A Bad Case of the Noodle-Arms

Part of my half marathon training program involves stretching, strength training and cross-training. These activities are important for strengthening my muscles, preventing injury, and giving my body something different to do rather than just run all the time. This week is the first week I'm doing my full-blown workout plan, with all these components incorporated. Sunday was my first day of strength training, and it also marked a personal success for me.

Historically, I have been terrified of going over to the free weights side of the gym. Machines I can do, cardio I can do, but barbells and dumbbells baffle me. There are all these bros with biceps bigger than my head, wearing weird used-to-be-a-tshirt-but-cut-into-a-tank-with-giant-arm-holes shirts (why is this a thing?????) and lifting weights bigger than I am using only their pinky fingers. And grunting. SO MUCH GRUNTING! I feel like they all turn and stare at me when I come onto Their Side to lift tiny 5 pound weights. Especially when I clearly have no idea what I'm doing, which is all the time.

If I could exercise in an invisibility cloak, I totally would.

So on Sunday after church, I took my sorry self to the gym on campus. Sunday is my "stretch and strengthen" day, so after doing a nice yoga session, I eyed the free weights apprehensively. Thankfully it wasn't very crowded. There were maybe 5 or 6 guys over in that area at the time. I had designated Sunday as my arm workout day.  This is the workout I was doing.

Yes I know summer is almost over. And yes I did
have to google most of these exercises before I left the house.

I did the whole workout, with free weights, without dropping a single one on my head or foot, and without quitting halfway through! This may not seem like a big deal, but it was a first for me. The next day when I woke up, my arms felt like wet spaghetti. Hence the term "noodle arms." This was just wonderful since I had six hours of class Monday and had to write notes. I go back to the gym for strength training tomorrow (abs day). Hopefully it will be another success!

Soundtrack Saturday: Chasing the Sun - Sara Bareilles

Sara Bareilles is one of my top three favorite artists and has been since she released Little Voice in 2007. Her writing style is honest and clever and she has a song for just about every feeling. Her newest album, The Blessed Unrest, came out this July and I snatched it right up. I've been listening to it nonstop since then, and I absolutely love it! 

"Chasing the Sun" is probably my favorite song off the album, although "Hercules" is a close second. I love the idea behind the song and the message of the lyrics. There is one line that, when I first heard it, really made me stop and think:

So how do you do it/ with just words and just music.

Capture the feeling/that my earth is somebody's ceiling

With the first week of classes behind me, and my tenure in pharmacy more than halfway finished, this song is a great reminder to never take any day for granted. Whether I'm working, running, sitting in class, or having fun, I want to live every day to the fullest. 

Back to School (for the last time ever!)

Monday was my very last ever first day of school! This semester marks the beginning of my P3 year of pharmacy school and my last semester of classes. In January, I will begin the rotations portion of my pharmacy education, and take all the things I've learned and apply it to actual patients in an actual health care setting.

First day of class! The blurriness of the photo symbolizes
the mental fog that is present on the first day of having to wake
up early and pay attention to therapeutics

I am getting back into the swing of things with varying degrees of success. I wouldn't survive waking up at 6:00 A.M. without a full pot of coffee (look for a coffee-centric post coming soon!). It is nice to get back into a routine, even if that routine is extremely busy and there is no white space in my planner. I thrive on having an organized planner - it makes my life a lot easier to know what I've got to do each day. This spills over into my exercise routine, as my workouts get their own space and color in my planner. It's an excellent system unless something happens to change your schedule for the entire day (which happens a lot at this particular pharmacy school).

It will only get worse as the semester progresses

In other unrelated news, my rose plant is budding! I bought it for $5 at work a few months ago because I thought the blooms were pretty, fully expecting it to die because that's what plants do around me. I'm definitely a "brown thumb"- everything I've ever tried to grow has died. But this little rose bush is somehow still alive!! When/if it blooms, I should get a lifetime achievement award for keeping a plant alive for more than a week.

Behold! The first bud!

Soundtrack Saturday: Dust and Bones - Night Terrors of 1927

Every once in a while, a song comes along that takes you by surprise and makes you stop everything to listen. You feel it in the marrow of your bones. You get goosebumps on your skin and tears in your eyes. You lose track of where you are and what you're doing. For those few minutes, the world stops turning and it's just you and the music. When the song is over, you scramble to find the title and artist so you can play it again. Every time you listen to it, you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you first heard it. As a music lover, it is one of the best feelings in the world.

