Rants, Recipes, and Running

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, American friends! I pray that most of you are spending a weekend among family. Mine is not so much that way. It's spent working kind of long days - but I'm not asking for a pity party. I entered a field that never shuts down. So my mantra this weekend is, "Suck it up buttercup". Although, it pained me to drive into work this morning when I really wanted to be shopping at the Express jeans sale.....and putting up my Christmas tree. I will have Cyber Monday, however. Oh, America and our shopping. Talk about a 1st world problem. Did I just try and complain that I couldn't spend a stupid amount of cash on clothes on the day I wanted to?... Er.... Let's move on. I found this little meme, and thought it was fun. You are welcome to join. Or maybe answer a few questions. Here it goes! Four names that people call me other than my real name: 1. A variety of names around "Abs". Some family calls me "Abster". My ...

I simply cannot be a "blogger", and not write some form a "thankfulness post". But I fear that this may turn into a novel. Or an Odyssey-like poem. I will try to keep it simple. Bare with me, my friends. Every single day I am reminded with how blessed and lucky I am. Maybe it's because I work in a career where every day I'm talking to people who are dealing with bad news, and it  gives me an overwhelming sense of grace. But lately I have really honed in on listening to my patients, and trying to be a shoulder to lean on. Being that shoulder to lean on, and focusing more on really listening instead stressing about all the work that needs to be done has really made me take a step back and count my blessings . So here are a few of the things in which I am grateful for: Every single day, I have a home to return to. Let's start with the obvious. It has a roof. During the 100+ dog days of summer, I have the ability to crank that AC to as cold as I wan...

We had the perfect balance going this weekend between fun, productive, and relaxing. Sometime that is rather challenging. But I think we had it down! Here's our weekend in bullet-point style: Went for a nice solo run Friday morning. Almost all of my runs these days are with friends. This is awesome, but for most of my life I've always ran alone. So I value my solo runs done at my own pace with my own thoughts. That night we went to a Ragnar "wrap up party" with 3 other couples. It was such a fun evening. Definitely came home that night with "sore cheeks" from all the laughter!! Saturday morning I shared a pot of coffee with Ryan, and went to the gym to lift weights. Mornings like that make me really appreciate being done training for my 70.3. From June-October, my Saturday mornings would be spent waking up at 4:15 am and doing a 3+ hour brick workout! After the gym, we got coffee and met a few friends to watch the "El Tour de Tucson" - whi...

Tucson has been trying to increase the Farmers' Markets scene. And this is something I support 100%! We have great farmers doing great things, and this should be celebrated. I think my appreciation is heightened, as I have had many-a-failures on "Tucson Gardens". Stay tuned, however. I have been picking brains of every single gardener I meet, and I am heart-set on growing a tomato garden this year! Seed planting begins in January! ( indoors ) Ryan and I have a great love for food, and good food. So after church on Sunday, we decided to check out a festival in town that celebrates local farmers, food, and entertainers: Viva la Local Tucson. We had so much fun, and will definitely start attending this bi-annual festival!! The 1st section of the festival is the farmers market portion. This had local farmers/vendors selling their produce, olive oil, teas, ranchers selling their meat, local bee-growers with their honey, tamales, and the list goes on. We go to the loc...

Finally, the temperatures in the Sonoran Desert have dropped below 90 degrees Fahrenheit! Excuse me while I break into a fit of dance and attempts at cartwheels. (I never figured out how to do a cartwheel) My girlfriends Michelle, Heather, and I decided to co-host a fall-themed party. We co-hosted the "White Party" right before Labor day, and loved entertaining together so much - that we decided to do it again. All 3 of us love parties, love cooking, and we just work together so well. Menu theme: Chili bar. Heather made a traditional chili with ground beef and beans. Michelle made a chili with beef tenderloin . And Ryan and I made a Green Pork Chili with tomatillo and roasted chiles. (I have to give Ryan credit since we came up with the recipe together) We had a bar of various "chili toppings" (chives, black olives, cheese, tomatoes) For the desert we had s'mores. There was a bon fire, and Michelle made miniature mason jars filled with s'more f...

My 3rd Ragnar is in the books! The thought of these 24 hour races is rather daunting. But the more you do, it becomes addicting. This was my 1st "trail" Ragnar. For a refresher: Ragnar is a company that sponsors 24+ hour relay races. It's a company that makes tons of money. Because it attracts insane people from all over the country to pay hundreds of dollars to run with their friends for 24 hours on zero sleep. All for a medal, tshirt, and car decal. But great memories are always included! I've done the Ragnar del Sol (Wickenburg to Phoenix), Napa (San Francisco to Calistoga), and now McDowell Mountain trail. I must say this trail Ragnar was my favorite. Here is my recap: Trail Ragnar is made up of a team of 8 instead of 12 runners (like on the road). It is also 120-160 miles instead of 200. Instead of going from Point A to Point B, you stay in one area and run 3 different trail loops . This race had 3 loops: 3.1 miler, 8 miler, and 4 miler . Every r...

I have been a bit absent from here lately. :( I've really lost my "mojo" to write. I can't say I'm "too busy". I'm just not making time for it. Life has been busy lately! But I love busy. Since my half ironman I have been....... Enjoying the fact that I don't have to squeeze in 2 workouts a day I've been picking up some shifts working in the ER to brush up on my "bedside" skills (my iv-starting skills didn't skip a beat! *skip, jump, high-five*) Resting I have a Ragnar trail race this weekend, which is more of an excuse to camp, party, and run with friends! Both Ryan and I are doing this - so it will be fun. He's been on opposite shifts of me for the past 2 weeks, so I'm excited to catch up. With a double ear infection and several skin rashes, I have decided to stop the Masters swim team. Swimming was great, but I don't particularly like my apparent intolerance to chlorine (3 hours/week). 2 weekends ag...