Nurse on the Run

Guess what?  I just had eight nights off from work…how, you might ask?  Well, when you’re a nurse who works twelve hour shifts, that basically means that you work three shifts per week.  So last week, I worked Sunday-Tuesday night, and I didn’t head back to work until last night, and I’ll work Friday and Saturday night too.

Bam…eight nights off.  I was supposed to run a relay last weekend which is why I stacked my shifts as such, but my back is still not cooperating the relay was out.  But no worries, I managed to do plenty with my time off.  Such as?  Away we go…

Born to Be Wild at the American Museum of Natural History.  I took Gatsby along, and Ben1 came too, as he’s back from Israel!  Ben was a little sad that we couldn’t run, but again…that whole back thing.  This IMAX was fabulous, as it featured elephants, and Gatsby had fun too.  Go check it out if you have some time, then lay under the giant whale while Ben tells you stories about Africa.  Guaranteed to be a good time.

I watched the Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park with the guys above.  That’s not an optical illusion, I actually grew a foot and am now as tall as Ben.  WIN.  Or thanks to Ben and Travis for supporting me in picture take endeavors.  In other news, I almost shed some tears upon being in Central Park on race day, but I had a blast looking for runners and spotting Jocelyn, Meggie, Kelly, Gia, Dan, and Joanne.  I love lots of running friends, and I’m okay with that.

Laura’s friend put on a scavenger hunt in the Union Square area to raise money for Relay for Life, so we ran around the area getting pictures of and collecting random things.  We needed a picture of the team in a bathtub, and a guy I dated (who then ended it by saying he had appendicitis…I’m a nurse, I see right through that one…) lived in the area.  Luckily I still had his number in my phone, and five minutes later we were standing in his bathtub and offering him movie theater popcorn.  WIN.  But we did not win the scavenger hunt.  Oh well, good story.   (Picture stolen from Jocelyn, of course.)

I hung out with these lovely ladies, brought together by all being bridesmaids in Sara’s wedding.  Sara has been helping me make friends since the first time we met, and I suppose that isn’t ending anytime soon…

Laura hosted a Figure 4 class at Pure Yoga, which I attended after spending the afternoon laying in the sun in Central Park.  Yes, my life is awesome.  Anyway, I probably should have looked into what Figure 4 was before I showed up, and my body was rocked for an hour straight.  That is one serious workout, and I loved it.  Then we had 16 Handles, which made it even better.  If you get the chance to try out the class, definitely do it!  It almost makes me want to cough up the $$$ to go to Pure Yoga.  (Until I start running full force again, then that will go out the window…)

I headed down to New Jersey, and subsequently Pennsylvania to hang with James in his post-PhDness, which means drinking on a Monday.  We headed to Triumph and had some tasty brews (I shared with Gatsby, the sampler glasses are elephant sized…) followed by bottled James’s first home brew.  My muscles from Figure 4 came in handy, for sure.

Tuesday brought an incredibly rainy day, but it cleared up just in the time head to the Mets’ game!  I promise I have real friends and don’t just take Gatsby everywhere, but this was the best picture I managed with him.  Jocelyn, Christy, Emily, and some others had a fabulous night cheering on the Mets (err…Cubs?  Totally normal to wear an “I only kiss Cubs fans…” shirt to a Mets game…).  They lost terribly, in case you were wondering.

And the most exciting thing of all?  I RAN.  Did I mention that?  Did I take a whole post to explain how I ran for six minutes?  Well, yesterday, I ran a mile.  ONE MILE.  My warped marathon brain thinks that a mile is nothing, but my ridiculous injured brain (not literally, my back injured, not the brain…) thinks a mile is really exciting.  I ran/walked for eight minutes yesterday, and I know I covered a mile.  I won’t say it didn’t hurt because it did at first, which led me to almost take off my running shoes and throw them in the East River.  Luckily I didn’t because my back loosened up somewhere around the fourth minute and we were good to go. 

I know I didn’t get to things like PRing in the Twin Cities last fall just by a few runs.  It took a long time to build up to that, and rehabbing my back will take some time too.  But they say that a journey begins with the first step, and I’ve already made it a mile.  Tonight, we go for nine minutes.  I never thought I’d be so excited to say something like that.  Fingers crossed everything stays in working order.

In the meantime, it’s naptime since I’m on night shift for two more nights before heading to day shift for two months.  I’ve had some good time off, relaxing and hanging out with friends, drinking coffee and beer, and starting the rehab process.  If you have any better ideas for how to spend my next stretch of work, please let me know!

And definitely let me know if you’re interested in a run/walk program, we can be buddies for sure.