Nurse on the Run

Greetings from Chicago!  In case it’s hard for you to keep up with where I am, I moved to New York City on Thursday, then left on Friday to drive my car back to my parents’ house in Chicago.  I stopped at my Uncle’s house in western Pennsylvania on Friday night before finishing the drive home on Saturday.  The plan is to spend the rest of the long weekend in Chicago with my family and friends before catching a plane back to NYC on Tuesday to finish getting settled before starting my new job on Monday, September 13th!

Confused yet?  No worries…I’ll be finished traveling the country soon. 

The move went as well as can be expected!  My dad came in on Wednesday night to help me move furniture and such.  We finished loading up the Uhaul and headed to NYC on Thursday!  My dad drove the Uhaul while I drove my Honda Civic (which is still for sale…anyone in Chicago interested??).  I got lost had a minor detour in Queens due to finding myself in a tunnel heading out of Manhattan, but other than that, no issues!  I hired movers to help carry my stuff up to my fifth floor walk up, which was the greatest idea ever.  Three guys showed up and had ALL of my stuff into the apartment in just under an hour.  Well worth the $120 (plus tip) that I paid them.  My dad and I might still be moving me in if it was just the two of us!

After moving in, we returned the Uhaul and grabbed some late lunch/early dinner at one of the eight million restaurants by my apartment…so many new places to try!!  We then sorted some of my stuff out and put together my bed so I’ll have a place to sleep.  My room is by no means huge, but it’s pretty big by New York standards.  I’d post pictures, but I left my camera cord in NYC…so you’ll have to wait on the edge of your chairs. 

Thursday night was spent wandering the area around my apartment to look for things like grocery stores and such.  We found an AMAZING ice cream shop quite close to my apartment…you better bet that I’m going to be frequenting there. 

Friday and Saturday were two longgggg days in the car!  Luckily we barely had any traffic, but it’s still a long way from NYC to Chicago.  My dad and I had a good time visiting my relatives before heading home…I ended up driving the entire way while my dad was on cop-watch.  No tickets for me in my final voyage in my car!

This is getting lengthy…but I’ve had a great time visiting my family and friends back home in Chicago this weekend!  I was just here a few weeks ago, so not too much has changed…although the temperature did drop about twenty degrees!  It’s funny how 75 feels chilly after it’s been 95 for the past three months.

Currently watching MARYLAND sink the Navy…it looks like a gorgeous day in Baltimore and Maryland is playing well, so I wish I was at the game!  Very excited for football season. 

Allie – We ate at Egg Harbor this morning…blueberry pancakes, yum!

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With the craziness of moving and driving across the country, I ended up taking three days off of running, but I squeezed in my long run last Wednesday, so I was good to go.  As I stated above, temperatures around here have been lovely for running…can’t beat 75 degree weather!  Naturally I headed back to my old running routes, which are trusty…although you know you’ve been away for while when you have use gmap-pedometer to make sure you remembered your five mile route correctly!  I was close enough. 

Sunday, September 5
8.04 miles in 1:02:35, avg pace of 7:47

Not going to lie…my IT band felt kinda funny on this run.    Maybe it doesn’t like to run over 16 miles??  In training for the Boston Marathon, my IT band started giving me problems after my 17 mile run, which I thought was due to the HILLS of the WaDuke roller coaster trail, but maybe it is the long runs…gah!  Time to stretch, ice, and foam roll.  The pain isn’t quite run-stopping like it was earlier this year, but enough to pay attention to it.  Stay tuned and start praying!  A little over a month to go until the Chicago Marathon, and I would like to make it there injury free.

Monday, September 6
5.03 miles in 39:38, avg pace of 7:53

I thought about taking today off since my IT band didn’t feel too great yesterday, but I decided to head out with thoughts of cutting my run short in case the pain flared up at all.  While my IT band didn’t feel perfect, the pain was kept to a limit so I was able to run all five miles.  I ran past some kids selling lemonade which sometimes makes me wish I carried a dollar or two with me while running so I could buy some lemonade from them!  Oh well.

Back to football!  Next time I blog, I’ll be a full time resident of NYC…woohoo!!  That being said, let me know if you’re in NYC and want to run…or just meet up!