Washington Photologue II

Today, for the first time in over a week, it was sunny and calm. I was in such a good mood due to the pleasant weather that I cooked turkey enchiladas for the family. I also did a 20 minute hilly route run, followed by a 3 mile hilly walk/climb with my aunt. I wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous sun, because who knows what the weather will be like tomorrow.

I forced myself to run in the windy cold yesterday. It wasn't raining, sleeting, nor snowing, but it wasn't pleasant weather at all. Steve ran with me along a scenic road that overlooks the valley at sunset. It was great to run downhill for the first leg of the run, but the uphill jaunt with a strong crosswind made the return trip very tough. Steve kept telling me to run each and every hill, but I took a couple of short walk breaks. This Florida girl isn't used to the steep hills. The locals call the mountains "hills" which is quite an understatement. But, I'll take the burning workout in stride as I prep for the race that will burn a lot more for a lot longer.

We watched The Nativity Story in the theater as a family . . . taking up more than a whole row. We enjoyed the movie: great acting from mostly little known actors, except for 2002 best actress nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes who played Mary. There was definitely some story-telling liberty that got thrown in the mix to flesh out some details, but overall, it was excellent and captivating with fantastic desert and Mediterranean footage. Finally, Hollywood got some things right and didn't make the angels female. The soundtrack features several Christmas hymns and carols set as background music. It's a beautiful movie for the holiday season. So, check it out!

And now, more fun photos from Christmas in Washington:

Family tradition is that whomever receives the gift with the nativity scene reads the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2. I knew that Steve would be dubbed the gospel narrator this year, since he's the one in seminary. Bill got a couple of pairs of snowshoes . . . for all 4 feet. I got the warmest and cutest new bathrobe!
Abe & Lily zonked out waiting to unwrap gifts. Abe got a t-shirt that said "Dogfather" as a play on the Godfather movie poster. He is Italian, afterall.

Bill got Heather & Lily some appropriate signage.
Bill tortures Blazer with a reindeer costume. Keeping Lily snuggly warm.

Weekend Update

I had a great trip to Dallas. In spite of the sub-freezing temperatures, I still managed 1 quick run. Dan & Mollie took me to some fantastic restaurants that were rated as top choices in the Dallas Observer: Thai Chili features incredibly complex flavors in a chicken coconut soup that meld for a wonderful palate pleaser; Cafe Istanbul serves mediterranean style lamb sensationally; and Jinbeh's teriyaki, hand-rolled sushi, and green-tea ice cream are so scrumptious!

I also attended CLEAR Institute's annual board meeting, and somehow got swept up into being the official note-taker for the session. I also presented to the board about the Scoliosis Mentorship Program so that we could get their full support and backing behind our student-driven community service organization. The Saturday Scoliosis Workshop was fantastic! I was able to visit with several docs that I've met on previous occasions, and I met several others who have been doing scoliosis work for some time. I learned some really cool things I can add to my chiropractic tool-bag when working with patients.

The students from Parker CC who attended the seminar told me the ins and outs of their chiro school experiences. It seems like there is no perfect chiropractic school. They all have their own hoops for students to jump through, ridiculous red tape, and frustrations. But, after meeting students from schools all over the country, I think Palmer Florida is definitely the best one around at the moment. We get a solid education in academics, and we have a very positive clinic experience as far as the freedom to utilize a number of elective techniques in which we've been trained. I wouldn't go anywhere else if I had to do it over again.

I brought my camera for the weekend trip, but I didn't feel very shutterbug savvy. So, I watched & learned at the workshop, took lots of notes, and sacrificed more sleep than I prefer. It was nice to get back to sunny Florida and Steve Sunday afternoon. Our friend Jason. . . who used to live down the road from us, was in town for a conference (he now lives in Colorado). He ended up driving next to us as Steve was taking me home from the airport. We were shouting a conversation between cars on the road at 45 mph. Later that afternoon, Jason stopped by to visit and catch up with us. He'll meet his new baby girl sometime in early January!!

My Runner's World Half-Marathon Training Plan

Runner's World Smart Coach devised this training plan, with only 6 weeks left before the race!

