Time flies when you are having fun!

Wow! I can't believe that it has been almost a month since I made a blog entry. Crazy busy and worn out...I have just not had a moment to sit down and complete a thought without falling asleep. Over the course of the last 3 weeks, I have traveled from coast to coast by plane, aged another year, ran another 5K race, and managed to log about 80 more miles on foot. Rather than giving you the blow by blow, I will simply share a few picture memories and then move on to the best part of this week...the endurance Saturday morning workout.

My stats for today's workout


My last post was following my trip to the CMSA conference in San Francisco. Well, I returned to Nashville for 1 day and then hopped a plane to Orlando for 4 more days of travel. June 21st-24th...I spent those 4 days burning the candle at both ends but made the final days of "39" most memorable. From Thursday til Sunday...Orlando took my breath away...or more like my sleep away. Self-induced sleep deprivation mixed with way too much good food and drinks equals a 39 year old woman that felt more like retirement age. I can only imagine what I would have felt like had I spent even 1 more day away from home.

Four days spent with patients that struggle to complete the simple task on the day to day such as breathing freely at rest...now that would humble anyone but especially a nurse. Spending time with several of our patients from Vandy was especially rewarding for this tender heart. Nine of the hundreds of people that attended the conference were patients at our PH Center in Nashville. That topped the all time record for attendance from what I hear. I tried to make a special effort to love on each and every one of them; they each deserve recognition for the sacrifice that each of them made with traveling hundreds of miles away to gain a better understanding of their illness and network with folks that share the same fears of living with a chronic disease.  

Part of our PH team from Vandy

Along with the learning opportunities provided with the "Scientific Sessions", I had a little down time to hang out with some of my dearest friends. From nice dinners out at local restaurants (Moonfish and Timpano) to dancing the night away at The Blue Martini, we  laughed until our heads pounded and bellies ached. Perhaps the laughter shouldn't take sole credit for my symptoms since the amazing margaritas and green apple martinis played into the day and evening festivities. I prefer to refer to them as "Fluid and Electrolyte Conferences" since we seemed to learn a little more about one another with each session that we attended :) Since many of the attendees of these said "Conferences" have sworn me to secrecy, I won't detail too many incriminating moments. Just know that we will all returned home to our families with a warm heart and fond memories of our fellow sisters that work in the trenches with treating PH across the country.



GNO at the Blue Martini



Monday, June 25th marked my "40" years here on earth. So thankful to be home...I spent the majority of the day in my comfy bed. Seriously, I slept almost 8 hours in the middle of the day. Exhausted doesn't begin to describe how my body felt after a week away. I managed to pull myself away from the pillows and blankets in time for dinner at my mom's house.

My sis-in-law decorated the house and mom prepared a FANTASTIC meal for us all to enjoy.



Loved my Birthday coconut cake topped with a floating candle...hehehe



Moving forward to July 4th....We (David and I) celebrated our 1 year anniversary of participating in 5K races by signing up and completing the Firecracker 5K again for the 2nd time. We definitely beat our previous times from the year prior...but David ROCKED his time with a 38:53 as compared to his 51:06 minutes previously. My numbers weren't as impressive with 38:23 compared to 46:11 but I will take it :)

Skipping on to yesterday (Friday, July 13th)...After working all day from home, I spent the evening purging my closet of all the outdated, over sized clothes and junk that needed to find a new home. Realizing that I could have been on the next episode of TLCs Hoarding: Buried Alive, I had to make time to make space.

3 plus hours later...the end results were favorable. And yes...these bags lined up below are only from the closet stash of clothes and shoes. I had already worked on my dresser drawers about 3 months ago.



9 bags of clothes and 1 bag of shoes...heading to the Goodwill



54 pairs of shoes...Is this too many?

Minimized and Organized...If it doesn't fit me today, then it is not in this closet!

Today...July 14th...endurance Saturday morning!



  

A couple of the Secret Scale Society Gals, me, and David managed to make our way to the Springfield Greenway at 5:30am today. We have gotten a bit smarter in these record high temps by starting early to prevent the sun from baking us to a well-done before we finish the mileage.

 8 miles before 8am...now that's the way to do it!

The geese were on their morning walk as well.



Realized as we met up that purple was the color of the day...The Three Stooges



Since I haven't blogged in a few weeks...I haven't had a chance to unveil my latest numbers from the scale. I will say that over the course of the last 3 weeks or so, I have burned over 9,000 calories according to my Garmin. However, the scales don't reveal numbers nearly as impressive. I have this little problem with bending my elbow too much. You know...the fork and hand or the glass and hand to the mouth routine. I seem to lose a pound and find 3/4 pound. Yesterday's (Friday Weigh Day) number landed at 191.6 on the Tanita Scale. According to the posts, I have left 0.8 pounds behind since June 15th weigh in. Honestly, I think I have the exercise in check but my eating is quite chaotic. Perhaps my act of purging the closet yesterday will help motivate me for the next 10 lb loss. We are only about 2-3 weeks away from starting to train for the Hard Rock Cafe 1/2 Marathon in November so I need to get busy losing this blubber so I am lighter on my feet. Here's to another good week ahead! Thanks for reading :)