ready for the weekend.

I need to blog more often...thanks for reading my marathon of a post!

Random babble

2009-07-10T12:32:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I took a much needed rest day...my legs were really tired when I woke up! Instead of running, I spent my morning washing and waxing my car. I bought a hose and everything so I could wash my car at home, but when I hooked it up, it didn't work! Apparently the pipes aren't completely hooked up...or something. I'm not sure. Don't tell anyone, but I stole the neighbor's hose to rinse my car. It was all hooked up and just sitting there...maybe I'm a bad person. But now my car is clean and shiny!

I actually got off of work on time last night...third time this week!! It was a busy day (what day isn't?), but I think it went okay. Two of my patients were on contact isolation, so you have to gown up and put gloves on every time you go in the room...everything takes twice as long, and if you forget something, you have to take all the protective gear off and then put it back on again. Woohoo!

Run today...I really didn't want to! Six miles, which were fine once I got going. I almost got attacked by a dog, but a truck almost hit the dog instead! I was running on the left side of the road, and I see a truck coming at me. At the same time, I hear a dog barking so I turn and see it run into the road. The truck slams on its brakes and honks at the dog, which stopped in its tracks. This dog has run after me before, so I'm thinking the owners need to keep better tabs on it.

Friday, July 10
6.22 miles in 48:36, avg pace of 7:49

I'm all packed and ready to head to Princeton for the weekend. If I get out on time/early enough tonight, I'm just going to head straight there instead of waiting until tomorrow morning to leave. There's not any traffic at midnight, so it would be an easy drive.

Tonight's my last shift on orientation...yikes!!

BBQ Chicken Salad Deliciousness

2009-07-08T12:45:00.003-05:00

My day off didn't quite pan out as planned since it started to drizzle just as I was heading outside to read! Boo. It ended up working out okay because I was able to get a bunch of stuff knocked off my to-do list...clean the bathroom, straighten up my room, do laundry, make some phone calls, and of course do a little more catching up on the Bachelorette! The Rocket Scientist arrived after a trip from Boston, and we headed to Walmart (also on my to do list!) and had dinner at California Tortilla (SO GOOD) before heading over to his grandpa's to watch the end of the Phillies game with his cousin.

That all sounds a lot more tiring than it actually was!

Today I actually got my butt out of bed around 8:30 (crazy, I know). I ate too big of a breakfast so I had to hold off on running, so I made my lunch/dinner while digesting breakfast. My mom and I LOVE California Pizza Kitchen's Chopped Barbecue Salad, so one day I searched for a recipe that was similar. Allrecipes.com is your friend, and I found Amy's Barbecue Chicken Salad, so I gave it a go...now it's a favorite! I make a few adjustments...no corn, no fried onions, but I add cucumber and a red (or orange, this time around) pepper. I also cook the chicken on the stove and add soy sauce, garlic powder, and pepper. Delicious!

With a side of pineapple...so good!!

This made an obscene amount of salad, so I'm having it for dinner tonight too. And probably lunch for the next two days.

I headed out for my run after I finished making the salad. Luckily it was only about 75 when I headed out, so it wasn't too hot. I did the seven mile hilly run that I first tried last week, and although my legs were tired to start, I was flying up the hills once I got going.

Wednesday, July 8
7.13 miles in 55:09, avg pace of 7:44

Splits, for fun: 8:01, 8:13, 7:46, 7:44, 7:32, 7:33, 7:25, 0:50 (6:28)

Those splits make me feel better about starting up speedwork because I haven't purposely run fast in a long time. The fact that 7:30 didn't feel too hard is a good sign. Speaking of speedwork, we're leaning towards the Richmond Marathon on November 14, which would mean that marathon training would begin next week. Yikes!

Day off!

2009-07-07T10:10:00.005-05:00

Let's start this post off by saying I've clocked out of work by 11:45 the past two nights. AMAZING. Getting home around midnight is a million times better than leaving at 1:30 in the morning. The past two weeks at work have been crazy...I really don't think it's safe for patients when I'm so busy that I can't even THINK about charting until report is given to the next shift. What else could I be missing during the shift, especially as a new nurse? These past two nights, I've only had four patients (well...five last night, but one was gone in the OR for about three hours). I personally think that there's a HUGE difference between managing four and five patients. I can do four...five starts to get a bit crazy, especially since our manager likes to work us on a skeleton staff and we don't usually have an aide. I'm on my own starting next week, which makes me nervous, but sometimes you just have to jump before you learn how to fly. (That's as poetic as I get.)

