Friday, March 30, 2012

She's all mine!!!

  
one of our first few days together


Today I made the last payment on my Jeep!!  We should take a road trip to celebrate but that's not going to happen right now.  Being the world's oldest college student means a group project to finish up for Monday and then another project due in a couple weeks then finals. 
My daughter has already asked me if I'm going to get a new vehicle after I graduate and start working so she can have the Jeep for grad school.  Don't think so, kid!!  I'm hoping to enjoy at least a couple of years of no car payments. 
In other matters - Sunday is April 1, commonly known as April Fools Day.  I'm doing a silly 3 mile run called the Twinkie run!  It's always held on April Fools day no matter the day it falls on.  (weekdays it's held at 7 pm)  The twinkie part is that each mile loop you have to grab a twinkie and eat it and you get a minute deducted from your time!!  The proceeds of this year's run go to the ALS foundation.  My Grandpa had ALS and died when my Mom was in high school.  Eat twinkies and support ALS research, how can I not participate!!!!  I haven't eaten a twinkie since I did this run about 4 years ago and before that it had been at least 15 years since I'd had one.  After the run I am planning on running some more miles on the trails in the park to burn off twinkie calories!!
Runner Nerd

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

warmer than Key West

I have to write this to record the fact that today, here in southeast Michigan, it was 84 degrees!!  I then checked the weather in Key West, Fl and it was only 78 degrees there!!!  I went for a short 4 mile run today.  I'm not sure if it was my total out-of-shapeness or the heat but I ran soooo slow.  I was very difficult. 
Soooooo, yes, it's March 21 - the first day of Spring - and it was 84 degrees!!!  Wonder if that will ever happen again!! 

Runner Nerd
wishes this was normal

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Loving the Weather

How many March 17ths do we, in southeast Michigan, get to go running in shorts and sleeveless shirts??  No hat, No gloves, No tights, only 1 layer on March 17th!!!
I went to my favorite 4.5mile route which begins in Bandemer Park.  I can remember running this route during the winter in past years and how difficult it was for the 3/4 mile stretch through the Argo woods trail trudging though the deep snow!  Today, March 17th, Argo Pond was full of rowing crews out there rowing when there should be people out there ice skating!!  There were even 2 boats of 4 shirtless U of M dudes!!  I was staring a bit too much and I ran into the fence that runs along between the trail and the railroad track!
I had a great run; the Huron River provided wonderful scenery and entertainment!!  Lots of ducks are back!!  Two ducks were meandering across Island drive and then a car turned off Maiden lane and the ducks were in the middle of the road so I was clapping my hands and stomping my feet to get them moving but they just stood there looking at me like I was a nut!  The car beeped it's horn and the ducks took off across!  I guess I wasn't scary enough!  I found mud on the old Cedar Bend Drive!!!  Muddy shoes at the end of a run is always good!  One thing about the detour back to Argo (which I had to take because the little bridge between the dam and canoe livery is completely out) is that it adds two giant hills to the route, whereas the trail along the headrace is flat. I could take the headrace trail out but if I had come back that way, I wouldn't be able to continue on through Argo.  It also adds about 3/4 mile to the run and with taking Cedar Bend made my run 5 miles instead of 4.  I can't believe how many other people I saw out there running!  Even though I usually run alone, it is always so cool to see others out running.  There were also many people walking, walking dogs, pushing strollers and lots of bikes.  I think there were even more people out than I'd see on a summer day.  Weather this unseasonably warm is quite a draw to the outdoors!
The last 1/4 mile of my run was tough.  Hard to believe that I only have 4.75 miles of endurance in me these days.  I felt really good after the run.  I do still enjoy running; I just don't run very well these days. 
I don't have class on Monday so I did not do any school work today!!  Tomorrow I will be in my spot in the library all afternoon and then I will go running again.
I got a 98 on a test last week and another 98 this week - nerd status maintained!!!!  My ICU clinicals are going well; I love working in the ICU.  My patients are very sick.  Something I have noticed in these last 2 months of working in the ICU is that there are very few patients in the ICU who did not smoke.  That's all I'm saying for now; I'm organizing my thoughts for a future post on this subject.  I am very much looking forward to my new career as a respiratory therapist even more now.
Ok, time for bed.  Runner Nerd is tired from running!!

Runner Nerd
non-smoker forever