Your current race time is: 1:06:43 for a 10 K Your distance training goal is: Half-Marathon You currently train: 16-20 miles/week How hard you want to train: Moderate Your long-run day: Saturday Your training program Starts: Monday, 11/27/2006 and Ends: Sunday, 1/7/2007 Length of your training schedule: 6 weeks

Wk Dat Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total 1 11/27 12/3 Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 5mi, inc Warm; 3mi@11:01; Cool Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 7mi @12:40 Rest / XT 16 miles 2 12/4 12/10 Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40 Rest / XT Speedwork Dist: 5mi, inc Warm; 2x1600@10:24 w/800 jogs; Cool Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 7mi @12:40 Rest / XT 17 miles 3 12/11 12/17 Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 5mi, inc Warm; 3mi@11:01; Cool Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 8mi @12:40 Rest / XT 18 miles 4 12/18 12/24 Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 6mi, inc Warm; 4mi@11:07; Cool Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 8mi @12:40 Rest / XT 19 miles 5 12/25 12/31 Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:33 Rest / XT Speedwork Dist: 7mi, inc Warm; 3x1600@10:18 w/800 jogs; Cool Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:33 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 9mi @12:33 Rest / XT 20 miles 6 1/1 1/7 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40 Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40 Tempo Run Dist: 5mi, inc Warm; 3mi@11:01; Cool Rest / XT Rest / XT Race Day Dist: Half-Marathon Good Luck! 24 mile

Legend
Workouts:	All runs are Easy, Long, Tempo, or Speedwork
Dist:	Total miles for the day
Dist/Time:	9mi @ 9:11 means "Run 9 miles at 9:11 pace."
Warm/Cool:	Warmup or Cooldown. Generally 1 mile each. However, on some days, you must run extra Warm and Cool to reach your distance for the day.
Speedwork:	"6x800@3:47 w/400 jogs" means "Run 6 repeats of 800 meters each, with a 400-meter recovery jog after each repeat."
Rest/XT:	Take a rest day, or do moderate cross-training activity.
m:	Meters
mi:	Miles

Long Run and Hip Flexor PAIN

Goal: 2 hour run on the beach which would cover ~10 miles
Actual accomplishment: 2 hour run at Reed Canal park and surrounding subdivisions, only 8.2 miles which ended up as a 14:16 min pace. I think it was much faster the first 4.1 miles. But, that doesnt' matter in an endurance race.

The first 45 min, I covered 4.1 miles. I took a quick break to go to the bathroom, and ran another half mile to get precious water and fuel in the form of raspberry-flavored Gu, before jetting off for another hour and 15 filled with nothing but hip flexor pain. It was more walking with bouts of running, with lots of stops for psoas and hip flexor stretching.

I came home and did some ab work, stood on the Vibe, and got advice from Coach Steve to do lunges and strengthening exercises for my weak and irritated hip flexors. Then, I sat in an ice bath. Steve thought I was nuts. I hadn't soaked in an ice bath since I played high school basketball. Well, the purposeful swim workouts in the outdoor pools in winter don't count...they were workouts, not soaks. The ice bath sucked for the first couple of minutes, then if felt great on my calves, hamstrings, and those plagued hip flexors.

So, my NEW goal between now and race day is to do 2-4 sets of 15 hip flexors flexes while hanging from a pull-up bar. Also, to do 50-100 lunges a day. I've GOT to strengthen those buggers, and I have about 1 month to get some results so I can run the race with a significantly decreased amount of pain.

So, I still have to cover 10-12 miles in a single run prior to race day. So, I'm shooting for a 1:30 - 1:45 long run next Saturday . . . whatever I have time for. I'll do a longer run again in 2 weeks. It's crunch time. I have to taper 2 weeks prior to the race.

New Shoes!

Today, I got a treat: a pair of Mizuno's Inspire. I tried on several Asics (which is my standard favorite running shoe brand), and a couple from Brooks, but nothing felt as awesome as these:

Nothing beats the local running shoe store compared to big chain shoe or sporting goods stores. And, I support my local running shoe store, Spikes. The staff's knowledge of shoe manufacturing, wear over time, and even how to properly fit out shoes by looking at previous shoe wear and the wet footprint test . . . unparalleled in corporate giant stores. I love my new running shoes, and I can't wait to try 'em out. Since I did soccer field intervals today, I still did the run in my old Asics Gel 1100, but I'll use the Inspire on my next road run.

By the way, thank you to all the military veterans who've served our country. Today is Veteran's Day!!

