Updates and a couple race reports

I kind of disappeared for awhile but with work, completing clinical hours for grad school and attempting to figure out a project that will be a approved I hardly have time to sleep. Things are just crazy around here, today was my one and only day home between last Thursday and this Friday (really Sunday since I will be gone all weekend). But this will be a much needed break with some college friends for a girls' weekend complete with wine tasting.

This semester I am doing clinical hours in peds and OB and honestly if I have to do one more pelvic exam I think I will scream! Really, kind of boring, I can't understand why people work OB/Gyn. Peds on the other hand is slightly interesting, although some days I want to rip my hair out over the lack of parenting skills out there. It just amazes me how some people are so oblivious to their children's bad behavior. Some of these kids make mine look like an angel even on her worst days!

Now the grad project is an even worse situation. I should have had a topic approved 3 or 4 months ago, but am on the verge of having my third proposal rejected. It hasn't helped that I went through the work of developing project #1 all Summer only to have advisers switched twice and end up back with the original who denied the topic. Then Project #2 was rejected after 2 months of work and full needs assessment. Now on to Project #3 that I thought seemed promising, but the first response from faculty was "no" so here I am in the process of pleading and arguing. I am already behind and close to dropping which would only mean I have to take a year off and push off graduation until July 2013. I really just want to close this chapter and never think about it again, I am so close (2 classes after this one) and ready to throw it all away.

TCM

I managed to stay healthy for the race and the day was perfect weatherwise: 50s a little breeze and sunny. Unfortunately it can be summed up in 1 sentence as the PR that painfully got away.

I started feeling great, but tried to tell myself to take it easy and run with the 3:30 pacer. By Mile 2 I had caught and soon passed the 3:20 pacer and just kept going. I was feeling great, on pace for a 3:15. Around mile 14 my left hamstring got a little sore, nothing huge, but my mile 18 it was pissed and hurt! This was the point where the 3:20 pacer caught and passed me. Just keep moving and you'll get there, you can still PR. I was doing okay with my slower pace, it hurt but I was moving, until mile 25 when my GI system now failed to the point I strongly considered a port-a-potty stop. Instead convinced my self to keep moving since it was only 1 more mile. There goes the 3:30 pacer and likely my PR. Finally the finish line is in sight and the worst feeling race in a long time is over. 3:30:50 official time. My 2nd fastest so I can't be too upset, but without the hamstring and GI problems I was running a huge PR. Luckily I had a corporate # and had easy access to a massage which greatly helped.

Autumn Woods 10K

Stupidly I thought it would be smart to race a hilly 10K 6 days after a painful marathon, dumb idea! We had a surprisingly warm day that I was thrilled just to be out running in a sports bra in October. I started out good, but at mile 2 the left hamstring pain started and so did the hills one right after another. This race was on the paths I run a lot so I knew what to expect but yikes these hills seemed extra tough that morning. I was aiming to place since it is a slower race, but after the halfway point the women continued to pass and wow was I happy to see that finish line. 46:35 for 6th woman overall. Lesson learned: don't try to race a hilly 10K (or 5K) within a week of a marathon!

Next up: who knows! Figure out a project or if I should just drop this stress from my life, finish one more clinical semester and take boards, get back working with my trainer, maybe a 10 Mile race in a couple weeks and Boston Marathon in April!