Cats &Dogs

Are you a cat person or a dog person?  I have always been a cat person, that is just the way I was raised. We had a cat when I was growing up, Jasmine, I think she lived 17 years; she was always one year older than I. Then there was the dog bite incident, I am sure it has grown in my mind over the years to be much worse than it was, and I deserved it; nonetheless it left me with a sort of PTSD regarding dogs for most of my life. Until this past January, when after 12 years together, my husband and I adopted a dog. She is an American bulldog/Dalmatian mix, or so they tell us. Six months old now and full of energy. Yes, sometimes she is a bit too much for me to handle, but I love her anyway. I have come to the realization that while cats have moods, dogs have emotions. She can tell when I am happy, sad, tired or bored, and responds like a best friend would.

Hello again

Starting over again, I seem to do that a lot. I had basically stopped training and let myself get so out of shape that walking the dog leaves me short of breath. It is okay though, I am not so far gone that the dream of Ironman has become unobtainable. I am shooting for the Iroman St. George May 2013. I will be competing in my first sprint distance tri on June 1. For this race I just want to complete the race and have fun. It seems like the perfect race for me, as it starts at 6pm, perfect for a night owl like myself.

Illusion is Reality

I had a bit of an aha moment this evening. I was going to restart this blog with what amounted to a lot of whining, but something changed m mind. It was my evening phone call with my husband, we always check in at the same time when I am working in Denver. Anyway, at the end of the call he said "Well, it seems like you have everything under control."
"As under control as I ever have things" I reply "or at least the illusion thereof."
"That's all you need." he says.
That's it! That is all I need. Just get up, dress the part, and do what needs to be done, everything does not need to be perfect, the illusion is just fine.

Next Assignment

Surprise telephone interview this morning for a position in the Neurosurgical ICU at UC.
Driving back to Denver shortly for 2 nights at Rose.

What is possible?

This blog has been sadly neglected for the past few months, but I am back. I am in the beginning stages of training for Ironman St. George to be held May 2012. It is sort of a science experiment on myself. If I follow the training and nutrition plan, will I actually be able to turn myself into an Ironman? I am following the Triathlon Dominator plan by Ben Greenfield. Last Sunday I put in a pretty pathetic performance in the Colfax Half Marathon with a time of 2:49:01. I have a lot of excuses for my performance, but I will spare you those. My next scheduled race is the Mt. Evans Ascent in June, 14.5 miles up Mt. Evans. My goal for this event is to simply finish within the time limit of 4.5 hours. I suppose I should quit smoking lol.

Training is not the only thing I have to do though. We recently moved to Colorado and bought a house that requires a lot of work. I commute to the city 3 days a week for work. Speaking of work, I also have to catch up on my CEU's to maintain my critical care certification.

50/50/50

Ok folks, this is the plan: To complete 50 marathons in 50 states by the age of 50. Did I mention that I will be turning 45 in a few months? Math was never my best subject, but I believe 50 races in 5 years = 10/year, or nearly 1/month. I ran my first marathon last January, the Chevron Houston Marathon. I was lucky enough to win a lottery spot to run again next January. Since it is the same race, it will still be 1/50, after that, hopefully if I stay injury-free I will be able to maintain my fitness and keep running. It also gives me an excuse to travel, and believe it or not, it is a fun way to experience a new city.
Recently I participated in the Harbor Half-Marathon relay, my first race in awhile, and my pace was slower than I would have liked, but not too bad for me. I ran 6.55 miles in 1h 14m.

Union Vote

Tomorrow morning voting begins as to whether or not the Registered Nurses at my hospital want to be represented by CNA-NNOC. I have tried to be open minded, but have not convinced of any reason to vote yes. I am actually quite happy with my job. The nurses are treated well and paid fairly, I believe. They make all kinds of promises...higher wages, better staffing, pension...It sounds like a gamble. If we got everything they promise, then maybe it would be worth the dues, but why would I want to pay forward for something I may or may not get. Also, there are a few things they promise that I do not want. I appreciate being paid on the basis of merit and experience, what incentive is there to do your best when you will get the same raise as everyone else anyway? Also, we do not need to hire more staff, I have been put on call twice in the past two weeks as it is. Regarding pensions, I thought the union pension funds were broke, that is why they are seeking more members to pay dues. Well, that is my opinion, and I would love to hear the opinions of others, please reply. I plan on voting NO, and even if the union is approved, I will not be joining up or paying dues, and that is my right since Texas is still a right-to-work state (last I heard).