My Relationship with Running

I hated running as a kid. I absolutely detested it in P.E. class. So, when my 7th grade coach made all the girls in athletics TRY running, I had no choice. It turned out, I was a decent sprinter. But, I wanted to do more than that. So, I became a hurdler for 100m & 300m distances, and I also did the long jump and triple jump. She put me on a few relay teams, but I wasn't really into that zone of transition thing. So, I stuck with hurdles and jumps and brought home lots of hardware in junior high.

In spite of being a speedster, I had a mental block about distance running. I considered the mile distance running, and I hated running much more than 1.5 miles.

So, when my junior high coach told me to run cross-country in high school, I looked at her like she was nuts. She told me to do it in order to build endurance for basketball season. Basketball was HUGE at Cedar Hill, TX. I competed in sports with other gals who grew up dribbling basketballs as soon as they could walk . . . many of them went on to play Division I and Division II ball in college. Compared to them, I was very, very average. But, I stuck to it and played on the team. So, the thought at increasing my advantage in basketball by running in cross-country was quite appealing.

I ran cross-country and hated it. This was a co-ed team led by an award-winning coach who took cross-country athletes to the state finals every season. I was the worst, and at best, second-worst runner on the team. In the summer, we ran twice a day. The hills of Cedar Hill are quite unforgiving. Every night after training, I was in excruciating pain, and I dreaded getting up the next morning to get more pain inflicted on me for 6am and 2pm sessions. Since I never quit anything, I stuck with it. Eventually, I was able to complete 3 mile training runs without walking or stopping which surprised me and built up my confidence. The entire season, I waited for the coach to cut me from the team, but she never did. Instead, she entered all the runners who stuck with the training in local meets.

On one particular race, I started gaining on a few of the sophomore girls from my team who were also competing in the J.V. division. One of the girls asked me to run with her so she had company. I had a lot of strength and speed left, and I felt I could have totally whipped past her, but I was loyal to my teammate. After she regained her strength, she ditched me. I think she just didn't want the worst runner on the team to pass her, so she made up some pity story for me to stick with her. I never fell for that one again. Also, when we ran at meets under the hot Texas sun, I couldn't believe how many runners I passed in the competitions. At one point in the course that we frequented several times during the season, my coach yelled at me to pass the two girls ahead of me. She said that I trained and they didn't. Those words stuck with me, and I tore it up until I passed them and made it through the chute.

I may have been the worst one on the state champion cross-country team, but I trained among some of the best runners in the state. I actually had the ability to beat runners from other schools, and I pushed past my mental blocks of what I was capable of running in distance, and I became a runner my freshman year of high school.

Basketball never really worked out for me, anyway. Once I was in high school, it no longer became a game, but a chore working with a divided team and a freshman coach who hated coaching basketball. So, I ended my bout with basketball and athletics at Cedar Hill high school. But, I kept running. I ran to destress, to stay fit, and to MOVE.

I had to run often in college for Air Force ROTC physical fitness tests & field training. Once I was on active duty, I started competing in sprint-distance triathlons, and again came the running training.

Now, I'm training for my first half-marathon. I run because I have a goal in mind: to finish the race somewhere between 2:15 and 2:30. I run in chiropractic school to clear my mind from all the facts I have to memorize, to forget about my crazy schedule, and to enjoy moving my legs. I love the feeling of accomplishment after a tough speed workout or a long distance day. I love that my individual workouts are longer than they have been in years. It's been years of running, but I've definitely improved. I love it more -- and I don't even consider the word "hate" when I think of running. I wonder where I'll be with running in another 10 years.

Fall Break at LAST!

This is the first day of my fall break. Yesterday, I took my last final exam . . . EVER! I'm so glad to be done. Yesterday, I watched to movies on DVD, and I enjoyed a trip to Barnes & Noble with my favorite person. I had to bribe him to come with me by offering to buy him cheesecake. Whatever works, I suppose. Then, we ran last night. Steve didn't get any studying done once he came home from school . . . he spent the entire evening with me. It was awesome. But, I won't be around to distract him next week, since I'll be spending it in St Cloud, MN training at CLEAR Institute with 5 other students from Palmer FL. We're looking forward to learnings lots and having fun on our downtime: running, rock wall, Mall of America. All of that, plus I'll get to see my friends Jimmy & Sharise and their newborn James. Can't wait!

