a hodgepodge

* Disclaimer: This is a pretty long post and, I'm not going to lie, full of a lot of boring stuff. Proceed reading at your own risk. * 

The other day, Justin kindly noted how long it's been since I've written in here, so I thought I would update. You know, just for him. Well, and me, because if my purpose with this thing is to better document life then I should probably actually post a little more consistently.

So, life as of late...

Finals came and passed quicker than I realized [ and for which I am very grateful ]. Micro? I must have done a swell job of preparing because somehow I managed to scrape together a decent enough grade on the final to get the overall grade I did - and let's just say I was mighty pleased with that grade indeed. Also, the coming to pass of that final signaled the end of learning about microbiology, therefore meaning no more petri dishes with nasty E. coli samples, no more smelly drawers full of bacteria-infested plates, no more going into lab for no reason other than to LOOK at a plate, and most importantly, no more worst-professor-of-the-century-and-in-the-whole-dang-universe
[ for realsies, I had never experienced such a disrespectful, unprofessional, ineffective educator in my life until I met this woman ].

As for chemistry, again, I must have been on something [ and something good ] when taking that final because I have absolutely no idea how I managed to end up with the semester grade that I did. What I'm looking forward to most about saying goodbye to that class is the lab - talk about feeling inadequate...not to mention stupid, with those sweet awesome goggles they require. Good thing I'm already married and wasn't on the quest to impress with those babies.

Then this past Saturday, I laced up to run the 34th annual Fifth Third River Bank Run's 25K for the second year in a row. Last year, I ran to finish. This year, I ran to beat last year's time. A few highlights include pushing myself to go a tad too fast in the beginning, accepting GU even though I hadn't trained with it, feeling incredibly nauseated starting at mile 9 most likely due to GU acceptance [ and shocking my digestive system...this lasted until at least a half hour after I crossed the finish line ], and yet somehow finishing in 2:09:21 with an 8:21min/mile pace, more than 9 minutes faster than last year's time.

It was a whole huge massively different story this time around. While I was better prepared physically to tackle this 15.5 mile challenge, I'm not convinced that I was mentally as well. I was so set on keeping under a 8:30 pace, beating the 2:10 finish time, that I kept convincing myself that I could go faster and let my adrenaline just carry me the whole way. This resulted in my keeping a sub-8 minute pace for the first five miles, then dropping back to a close 8:35 for a while once I felt nauseated. In the end, I was able to finish strong and sprint the finish [ passing at least five guys over a foot taller than me, at that! Booyah grandpas! ], but I made the mistakes that I think a lot of novice distance runners like myself fall victim to - not sticking to a realistic pace in the beginning, not ignoring the instinct to let adrenaline take over, not focusing on the big picture of the whole race.

Last year, upon returning home after the RBR, Justin and I immediately signed ourselves up for the GR Half Marathon. This year, the day after, I decided to take the plunge and signed my name up for the full GR Marathon that's taking place this fall. I'm a mixture of emotions: terrified, excited, determined, pee-my-pants nervous, you name it. 26.2 miles is a distance that people drive - and I'm going to [ attempt with all my heart and soul to ] run it. Like my first Riverbank, the goal will be to finish - though I am shooting for a 9min/mile pace, which I think it fairly reasonable given my most recent RBR time.

So now it's summer and I have all the time in the world to run far and long, right? Partially. Call me nutso, but nearly within the first hour of absolute freedom from school, I made a summer to-do list. If you know me even the slightest, you know I love my lists. Now, to be fair, this one really isn't all that bad; I just wrote down all the things I had been wanting to get done the entire semester but couldn't because school demanded the vast majority of my energy and basically diminished any semblance of free time. Sewing kitchen and bedroom curtains, crafting my own earring and necklace holders, organizing our junk-strewn basement, reading Water for Elephants and Mennonite in a Little Black Dress [ check! I'd highly recommend it, by the way ] and Blogging for Dummies [ okay not really, but something along the lines of learning how to do all this HTML junk and unique-ifying this thing ] , learning our Nikon D90 better, making and going to an eye doctor appointment, figuring out which immunizations I need for nursing clinicals, actually getting the immunzations and turning in the form on time... Okay, those last few aren't so great, but life's not all fun and games.  Factor in soaking up all the time I can with Justin at the beach, taking bike rides to the farmer's market, reading in the park and sleeping in late and you've got yourself a very jam-packed summer.

