Bloggy Update

I haven't updated my blog in awhile, not because nothing is happening in my life, but because SO much is happening all at once!

A couple major updates:

1) I'm done with physical therapy school! I graduated on May 11th.

2) I got a job! I'll be working at a skilled nursing facility here in Richmond.

3) My sister Leslie had her baby! My niece was born on May 10th and weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces. Her name is Lilli. Pictures will be posted later!

4) I moved to a new apartment. It's a townhouse in the West End and I love it!

5) I've bought some new furniture and decorations for my apartment that I'm really excited about!

I'll probably do separate blog posts on some of these topics once I upload pictures. I just wanted to give a quick update on what's been going on around here!

Nike Womens DC Half

Today I ran my 5th half marathon in Washington DC at the inaugural Nike Women's Half Marathon DC! I went into this race with a poorly followed training schedule, so my mindset was just to have fun and enjoy running. I hadn't run at ALL in the two weeks prior to the race due to a busy clinical schedule in my last few weeks of grad school, so I wasn't the most prepared I've ever been, to say the least. In fact, the last time I went for a run was April 13th, when I got lost around Richmond.

The problem with most events in DC is the crowds. There was a humongous line at packet pick-up and the expo was packed. I felt like we waited in line after line this weekend.

The race itself went pretty smoothly. Tristan and I woke up at 5am, took the metro to the start area, and got in our corral by 6:30am. We were in the middle of the 9- 9:59 pace group, so it was a good starting place. Unfortunately, they closed the gates to the corrals and Tristan's friend Connie couldn't get in, so we decided to wait to the side for her. We weren't worried about pace, so it wasn't a big deal. The problem was that there were a LOT more people in the 11-12 minute group and we ended up stuck behind them. We started the race going so slow we were barely running, and there were a lot of walkers (very frustrating!) The course remained pretty packed for the first 3 miles. We were hemmed in by people and had to weave in and out for at least 4-5 miles. I lost track of Tristan and Connie, tried to look for them for awhile, and then just decided to run on my own.

After about 5 miles, the course became a little less crowded and a lot more enjoyable. We ran over a bridge and alongside the water (parts of the course were the same as the Cherry Blossom race). It was so pretty and we had beautiful weather. I was worried I was going to hit a wall due to my lack of training, so every mile I made it without feeling too tired felt like a victory. When I made it about halfway, I thought I could probably run most of the way. I decided to see how far I could go before I had to walk.

At mile 7, I started to get a little tired. I figured I'd probably hit a wall at mile 8, but if I pushed through, I figured I might get a second wind at mile 9 or 10, and that would push me through to the end. Well, I missed seeing the mile 8 marker, and when I saw the mile 9 marker, I figured I could push on to mile 10. After mile 10, it was just a 5K, so I figured I'd keep running as long as I could for those last 3 miles. I didn't ever really hit the wall, but I definitely didn't get a second wind either. I just progressively got more and more tired until the end of the race.

Right after mile 10, there was an uphill stretch that took a lot out of me. I didn't stop, but I slowed down some. Then there was a nice downhill stretch and we ran through a tunnel, then there was a nice breeze. Those things kept me going for awhile, but I was fatiguing. I walked through a water stop at mile 11, and told myself I'd keep running till mile 12. I got to the mile 12 marker and stopped and walked... for about a minute or two. Then I realized it was ridiculous to walk, I only had a mile to go and walking was only making it go by more slowly!

Even though I was getting really, really tired and my legs felt heavy, I ran again (slowly) the last mile. When I saw the finish line, I tried to pick up the pace a little, but I felt like I had nothing left! I think I was still running pretty slow when I crossed the finish line. During those last few miles, I really wished I had trained better. But I finished! And I love running! And it was beautiful! And I felt awesome that I could still run 13.1 miles!

Plus, the finish line bling was worth it! I got a finisher's shirt and a Tiffany necklace!

