6mi +me = Happy runner!

I got another 6 miles in yesterday! That makes me happy! I've been wanting/needing to get my mileage back so badly. Who cares if I have to drive 30 minutes in the opposite direction of my house to get to a good trail. It's worth it. I started out kinda slow, actually the first 4 miles were pretty slow. Then around mile 4 I decided I wasn't going to look at my watch I was just going to run. So i turned my music up and ran. I started to focus on an object in front of me, i'd focus on it till I was right up on it then change my focus to some other object. This actually worked really well for me. I was singing in my head just running running running. My pace went from 9:45, to 8:34-8:45, which is actually a comfortable pace for me when I get going. I find that looking at my watch slows me down, I think I get nervous about my pace. I don't want to run to hard because I want to be able to run my whole run- I don't like have to stop & walk. I realize sometimes you just have to stop & walk but I don't like it. 

Dinner last night was delish. I had some chicken sausages that I cooked up in a pan w/ a little olive oil. I cooked some sweet potatoes in the oven (oh sweet heaven I love sweet potatoes) & I made up some rice pilaf.. None of it really "went" together, but it was darn good anyways. 

Happy Friday! I'm so glad it's Friday!  

phew, glad that's over.

Yesterday I did my run as I planned; 6 mi in the sweltering Florida heat, boy that was fun! I think the thermometer in my car said 85*, there was a little breeze but it didn't help. It was "okay" in the shaded parts of the trail, and when the clouds would cover but when that sun was bearing down it was almost unbearable. I had to stop and walk several times. I couldn't get my breathing right and i was just struggling all over the place. This is my first long after work run in quite a while.  After yesterdays run I am certain I need a treadmill. I can't imagine starting half marathon training in July.

I have my first 10k on Saturday, slightly nervous about that.

Someone asked me what my goals were and I realized I didn't have any. So I made three goals.

1. finish in 1:00
2. finish in 55:00
3. finish in 50:00

The 3rd I think is slightly unrealistic. To finish in that time would mean i'd have to run a 8:03 mile & with my lack of running lately I don't see that happening, but WTH I can hope for the best , right?

I'm trying to improve my eating but I'm not having a lot of success. I wish I could get on a normal schedule, but my work schedule is so hectic and abnormal it makes it hard to schedule anything. gr. Only a few more months of this.

I just can't find enough hours in the day to complete all the things I need to complete. I already get up at 5am, and some nights don't get home till 730pm. I still have to do homework & make dinner.
How do you manage your work schedule & work out schedule?

running in circles.

is really really boring. I got up at 6:15 this morning to meet my friend/running partner. We were going to go to a paved trail and get a run in. . Apparently neither of us were feeling it because she said, "Do you want to go to the lake instead?"  Me: "ha ha, yes, i was going to ask you the same thing". The trail we run is about 30-40 minutes away.. We drove the 1 mile down to the lake (We shoulda just ran down there), we made it 2 laps around the lake and were done. pathetic. Our run was 2.59 miles, in 24:25.. not a bad time. I just couldn't go around that stupid lake one more time. It seemed like it was taking forever, I couldn't get into a good rhythm and I couldn't get my mind off the fact that we were running in circles.

We have a 10k next weekend. http://www.youreventconsultant.com/cypressgardens/2010-RacePressRelease.pdf      My first 10k race. . I know I can do the distance, but my runs have been few & far between. I'm "hoping" this week will be better. I only work 5 days, instead of 6 this week! Woohoo!

Speaking of work: Boy oh Boy. The economy is bad you say? You wouldn't think so the way we are plowing through receptionists. I don't even know what number we are on since November 09.. more then 10, I promise you that. Yesterday was supposed to be an easy day for me ; I was going to complete some stuff I haven't been able to do because I play the roll of receptionist during the week. Everything is going great, or so I think. No altercations with patients, it was a really quiet morning actually.. I go to lunch at 11:30. Come back around 12.. Weekend receptionists says she is going to step out, she is going to go to Tropical Smoothie to get a Smoothie.... 10 minutes later she calls and says she's not coming back. me: today? or ever...  her: Ever.. me.. Uhm, okay. Bye.

What happened you ask? I have no idea. Just when she was about to start working Saturdays by herself. She was going to be on her own the first weekend in May, and I was going to be off Saturday duty.. wrong! My 6 days weeks are not going anywhere any time soon, and my work is not getting closer to getting done-

I have a pork shoulder in the crock-pot right now & it smells SOOOOOO good! I can't wait to pull that baby apart, drown it in BBQ sauce and have a good ol' pork samich, mm mm mm!

