A little history...

I started running on May 1st, 2005. I'd run before then, but my goal was this: to enjoy running. I began in Lima, Ohio when I went to do my family practice rotation with Nick Powers in Wapakoneta (the best rotation of med school, okay, maybe second to my ER months). I ran 2 minutes on the treadmill in the little fitness center in St. Rita's hospital, and walked 28, and worked up from there. Since then I've run a bunch of races, including two marathons.

Tomorrow is May 1st, 2008. I do things in threes, usually. Life seems to work out that way. Well, my new 3 year running plan, I s'pose, starts tomorrow. I have had a tough time getting my head in the game. So, tomorrow, as I venture into the world of cardiology for my last foray into a dedicated month of it, I'm going to do a little running soul searching. Where I am is CERTAINLY not where I want to be! But, hey, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step (or 2 minutes on the treadmill).

Here's to fun running!

PS - I ran 2 miles today - and logged a personal best mile (it must be individual, b/c the 2 mile total was mediocre) and got to hear Paula Radcliffe congratulate me! (This Nike iPod thing is STILL awesome!!!!).

Back in the Swing

Good morning! I'm getting back into the swing of things. I got out and did a 20 minute interval run followed by a 40 minute walk/stretch session. Slow pace 12:23/mile for 1.63 miles. But, it's done and I've had some trouble getting out of my head. Also, today, I'm getting a combo massage/reiki treatment. SOOOOO looking forward to it!!!

Boston!

Congrats to the winners Robert Cheruiyot and Dire Tune, and to EVERY runner out there today!!! My friend Allison Hull qualified at Disney and we cheered her on from the TV today when we watched Lance Armstrong finish :)

Way to go everyone!

Running The Woodlands

The Future of Happymoe Runs!!!

Here's a pic of a path in The Woodlands. They have (no lie) 146 miles of trails that look like this! We're visiting my aunt & uncle this week, chatting with an area ED director about future job possibilities and looking at some crazy houses!

Today's run was great. I downloaded Lance Armstrong's Run Longer mix from itunes, it was so much fun! My pace was 11:59 per mile for 3.42 miles. Woohoo!

Monday's Boston :) Good luck to all the excellent runners partaking in those festivities, may your weather be great and may your legs be strong.

Workin'

Here are some pics from flying with our med flight team yesterday :)

Unfettered

Good afternoon, or morning, or evening, depending on when you read this. I woke up this morning feeling about a thousand percent better than yesterday. I felt bogged down, bloated, unhappy, restless and irritable. Wow, fun day, I know. But today, I awoke to the sun shining in the bedroom windows, feeling more like a kid when I used to wake up at my grandparents' house in Port Charlotte on vacation than an overworked, somewhat disillusioned, bitter second year resident. Hence, I named the blog entry "unfettered". Easy. I've spent 3 hours working on emailing auto dealers haggling over lease deals, completing overdue tax forms and home office filing without one minute of resentment. I feel almost healed.

Yesterday, I was very distraught. I felt bloated and miserable. So, this morning, I took a look at my little calendar that serves as a daily health record of sorts. I record my weight in there too. When I stopped eating animal parts, I lost between 13 and 16 pounds. However, for the past 3 months, my weight has been within 2 pounds of where it is now-a pound either way. Even with increased exercise and better food intake this week, I'd actually gained weight. Not to mention a recurrence of menstrual irregularities (and not the good kind) in the past 3 weeks - due to soy? I don't know. Oh, and last night, with my fake chicken strips that are "an excellent source of protein", I decided I'd had enough. My feelings of better health eating veggie are gone. I couldn't eat the "chicken". I think they even recreated gristle! Ick. So, I won't stop eating the soy foods I enjoy, because I do enjoy a large number of them, but I want more variety. I do believe that will include animal products. I'm sure this will make my uncle Dan happy, carnivore that he is :)

Ok, today, I'm lifting my upper body and adding an additional cross training cardio workout at the gym. Time to start burnin' some off some dead weight.

The days pass quickly

Wow, it's been 5 days already. Lucky for me both of the runs I did since I posted last have had EXACTLY the same pace of 12:09 per mile for 2 miles. I started the Body for Life eating and training program on the 7th. So far, it's great. I went from eating 3 times a day to eating 6. I'm never hungry. It's awesome. The protein requirements (evenly matched complex carbs with protein) are a bit difficult on the veggie end, so I confess, I've added some cheese & tuna into the mix. Pure animal protein sources are so simple compared to attempting to find truly high protein sources per serving of vegetarian fare. So, I eat close to the ground (and in the water, as it were) as much as I feel is good for my body AND lifestyle. Any tips or suggestions are welcome. I'm off to a research meeting...have a wonderful day!

Insomniac

Every so often, I can't sleep. This used to happen all the time as a kid. It'd take me a good 2 hours to fall asleep, then I couldn't get up in the morning. Now, for the past 4 days, I wake up after 3 hours of sleep and whammo! I'm up. So, today, at 2:30 am, I tried to sleep for 25 minutes, and decided "I'll just get up. Stop fighting it." I hopped online, caught a 12 step meeting at 3 am (they happen every 3 hours) and figured I'd update my blog. I was working nights at the end of last month, so maybe that has something to do with it.

As long as I'm not fighting it, I'm pretending I can't sleep because I'm so excited to start a new day! It's now 4 am, I have 3 hours until 7, when I'm going for a run. I may stay up until then, and take a nap later. We'll see. I think it's better just to let myself be excited than to dream up some reason why my otherwise healthy 34 year old body can't handle a few days with less sleep. I appreciate those few extra hours to catch a meeting, update my blog (here's a pic of Greg and I on Main Street, USA), send a few emails. Thanks insomnia!

Oh, so THAT'S what dehydration feels like

I'd forgotten. Lately, I've been better with keeping myself really hydrated, and I rarely run in the middle of the day. Well, today, I had coffee, tea, little water and ran at 12:15 pm. It felt like the slowest run ever. But, my time was 12:09/mile average over 2 miles on Bayshore. (I still love that nike+ipod thing!). So, it felt hard because I was pushing myself :) Well, that and the fact that I was dehydrated & was hot outside. It's POURING outside now. I hope it's nice this weekend because we're both off. Yay!

Stomping Ground

This is a picture of Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa, where I run. It's 3 seconds from where I work, so I run there pretty much exclusively. I see dolphins (ok, porpoise), rays, ducks, pelicans, manatees, oh, and runners & walkers & bikers :)

This route has been part of my happy runner strategy. Even if my time is bad, I've still had a beautiful run. I ran before work last night, and did 2 miles at 12:12 avg pace - which is good for me. My goal is to average around there for the marathon in January. I just got off of six 12 hour night shifts in a row. I also just got my yoga DVDs in the mail, so there's NO excuse for me not to start a great regimen. Ok, I'll start after I sleep!