Random Running Thoughts

I can't formulate a good post today because I amt too depressed about the Hobby Lobby decision, so I thought I would leave you with a few random running thoughts that were going through my head yesterday while out on my very hot run.  But first, here is Evan helping to take out the trash.  We are really into chores at our house and have decided to start him really young.  :-)

And now my running thoughts.

1) The National Mall is not a great place to run when it is 90 degrees and sunny.  There is NO shade.  It is blistering sun for miles and miles.  With a few trees thrown in there, but not many.  And it is HOT.  It's like running through the desert or something.  Especially during the lunch hour.

2) When I was in college and running in really hot weather and feeling like I was going to die, I would imagine that I was a Marine running from captors through the hot African desert and I couldn't stop until I reached the U.S. base.  Back in high school I wanted to join the Marines and in college I did Army ROTC for a while - so I was more into military daydreams.  It tended to work though because I ran a lot faster then.  I need a new motivating day dream these days, especially on those hot days when I pushing a 50 pound stroller up a huge hill.  Any ideas?

3) People think I am not a serious runner because I run in a skirt and all my running outfits match.  I get a lot of comments about how running in a skirt is so "girly".  Yesterday I past (as in, I was running faster) two guys running and I heard one of them say, "We just got passed by a girl in a skirt".  I wear a skirt because I find it much more comfortable than shorts - I hate how the shorts bunch between my legs.  That never happens with a skirt.  And yeah, I like my running outfits to match.  So what.  I am still a decent runner and train hard.  It's like that Verizon commercial I've seen on Facebook about running like a girl or throwing like a girl - girls can be strong at sports too and even girls that like to have cute running clothes can be just as tough as girls who wear scrubby shorts and tank tops.  People need to stop judging others based on appearance.

4) Running through DC in the summer is like running an obstacle course.  There are a million people around and they are walking all kinds of crazy so you try to dart in one direction and they go that way, you try to go in the other direction and someone on those rental bikes comes flying down the street.  Yesterday I almost got hit by a car because he was making a left hand turn on red and didn't look for pedestrians - only cars.  Luckily I am overly cautius and never dart out into traffic, but still.  Look before you turn!!!  Don't walk 10 across the sidewalk and then not move when someone says excuse me!

5) I am one of the few people that follow the rules when it comes to crossing the street.  I wait for the little man.  Always.  Even if no cars are coming and the road is completely clear, I still wait to cross the street.  So what if I have to wait an extra 40 seconds, it's not worth running into traffic.  Even when you have the little man, you still need to be careful (look at #4).  I just always like to wait to cross.  No jaywalking for this little lady.

6) You know you've lived in DC too long when you are trying to run by the White House and you hear a very loud motorcade and see a huge throng of people by the gate and you are more annoyed that they are blocking your way than you are interested in seeing the President's car.  Or whoever important person is being escorted by a motorcade.  I will be sad when I have to switch to running in Baltimore though - I love Baltimore but it's not really a running city. 

7)  When I get back to my desk after running I am sweating buckets.  And eventually I just put my work clothes back on.  And I don't even shower when I get home - I just shower the next morning.  Gross.  It doesn't bother me though.  I usually wash my face because it is covered in salt, and I use wipes to "wipe" myself off.  That's it though.  So far no one has complained about me smelling so I think I am safe.

8)  Even when I change my clothes back, I sometimes keep my tennis shoes on. 

When it's not raining I like to get off the bus early and walk a little to my house and my tennis shoes are much more comfortable than my work shoes.



And one non-running random fact:

I made these delicious Asian Lemon Chicken Tenders last night. 

My picture doesn't do it justice, but it was so tasty!  Ivan devoured almost all of it and the sauce turned out to be really good.  It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be - so that was a big plus.  It was another successful Pinterest find.

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What are some random thoughts going through your head?

What did you have for dinner last night?

4 Kids and an Aquarium

Friday was a great day.  I can't remember why now, but I remember thinking that it was a great day.  At work I had helped to organize a Thunderclap for National HIV Testing Day and we needed 100 supporters in order to "release" it.  You would think that would be fairly easy, but no, it wasn't. I think it was a new concept and people were nervousness or something.  And then people are apathetic and like to ignore you.  I posted it on my Facebook page numerous time pleading with friends and family to sign up and I got three friends to sign on.  That's it.  I have hundreds of friends and lots of family members on Facebook and I got three people to help me out.  There was no cost to it...you just had to agree to have an HIV prevention message posted on your wall at the exact same time as everyone else who signed up.  I really thought I might get a few more people, especially when I was pleading and desperate sounding.  But no.  Everyone ignored me.