I wish I had paced myself, because I'm curious about my mile splits. I think the first few miles were slow due to the crowds and the last few miles were slow due to fatigue. I'd guess that my fastest miles were probably miles 4-7? Here are my other splits:
5K           10K       15K       20K       Half

0:32:11

1:01:44

1:32:49

2:05:09

2:11:58

10:24      9:32      10:02     10:26     9:44     (Pace)

My only other complaint about this race (besides the crowded start), was the bag check pick-up. I wandered around trying to find where I had checked my bag since there were three different bag check areas. Then I had to weave back through the crowds in the opposite direction of traffic to get to my bag check table. It took forever! I miraculously found Tristan again in the crowds of people (super lucky since I had forgotten my phone!). Tristan and I both agreed that it was a fun race!

It's my slowest half marathon time yet, but considering the crowds and my lack of training, I'll take it!

Official time: 2:11:58
Overall pace: 10:04

Road Therapy

Sometimes I LOVE driving. Does that sound weird? There's something about hitting the road, being free and alone, and cruising along to my favorite songs. I particularly love it when it's a nice day and I can drive fast on the highway. I'll belt out my favorite songs and bask in the sun coming through the window. I love it. Sometimes when I'm feeling stifled, I have to escape to my car. As I drive along, I can feel endless possibilities open up. Suddenly the world seems big and beautiful again.

I do so much driving, you'd think it'd lose its effect. I frequently take weekend trips, so all the driving could potentially get old, but I save certain things to make the car rides fun. I bought Carrie Underwood's cd Play On and Daughtry's cd Break the Spell a while back, but hadn't listened to them yet. So last weekend when I drove to Melissa's wedding, I belted out some country with Carrie on the way there and rocked out to Daughtry on the way back. It was awesome.

Here are some of my favorite "Road Therapy" songs:

-Get Out of This Town (Carrie Underwood)
-Dirt Road Anthem (Jason Aldean)
-Renegade (Daughtry)
-Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me (Keith Urban)
-I Like It Like That (Hot Chelle Rae)
-Soak Up the Sun (Sheryl Crow)
-Brighter Than the Sun (Colbie Caillat)

Getting Lost

Saturday was a day of getting lost for me.

First, I went on a long run in the morning and got ridiculously and hilariously lost. I had mapped my route, but all the roads were completely new to me. I had to modify my route as I ran due to heavy traffic and no sidewalk on one road, but thought I was good because I ended up back on course. But then I proceeded to turn down Forest Rd and run a LONG way before I realized my mistake. I had the GPS on my phone, but it was only semi-working. It showed me that I was off-course, but the map wouldn't load to show me how to get back on course. I kept turning left hoping to find a street that would connect back to my route!

On the left is the route I planned, but on the right is what happened. You can see around Skipwith Rd, I started running in circles trying to find my way back to Parham Rd. I ended up going an extra mile (walked it because I was dead tired) and got burnt. Not the best time for a sunburn because I had a wedding to go to that night!

I drove to Maryland for the wedding and couldn't find the hotel. Finally made it to the hotel, got ready & changed clothes, and drove to the wedding site.

I got lost again and ended up at the wrong part of the harbor. I ran into some other guests who had done the same thing, and they gave me a ride over to the right place. I made it just in time for the ceremony!

You can really see my sunburn in this picture. Whoops. The wedding was so much fun! The reception was in a big tent next to the harbor. It was beautiful! I had a great day even though I spent so much time being lost!

Leslie's Baby Shower

I spent time today with my sister at her baby shower!

She got lots of cute gifts for her soon-to-be-born baby girl.

 Especially lots of cute little outfits and plenty of diapers and wipes.



We also played some shower games and ate tons of food. Baby showers are so much fun!

Why physical therapy?

Why do I want to be a physical therapist?
(I wrote this post awhile ago, but I'm removing it from my pages and posting it here. Every once in awhile I like to look back on my journey to become a PT and remember the reasons I chose this career path)

I could give lots of good reasons such as “I want to help people” and “I want to make a difference in people’s lives”. Both of these things are true, but there are lots of jobs where I could be helping people. I could be cynical and say I want a job where it will be relatively easy to find work and I want a job that pays well. It’s true that in this economy, where jobs are scarce, it’s a huge advantage to have a professional degree in such a selective field. I do want to have job security and a decent paycheck (especially after all these years of school!). All of these things have contributed to my decision to pursue a degree in physical therapy. But there’s more to the story.

