WDW 1/2 Marathon

A picture of each mile marker followed by a picture of me suffering after that mile marker. And some before and afters. And one in front of the castle. Best accomplishment ever!! 

aimless on sunday

I am refusing to leave my bed today.
I've pretty much checked out for the semester---I had like a month of really intense and stressful work and am now rewarding myself with less stressful (albeit still stressful) leisure time. I still have two exams (a pathology one and a nursing one) and I am going to make an effort to go to class in the future just to learn something...but--I've quit my job and I'm excited to continue on to Germany in 3 weeks! (ok, 25 days but who's counting?)

I've been trying to simultaneously sublet an apartment in Madison and find one to sublet in Bonn...no easy feat let me tell you! It's hard to do both of those things...
I ran my mom's run last Saturday, it was FREEZING COLD (and snowing) but we persevered, and I ran the 5k with Sarah and Karissa (my ITB whatever thing hurts still...) and everyone else managed the 10k. I wish I could've done the 10k! I also wish I could run now. I signed up to run the Disney Half Marathon in January (!!!!!!) but I need to get better first before I can start even thinking about that one. I'm so excited to cross a life goal off of my list!
The ladies from study abroad and I went to Ripon on Friday and visited Amy---it was fun! I love hanging out with those girls and it was really just a great time. Yesterday was also a fun night, I went out with a couple of nursing student friends and Karissa and we had a small adventure. I like living like this...22 years old and actually doing stuff! It's nice to sprinkle normalcy into a really strange life situation. I've been realizing lately though how cool my life is: I have so much freedom, anonymity, spontaneousness and want for adventure that my life is actually pretty awesome. And I've like...climbed the mountain of stress and bad luck so I feel like I have the ability to just be like FFFFF this and do what I want. And make the most out of my life.

Things that are happening [in attenuated list form]:

-i am moving to germany for three months for an internship as a midwife. combining loves right there.
-i am running a half marathon in disney world. [life goal: accomplishment in my favorite place on earth]
-tattoo this summer in germany...
-my mother is getting chemo and will be for the summer. i will have to deal with that while i am in germany.
-i am going to nursing school and get to choose my rotation next week.
-i want to do something crazy after i graduate, but will probably just end up working.

WHAT MY LIFE WILL LOOK LIKE TWO YEARS FROM TODAY [a prediction]:

I bet I will be working somewhere in Madison as an RN, trying to gain enough experience to join the peace corps. Or doctors without borders. Or just get a better job. I will be saving up money to travel. I will maybe be considering midwifery programs, or going to Germany to do that. I will still be very single, and occasionally still be very lonely, but I will continue to bury such feelings with doing distracting things like globetrotting and working. I will still be stoic and refuse to join a dating website. I will probably be preparing to be some bridesmaid in some wedding or another. Maybe I will still be arranging stuff for my mom--maybe she'll need help in her apartment. I'll have my own apartment: I will have gone through that awkward transitional phase of living at home for the 9 months before I get a job as a nurse...maybe my dad will be married? Jerry and Melody will be married. I will have run a half marathon in Disney World. I will be a member of a gym? Or just an avid worker-outer. I will see movies at my leisure and drink wine in the evenings. I will read more--no school, need to entertain myself somehow! I'll have bought a new MacBook (or an iPad?), I might be donning an iPhone 6. I'll start actually buying music from iTunes. I will have traveled to somewhere I've never been before by then--ideally somewhere rather exotic. I'll have a new tattoo. And a new wardrobe. (That's one of my first goals once I get a job!)

don't go brecht-ing my heart

I just finished an essay for my German class about Brecht and sent it off to Marco for a quick edit. It's due tomorrow after a week extension...I have another paper due on Sunday, too. This whole "spring break" is just a more accurate way to give me an excuse to skip all my classes. Three more weeks of early mornings, and then I am a free-ish woman. I'll be going to Germany soon...which scares me. I also have this 10k coming up unbelievably fast and I am out of shape again...