I think I got off track because that paragraph above is very negative sounding and I started out saying that I had an amazing Friday.  After a few personal phone calls I finally got 100 supporters and the message went out!! That was really exciting.  We also had a success at the car shop.  I took my car in for an oil change and its 60,000 mile check-up - scary stuff.  Since the life of the car, we've never walked out of the car shop for less than $600 (even when it should be cheap there are things wrong, like I backed into a snow bank and ruined some tire thing that costs a lot of money).  This time we only owed $300!!!  It felt amazing!!  Yeah - I realize that $300 is still a ton of money and I really shouldn't be celebrating, but when you are expecting $600-$1200 and it's only half of that, you get really excited.

Then that evening I went on a short three mile run (while Evan slept) before heading over to a friend's house for a BBQ.  Yum!!  I love BBQing.  They have a daughter Evan's age but Evan is too shy and won't play with her.  It's possible we were two hours late for the BBQ because I underestimated how long I thought it would take me to run and shower, but oh well.  I was really happy that I got a run in when I was swamped at work and then had the BBQ a short time later.

Saturday was filled with lots of exercise.  I went on a 9 mile run/walk with TNT.  I didn't have golf because it's an in-between week so I met up with friends and did a long run.  Everyone else was doing ten miles but I had to run 2 miles there and 2 miles home so I just did five with the group.  And we walked up most hills.  Evan is getting heavy in his stroller so it is a lot of work running with him and my friend wanted to walk the hills so who was I to argue???  We stopped at the playground on our way home so that was fun.  It was completely empty so that's a plus.  Evan had a blast in the sand box.   I used to hate those things because I thought they were disgusting but now I don't really care.

After the park we went home, showered, and headed to the pool.  Yeah...right during nap time.  Evan slept the entire time at the pool and didn't want to play in the water.  He snuggle up next to me and promptly fell asleep while I was sitting in the water.  Very adorable.  That night Ivan decided that he wanted to go on a family bike rike - completely ignoring the fact that I had already run 9 miles.  I agreed anyway.  We rode our bikes around the neighborhood and to the park so Evan could play.  He loves the bikes and I do too...even more so when I am not already exhausted from my run in the morning....

And Sunday was a crazy day.  It started out with chocolate chip, banana, strawberry pancakes.  And some maple syrup.

Look what happens when you give a toddle maple syrup.  First, he glows (haha - not sure why the photo turned out so weird)!!  And then he stops dipping his pancake in the syrup and just licks it straight from the plate.  He was in sugar heaven.  This boy loves his maple syrup.

Then we took all the nieces to the Aquarium.

Yup - Ivan and me and four kids all 5 and under and a huge, crowded aquarium.  We had a blast though.  Or at least I did.  Ivan had to carry Evan and the heavy diaper bag the entire time and started complaining about his back hurting, so he was not as patient towards the end of the visit as he could have been.  And I got a bit impatient with the girls when they were trying to pick out their items from the gift shop - but mainly because I knew that Ivan was annoyed.  But all in all, I thought it was so much fun.

When we got home my sister and her husband were still at the movies so we made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and played outside.

Evan loves this play structure.  And his shorts are so short because we have to roll the waist band or else they fall off.  He's just a skinny-minny.

So that was my busy, fun weekend.  How about you?

Real maple syrup or the fake stuff?  

Sandboxes - yes or no?

A Test Trip to Baltimore

Yesterday I had my first orientation day of nursing school.  It was a one day thing - the next orientation isn't until August and it is a one day thing too.  And then classes start in September.  I can't believe it's coming up so soon.  Crazy!!

The day started out with a SHORT commute. 

This was the picture from the window of the bus heading into the city.  Looks a little dreary.
Who cares though - it only took 30 minutes!!!