This song was one of those songs for me. I was driving home from school after a particularly rough day. It was nearing the end of the semester, and I was getting burned out from the constant business that is pharmacy school. I was listening to AltNation in my car, and Night Terrors of 1927 was their newly discovered band. "Dust and Bones" started playing, and it was like the sun came out from behind a cloud. 

Official video for the song. I need one of those 

fluffy skirts the ballroom dancers are wearing.

Even though the lyrics themselves are not especially uplifting, something about this song gave me hope. To me, it sounds like a song that would play in a movie, where the protagonist has been through struggle after struggle and wants to give up, but somehow finds the strength to stand back up one more time. If you see me running, and I look like I'm singing or I throw my hands in the air, chances are I am listening to this song. I'll be putting this near the end of my half marathon playlist, because I know I'll need the encouragement around mile 9 or 10.

Road Trip to the Oldest City in America

My very last summer break is coming to a close, and I spent last week enjoying the wonderful city of St. Augustine, FL with two of my friends. We stayed in a beach house owned by one girl's family, and spent 6 days laying on the beach and taking in the sights of the oldest city in the US. St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish over 40 years before the British established Jamestown. 

That's me on the right and Ashely on the left

I was not so lazy that I didn't run at all, though! I went for two morning runs on the beach, one for 3 miles and one for 2 miles. The sand was hard enough that I could run in shoes, and the breeze blowing off the ocean kept me cool (as cool as one can be in Florida in August). 

Morning run on the beach

We woke up early to watch the sunrise one morning
....and then promptly went back to bed.

 Because St. Augustine is such an historic city, there were plenty of interesting things to do, especially in the downtown area. We visited the lighthouse twice - once during the day and then later that night for a ghost tour. We didn't see any ghosts, but we did get a serious workout climbing the stairs twice in one day!

The St. Augustine Lighthouse - 219 stairs to the top
and we climbed it twice in one day!

At the Castillo de San Marcos

One of the best things we did was buy tickets for the Old Town Trolley. The tickets were good for three days and you can hop on and off at any stop. There are 22 different stops, including historic landmarks, museums, St. George Street (a pedestrian-only shopping area), and the San Sebastian Winery (which offers free tours and wine tastings).

Wine tasting at the San Sebastian Winery - they specialize
in making wine from the muscadine grape, which is native to Florida

Because we are pharmacy students, we just had to visit the old drug store. We spent quite a while looking at all the stuff. We were there so long one guy looked at us and said "Y'all must be pharmacy students!" He we also kind enough to take our picture so we could fully document our nerdiness.

(L to R): Michelle, me, and Ashley

On our last day, after visiting the fort and having a wonderful lunch, we were walking along the docks and saw a SEA TURTLE swimming around!! We watching him for quite a while (and took about 100 pictures), and then we spotted something that literally overshadowed every other thing on the trip....

IT WAS A MANATEE!

Needless to say, all three of us completely freaked out. A manatee, a real live endangered manatee, was swimming 2 feet from us. We probably followed him around for 45 minutes, taking pictures, videos, and watching him drink water dripping from that pipe. I could see the scars on his back from where he had been hit by boat propellers. It was truly amazing to see in the wild!

The highlight of the trip - seeing sea turtles and a manatee!

We drove 1790 miles (2 days there, 2 days back) on our trip! Now I am back at home, getting ready for my P3 year to begin next week! Look for a back to school post coming up in the next few days!

Soundtrack Saturdays: No Light, No Light - Florence + The Machine

I have a very eclectic taste in music. I like everything from country to hard rock to hip hop to indie music, so you'll see a wide range of artists here on Soundtrack Saturday. Today, I've got a song from Florence + The Machine's second album, Ceremonials. Florence + The Machine defies categorization - I've listened to a lot of music over the years, and I've never found another band that sounds like this.

I'm posting a lyrics video in lieu of the official video for this song,

because the video is just creepy.

"No Light, No Light" is one of my favorite songs off this album. I love the rhythm and the feel of it. Like a lot of Florence + The Machine's music, it makes me wish I were a dancer. There is so much movement in the song!