I'm still not entirely comfortable calling doctors. I hate the phone (in general), and everyone makes "calling the doctor" out to be a really big deal. Luckily they haven't made me cry yet, although I've been warned it will happen. Am I the only one who thinks it's wrong to have that as an expectation?

Anyway.

Nice run yesterday...a little cool, uphill for the first half, downhill for the second half. Evens out quite nicely. I ran by a local airport...as in, one landing strip for people's private planes. Since I lived so close to O'Hare when I lived outside Chicago, it wasn't unusual to see a plane (or two or three) in the sky at all times. Now I rarely see commercial planes and instead see small private planes, especially on the weekends.

Monday, July 6
6.15 miles in 48:06, avg pace of 7:49

I stayed up too late last night catching up The Bachelorette...I watched week 6, when Robbie, Tanner, and Jake got sent home. Still a more catching up to do...don't send any spoilers my way! Anyway, I woke up at 10:30, which is later than I planned, but since it's my day off, who cares? I ate breakfast and then just got back from an eight mile run.

Tuesday, July 7
8.08 miles in 1:02:42, avg pace of 7:45

I said hi to the bikers that I passed, but people rarely return the greeting...it's going to be my personal mission to make people on the trail more friendly. The highlight of my run was when a biker yelled, "You're gettin' going, girl!!" I'm not sure what it means, but he was enthusiastic and it sounded good to me! I've found that the more "hardcore" people look, the more likely they are to say hi. By "hardcore," I mean people who aren't just out for a random bike ride or seem as though they took up running yesterday. It doesn't matter how fast/slow they're going, but the more serious people seem more friendly. Just an observation, no clue if it has any merit.

dreamin'

I've been having weird dreams lately. During one, I dreamed that I gave someone a shot of insulin in their skull (what??) and then tried to document it like I gave it in the arm. Don't ask me where that came from, other than I'm a bit nervous about completely messing up when I'm on my own next week. My odd running related dream was that I ran the Wisconsin Marathon again, and I ran 3:12. I could possibly run 3:12 one day, but that would take some work. I'm hoping it's foreshadowing...

Time to enjoy my day off by reading in the sun. :) Have an awesome Tuesday!

Happy Fourth of July!!

2009-07-05T12:04:00.003-05:00

I'm a little delayed in writing this, but Happy Fourth of July!! I hope everyone had some fun celebrations yesterday...I know I did! Despite working on Friday and having to work today, I still managed to do a lot this weekend. I was supposed to go up to the Rocket Scientist's family cabin, but then I found out I had to work on Sunday and it wouldn't be worth the three hour drive to get up there, so I stayed home. He came over on Thursday night before heading up to the cabin on Friday, so we got up and went running before I had to go to work. He wasn't necessarily in the mood for running, but I dragged him along for six miles. I showed him "the other way" on the trail near my house, and once we finished running, he said he was glad I made him go with me even though he didn't feel like running. Isn't that how it always works??

Friday, July 3
6.04 miles in 47:19, avg pace of 7:50

My roommate was having a BBQ, so we were able to indulge in some buffalo cheese dip and spinach artichoke dip before I headed to work. So delicious! Work was a bit crazy on Friday night...I swear it turned into a psych ward! Lots of sundowning, and even a patient with actual psych disorders. I did not like my psych rotation at all...it was something that I simply "got through" in nursing school, so it is very hard for me to enjoy work when three out of four of my patients have some sort of dementia/psych disorder.

I woke up on Saturday and it was only about 76 degrees...perfect for a long run! I've been working up for marathon training, so I planned to do 12 miles, which would be the longest I've gone since the marathon in May. It's been awhile! I headed out for the trail, and I was on my way!

Saturday, July 4 - Happy Independence Day!
12.06 miles in 1:34:53, avg pace of 7:52

Awesome, awesome run. I found a water fountain and bathrooms 5.33 miles into the run, which was really nice! I wish I had known about them last week during the 10 miler because it was so hot that I could have used it, and it would have only been two minutes away from turnaround! Oh well, at least it will be good for future reference! I didn't feel tired at all during the run...except for the last uphill mile, but I was expecting that. I tried saying "Happy Fourth!" to people I passed, but no one really said much back to me...People on the trail here are grumpy! An old man who was walking said, "Alright go girl!" to me, which I thought was funny. :)

Since I don't know too many people around here, the Rocket Scientist's friends from high school invited me to one of their parties since I was going to be around and RS was not. It'd been awhile since I'd seen a lot of them, but they're all nice and there was lots of food so it was a good time. I'm really quiet, especially in a group of people who mostly know each other and I don't know them too well, so I was kind of nervous. I wish I was more outgoing, but I don't really see that happening anytime soon. I'm good at one-on-one conversations, but not in a group setting. Afterward a few of us left the party to go see fireworks, which were pretty but were nothing compared to the city of Chicago's fireworks! Maybe next year.