This was the best thing EVER.  Rather than sit on a bus for over an hour, my bus ride was a short 30 minutes.  This was amazing.  It felt great.  And the bus drops me off a block from the nursing school and picks me up half a block away.  Totally convenient.  What is not so convenient is how I am going to get to clinicals.  I have to be there by 6:30am and they could be anywhere.  So, I am not sure what is going to work - should Ivan drop me off (even if it's a 40 minute drive both ways?), should he bike him and Evan to my sister's (a good option in good weather but not so great in bad weather), should we borrow my sister's car the night before and then he could drive it to her house in the morning?  Would she even be up for that?  We have some logistics to figure out!

The day was pretty interesting.  There were several dates we could choose so there were only about 1/4 of the class at this session.  Most people looked pretty young and a good number were still finishing their first bachelor's degree.  However, I did make friends with another girl who was 33 and talked to guy who was married, so there are a few "mature" students like myself too.  And it's not like I don't like 22 year olds, but we are in very different places in life so I won't be hitting the clubs in the evenings most likely (not like I did that as a 22 year old either though).

In the morning we reviewed our classes and labs.  Our lab/clinical uniform is khaki scrub pants and a white scrub top.  It is pretty hideous.  It doesn't sound too horrible but khaki scrub pants are not cute.  Think about grandma pants with an elastic waist band in khaki - that's what they look like.  And a white shirt???  Really?  And because I have a tattoo on my wrist, I have to wear long sleeves.  Apparently there is a no-tattoo policy.  At least it's on my wrist and not my neck.  I'd much rather where long sleeves than a turtle neck!

Then we moved on to drug calculations.  We did this for an entire two hours.  This is super important and we have an exam on drug calcs the first month of class and we have to get 100% to pass.  If you don't pass the first time then you have two more tries, but still.  It's a bit nerve-wracking having to get 100%.  On the other hand, I sure wouldn't want my nurse to have only gotten 90% on her drug calc test - so 100% is probably a good policy.

The other review we did was Anatomy and Physiology.  Yikes!

Sympathetic nervous system?  Cardiac cycle?  I better do a bit of reviewing!  It wasn't too intense though.  And here's hoping I can handle it all.  Everyone (staff, current students, and alums) kept remarking about how difficult the two years were and how different it was from any other type of classes/studying we've ever done (actually learning the information and retaining it, not just memorizing it for a test and then forgetting it later).  I just need to be as organized as possible and really buckle down.  And get my family on-board with my schedule.

All in all, it was a good day and made me excited to start!  Anyone else out there make a crazy life change in the middle of their life????

2.5 Hours Can Be a Long Time

Boy was Evan in a mood last night.  Since he can't talk enough to tell me yet, I'm going to assume it was because he was exhausted.  My sister took him to the pool in the morning and I think that completely wore him out.  He pretty much cried, fussed, and flailed the entire night until he went to bed.  The bad thing about this is that it makes it difficult for me to get anything done, so he still didn't get to bed until 9pm.  Now that he's eating a little more, I hate to put him to bed without dinner but then it took me forever to get dinner on the table between holding him and him crying on the floor.  And I was only making quinoa and microwaving food...not making a gourmet meal or anything.  We took a long break to play with play dough outside though....so that slowed things up.  I hate coming home and spending our only time together cooking dinner.  So, when he wanted to go out on the balcony to play with play dough I went out there with him.  So, we didn't eat until almost 7:45.  And then since he had sunscreen all over him I felt like I really needed to give him a bath.  All of those activities resulted in a 9pm bedtime, even though he probably could have fallen asleep much earlier.  What can you do?  Although I got home at 6:30pm and Evan went to bed 2.5 hours later - the night seemed extra long with all those temper tantrums!

And then I made pancakes for Ivan.  I had made some over the weekend but Evan was eating them for breakfast, so Ivan wanted a few too.  So I whipped up a batch.  I discovered if you put some oil in the bottom of the pan they kinda fry and then you have delicious lightly fried pancakes.  

And I made them with Banilla (I'm assuming Banilla is banana+vanilla) Yogurt and bananas, so that made them even more yummy.  I want to eat one right now!

I also made it for a run yesterday.  My friend says I'm on a roll with the running and it sure feels that way.  Except my "rolls" don't last very long.  I have gone every day except Saturday for the past week. Yesterday I wore my Team In Training shirt and a few people called out "Go Team" while I was running around the mall (as in the mall in front of Congress, not a shopping mall).

