Best and Worst, and a Halloween Fail

Best: by far my kiddo’s birthday party, she happens to be the cutest kid ever.

Worst: where to start… class on Friday night, class on Saturday (all for a one credit class called Interpersonal Violence in Youth and the Juvenile Justice System, a nice light topic for the weekend…), the 6 page page and 6 page take home exam for that class I need to write, the chem test today, the anatomy quiz tomorrow, and I can go on. What I’m trying to get at is that it’s a bit of a busy time right now. I was late to my soccer game yesterday because I was so into studying, the only reason I looked up was because my pen ran out of ink. I’ve also done no running what so ever since the 10k, which feels like forever ago. If only I could run and look at flash cards at the same time.

Halloween Fail:  did you know that the Fred Meyer’s one 39th Ave doesn’t have any costumes? Maybe they did earlier in the month but there were definitely none at 6:00pm. All I wanted was a pirate hat and sword, is that too much to ask for? I guess I’ll just save my costume for next year.

 

Best and Worst of the Weekend, and Run Like Hell

Best: Pumpkin bread pudding

Need I say more?

Worst: oh insomnia, I know we’ve been friends/enemies for most all of my 25 years of being alive but I’m really thinking it’s time to end our relationship. Letting me get less than 5 hours of sleep before a race is really not cool. We’re done.

Run Like Hell: Speaking of races, I ran the Run Like Hell 10k yesterday. Boy was it fun to roll out of bed less than an hour before the race, drive 5 minutes (thanks for being my chauffeur Jen!), run along roads I’ve run many times before, and then be able to go to breakfast at one of my favorite places. Yay for local races.

Running wise the race was pretty good for having run a total of 8 miles in the last month. Next time I sign up for a race someone please remind me to train for it. My goal was under an hour but ended up with 1:03:41, so not too bad. Maybe next time if I actually run a bit more before race day I’ll do a bit better…

Sprinting to the finish

I’m in the blue. That’s right, I wore my Chicago Half shirt. I earned that sucked and will wear it forever and ever.

A Year Ago (From Yesterday)

I meant to post this yesterday but my internet decided to take a sick day.

Yesterday marked one year since I met my kiddo. I can’t believe it has been a year. I remember waiting in the lobby at Doernbecher trying to imagine what it was going to be like and then having it be nothing like anything I could imagine. I’ve watched my kiddo fight an awful disease that no one should ever have to deal with with such tenacity and grace that I could only ever hope to have. Having to face cancer when you’re too young to even understand what having cancer means is unimaginable and heartbreaking, yet every time I see her I’m filled with warmth and joy from her love of life. I’m continually amazed and impressed by the strength of her parents, their ability to keep their lives full of love and laughter is incredible. I feel so lucky to have met them and to have them in my life.

My kiddo’s birthday is next week, I’m making her a blanket that I hope she can use for years to come, and when she does, will feel the love that made it. Next weekend I’ll be at their house with my dancing shoes on and couldn’t be more excited about it.

Oh right, something about running. I went for a run today, first one in a while after somewhat getting over a cold. That was after swimming. My legs were a tad tired but man were those endorphins awesome. In a few weeks I’m going to go to a Team in Training information. Going to kick leukemia in its ass.

Best and Worst of the Weekend

Best: I got my CCA shirt!

It’s more of a bike shirt than a running shirt, which works because if I want to do a triathlon next year I’m going to need to spend some time on a bike. I am a bit sad that I couldn’t wear it in Chicago but I think it would not have been as comfortable as the shirt I did wear. Also, the card from the ladies in the office that came along with the shirt congratulated me on my participation in the Portland Marathon… oops. They’re usually so on top of things there.

Worst: I haven’t run in over a week. I’m finally feeling better after my cold last week but all my free time right now is going to studying. Damn you school, why must you pile on so much?A lab practical and an exam on the same day for one class, the day after another exam? You’re trying too hard to make me hate you. It’s times like these that I dream of leaving Portland and obsess over nursing schools in far away places. One can dream, right?

