Nurse on the Run

In general, I find runners to be some of the friendliest people in the world.  (Except the ones I pass on the trail by my house…what’s their problem??  Anyway.)  Really…how many grumpy runners do you know?  For the most part, you can strike up a conversation with a runner and be golden.  If nothing else, you can talk about running, and we all know that runners love to talk about running, so it’s an easy fall back conversation topic.  Well, throw nursing into the mix, and you can talk for HOURS.  No offense to accountants, but really, what kind of crazy stories can you get from doing taxes?  (Or whatever accountants do…call me ignorant but I’m not really sure.)  I get new stories to share on a daily basis, so you can imagine what kind of glorious runs TWO nurses can have.

Well, I no longer had to imagine because today I ran with another nurse!  My fantastic marathon buddy Paul has a runner friend, Cindy, (who happens to be a nurse…it all fits!), so we had a little nurse running date this morning!  She ran her 11th marathon about two weeks ago and is signed up for an Ironman (!!) in 2010.  Wellllll I’m humbled, haha. 

Maybe through some convincing from Cindy and Yasi, I’ll end up doing tris next year…we shall see.

Anyway.  We headed to the lovely Valley Forge, where we got to experience some of the conditions of that cold, cold winter from long, long ago.  While we didn’t have to camp out and ration our food (we didn’t eat…), it was on the chillier side, especially with the wind.  You know when your lips get kind of numb so you start to talk funny?  Well, I think I had that going on, and I’m hoping Cindy didn’t notice!  (Although if she didn’t notice, she might be reading about it now…hmmm.)  We did a loop that was about five miles with some hills thrown in, but it was nice to have someone to run with!  I’ve always considered myself to be more of a solo runner, but I’m liking running with people more now.

Thursday, December 17
5.01 miles in 43:10, avg pace of 8:36

I think we ran around 4.6 miles together, and then after we parted ways I added on the 0.4 because I’m neurotic cool like that.  I’m up to 24 miles for the week…getting back in gear for marathon training!  I think I’m going to take tomorrow off and then run (longer?) on Saturday.  Should be good.

Looking forward to more nursing-filled runs in 2010…yay!

other life highlights

• My roommate left today for a month-long mission trip in Hawaii (take me with??), so I get to hold down the fort townhouse for a month.  This also foils my plan to set her up with certain people…haha.  I’m not sure she was in on that plan anyway. 
• The Rocket Scientist is heading back to the States (from his conference in Japan) tomorrow.  I’m not sure whether I’ll see him Friday after work or on Saturday…probably depends how jet-lagged he is.
• MY FAMILY COMES THIS WEEKEND.  My dad and brother are coming on Saturday (so we can go to the BEARS GAME on Sunday), then my mom and sister arrive Sunday evening.  We’re pretending that Tuesday is Christmas. 
• Speaking of Christmas…I need to finish shopping.  Yikes.