Miles and Macarons

Well I am so sorry to say I haven’t blogged in 2.5 weeks. That is terribly sad. It has been a crazy month, and I can’t believe it is almost over! Since my last blog post I put in a good 15 miles and bad 15 miles.

The Good 15 Miles:

I know, I know,  good and 15 miles in the same sentence doesn’t sound quite right. However, this was seriously one of those runs that you pray for. The sun was shining but it wasn’t too hot. The bike trail wasn’t too crowded. I had my favorite Cliff goodies in my belt. The stage was set and I took it. As I completed the first mile I felt groggy and my legs were cement. Ugh. I kept trudging along and with the help of a new playlist I entered that “zone.” Love when that happens. Once the bike trail ended I was in new territory. I knew where to turn around for 13 miles but where was I going to turn around for 15? The first part of my run is uphill so when I got to 6.5 miles and the next part of the road was a HUGE hill I was less than pleased. I decided to improvise so I made a quick right. I went up a little speed bump of a hill and then kept going until I reached 7.5! I turned around and sailed back. There was never a point where I was hating running or wanted to stop. It was a beautiful thing! As soon as I stopped my legs were really hurting. I did a cool down and then went to 7 Eleven for ice, 2 Gatorades, and a smart water. After an ice bath I met up with my nursing school Wife for a Chipotle burrito bowl and some serious studying. It was a great day!!

The Ugly 15 miles

Let’s just say life got in the way a little. After 2 nursing school tests in a row and finishing my last clinical I had a hard time working my last 2 long runs in… I’m so embarrassed to even write that 😦 So I knew I wasn’t ready to go up in mileage but I thought I could step it up with some hill training. Wow…. I sure did deliver. I chose to run from my house to Dana Point. I felt as though if I wasn’t going up a hill I was going down. Some hills were so steep I couldn’t run them the whole way. I have to say, cresting the final hill after Dana Hills High School and seeing the ocean for the first time was an awesome moment. It was so amazing in fact that I missed the turn for PCH and ended up running down to the harbor. If you have ever been to Dana Point Harbor you know about the massive hill leading to it. Yep, so there was another hill I added. FAIL. Once I got back to PCH I hit my stride again. I ran a few miles back to Crown Valley Pkwy. Then I hit a wall and one of the steepest hills of the run…. eek. It was a very hard run. I think it was harder than the first half of the San Francisco Marathon. Since I added that gem of detour to Dana Point I hit 15 miles much earlier than I planned and ended up walking 1 mile home. In pouring rain…. yeah. I have the most supportive fiance. He called me as soon as I finished, Joe:”I’m so proud of you, you are so strong!” Me: “I’m in so much pain right now” Joe:”That’s ok! That’s how you are supposed to feel.” When I got home I collapsed for a good 30 min. I drank a whole bottle of Gatorade. It was glorious. Then I made 2 cups of tea, put on a beanie and a sweatshirt, and did my ice bath torture. Though the ice baths are miserable, they really do help with the soreness.

This weekend I made 2 attempts at french macarons. I love them. The beautiful smooth domey tops. The spongey feet. But they are very difficult to master. I think my 3rd time will be a charm so stay tuned, this weekend I will be giving it another shot 🙂

Tomorrow I start preceptorship. For those of you not familiar, preceptorship is like an internship in nursing school. You follow one nurse and by the end you should be taking most if not all of the nurse’s assignment. I’m excited to be doing my preceptorship on a floor I love, pediatrics! But I am nervous too. At least tomorrow is just the first day and my instructor said it was ok to get your bearings before jumping in full force.
Love and Hugs,

Sarah