What I Ate Wednesday: Work Day

It's What I Ate Wednesday!

Check it out at Peas and Crayons.

I'm on a basic science elective, so I've been packing lunches but have a pretty fair amount of time at home.

Breakfast: A favorite old staple. Banana peanut butter oatmeal. Black tea with milk. Did I mention I gave up coffee? I can't remember if I talked about that. I'm sure at some point I'll write a post on that on its own.

Lunch: Packed to go. Asian salad: baked tofu, edamame, cabbage, lettuce and carrot with a sesame soy ginger dressing. Apple.

For afternoon snack, trail mix. I was pretty hungry and had kind of a lot of this. 

Dinner: Pasta bowl. That's whole wheat rotini with a couple Trader Joe's vegan meatballs, broccoli, carrots, marinara and topped with nutritional yeast.

And that's What I Ate.

My food lately has been not what I would like it to be - this is an example of a pretty good day, but I've been eating lots of grease and sugar lately and I'm paying for it in the way I feel. And the way my jeans fit. 

Those graduation [May 26!] robes aren't exactly figure flattering, so here's hoping I can feel a little more myself by then.

Run Through Redlands 2013: Stubborn Wins

I was not prepared to run a half marathon, yet I was registered and I decided I wasn't going to let it beat me - so this Sunday I ran the Run Through Redlands.

I last completed this race 2 years ago - it has a lot of elevation change so it's not easy, but I enjoyed it. See this post for my race recap from 2011.

I've been doing short runs maybe twice a week for the past 8 weeks, between getting a couple of colds, and having a couple rotations with unexpectedly long hours I did not stick to training as I intended, so going into the race I just planned to run for the first half and then walk the rest.

Then the night before I was about to go to sleep and I thought, "What if I can run the whole thing?" And by the time I started running I knew that the tiny little competitive side of me wasn't going to let me walk it.

In the morning I fueled up with a mini banana smoothie, tea and a whole wheat waffle with peanut butter.

And I noticed that my shoes were all paint spotted from the Neon Run. 

 So by start time I was all set to go.

 Many thanks to my most handsome supporter. He brought a book.

Granted, my pace was similar to those who were walk/running but I surprised myself and it felt awesome. The views were gorgeous and it was really cool because over half of the course was on roads I ran frequently in my training. We ran right past my apartment!

Look Mom a medal! 

After orange wedges at the finish line [the orange groves here are famous], we stopped by the store so I could get some coconut water. I picked the chocolate flavored one. It was awesome.

Later in the day we went to Baja Fresh and I got a bowl with black beans. 

And then I fell asleep for a while. I should be napping more while I still have my weekends.

And for dinner a Mediterranean style plate with pita, hummus, falafel, samosa, and tabbouleh. I didn't really love all of it, but it was pretty good. 

And so that was my Sunday. 13.1 miles and a couple piles of food.

This week I'm continuing my Basic Science elective in pathology, working on expanding the materials for the second year students for next year. It's kind of hard because it's been a long time since I've studied it from that perspective, but it's good review.

I don't have any plans for my next half marathon since I don't really know my schedule after the end of May, but I'm sure there will be another sometime soonish - likely in New Mexico. 

The Neon Run San Diego

We spent last weekend in San Diego having a great time with some friends and John's parents.

Happy Birthday Arisa and Bradie!

Although it's never a bad idea to head to San Diego for the weekend, I had another particular reason to be there - The Neon Run. I thought it was really fun, there was plenty of paint.

There were some rumblings that things weren't quite right for the Phoenix one - too dark, not enough paint etc.

I'm told this race was an improvement, so that's great. It was still quite crowded, and I wished I'd known how few blacklights there would be, because I would have gone more "glow in the dark" with my attire. Most of the race we weren't really flourescent-ing. Still, people got really into it and it was cool to see all the wild neon costumes. We got our entrance with a Living Social deal.

I ran with two of my classmates - hi ladies!

We didn't stay long for the dance party at the end - mostly because we were super hungrypants. So instead we went and scared an IHOP. There were lots of other racers there, it was good to see I wasn't the only one with an Oompa Loompa face.

Note the beautiful bronze-y glow to my skin.

It's my first colored or dressed up 5k - most of the others I've done were simple ones just for charity. It was really fun and makes me want to find another wild one to run soon. 

I still have orange paint in my ear. Worth it. 

Tachy Med Student: What's Next?!

Match Day has come and gone and left me with a job!

In June I'll be among the many brand new medical graduates who packs up and moves to a new place. For John and I, it's the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque for a Pediatric Residency. 

I loved the program and I'm really excited about it.

For how much anxiety and work goes into the day, it seems like it came and went faster than I expected. For a video on Match Day [featuring my face - both on camera and on my husband's sweatshirt], see this post from one of my classmates on the LLU Student Blog.

School-wise I've kept busy and completed a rotation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Newborn Nursery - I loved working with babies and thought they were both really fun though lots of work.

And now what's next?

Basically it's like a bittersweet countdown. On the one hand I'm excited for what's next and on the other hand I have a few more relatively easy rotations with a fair amount of free time and I want this time with all my friends before we separate to the corners of the nation to last as long as possible. 

To that end, we've been trying to have some fun.

We spent a weekend at Lake Arrowhead:

Look, snow!

And to celebrate Match Day - Las Vegas! We don't go often - gambling and crazy partying aren't really our scene, but it is only a 4 hour drive away, and we had a great time. 

The view from the hotel.

Pool time, Hi Maria!

What does a vegan eat at Hooters? That's right. Salad and French Fries. Meal of champions.

The Bellagio Fountains.

Okay it's hard to tell - but that's David Guetta DJ-ing. For reals.

And we saw the Cirque Du Soleil show Ka - it was awesome.

And for Easter we went and spent time with our friends and family in San Diego.

So all this to say, I've been keeping busy, having some fun and really trying to appreciate this short time in my life before the next stage of responsibility. 

And I've been eating some good things too:

It's berry season!

Always oatmeal. Nothing's changed about that.

For a weekend treat there's vegan cupcakes at the market about a mile walk from our apartment. 

 This week I'm on vacation and this weekend it's back to San Diego for the Neon 5k. Meanwhile I have piles of paperwork I'm working on to start internship in June and I got my Pediatric Advanced Life Support certification.

I've recently realized too much "relaxation" without enough to do cuts out that productive component of my happiness, so it's nice to have a few things that need to get done.

Happy April everyone, see you soon.