Today, I slept in late and enjoyed it. Now, I'm spending the afternoon baking a couple of apple pies for Steve to enjoy while I'm out of town. It's a late anniversary present, but it's just in time. The flour threw me into a sneezing fit. So, Steve helped out with the dough just a little.

As far as a half-marathon training plan. I'm considering 4 of them, and I'll use what I like from each of them to create my own: Hal Higdon's intermediate plan, Jeff Galloway's plan, Cool Running's Beginner program, and the Runner's World personalized Smart Coach plan based on my most recent 5k race time. I'll modify my training pace as I race in a 5k or 10k and a 20k throughout the fall. Ideally, I want to do my long runs on Saturdays, and I want to do plenty of cross-training in the pool for all-around fitness and strength. But, I still plan to do 2-a-days twice a week for 3 weeks, and I'll see where I'm at with endurance and speed at that point. I also want a plan where I run the complete race distance BEFORE I taper. I don't want to max out on 13.1 on race day, when I have never run that distance cumulatively. If any of you half-marathon veterans can lend some training or plan advice to a first-timer at that distance, I'd really appreciate the feedback!

Doin' the HALF

Due to recent health issues, I had to scale back on my running significantly. In the past week, I've had to knock it off completely. But, I'm eager to lace up and kick-start my training with 2-a-days at least twice a week. I'm now starting my half-marathon training after just trying to maintain a decent foundation of running over the past 3 months. I enjoyed wellness yoga class today, and I didn't realize how stiff and sore I was after maintaining 3 months of "study posture". Just settling into study posture for a few hours brings on those aches and pains again. It's the worst posture known to man, and yet, it's something we must endure so that we can take care of other people's spines...albeit we get plenty of practice on one another due to all the torture we put ourselves through!

I'm looking forward to finding a good 4-5 day a week training plan for the half. I want one that incorporates a lot of cross-training with swimming and core strengthening, but one where I can easily and safely increase my mileage every week. I was running 7.5 miles on my long days over 6 weeks ago. I have to work back up to that mileage, and surpass it for the half. I'd like to run the full race distance by the beginning of december, then taper off before the race begins. Tapering should coincide nicely with all the travelling I'll be doing over the holidays. If y'all can recommend a good half-training program, please shout it out!

Meanwhile, I'd like to direct y'all to a few of my favorite blogs of late:

• Blogging in Baghdad is by my friend Aaron who is spending a year in Iraq. He's overseeing some of the US Air Force personnel as they train the Iraqi Air Force to become their own sovereign Air Force. He's got some interesting tales of life in a war zone.
• Searching the Waters is by my friend Danny who's struggling with the challenges of life in the buckle of the Bible belt. I enjoy reading his stark and candid portrayals, and his rants about military life make me laugh. He's also spear-heading a monstrous task of an event called the Furious Fifty which has spurned yet another blog from Danny-boy.
• My almost-daily treat are the postings from Chris, the Rude Cactus. I love the photos of his daughter Mia, his Monday haiku's, and when he talks about his white trash neighbors. But, I especially love his humor about the rather mundane things in life.
• Zack & Jen at Chili Powder haven't been too active at posting until recently. But, their photos and descriptions of life in Austin make me nostalgic for my favorite city in the U.S.
• And, then there's the first blog I ever read on running. Jon is a chocolate lover with a running problem. His choclate reviews are quite helpful and accurate for my tastes . . . and I love to read running blogs. Jon is fantastically funny at times. For starters, check out his 100 Things.
  

Published in RW

Check out my letter to the editor in the September 2006 issue of Runner's World, page 20. Today on our beach run, Katie and I spotted a pod of dolphins. That was a treat! We also found a complete starfish. Planting water worked much better than the Camelbak. I'll do that on my long runs, from now on.

Teaching and Beaching

I don't blog nearly as regularly as I used to, but then again, there's a lot of things I had to trim up just to get through the furiousness of 9th quarter madness. So, while I should be writing an essay for a scholarship application, I'm checking emails, updaing the Scoliosis Mentors website, and blogging--procrastinating, actually. But, I will note that this week has a completely opposite feel than last week. I think all of my classmates were losing their sanity just like me, and after we got through back-to-back hell weeks, we're on the downhill in recovery mode. I expect cortisol levels and stress to spike again in mid-September as we take our national board exams, but for now, it's time to mellow out and relax.

