Feed me!

So I know I teased you a bit yesterday, but I'll feed you baby birds! This weekend I was down in the good ole B. Remember lesson 1 I learned a while back? Well... You can forget that one! I drove down after a late day at clinic, and arrived around 12 or so. Next morning while Kim was at work I went for a run.

Let me tell you all about this run! I was schedule to go 14 miles. So, before I left I mapmyrun.com'ed a few routes trying to find a good one. While I was doing that I was picturing the scenery as I was mapping. I realized something, B-town is really hilly, especially when you're running. I settled on a run to and all around campus, was going to end up around 12.5 miles. A touch shy, but good enough. As I was running with my new ipod, listening to my new style of music to run to (thanks Kim) I really began enjoying the run. I enjoyed it to the point of not even realizing I was attacking all these hills. Leaving nothing but devastation in my wake. Not really, but it sure felt like it. I ran by a bunch of my old buildings where I had class. Ran by where I'd meet up with people before I'd go study, by study I mean we'd udually end up at the bar to get afternoon drunk. Ran near my old houses, my old dorm, the track (both indoor and outdoor). All these happy memories came back and I was smiling the whole time. I cannot wait to get back down there, full time. Mostly to spend it with Kim, but also because I love that town! I extended my run because I was feelin real good. Got back to Kim's house, and stopped my watch. 1:38. Not bad. Then I remembered I extended the run, re-mapped it. 13.5 miles! Thats even better! Here is the best part about the whole thing, not all the memories, not being so happy, not the length I ran...but how good I felt when I got back. I felt like a million bucks! I really think my mood during the run helped a lot, but I feel like a true runner now! All this, the day after a long drive. Lesson UN-learned.

Now I'm back in the Cleve. Grumpy. Cold. Test taking-y. Gross. BUT, this is my last set of exams and it is going to feel great when I am through with it. So today was trauma final. Could I have moved my high B up to an A? Sure. But that would have required a lot of studying, and I wasn't having it. At all. So I crammed and slid by, and kept my B. After the test I came home and took the best nap. I didnt wanna get up! But then, for whatever reason, my apt. got to something like 458 degrees, so I woke up. Headed out to the gym for my daily run. 7 miles later, I still feel good! I'm now on track for my marathon training regimen. Not only that, but I am at 79 days, and I feel GREAT! I already know theres going to be a big drop in milage after the marathon, but I have to say, as good as I feel, I'm not gonna stop the everyday thing. That and I am going to make it a year.

Anyway, thats all, baby birds. Did I feed you enough? I'll have a ton more goodies for you in a few days. Until then, keep up the pace! Now I'm gonna go crust on the couch.

Real quick

Boy! I had the BEST run this weekend! I have to study for my test tomorrow, so I'll tell you ALL about it tomorrow. Stay tuned

Outside!

So my run today was outside...and I LOVED it! Every second of it was a joy! I can't wait until this is the case for a long time. No more snow...please!

I went out from school and went to the bike path that is near by. The side walks were clear, the roads were clear, but the path was MUDDY, and still had a ton of snow/ice on it. Made for a very difficult run. But I had a secret weapon!

I just bought a new ipod shuffle. Man that thing is awesome. I also bought some new headphones. They are super light. The whole setup was amazing! I could not even tell I was wearing anything, except for the lovely music strumming through my ears. I must that Kim for showing me the way to good running music. Gentle, easy going, guitar vocally Mraz/Johnson style stuff. Man was this an amazing run. 7 miles later and covered in mud, my legs were tired from catching myself all the time on the ice, but my mind was refreshed. It was like I was just lost in the wilderness, lost in my head. Thinking thoughts of the future, thoughts of the past, of all my great friends, and how every one of them (whether they know it or not) have helped me so much to get through school, and to where I am today...

Happy.

That is all I can think of. Despite school and all its nonsense, and the aweful distance between Kim and myself, and all the other stuff I think I'm bogged down with, I am truelly happy. Thanks everyone.

Hmmmmm...Well, I have clinic early in the morning, and I have this feeling it is going to be awefully boring. But what can ya do, put the time in, once its through be done with it. Right? On that note, I'm out.