*Cough*

Umm… so… about that whole ‘here’s my workout schedule, I’m going to conquer it’ thing I talked about last post… well, I got sick on Monday and the only thing I’ve conquered this week is a box of tissues.

Dominated

Here’s how the week went down:

Monday: Planned: Pilates, run 5mi (2 waterfront loops) Actual: Pilates, ran 1mi

Tuesday: Planned: swim 3/4-1mi Actual: swam 1/2mi

Wednesday: Planned: Pilates, run 2.5mi (one waterfront loop) Actual: sniffled my way through Pilates, no run

Thursday: Planned: swim 3/4-1mi Actual: slept until 11:00am, then napped from 1:00-3:00

Friday: Planned: soccer game (at midnight, yuck) Actual: heh, yeah right, I’ll be lucky if I’m still awake at 8:30pm

Saturday or Sunday: Plan: run 5mi In reality: priority goes to letting my lungs heal (my asthma is never happy when I get sick) and studying for my 2 midterms and a practical next week (that’s all before Wednesday)

So, yeah, not so successful. I also had to miss my shift at the Doernbecher ER, which makes me very grumpy but I’m guessing parents will appreciate me not coughing, sneezing, and getting snot all over their already sick or injured children. I will now accept offers to come nurse me back to health and/or bring me treats.

Major Running Fail

The title says it all, I’ve had quite the running failure. By that, I mean I haven’t been running at all. I’ve had it planned to run, had times and routes planned, but I haven’t managed anything since Wednesday, which was only a 2.5mi jaunt around the waterfront that was interrupted by some hail and a downpour (oh fall in Portland). With a 10k in 2 weeks, this isn’t good. I was hoping to get some inspiration from the people running the Portland Marathon and the Chicago Marathon today but instead it just made me fell even more lazy. Not to say I’ve been completely sedentary, I’ve swimming, doing Pilates (I LOVE Pilates), and playing soccer but there’s nothing better when training for a race than actually running (what a crazy concept…). So, the plan for this week is (I’m putting it on here so I feel accountable and can tell you a week from now how awesome I was at completing it all):

Monday: Pilates, run 5mi (2 waterfront loops)

Tuesday: swim 3/4-1mi

Wednesday: Pilates, run 2.5mi (one waterfront loop)

Thursday: swim 3/4-1mi

Friday: soccer game (at midnight, yuck)

Saturday or Sunday: run 5mi

Must do that so I can continue to eat like this:

Mmm, fried okra

Sound good? Ready, break!

Spread the CCA Love!

Abbie is running the Portland Half Marathon this weekend and is raising money for the Children’s Cancer Association so that CCA can bring joy to children with cancer, like my kiddo. So head over here and show Abbie and CCA some love!

Speaking of my kiddo, she was rocking a pair of cowboy yesterday at the clinic. I wish I was half the fashionista she is…

Best and Worst of the Weekend, and Proof

Best of the weekend: my mom getting to meet my kiddo and her family! My mom got one of the puppeteers from Tears of Joy, where she works, to put on a puppet show for some of the kids at CCA. It went really well, the kids seemed to enjoy it. My kiddo’s family, my mom, and I then went to lunch afterwards. It was so nice to have all these very important people in my life get to finally met each other after a year! Couldn’t have asked for a better day!

Second best of the weekend: Sped the soccer team winning our game against a team that threw a fit every time the whistle blew. Way to rock it everyone.

Worst of the weekend: the giant bruise I have on my knee cap from the Sped game and the guy who thought it would be ok to go through my knee to get to the ball and then throw a hissy fit when he got called for a foul. Dude, you were such a drama queen. Also, my hips/glutes/hamstrings were/are very, very sore. I’m a pretty active person, there’s no need for this soreness!

Proof: look, I really did cross the finish line in Chicago!!!

Don't I look like I'm having fun?

In the finishing chute some guy with a camera told me to hold up my medal so he could take a picture:

What medal?

Nice job, professional picture taker dude. Also, note to self, purple sharpie runs if you sweat on it. Guess that was a one time only shirt, good thing it was on sale, now it will proceed to hang on my wall for forever and ever!