It's weird how one little shift can change my outlook on things. I was really looking forward to Germany for so many reasons, but one reason in particular took a really big change recently. I think it scares me now because I have been looking forward to things being a particular way when I got there, but it is all different now. My whole head is messed up about it. My whole outlook really changed and I have 40 some days to come to terms with it and accept my summer there without...that. I've loved Germany for so long and the fact that this is really messing me up scares me even more than the change itself. Life just gets so complicated.

Running has been severely affected by smoking. It's not quite a 'habit' yet, but I can feel it becoming a problem. I should stop, at least until the run, but sometimes it's just so difficult, especially driving in my car. Tomorrow I'll try running again, but I also have to check on all my cats so that will take up a chunk of my day. I'm watching Karissa's two cats, Helix and Nemo, while she is in Texas for Spring Break, and I'm also checking up on Cobbler, who I love, but she's so skinny lately it kind of worries me. I also have my doubts as to whether Baruch will let my mom have her back again, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Tomorrow begins my three week stretch of working with no days off. I find that kind of unbelievable...but I guess that's actually how it's going to go. I'm thankful I found someone to sublet my apartment (and she's going to use my bed, so that's one less hassle I have to go through before flying back to my Lieblingsort...)

Tomorrow: running, paper, cats, working, cats, watching disney movies auf deutsch/reading, sleeping.
Friday: running, biking (?!), working, disney movies/reading
Saturday: working, running, working on my paper, working
Sunday: church with Grandma, brunch with Grandma and Mom, working
Monday: class, running, office hours, German class, movies, sleep
Tuesday: clinicals, working, sleep.
Wednesday: classes, running, watching movies for school (!?)
Thursday: clinicals, working, sleep
Friday: clinicals, sleep (running?)
Saturday: working, school work, working sleep
Sunday: working, school work, working, movies sleep
Monday: class, office hours, German class, movies, sleep
Tuesday: clinicals, working, sleep
Wednesday: classes, school movies/quizzes
Thursday: clinicals, working, sleep
Friday: sleep, school work, working
Saturday: working, school work, bar crawl
Sunday: Running 10k, working

And in between all those times I need to find time to: take care of the cats (only until this weekend), visit my mother, pay the bills, respond to e-mails, take quizzes, eat and run. Also, proben for the theatre stück am 6. Mai are starting next week...I'm not sure how much of a time suck that will be but I need to figure in time for that, too. My goodness my life is crazy, but this helped me get organized at least!


okay, time to sleep (and sleep in tomorrow!) until I need to edit my paper one final time, print it out, and turn it in before checking on those darn cats. gute nacht alle :)

questionable life equilibrium?

I'm doing well for myself. I'm running. I'm cooking (real stuff, in the oven!) I fall asleep easily. I love school. I'm really involved in German Club. I've listened to so many podcasts I don't know if my brain could possibly take on any more possibly useless/interesting knowledge. I finished all of my Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and won't be able to get any until the weekend. My research at the lab is confusing, but enjoyable. I like reading my assignments. I love my radio show. I'm alone the majority of the time. I get to eat at the Med Cafe. My wife walks me to class on occasion (a nice substitute for a future husband for now). I'm not ecstatic, nor am I depressed. I am well.
It's nuts! I feel like I'm normal.

And deleting facebook from my quick bookmarks makes life so much easier!

run, becca, run

i really want to run this half marathon!
i'm so excited...
if only i had the will power!!!

and now i'm going to go run. for real.

today

After a healthy ditch of my 7:45 Running class, the day went well. I got in a nice nap, and did some heavy duty homework later on at night. I went for a 3 mile run at the SERF and attended my first discussion section for my Environmental Conservation class. Ate dinner with Rushi, which was awesome because we usually have dinner with other people, but it was just us. It was cool. And I got Mochachino ice cream from Babcock. Yum. When I got home I got a healthy dose of sex in. I mean, I finished up last week's chapter and this one. Some nasty stuff though in this chapter! Like subincision. Yipes! I wrote a very nice email, am posting on my blog and am going to sleep promptly. Minimal procrastination. Maybe I can even get an episode of TAL in!

I'm listening to Giving Up the Gun by Vampire Weekend. Good stuff. I'm having a good week so far. I kind of feel like I'm glowing from time to time!