That is always a great feeling and really motivates me if I'm feeling tired.  Yesterday I had an accidental tempo run because for the three miles I was running on the mall these three guys were behind me and I could tell they wanted to pass me but they weren't quite fast enough.  It made me run a little faster to keep them behind me.  Sometimes that aggravates me but yesterday I was feeling strong so it was a good challenge.  Mondays are my best running days because after a weekend of pushing Evan in the stroller (about 50 lbs), a run by myself seems so much easier.  That effect dies off by the next run, but for one day I feel like I'm going fast!  Today is a day off and my hamstrings are thanking me.  I am still doing all my glute stretches and exercises and I think it is really helping.  The pain in't nearly as bad as before.

Ok, I better take a nap because I have a tone of work to do today and I want to be well rested.  I got 5 hours and 25 minutes of sleep last night, so that's not too horrible...but still, a nap will be nice.

Have a great day!

Splashing in the Stream

This is going to be a long week.  On Wednesday, rather than working from home, I have some kind of Summer Success Immersion program for school.  What does that mean?  Not exactly sure except that we are going to be reviewing Anatomy & Physiology stuff and learning drug calculations.  Something about how these things will help us be successful during the first semester and beyond.  That means that I won't get my extra hour of sleep though.  Or a relaxing evening after work where I don't have to stress about a commute and arrive home at 7pm.  Of course, there was a time when I went to the office five days a week, so I shouldn't be such a baby about it.

This weekend was like all the others: it went too fast but it was filled with fun times. On Friday Evan and I made it back to the Nature Center.  It wasn't too hot out and I felt like a mini hike was in order.

We didn't get too far because he found this little stream and wanted to play in it the entire time.

I ignored all rational thought and let him get his pants and tennis shoes soaked.  I had made him wear pants to try and avoid ticks.  And Lyme disease, a huge fear of mine.  He really had a fun time and was throwing rocks in the water, digging in the dirt, etc.

He also enjoyed playing on the stumps.  

And, best of all?  He didn't pitch a fit when we had to leave.  

After a fun time in nature we then headed out for a run.  The stroller is really starting to weigh a lot.  Or I am really weak.  I felt like it was so heavy and that I was really shuffling along.  Especially on the up-hills.  We stopped at mile 3 to play at the playground for an hour and then headed back home.  

Evan was pretty good sitting in the stroller but did start saying "All done" on the way back home...like he was all done in the stroller and please remove him.  It was cute but he was stuck in there until we got home.

Sunday was a busy, busy day.  We got up and went for another run.  This time we took a shorter route because we had made pancakes first and were on the late side.  Of course our run took us to a playground and we played for about 40 minutes before heading back home.  Again, super heavy stroller!  We survived though.  Then we showered and headed to Costco.  I have decided that Costco is really like Target.  Your go for one thing and come out $100 poorer. I love Costco though and they are a really great company (unlike Target), so at least that part makes me feel better.  There were a ton of samples and Evan and I enjoyed sampling sausage, salmon cakes, wantons, perogies, quesadillas, coffee (I sampled this alone), and Belvita cookies.  Evan really liked the salmon burgers so we bought those (he will probably change his mind and I'll have 20 salmon burgers to eat alone).  Along with a million other things even though we just wnet for coke, eggs, and chips.  Oh well, at least our fridge is stocked now.

There is no room for anything else!  Ivan keeps saying that we better enjoy it now because pretty soon we'll only be able to eat eggs, beans, and tortillas.  We had some cubed steak this weekend and Ivan was like...pretty soon we won't be able to afford meat so we better enjoy every last taste.  I said we could probably buy cubed steak every once in a while since it is only $2.55 a package.

Evan and I also made sure to put on our USA jerseys for the game on Sunday.

We were very excited.  Ivan invited our golf friend over to watch the game too so I made 7-layer dip (of course because Ivan LOVES this and asks for it as often as possible) and tacos.  Everything turned out and I even managed to do the laundry, fold the clothes, and clean the bathrooms.  Nothing short of a miracle.

Now it's back to work and off to sleep for a bit.  Hope you had a fabulous weekend too and didn't look this pathetically tired when you work up this morning (we are both looking pretty rough)!

