Bit

by the apple bug....

I broke down and got a new laptop...a mac book!! I'm so excited to be using it right now. Trying to figure out all the features. Not exactly looking forward to sitting down with my old laptop to transfer everything onto this new baby.

I love it.

I want to name it.

Opening it out of the box? so sexy and sleek. Strangely enough, I'm digging the backlit keyboard. It's the little things that get me going....

In the same way in which buying new exercise clothes motivates me to hit the gym, maybe it's a macbook that will motivate me to join the blogging world again. Then again, a PCS is just 4 weeks away, which means lots of lots of fun stories. (be forewarned, the stories have already begun...)

Ok, so I lied

I said I would update soon, and well, since school ended I've lost my blogging mojo. Not sure if it's because of work or what. But here goes the 1/2 marathon story (motivated by DAR who is running her own half this upcoming week).

After running the Marine Corp Marathon in October (which, oops, I 'accidently' signed up for again), my running became thready. I kind of expected that to happen, but it couldn't have happened at a worse time: the beginning of the coldest, snowiest winter I hope to ever experience.

Let's just say this place is windier than Chicago (you want wind farms? we've got the land), and absolutely horrible about clearing out snow. This Florida girl learned how to run in cold weather last year. She didn't however, learn how to run on frozen over snow. The snow storms (there were three) literally put a freeze on my running.

And when hubs casually questioned why I hadn't signed up to train for any sort of race, I knew I was in trouble. I was officially in that dark and crazy place known as "I WILL NOT go on meds seasonal affect disorder"

I had to train. A friend had asked me to consider doing the 13.1 marathon in NYC with her. She asked in December. It was now February. I half-heartedly began training for the half that was scheduled for the first weekend of April. I told my friend 'Maybe." (6 weeks of training, pshhh)

I skipped weeks in my training plan. then on my birthday, I ran 10 miles. Oops. I told friend I would do it. But I still didn't sign up for the race. It was pretty likely that my friend wouldn't be able to run the race....she had this little thing called an ADOPTION to take cafe of. (she was waiting for some travel dates...)

As expected, friend received the call to pick up her baby in a land far far away. She gave me her bib number. I ran 10 miles once more. it was horrible. I still didn't know. But then....it was going to be a GORGEOUS WEEKEND in NYC. Hubs was going to be out of town. And really, what was I going to do in for a three day weekend in this windy state?

Yeah, it was a no-brainer. Arrangements were made. I found a friend to travel up with me (granted I would have traveled alone, that's how crazy I was). Next thing I knew, i was driving through Times Square looking for our hotel on Lexington Ave.

Pre Race Meal: Mussels and beer with nursing school classmate and a high school classmate that I haven't seen since high school graduation.

Race Day: Bagel, juice, and coffee for breakfast. Subway to Queens. Use of porta potty (no trauma).

Race: course...super flat except for a few overpasses. and hello circles. lots of loops and figure eights...crossing the start line 3 times is not cool. Crowds were sparse to non-existent. Entertainment...plentiful along a 3 mile spread, but overall, lacking. I only Gu'd twice (much less than my first half marathon. Overall? with the knowledge that I had at one point trained and completed a marathon, the idea of running a half was in the category of "eh, just another long run. here goes"

Final time? 2:05 something what, did you get that? my first half was slow and easy, and included goofing off, singing and dancing at a 2:16 something time.

I was thrilled

Post Race: stretch, subway ride. shower. walk walk walk. We walked and shopped the entire city. Middle eastern food for lunch on the upper west side....traditional Jewish pastries to snack...books stores, wine stores, massive pillow fight in Union Square (!) and then food at my high school classmate's apartment, plus more shopping, and finally, a deliciously expensive margarita (and yes, dinner) at a snazzy Mexican restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. we didn't get in until midnight. Between the wine, tequila, and oh yeah, the 13 mile run, let's just say it was more than the white noise of the city that put me to sleep....

Good Luck DAR!!!!

Last Minute

Who decided at the last minute to run a half marathon this past weekend?

More to come...just finished two 8s and a 12 (topped with a glass of wine), which is making me sleeeepy.

Start

Today:

Get to work 4 hours early for competency check lists and class.

1455: rush onto floor (class ended late). run into bathroom because goodness knows there won't be many chances to use it later.

1500: meet with nurse I'm following, start report

1505: interrupted

1510: restart report. Have to move chair due to multiple noise conservations at mini-station

1516: interruption

(repeat x2. you get the idea)

10 minutes after getting report, receive word from nurse downstairs that one of my patients (who is downstairs for some tests) made comments akin to suicidal ideation. .

it was crazy. It took a while for the vitals to get completed and entered into the system. my tech became a sitter, a patient returned from OR completely out of it, hypotensive and with nausea. fix one problem, and then open up another. Once I thought I was done getting everyone comfortable, another rings and says she can't breathe. No tech, post op vitals, strait caths, oye vey, I'm glad to be home.

"So why....

haven't you signed up for a race yet?" said husband.

He was a bit concerned. It was early February. We had just gotten through our third snow storm since December. Two of those storms I think were classified as blizzards and had struck within days of each other. Streets were barely passable on car, much less with running shoes.

I had done some small, no more than 4 mile runs here and there, but nothing more.

I was going crazy.

So recently I started looking for some half marathons. while I wouldn't mind doing the same half as last year (historic half), I had already motivated a group of co-workers to get together to run in a marathon relay (each person runs 6.55 miles) and it happens to be on the same weekend as the historic half. So that's probably out.

I've yet to find a good half (with easy to minimal traveling) for May. Regardless, I printed out a plan and have been fortunate enough to have the sun out all week with temperatures creeping up to the mid 40s (I'm loving the sound and sight of melting snow). 6 miles completed today. 5 mile speed work out earlier this past week. Let's hope this keeps up.

Because there is a half in NY...in early april. A friend is trying to convince me to run it with her and her friends. I'm waiting until the last minute to commit. 6 weeks to train for a half? it's going to be messy

Red Alert

No, that's not some image of a a TarJay Bullseye or flag of a certain country in Asia.

it's what my nose looks like, right now, after finishing a box of tissues in 24 hours. DayQuil isn't working one bit. well, not really at least. If I cough, my nose starts running. if I move to a different room, my nose starts running. And if I sneeze? you know the answer.

Back.

honestly. for real. i'm going to keep up with the blogging! It's been nearly two months!

So what's new?

Still working. In fact, one of the patients listed in my last post is BACK on the floor. And while I want to say WHY the patient is back, I have too much respect for that hippopatamus of a privacy law.

The good thing about work? I'm no longer working every other weekend. What a relief! I now work two twelve hour shifts each week, which really isn't that bad. except for the whole running thing. It's hard to go for a run after working a 12 hour shift, especially if you have a husband waiting to eat dinner when you get home at 2015 and have to get up at 0455 to go back to work.

to be fair, after the marathon, I wasn't running after work as much as I used to. Partly because I wanted a break (my legs were exhausted), partly due to the fact that I didn't have a training plan (I needed something to tell me what distance to run-isn't that lame??), and partly due to the weather. We've had quite a few super windy, super cold, super snowy days.

the past couple of weeks I've kept up with 3-5 mile runs. It's going to have to be upped though. I just bought a new pair of sneakers and I need to justify the purchase. of course, buying new running shoes when you're battling a cold probably sin't the best of ideas. here's hoping I can pick it up...