This morning was another gorgeous day...76 with a slight breeze, perfect for a run! I set out for five miles, telling myself I would take it slow and be in "recovery" mode from yesterday's long run. Like every other attempt, I failed at running slow. All my runs are around the same pace, no matter what my legs feel like. Once marathon training actually starts, I will need to actually slow down some runs, while speeding up others because I'm hoping to put in some speed work this time around.

Sunday, July 5
5.23 miles in 41:33, avg pace of 7:57

Less than half a mile shy of 40 miles for the week...not too shabby! Time to get ready for work...I hope everyone enjoys what is left of the holiday weekend!

All I want to do is eat dinner

2009-07-01T12:40:00.005-05:00

It's been a busy, busy two days. On Tuesday night, I got off work at 1:40 in the morning, and last night I left around 1:20. Tuesday night was so busy that I didn't even get to eat dinner. Everyone seemed to be spiking fevers, we had two admissions (which require TONS of paperwork), and one patient was just a bit looney. I sometimes wish HIPAA didn't exist because some people are just insane and what happens is a bit unbelievable at times. Overall, it was a very trying night.

Last night was all set to be a good night...it was going well and I was getting all set to give report and wrap up for the night. Fine and dandy until we have to call a rapid response on one of our patients (rapid response = not a code...trying to catch the patient before they get that far). We thought that the patient had a stroke or an absent seizure. Luckily the patient perked up a bit, but I definitely didn't get out on time like I was hoping!

Hopefully tonight is a different story.

Before work on Tuesday, I had a great seven mile run! It was hot and hilly, but it was nice to try a new route. Nothing too thrilling to report other than I got really excited when I ran past a park called "Water Works Park." I was kind of thirsty and figured with a name like that, there had to be a water fountain! Except there wasn't one to be found...boo.

Tuesday, June 30th
7.17 miles in 57:00, avg pace of 7:57

I was EXHAUSTED after Tuesday night, so I slept in a little (9:30...I try not to waste the entire day!) and then declared Wednesday a rest day. Definitely needed it! I sat outside and read a little...love the sun! Then I made a Pear and Gorgonzola Linguine while watching Gilmore Girls...nice and relaxing. :) Here's the result:

Not as tasty as I had hoped (maybe I don't like Gorgonzola cheese?), but it was nice to try something new.

Since I got to bed late again last night, I was tired this morning again. My legs feel really tired even after sleeping all night, so I debated another rest day. That didn't last long (I think it was the coffee that perked me up), and I headed out for a five mile run. It was in the high 70's and cloudy this morning, so it felt nice and cool. Five mile run with a long hill in the middle (I think that describes all my runs now?), but I felt good after about a mile and my exhaustion was gone. It's funny how exercise can make you feel less tired. Lifting + abs when I got home.

Thursday, July 2nd
5.04 miles in 39:59, avg pace of 7:56

I can't believe it's already July! This year, and more specifically summer, is going fast! I hope that means I'll figure out what I'm doing at work fast and it will be no time before I'm more comfortable/confident. I'm getting there...I think.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July weekend with lots of sun, BBQ, and fireworks!

Running skirt!

2009-06-29T12:13:00.003-05:00

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. :)

I love summer weekends!

2009-06-28T22:27:00.002-05:00

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!

TGIF

2009-06-26T12:45:00.003-05:00

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! :)

Nursing Insanity

2009-06-24T12:02:00.003-05:00

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.

Birthday Picture Montage

2009-06-23T12:42:00.008-05:00

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...

First two-a-day

2009-06-22T12:56:00.002-05:00

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!

It's my birthday and I'll run if I want to

2009-06-20T12:17:00.005-05:00

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??

It may be 1:30 in the morning, but...

2009-06-19T00:47:00.002-05:00

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!

I need more strength training

2009-06-18T12:30:00.002-05:00

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!

Back to our reguarly scheduled programming

2009-06-17T12:25:00.002-05:00

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!

Home is where Mom is

2009-06-12T22:15:00.002-05:00

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.

I need to make friends with Mr. Speedy

2009-06-09T20:09:00.002-05:00

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!

Back to it

2009-06-08T19:59:00.004-05:00

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!

Allergy/Cold Blahness

2009-06-07T14:51:00.002-05:00

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!

Because I like to blog even when I don't run

2009-06-04T19:38:00.004-05:00

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.

*************************************************

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. :)