Alright, I have to go do some more homework!
  
Check out my HomeBeachHome blog: http://homebeachome.blogspot.com/  
I have been adding pictures as Chris brings them home on the weekends!

pharyngitis + fever = suck.

Last night I started getting a sore throat. This morning I woke up with a full blown creepy crud going on. I had the chills, my skin hurt, my neck hurt, my throat hurt. Not cute. Alas, I went to work. Of course, what else am I going to do? Call out!? Ha! My ofc mgr would come to my house and get me.  I saw the Dr, he prescribed some amoxicillin. I didn't run today. ugh. I'm starting to get really irritated w/ myself. I seem to find many excuses for why I can not run, instead of why I should run. Monday I didn't run bc we had to go to Lowes to pick stuff out for the house, then we went to dinner w/ BIL , then we went to the hospital to see Mamaw and it was 10 before we got home.

I did do 2 miles on Tuesday before I couldn't take it anymore. It felt like 100* outside, and my throat was hurting, and my shins were aching.

Today I was sick.

Tomorrow i'm hoping to get a run in, assuming i'm feeling better. I'm currently sitting at the kitchen table breaking a sweat- not sure that is good.

No rest for the weary. I'm not off until Sunday. Working 6 days this week. This is going to be an every other week sort of thing until we get some receptionists hired... we have one, she has to give her 2wks at her other job before she can start with us full time. So that's atleast another 6 weeks of working this schedule. joy.

I'll be moving before long though, that is exciting and so scary all at the same time.

I'm sorry my blog has not been very health and fitness related lately. My job has taken over my life.. i'd like to get it back, i'm working on it, but it's not happening very quickly.

Happy Easter!

I started my morning w/ a 630am phone call from my brother in law telling me that Chris' grandmother was in the Emergency Room. She woke up at 4am unable to breath. They called 911. By 7am she was sedated and intubated.  By 12pm she was still sedated, intubated, and admitted to ICU. I still really am not totally sure what is going on with her. The dr's & nurses have been totally uncommunicative with Chris' family. I don't think they've even seen a dr and we are going on 12hrs here. All they know, and they only know this because one of Chris' uncles works @ the hospital and he corned the Dr. and asked what was going on, she has fluid on/in/around, whatever her lungs; and she has some kind of respiratory infection. Other then that we have no idea what is going on. We do know she will be in ICU for several days, and she will continue to be intubated. Ugh. Very annoying. Completely different experience then when my own grandmother was in the hospital 2 weeks ago from a massive heart attack. The doctors were very attentive, the nursing staff was excellent and kept us up to date very well.... it might help that my sisters works in the ER & my uncle might have something to do w/ the board at the hospital. But still, I can't believe how uninformed they are keeping his family. Every time his family asks they give them very little information. I understand that they might not know exactly what is going on, but geesh, you can't atleast come out and tell his family that you don't know what is causing the problem, but that they are running this test and this test to determine the problem?!  ---- I've also worked in a very busy ER and I know how important communication between staff & families are. This hospital seems to be lacking.

Otherwise Easter has been nice. I didn't go to church, I was at the hospital. I did get to go to lunch at my Aunt & Uncles house, so that was really nice. I ate WAY to much, but it was SOOOO good.

My dogs are driving me insane. They aren't listening and they are just being bad. ugh.

I have no work out related news. I didn't run today &  I didn't do the CardioMax DVD- I had no plans to. I had planned on spending most of my day with my family.

I did make my menu for the week though, I decided I have to get back into this habit. It helps me to eat better, and be less stressed about what we are going to have for dinner. I hate deciding at the last minute before I get off work what Im going to make when I get home.

Tonight:   Goulash - essentially this is just spaghetti with elbow noodles.
Monday:  Probably left over Goulash
Tuesday : Garlic Clove Chicken
Wednesday: Pulled Pork w/ Sweet Potatoes
Thurs: Green Pepper Chicken.

Friday & Saturday I will just have whatever. Chris will be out of town....again.

me+run+beach=LOVE

Today is the day I've been waiting for since last weekend! My friend & I planned a beach day last weekend. All week I've been anticipating this weekend. I've been working a ton, and I really needed some sun. I also didn't get to run but one day last week so we decided we would leave for the beach super early and we would run once we got over there. BEST IDEA EVER! It was soooo beautiful today; just gorgeous! 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28868705 

^^^ that link goes to my garminconnect.com account and will show my run. pretty neato.