Kristin & I enjoyed teaching "Scoliosis 101" to a fresh crop of chiropractor students. They actually paid attention, and asked some very challenging questions. Today, we received very positive feedback from the professor and the students. I could totally see Kristin & I doing the tag-team lecture on Scoliosis for years on end. It was fun!

This week, I've been all smiles and actually capable of listening to friends' troubles and spending time with Steve. All of that seemed like more and more things to calculate into the incredible schedule of cramming and survival in the past 2 weeks. I did very well on some of my exams last week, on others, pretty stinky. But to my surprise, a majority of my classmates have failed at least one of the exams thus far this quarter. So far, I'm not in that majority, but I have to keep plugging along so I don't get behind.

Workouts consisted of 2 rounds of tempo runs on the dreadmills and ellipticals, followed by lunges, squats, and power-breathing crunches. Tennis Thursday was more of a venting session than a practice in accuracy, but we did get in some good volleys. Tomorrow, I'm trying something different for our 7.5 mile beach run. Instead of dealing with the carotid- crushing Camelbak, I'm going to plant water at the half-way mark and not deal with the cumbersome load of carrying it. It'll give me something to look forward to.

Type A Runner Teaches Scoliosis 101

Last week was NOT fun. But, I'm over it. How many things can go wrong in a few days? More than I ever though possible. And, how quickly can God resolve the chaos and make everything work out perfectly? Pretty much instantaneously.

Main thing people kept telling me last week was that I'm impatient and I have to work on my patience. Yeah, tell me about it. Struggle of my lifetime since I'm a "get-stuff-done-yesterday" type of person. Unfortunately, I'm super Type A and not so much Type B...thanks to my wiring and Air Force brainwashing. It's gonna take me awhile to reprogram, and I need some grace from God.

Dr. Dennis Woggon did a fantastic job speaking at the Orlando TTWAC seminar this weekend. It helped me to hear him do an overview on scoliosis since Kristin & I are teaching 1st Quarter's embryology / anatomy class on Scoliosis 101 this Wednesday! I'm looking forward to the Scoliosis Seminar Series in Orlando this fall. The more I hear and learn, the more I absorb and figure out what to do. I'm currently working with 3 scoliosis patients. Everyday, I pray that I'm doing the protocol correctly and that I don't do anything to make them worse, but that I help them to get better. It's not all me, a huge component is on them to do their home rehabilitation exercises. And, the biggest component is, of course, God, prayer, and positive thoughts. So, I'm anticipating post-care radiograph films on a couple of the patients in a few months, to see how much they improve.

The coolest thing that happened to me this weekend is that I got a lot of glorious and much needed sleep. I don't function very well when I get less than 6 hours. For those of you who subscribe to Runner's World magazine, check out my Letter to the Editor in the September 2006 issue. It was truncated a LOT by the editor such that they lost the point of the letter, but hey, got it published and a free t-shirt to boot!

Workout for 9th Q, Week 2

Mon:
- 8 min treadmill
- 1 hour running suicides on the basketball court alt. jumping jacks alt. squats and lunges

Tues:
OFF

Wed:
- 25 min dreadmill for 2.6 miles (9:40 min pace)
- 15 min stationary bike
- 20 min Precor elliptical
- 2 min rowing machine

Thurs:
- 90 minutes of tennis (squats, cuts, sprints)

Fri:
- 7.5 miles for 90 minutes on Daytona Beach

Sat:
OFF

Sun:
OFF

Weekly workout review

Monday:
4 x laps around the soccer complex
6 x field length sprints
2 x high knees & butt kicks
1 x grapevines
1 x lunges and squats

Tuesday:
1.5 mile run quick tempo

Wednesday:
2.2 miles on dreadmill
1 mile on elliptical trainer

Thursday:
1 hr and 15 minutes of tennis (workout & a game!)
volleying
serve practice
lots of running and squats

Friday:
Beach run!
40 min from castle house to the jetties vehicle entrance
7-8 mile run -- really low on fuel on the way back, need to bring gu or something next week!

