playing random catch up

i really love my work schedule.... i work three 12 hour days a week...give or take... sometimes i pick up an extra shift here and there, and im on a committee that meets once a month, plus other bs meetings here and there... but generally i have 4 days off. those days sure go by fast but i often get a lot done. this week (and next) however, i work my 3 shifts in a row. on those 3 days i get NOTHING done (aside from the 4:30am gym sweat fest). the 4 off in a row are so great though, hence i can now catch up on what whats been going on!

last saturday i ran my 2nd 5k of the year and again i went sub 23! but, just barely (my watch said 22:57, official time said 22:59, whoa... i dont even want to talk about how pissed i would have been....). ive been working on my speed and really wanted to be closer to sub 22 than sub 23, but it started snowing on the morning of the race making road conditions a bit slippery, they changed the course that i thought was going to be a longer downhill start where i was going to try to bank some time, and then there was the cliff at mile 2....

incase you thought i was kidding...

my cousin kim and i ran the race together and she took a slight lead at the end, finishing 2 seconds ahead of me and taking 1st in our age group, giving me 2nd. ill take it :) overall im just really happy that i am becoming more consistent with my splits instead of crashing at the end like i used to do. i also wore my HRM for this race (i had to search all over my house for the damn thing, i havent worn it since...????) and my max hr was 188. so i guess that gives us an idea of something that ill look into at some point? sure.

looks fun, right?

in my january recap i made 3 goals for february (i like to start small...)
   1. ride more miles than i did in february of 2011 (45 miles)
   2. 525m swim (sprint tri distance) in 11 minutes (current time 11:20)
   3. plank a day

well, its the 16th of february... how am i doing? as of yesterday i have logged 53 miles on the bike, and my timed swim yesterday was 10:20! ive come such a long way in just a month and a half with my biking and swimming, i wish it was may right now!! (and im actually enjoying the bike more now, weird! riding in my kinvaras is really helping with my whole toe numbness thing). and so far so good with the plank a day. i started at 25 seconds and im up to 45 seconds. ive also done a plank in 5 different states and 30,000 feet in the air:

i know everyone and their mother is talking about the sad news of whitney houston passing away. i agree that there are other things going on all over this world that should probably take precedence on the news and everything, but its still very sad. i grew up listening to her strong, beautiful voice, and despite the troubles she had, she was still an amazing singer and left this earth too soon. i pray that she can find the comfort she desperately needed and was unable to find here.

onto more fun things: my friends john and amy found out yesterday they are having a baby girl! yay!! i know nothing about those old wives tales but one i think ive heard somewhere is if you are carrying low its a boy? well i told her on saturday night i thought she was having a girl because she was still able to wear her own jeans and not have to use the new elastic thingy (that was my exact thought process haha). they also bought a house that has a purple bedroom with fairies, so now they dont have to repaint :) my cousin erin is pregnant with twin girls (and her brother also had twin girls!!), my step sister is pregnant (not gonna find out what theyre having), rebecca finds out TODAY what shes having, my good friend jen at work is pregnant... so many babies this summer!!!

and last but certainly not least, i got tagged by megan and im just now getting around to answering her, she doesnt mind though :)


1. What is one thing you regret doing/not doing? - im honestly the type of person who believes that you shouldnt live with regrets. do i have some things in my past that i wish i hadnt done? sure. but everything that i have done has gotten me to where i am today, and i am very happy with who i am right at this moment. (side note: see question 2 for a regret. or two).

2. Do you have any tattoos? Of what? And where? - i have 4 tattoos, but ive actually been tattooed 5 times...
(from LtoR)- 1. summer of 2000, i had gone to one place and picked out the symbol i wanted (fun fact: no idea what i had wanted, just decided to get a tattoo. dont do that.) but they were so expensive so i went to another place that didnt have that same symbol, so i picked out this one cuz i thought it looked cool. it means "transformation". the two stars are purple and gold for elmira college. yeah. tattoo semi regret #1, but i cant really see it so whatever. (and i have this random red freckle next to the tattoo and i enjoy saying that the tattoo guy accidentally made a mistake and tattooed a red dot). 2. spring semester of sophomore year 2001, my roommate and i decided to get a tattoo together. we drove to ithaca, ny and each got the blue star on our bikini line. we both had to get them redone after a few months because the water at elmira had so much chlorine in it that the blue turned white in color. when i went back to get it touched up i added the purple moon, she made hers into a shooting star. my moon has also lost its color and is all splotchy. im not getting it redone cuz this one hurt like a bitch! whatever. tattoo semi regret #2. 3. pretty self explanatory... october 2009, after completing my first marathon. my first tattoo with no star and no purple haha. 4. november 2011. the "a" is purple for cystic fibrosis awareness. "breathe" has numerous meanings in my life. most everyone knows this, but i changed my career and became a respiratory therapist after meeting my (now) husband and his brother who had cystic fibrosis. aaron lost his lifelong struggle in august of this past year and i got this in honor of him. miss him everyday.

3. If you could travel anywhere right now, with an unlimited budget, where would you go? - ireland or a 50 states tour

4. Early bird or night owl? - i used to be a night owl when i worked the 3p-11p or 4p-12a shifts at my old job and i could sleep til 10am. im slowly turning into my mother... i love going to be before 9pm and waking up at 4:30 or 5am. i cant sleep past 8am anymore.

5. What is your favorite activity for stress relief? - running, running, running.

6. Childhood hero? - it wasnt so much a childhood hero but growing up i really enjoyed watching mia hamm and michael jordan

7. What is one item from your life bucket list you'd like to get done this year? - become a triathlete! may 5th :) (and i had to share this, cuz its freaking awesome)

8. The worst place you've ever been to? - driving home from seeing my college roommate in new jersey i had no cash for the GW bridge in new york city. i had to get off the highway and find a store that had an atm. i ended up driving through harlem. needless to say i was not overly excited.

9. What is your favorite fruit? - strawberries or red grapes

10. If you could go back to college, what would you major in? - nursing or sports medicine

11. Dream job? - i really really love what im doing now, but i think i would enjoy being a stay at home mom and be a weddding/family photographer on the side