To fully understand why I want to be a PT, I have to start at the beginning. Let’s go back to my senior year of high school. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do or what I wanted my major to be. I considered getting an education degree and becoming a teacher. I also considered English or Psychology. I find psychology fascinating and I liked every psych course I took in college. However, it was my mom’s advice that prevented me from getting a degree in any of these fields. She advised me to consider what job I would want to have and work backwards from there to decide what to major in; NOT to choose a subject I liked, only to get a degree in it and then not know what to do with it. It was good advice.

Although I like English/literature/books, I wouldn’t know what to do with an English degree. I didn’t want to be a journalist or an editor or an author (actually I hated writing papers period). Although I find psychology interesting, I would never want to be a psychologist or social worker or psychotherapist. (I only like to give people advice if they listen to it, otherwise I want to scream “Get over yourself and get a life!”) I still liked the idea of teaching, but my mom said that I could get any degree and still become a teacher later. So why not major in something else instead of education? Well, with those guidelines, I started to think about job options. I’ve always liked the medical field, but I knew I didn’t want to be a medical doctor. I don’t think I could handle the stress of making life and death decisions every day. (I already feel guilty over every little mistake I make- which is usually something like I forgot to turn off the stove- another reason I shouldn’t be an MD: I’m very absentminded sometimes!).

Anyway, to make a long story short, I finally decided to major in biology with the intention of going into forensics. I actually wanted to be a forensic pathologist and examine dead bodies. I figured it would be an interesting job with limited stress (I mean, the person’s already dead, what harm could I do?) It wasn’t until I got to my senior year of college that I started to reconsider. By then, I was in upper-level biochemistry classes, and I discovered that I HATED all the tedious lab work. All those tiny test tubes and formulas and gels were driving me crazy. Forensics involves running a lot of lab tests and I realized that I did not want to do that for the rest of my life. I decided I wanted a job where I’d get to interact with people more instead of spending my time running tests on machines. This is when I started to consider physical therapy. My sister was actually about to start school to be a physical therapy assistant and being a PT sounded like such a fun and interesting job. I liked the idea of helping people get BETTER. Not diagnosing them, not performing surgeries, not being there during the crisis, but AFTER the crisis, being there to help the patient recover.

I ended up changing my concentration to pre-med (still a biology major) and taking A&P and some other pre-requisite classes. I applied to PT schools that summer and figured out what I’d need to do to make it into the program. I had to spend an extra year in undergrad, but I had a new energy for my classes. I had been getting burnt out with school before, but having a definite goal in mind revitalized me! I NEVER wanted to be in school for this long, but here I am. I NEVER thought I had what it took to be a doctor and now I’m going to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy.

It may seem crazy, but I think physical therapy is the perfect job for me. I love the medical field. I love learning how the human body moves and works and how it can adapt. I like working with people and moving around all day rather than sitting in an office. One of the best things I like about physical therapy is the variety. No patient is the same and no injury is the same. As a PT, you can develop your own rehab plan and modify it for each patient. There’s no reason to ever be bored! And then there are so many options available to a PT! I could work in outpatient therapy, acute care, rehab, orthopedics, or an athletic facility. Finally, I like physical therapy because it’s a job where you can see results. You can witness people improving- walking again after surgery or developing a better range of motion, for instance. I like it that there can be such clear-cut results. I know that not all patients will heal ideally, and I bet that will get frustrating, but I hope that I will still feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, knowing that I’m helping these people on their road to recovery.

To sum it all up, the main reason I want to be a physical therapist is because it’s a job I think I’ll enjoy. I have to remember that through all the long labs, early classes, and difficult tests. I have to remind myself that it will all be worth it in the end!

Unexpected snow

It snowed yesterday. In March. In Virginia.

I didn't mind. It was a beautiful, peaceful kind of snow. It came down in soft little flurries and painted the world white in a matter of hours. It coated the trees and the roads with a generous amount of fine white powder. This is how winter should look! (Too bad it's now spring). I love the snow and I enjoyed having it visit for one more day.

But now I'm ready for warm spring weather!