I'm going to try my hardest to train for the marathon. I'm considering changing up my diet a little bit to try to fuel myself in the best way possible [ a.k.a. pasta, bagels and bananas are getting a little old and I need some more excitement and energy-inducing foods ] and perhaps logging further runs but less often and practicing some sort of meditation running for focus. If anyone out there has tips for first time marathon runners, PLEASE SEND THEM MY WAY. I'm not kidding. I could use all the help I can get.

Alright, that was a whole bunch o' ramble. Hope you weren't too bored along the way. I promise my next post will be short and sweet.

Oh! I'll also try to get photos up of the RBR - though if I forget and / or don't [ which is likely ], you can always check them out on Justin's blog. He's much better at updating, uploading pictures, posting consistently, and pretty much everything else!

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Yikers

Here is a wake up call:


When you actively smoke and blow it right in your children's faces and one of them starts coughing, that might [ just might ] be a sign that you should quit.


I'm just sayin'...


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¡un estudiante de enfermería!

I feel like a real nursing student now because of this:

That expression pretty much sums up how I feel about the next 2.5 years!!


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el fin del semestre...casi

Yesterday I was so productive, I just have to document how much I can really get done in one afternoon/evening:

- completed my 11 mile run so I wouldn't have to do it today
- concocted various homemade cleaners
- attempted my first batch of homemade laundry soap [ I may have failed...we'll see... ] 
- washed and put away the [ piles upon piles of ] dishes [ oh, the joy of not having a dishwasher! ]
- cleaned the bathroom
- scrubbed all the mold and mildew [ I know, EWW...] off of the walls and ceiling of said bathroom
- washed, folded AND put away the [ piles upon piles of ] laundry
- took out the trash [ a.k.a. walked across the church parking lot and flung our trash bags into the church's dumpster - don't worry, as church home tenants we're allowed to do that ]
- vacuumed up about 3419087324 spiders and their [ not so ] little webs from our walls and ceilings



I'm so domestic.


Now today is a boring BORING day of studying for finals next week...yikers. 

Please pray that I don't lose my mind over the next seven days.


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rain, rain go away

It's kind of gross outside today...

...like, one of those "let's-stay-inside-all-day-curled-up-in-a-blanket-on-the-couch-with-a-cup-of-coffee-and-watch-movies-all-day" day.

Conversation with Justin regarding the gross-ness:

Me: Ehh, can I please just stay home today?
Justin: Aw, you're cute. 
Me: No, really, can I please?
Justin: It IS one of those days where it'd just be perfect to stay inside, curled up in your blanket and lie on the couch...
Me: ...lie on the couch watching tv all day! I was just going to say that!
Justin: Well, no, you can't.


Boo hoo. 
Why do I have to be a responsible person and go to class?


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Boston

Yesterday at work I was slightly obsessing over the news coverage of the Boston Marathon... One may ask, why would Nicole do that? Is it because she enjoys running? Perhaps it's because the River Bank Run is coming up...does she need some extra motivation? 

While the answer to all those questions points to yes, the main reason, however, is this:

Desiree Davila

She's 5'2"! She lives in Michigan! She works for Moosejaw! Did I mention that she's 5'2"?!?!

Yes, that is one short lady who placed 2nd in the women's division just TWO SECONDS behind Caroline Kilel from Kenya. TWO SECONDS...an American woman...who's 5'2"...IT'S AMAZING!!!!

Also, check this out:

Kara Goucher

She ran this 7 months after giving birth (!!!) and finished 5th overall, 9 seconds behind Kilel. 

It is so incredible to see how God created our bodies to allow us to do such great things despite vertical challenges and healing after childbirth! Both of these female athletes are so inspiring to me and make me believe I can do anything I set my mind and commit to. Who knows, maybe there is a marathon in my near future....

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¡corre, corre!

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run." 
--John Bingham

RBR 2010

GR 1/2 2010

 Countdown: 30 days  

[eeeeek]

  

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