We did most of our run on the paved trail, then on our way back we decided to run on the beach the rest of the way back...wrong!  The beach "ends" they have it blocked off and we couldn't get all the way back. So we had to turn around and go back almost all the way back to where we got on the beach... Then we just walked and talked and enjoyed the weather the rest of the way back; which was probably another 2-3miles.  So we ran 6 miles, then walked another 2-3. Not sure exactly how many it was, I stopped my Garmin when we quit running.

The beach was amazing! I can not even explain how awesome the weather was. It never got to scorching hot you can't stand it; it was perfect. I got my first sunburn of the year, and that is exciting!   ha ha

That may or may not be an alcoholic beverage in my cup thing... there is a big sign that says "No alcoholic beverages".... they have no proof! ha ha! =)  i'm super pale. please don't laugh. 

 

It was pretty crowded. Stupid us. We sat right next to a huge man made hole..they freakin' hole attracted every kid with in 1000 yards. They were in there with shovels, throwing sand, bossing each other around; oh it was interesting. We learned a lesson. If you see a hole dug in the sand.... don't sit next to it! =)  I am a serious people watcher; does this make me a bad person? 

ahhh, the beach makes me smile, even if it is a really ridiculous looking smile =)))

I never want to go home.. we considered getting a hotel... but I had to come home to take care of my puppies.

We are planning another beach trip soon! Woohoo!





I l-o-v-e the beach. I think I can take on and conquer next week!



I'm very excited for next week's running. I actually get to run 4 days, and THAT is exciting! Yes!
Mon,Wed,Fri & Sun will be my days to run next week!

I really want to up my mileage for April, but with this work schedule who knows. March was not a good mileage month for me, pretty disappointing really. 61 miles, which was just 1 mile over the "challenge" I joined on the Dailymile.com - I really hope April brings me more miles! I set a goal at the beginning of 2010 to run 1000miles this year. It's not looking good. We are already 4 months into the year and i've only run 202 miles. That means I have to run 100 miles a month from here on out. Boy oh Boy, I better get to running!  I am going to set a realistic goal of 80 miles this month. We'll see. =)

G'nite.

confession:body issues.

this is kinda personal . i have serious body issues. There. That is me being pretty open & honest.
Yes. I'm 5'6, and I fluctuate between 128-132lbs. I know this is a healthy weight for my type. I've googled it. This doesn't make me feel better what so ever! I just feel like its distributed all wrong. I have absolutely no shape to my body, straight up and down; it makes me miserable. I wear scrubs to work, and i'm not even comfortable in scrubs. I am not satisfied at all with the way I look. I am trying to eat better, and trying to work out & run; I don't have the time to work out like I want to. I think this is contributing to my unhappiness. When i was about to work out more, and i was running pretty much every day to every other day I was feeling much better. I felt like I was doing something about my body. 

I'm mostly just whining. but seriously my job is taking over my life. I know there are plenty of people that work WAY more hours then I do, and have kids, and much more complicated lives, but I haven't quite figured out how to adapt and manage my time. 

get up at 5am-
let the dogs out
eat breakfast
make coffee
wake Chris up
put lunches together
wake Chris up again
get dressed/makeup/hair
change
change clothes again.. i wear scrubs, how hard can it be to find something comfy.


630a-6:45: leave for work sometime in there
7:15-7:30 get to work.
8:30a - office opens.

5pm-7pm :: get off work, depends on the day.
10pm-11pm go to bed sometime.     (i am not the type of person who can stay up until all hours of the night and still function the next day; no siree can't do it.)

Week 1 - work 6 days; close 3 nights, get off at 5 the other 3 nights
Week 2 - work 5 days; close 3 nights, get off at 5 the other 2 nights.

on nights I work till 7 I usually try to have a crock pot dinner or have something easy that Chris will want to make. 
nights I work till 5 I run.. 

sometime after I get off work I'm supposed to fit in school work; which hasn't been going so well. I'm so far behind it's ridiculous. 


I'm sorry this has turned into a really huge whiney blog. I'm so overwhelmed; I have never in my life had so much on my plate. 


oh, don't forget we are building a house.  

Again, I'm sorry this has turned out to be so whiney. I have been venting to Chris for weeks, hell months. 

*****


On a happy note I am going to the beach in the morning, and I am SO excited about that. In fact its 12am right now, and I have to be up in 4 hrs.

We are driving down to Ft. Desoto to run and then lay out =) Woo Hoo! 

G'Nite.