Two Fridays in a Row

It is Thursday evening and I am on the bus home and for the second week in a row I have felt the urge to blog.  What is going on here??  

Today was a good day.  I spent a lot of time working on an email that gave explicit instructions on how to sign up for a Thunderclap.  It involved steps and screen-shots and circles and more.  It took forever. However, after I sent it out I received multiple thanks on writing such an easy to follow email.  Success. This made me immensely happy because yesterday I sent out an email that was written by someone else (but I was supposed to review) and I didn't catch that it said Aids rather than AIDS.  Big deal!  I felt like a complete failure after I realized it...although I highly doubt anyone noticed.  So, this email kinda of made me feel a tad bit redeemed.

Then I went on a nice run during lunch.  It was hot though.  Close to 90 degrees and I have the sweat to prove it.

I only went 4.5 miles but I still sweat buckets...and continued to sweat for at least a half hour afterwards.  Sure wish we had showers at work sometimes.  But oh well, I will just shower when I get home.  Or tomorrow.  I am gross like that.

That is all I have for now.  Short and sweet.  I am excited to listen some new music that I downloaded on my bus ride home, so I am going to do that.

Happy Almost Weekend!!!

Sleeping, Pools, and Eggs

On Tuesday night Evan fell asleep at 5:30pm and didn't wake up until 6am...and only because I woke him up.  Sounds amazing, right?  Well, not particularly because for some reason he didn't want to sleep alone.  So, I had to hold him from the second I got home.  This made it difficult to do much...like change out of my work clothes, eat dinner, get lunches ready for the next day.  I kept trying to wake him up thinking he'd eventually wake up and then never go back to sleep.  Nope, he would flutter his eyes open and then they would slowly close back up.  There was no waking him.  He has been sleeping horribly the last week or so - not napping, going to bed at 10pm, etc. - so maybe his body needed to catch up on some sleep.  I didn't successfully put him in the bed until 9:30pm.  I watched a lot of 19 Kids and Counting on the iPad on the sofa with little kiddie in my arms!

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in weeks.  I went for a run!!!  I was supposed to do a track workout with my friend but she texted me in the morning saying she wasn't feeling well.  Normally I would have just been lazy and hopped in the shower and started working but since I already had all my running clothes on I decided to just go.  Plus it was supposed to be over 90 degrees out so I figured a morning run was a good idea.  And it was.  It felt really awesome getting out there again.  My favorite thing about running in the heat and humidity is the scent of honeysuckle.  It seems even more potent than usual when it's extra hot and humid.  It reminds me of the summer I trained for the Marine Corps Marathon in memory of my Uncle - there was a lot of honeysuckle on my route and I loved breathing the scent in.

I did about four miles and when I got back I could feel my hamstring pain again.  You would think that after three weeks of no running my hamstring would get back in order.  Nope.  So I did some glute-strengthening exercises (I read that weak gluteus can lead to hamstring problems) that I saw on Runner's World and then I did half-pigeon pose to stretch out my glutes, hips, and hamstrings.  They were still sore all day but feel better this morning.  I also sat on a nice pack.  I hope all this helps.  I brought my running stuff with me today but I am uncertain whether I will venture out at lunch since it's supposed to be 97 degrees today.  I will be a ball of sweat and then will have to change into my work clothes again.  Not sure if I'm that brave.

After work  I picked Evan up and my sister mentioned that they were going to head to the pool...so we decided to join them.

My mom and Evan had a blast in the pool in Atlanta so I figured he would love it.  The minute he saw the pool he kept saying "Mimi agua" which I interpreted to mean that since he saw a pool he thought Mimi would be there, since Mimi was at the last pool.  Nope, no Mimi.  He had a blast walking around, playing with toys, and being swung around by Daddy.  I actually ended up playing with my nieces the entire time - throwing fish in the water and then making them find them.  They loved it, but sometimes other kids found them and picked them up which made it a bit challenging.

After the pool Evan took a bath and then headed straight to bed.  He hadn't napped all day and was exhausted.  Ivan went to bed too, so it was just me awake for the rest of the night.  I made eggs with cabbage for dinner the second night in a row. No wonder we go through 24 eggs in a week - that's all we eat.

And now it's another day!

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Have you made it to the pool yet?

Eggs -yes or no?

What was your workout for the day?