Artifact (n): some old piece of junk trying to ruin the world's day

Recently, this song was featured in one of my favorite TV shows, Warehouse 13. "No Light, No Light" played at the very end of the intense season finale, and it was absolutely perfect! I got hooked on Warehouse 13 after my friend Aleia recommended it. If you like sci-fi and history, you would love this show. I can't wait for the final season!

The Very First Run

The first day I really decided to run was back in April. The weather was getting nicer, and I was toying with the idea of running the St. Jude Half Marathon. So, one day I thought I would try to run from one end of Mud Island to the other, just to see if I could do it (about 1.25 miles). Mud Island (which is a peninsula, not an island, but whatever) is a pretty nice place to work out –paved path, riverfront view, trees that provide a little shade. This makes exactly no difference when it is your very first run. You will be miserable. You will hate everything. And your internal monologue will probably go something like this:

T-2:00 to run time: Pulling into the parking lot. Shoes-check, music-check…wait…what am I going to do with my keys?!

T-1:30 to run time: ok so if I clip this thingy to my sports bra…alright keys are secured. Maybe. I hope.

T-0:30 to run time: Gotta find the exact perfect song to start off with! Now how does this run tracking app work.

0:00: LET’S DO THIS!!

0:15: I’m feeling great! This is such a nice change from sitting in class all day.

0:30: I wonder how long I’ve been running, surely its been a few minutes already. checks phone. What? It hasn’t even been a minute?!

2:00: Ok this is more difficult than anticipated. But that’s ok. I totally still got this.

4:00: I’m getting sweaty. I loathe being sweaty.

5:13: My foot hurts

5:16: My side hurts

5:18: My leg hurts

5:19: I have to pee

5:21: My arm hurts

5:23: My back hurts

5:30: EVERYTHING HURTS

6:00: Power song comes on. I LOVE THIS SONG!

10:00: @&#@@&#$*@#&$

12:00: Running app announces “you have run one mile” YAY I RAN A MILE!

12:30: I can see the end of the island!

12:34: But I might die of exhaustion before I reach it

13:00: 

14:03: so…close…just…keep…going……

15:11: Reaches end of island. OMG I did it!

15:12: Hallelujah I can stop now! Immediately sits down on grass

15:13: Wait…my car is back at the other end of the island…and now I have to walk all the way back…uugggghhhhh. Gets up and begins slowly trudging back down the island

Soundtrack Saturday: Southern Comfort Zone - Brad Paisley

Welcome to the inaugural Soundtrack Saturday! Each Saturday I will be sharing a song that will be on my playlist for my race. I have to listen to music when I run - it keeps me motivated and prevents me from getting bored. First up is Brad Paisley's "Southern Comfort Zone." 

As an added bonus, it features Brad Paisley running!

I absolutely love to travel, and this song is perfect for someone who has been bitten by the travel bug. It also has the perfect tempo for running.

Ice skating at Rockefeller Center

I pretty much live in a constant state of wanderlust. I can't imagine staying in one place for a long time. 

Mission trip to Jinotega, Nicaragua

There is so much to see and do in the world, and so many opportunities to learn. I don't want to miss out on a single one.

 Atop the Eiffel Tower in Paris

I will be doing an international rotation as a part of my pharmacy school education. I don't know what country I will travel to yet, but you can bet it will be somewhere I've never been!

 Stonehenge with Baylor in Great Britain

Portland, Oregon with Molly

 Feeding pigeons in Venice, Italy

I hope you enjoyed my gratuitous travel pictures and my first Soundtrack Saturday! 

Today's Run and A Core Challenge for August

Today marks the second time I have run 3 miles! I was hoping to hit this milestone last week, but my body had other plans. Nevertheless, it is very exciting for me and I am looking forward to making 3 miles my "regular run". The half marathon training program I'll be starting in September begins with 3 mile runs, so it is important for me to be able to go that distance relatively easily.

The stats from my run - this was also faster than I have been running.
Normally I poke along at around a 13 minute mile.

Some lovely scenery from my run. 

In addition to my running, I'm going to be doing a planking challenge for the month of August. Planks help build your core muscles and tone your abdomen. The women in my family carry weight around the middle, so I've pretty much always had a "pooch". Even when I was at my fittest and most active, I still had some unnecessary fat around my middle. This plank challenge should in theory give me better "abs" but I may not be able to tell!

Found on Pinterest, of course!