Haiku #23

Tropical rain falls
On the parched peninsula.
It lulls me to sleep.

books & running

Last night, Katie M(2) & I treated ourselves to a visit to Barnes & Noble. It was a well deserved break after all the hours we'd poured into radiology study over the past week. We delighted over the tables of summer reading and school reading books. I love the 50th anniversary covers of some of my favorites! I armed myself with a pile of things to look through: X-Men comics summary, American Scholar journal, O, Martha Stewart's mag, a movie magazine, a random running mag, and Triathlete (since I couldn't find a swimmer's mag anywhere). We didn't even get to the store until after 8pm, and I had ambitious hopes of perusing through that entire stack AND start on some article writing for the Triune.

I ended up reading through the movie mag, both sports mags, and halfway through Marilynne Robinson's article on liberalism and Christianity in The American Scholar--an article I definitely want to finish! Katie and I started discussing local races and running tips, and we're seriously considering running the the Disney 1/2 marathon in January. I know registration fills up FAST, so we'll have to be all over that once it's open. I'm investigating 1/2 training plans, but I'm looking for a 3 month training plan. Our treat didn't end with just a visit to B&N, we also savored a raspberry-filled dark chocolate Godiva bar. Katie sipped on tea and I tried a tall blackberry green tea frapuccino. Yum!

Heat on the Beach

3rd day of radiology final exam review during lecture. Then, Katie-squared and I set out to the beach for a long run. The entire workout spanned 1.5 hours:
- long slow run for ~30 minutes
- interval training / speed work on the way back until we were too exhausted and dehydrated to keep running
- then we alternated stretching and walking, lots & lots of walking
- Katie M(2) did more long, slow, distance since she's used to running for 1.5-2 hours straight. Katie B(1) and I did more sprinting and walking on the way back. I started dreaming about smoothies, ice water, ice cold showers, shaved ice, and Katie told me to shut up. We were so parched we were getting a little carried away.

Our Care passive rehab exam was a BREEZE. 100%, no problem. Then, Katie 2 and I put in a few hours of radiology study, while engulfing chocolate--perfect combo, makes the studying bearable. I've fought the urge for a nap all afternoon--a much-needed nap. I just want some blazing, cold A/C, and ice cold drinks. But, no, room temp, filtered tap water, and a slightly cool apartment is all I get. I'd better get used to it, we're soon traveling to East Asia where air conditioners are a rare luxury, and the temperatures are fairly comparable to the hot and humid Florida summers.

Killer sprints with Katie

in the heat of the day . . .

warm-up run to the soccer fields
sprint field length x 5
high knees / butt kicks x 2
grapevines x 2
lunges / side lunges / squats x 1
Total field work = 10 lengths
cool down run back home

Sunday, I started a new routine. In addition to my twice a day spinal exercises and head-weighting protocols, I'm doing an overall core strengthening routine twice a day:
10 x push-ups
10 x dips
10 x pull-ups
10 x squats with 12kg
I KNOW my traps & rhomboids are less likely to go into spasm and be achy if I strengthen my core through those specific exercises. I also KNOW that if I do too many reps at once, I'll overdo it and I'll have acute muscle spasm and I won't want to continue with the routine. So, I'm starting out with small numbers. I'll add 2-5 more reps next week.

Tapering

This is typically my favorite week in the quarter, every quarter: OSCE week. Lecture classes wind down, and all of our extraneous class: labs, active learning sessions, CLM (whatever the heck that stands for) are all canceled. We have several lab exams and the last round of lecture exams, BUT, our courseload is chopped down 25-30% which makes it NICE! Finals week is super short, but they are finals worth somewhere from 25%-50% of our final grade. . . so, the added stress doesn't make it a very fun week. So, it's nice to once again be in OSCE week: the summer break is only 9 days away! Next quarter, OSCE week won't be so nice, it'll occur the weekend before boards, followed immediately by finals. So, I'm enjoying it now.

Haiku #22

Slammed off the alarm
Yet, made it to class on time.
Perfect day to swim.

Runs

It's super hot and humid. Need to get acclimated to running in late morning which is way different than early evening! Thank goodness for the Camelbak.

Thurs: indoor training
20 min on elliptical trainer for 1.9 miles
1.6 miles on dreadmill for 17 min.

Fri: beach run -- saw dolphins and jellyfish
4-5 miles with Katie (ran 24 min straight for 2.5 miles)
Ran-walk the way home (gotta love the super-tight and sore quads)