Nurse on the Run

So there’s less than an hour left in 2010, and I’m not going to lie…I think that New Year’s Eve is highly overrated.  That being said, I’m sitting on my couch because I worked today and I’m working tomorrow, so that’s not totally conducive to a big party.  It is interesting to look back on this year and see how far I’ve come.  I’ll save you the torture of reading yet another “2010 in Review” post, but let’s just say that if you had asked me where I would be at the end of 2010, I certainly wouldn’t have said anything remotely close to where I am right now!

2010 started with big changes and lots of tears, as I’m not afraid to talk about how much I hated my first job and how unhappy I really was.  I used to cry on a daily basis (and I’m not a crier at all!), and I was too upset with my life to see the help that people were offering me.  All I wanted was to get out of a Pennsylvania, and after hunting for jobs for months, I finally landed a job at one of the top hospitals in the country on an amazing unit.  I still cannot believe that I live in New York City…I love it here, and my job hasn’t made me cry!

Anyone who has spent all of 2010 reading my blog knows what a year it has been related to my personal life and work, and I want to thank everyone for putting with my incessant posting about how miserable I was…your support really means a lot to me, and while I love every comment I receive, ones where readers say, “You seem SO happy!” really make me smile.  Because I really am SO.  MUCH.  HAPPIER.

Even running-wise, I’m definitely much happier!  I battled my IT band at the beginning of the year, essentially taking off three months of running!  That’s a long time when it’s your main activity.  However, it was definitely worth it and I came back to run an awesome marathon.  My mileage for the year?

All of 2010
1,311.86 miles in 170:06:39, avg pace of 7:51

I spent an entire week running!  Not too shabby for taking three months off.    I love running and I cannot wait to see what I can do in 2011…big plans are to come, but you’ll have to wait to hear those since I haven’t set all my goals yet.

For my last run of 2010, I threw on some shorts since it’s 43 degrees in NYC and headed over the Central Park.  Unlike my usual post-work runs, tons of people were out as you can see part of Times Square from Central Park…and they were setting up for the midnight race that I wish I could do!  I had to avoid a lot of tourists, but it was a fabulous post-run recovery job to finish up the year.

Friday, December 31
4.16 miles in 34:33, avg pace of 8:19

Here’s to more running in 2011….I hope you all have fabulous New Year’s Eves and even better 2011’s. 

And just for fun, here’s the lucky, lucky guy I will be kissing at midnight:

Don’t pretend you’re not jealous…I know you are!

What was your favorite run in 2010?  A race?  A beer run?  No run at all?

It wasn’t until yesterday that I became sad about Thanksgiving.  Why would I be sad about Thanksgiving?  Well, I’m working both Thanksgiving Thursday (and Black Friday) this year.  I was originally okay with this because my family doesn’t really do a big Thanksgiving dinner with lots of people, so all I’m really missing is dinner with my parents and two siblings.  However, yesterday I started hearing all the talk about people going home for Thanksgiving and what their plans are with their families…and it made me a little sad.  Even if we don’t have a big celebration, my family is my family and I’m not seeing them on Thanksgiving.

Here are a few traditions that my family has:

• The Turkey Trot.  It started with my brother and me running a two mile Turkey Trot.  We ran it a couple years in a row together (during which he would wait until the gun went off to take off his sweatpants…not exactly competitive), and then he was off in Iraq one year, so my friend’s brother (also named Ryan) ran with my as my “Ryan replacement.”  It’s always been a combo of people in some way or form.
• Bakers Square pies.  Why would you make your own when they make such FABULOUS pies??  I had to work last year as well, so I made a pretty good replication of my favorite pie…it was quite delicious.
• Perusing the ads for Black Friday.  I love sitting with the newspaper and looking at all the sales, even if I don’t actually go buy anything.  Plus, my parents and I make a joint effort to complete the crossword puzzles in the paper as well.

Not being at home with my family makes me think about the patients and their families.  I’ve only been working on my new unit for a few short weeks, but I’ve noticed that some patients don’t have any family come visit them.  I’m on there three days a week, so maybe I miss the visitors…but it seems like some patients don’t have anyone come visit them.  Sad, isn’t it?  I have one patient in mind who has been around for awhile, but I haven’t seen anyone visit this person.  It kind of breaks my heart.  We did hospice at my last job, and I watched people die surrounded by family while others died alone.  Although I don’t get to see my family this Thanksgiving, I know that if something tragic happened to me (such as ending up on a burn unit…or anything involving the hospital), they would be there in a second…and I guess you can’t ask for much better than that.

Nicole and I will be spending Thanksgiving taking care of your family members…and getting paid time and a half for it!  Nice perk there.    Enjoy your pie and time with your family!

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I had a lovely run yesterday with the Sasquatch crew last night…a little jog around the big loop in Central Park.  It was a fun, relaxed run with a fabulous group of people….who had to put up with my talks of bodily functions (I’m a nurse, okay?) and jazz hands.  The moon looked especially pretty (is this random enough for you yet?), and I got to catch up with the lovely Sharon.  Sounds good to me!  We wrapped up our run with some core work (woo!) and then parted ways…which meant I came home and watched Glee not once, but twice.

I’m so cool.

Tuesday, November 23
8.21 miles in 1:07:11, avg pace of 8:11

Not too shabby, and eight miles feels just like a walk in the park.  Love it.