OOOOPS!

Do you remember when I said today was a 6 mile run? Well, on missed turn and an 1:20 later i ran 9.5 today. I realized I was out of whack when I ended up in the city next door, where I used to live. At that point my brain went into survival mode and I slowed down a ton, because I had no idea how long it was going to be until I got home. BUT, i did run 9.5 miles at an 8:20 pace. So iI'd say I didn't shut down too hard. Thought I'd bring you up to speed with my run today. Now I need to go ice a few parts, knees feet and calves.

Lovin' it!

One of my friends from school was kind enough to write me up a training schedule for the race. I got it this past Wednesday, and counted out the weeks to see where I am, thinking I still had 2 or so weeks before I started the program...I'm already in my 3rd week!!!! Not only that, but I have not been logging nearly the miles I should have been for this program. Luckily this week is a little easier one, so I have a week to get on track. Looking at it right now, I think I'm going to have to taper into it over the next two weeks. I really do not think I can go full steam ahead into this right away. This week I'm at 24 miles, next weeks I'm supposed to run 40 miles. That is a double in mileage that I don't think I can handle. Besides, we learned that about a 10% increase in mileage a week it about the max to prevent injuries, such as stress fractures. I wouldn't want to go against what the all knowledgeable doctors at my school teach, because we know they know EVERYTHING!

In an attempt to get on track, I am going to shorten one or two of the runs during the week to a more manageable distance, but keep the long run on Saturday. This week it is an easy 6, but next week...14. WHEW! I cant wait to do it though.

One more week of classes left, forever!!! I am even more excited about that. So, I have 2 days of classes, 2 weeks of exams, and clinic throughout this time, then I am officially a FOURTH year! So excited! No moee classes to drag my butt to, no more class exams to cram for, just clinic/rotations, reading articles and books so I can be somewhat knowledgeable on externships, and thats about IT! I do have boards 2 next march, but that is something I study for by learning in clinic. It is all coming to an end, the boring part of school that it. The rest of it is exciting, and I can't WAIT!

I think thats all for now. So pull up a chair and have a big helping of blog!

Feelin' better!

So as the title says, I'm starting to feel a ton better. The energy level has come back up, so has the eagerness to beat myself up. I learned a little something on my jaunt to B-town... While running on a treadmill is a great way to log some miles, it is NO comparison to running outside. The weather in the B was great so I did my runs outside, 2 miles was all I could get! The variation in hills, the wind, everything made it a ton harder. Lesson #2 learned, don't think that if you can run easily on a treadmill that you can run nearly that far or fast outside!

P.S. I can't wait for the weather to break so I can start running outside.

So some great news came my way tonight! Kim got her very own lil 5 team! YAY! She is the proud coach of the Grey Goats, a guys team. They seem to have quite a bit of talent, they placed 12 last year with 3 riders! The name is awesome too! Sounds like I picked the name. So that means Kim is probably going to start riding a ton soon, which means I'm going to have to so I can go on rides with them when I come down, that is if they'll allow me. Kim expressed a little concern about coaching guys. I just told her to beat them senseless, and they'll love it! haha. Any workout, abuse them. Sounds good to me! I think they're a very lucky team to have Kim as the coach. Her experience, knowledge, and drive will help them achieve their goals. No question about it. Good luck to Kim, and her team! Anything I can do please ask!

This weekend Kim and I went on our "first" real date since we've started dating. I picked her up, gave her flowers, the whole nine yards! We went to THE BEST steakhouse in Btown, Janko's. It was a great dinner. Then we met some people out and had an absolute blast! It made me really excited to be done with school so we can spend a lot more time doing things like that. The time is coming Kim, I promise it wont be like this forever.

I started my last month of clinic rotation this month. I'm excited about it, I just dropped the ball a bit today with presenting the patient to the attendings. OOPS. I also asked for a little time to get my bearing back in clinic as my group has treated a patient for school since October or something. A little rusty, to say the least. I am for sure. They seemed to understand. This month is going to be rough. I have 2 exams tomorrow. Then the last 2 weeks we have 8 or 9 exams. Brutal. I think we can all make it through. Anyway, that about it.