Yay for Runners!

Good job, boys! They all did an excellent job- Dad's finish time was faster than last year, Collin was one of the few people in his age group that ran the half marathon, and Tayler and BJ ran hard and strong and did great too! Marissa and I enjoyed cheering them all on and just being part of the fun in Moab. Let's do it again! And let's get some 'other' people in on it too! (Cara, Mom, I know you thought about doing it this year!)

Half Marathon Finishers!

I finished it...

So here are my thoughts as I have just completed my first half marathon:

• Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
  
• How do people ever run twice this amount!
• This gives me a little more appreciation for the title "Marathon of Faith" and "Endure to the End"
  
• It takes a lot more to get ready for a run of this magnitude than I thought. (I thought I might be able to get away with only running once a week.)

So... I did finish the half-marathon, but by no means am I extraordinarily proud of how I did. But all the same, I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad that I had it in me to finish it, even if I spent some time walking instead of running. Next time, maybe I'll be able to run the whole thing. We'll see. But I did learns some things. Pain makes you appreciate your life (especially just after it leaves). Struggles encourage you to call upon God. And no matter how bad I have it, there is always somebody who has it worse.

I am grateful for all the blessings that I have. I am grateful that I am healthy. I am grateful for those who supported me, and ran with me. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves us. And I am grateful just to be here. Life is so full of blessings. Occasionally, something just opens our eyes a little to help us see that-- I am grateful for those things, painful as they might be, they give us joy in the end.

BJ's Running...

Hey all,

While I am just getting started (started 2 weeks ago), I am going to be running in a half-marathon in March, and so I have been training for that. Today I am going to try to run 6 miles. My goal is to come back alive. The furthest I have run in recent months is 4 miles, and that wasn't easy. But due to weak knees I haven't been able to accomplish anything more than 3 miles recently. So, I'm going to show you what my training schedule is going to be, and I'm going to show you what I have done. I expect to hear oohs and aahs when you look at the schedule, and lots of sniggers when you look at what I have done. Oh well. They are goals, and goals are meant to be lofty. And I'll do my best to complete them. Because one way or another, I am going to be in that race, and if I don't want to walk the entire distance, I need to prepare myself.

So, here are my goals:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p2OyjzGNLCQev5zT7-sRaVQ

And here are my actual runs:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/user_training?username=beeg_98

I wish I could put all of that on one website, but as of yet, there doesn't seem to be a way to do so. I think they are working on it though. Speaking of running... it's time for me to go.

BJ

They did it!! 13.1 Miles

Smart dummies, water aerobics, and half marathons

Well... I should be in clinical right now, but as we were waiting for our instructor in the lobby of the hospital, a pediatric nurse came down to tell us that our instructor was sick, and we could go home. So! Here I am, trying to think of ways to use my time "wisely". I have so many options!
I have a couple of papers I could work on, or a presentation on ADHD- medications versus behavioral therapy- for next week, a presentation on women's health in two weeks, a pediatrics test starting this week, a religion test ending this week, two online quizzes, cleaning, grocery shopping, reading for my classes, preparation for a pediatric simulation lab tomorrow, and/or go running! But don't worry, I don't have to do all of this today!
(For those who may be wondering, "What is a pediatric simulation lab?" this is a lab where we are given a specific scenario and we practice our skills on Tiny Tim, who is a child- size dummy who actually breathes, has a pulse, reflexes, and blood pressure etc. He is controlled by a computer and he responds to the care we give him/ her. I guess he is a smart dummy.)

Here is an update on my classes and clinical: Last week I spent two days in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) and border nursery (the feeders and growers- the babies who are almost ready to go home). It was a positive experience. I had to write a short paper on it. I will put part of that paper here:

"I was impressed with how efficient and calm almost everyone was in different situations. Most of the time there wasn’t anything very exciting going on in the nurseries, and we just watched the respiratory therapist and nurses caring for the babies, or, more commonly, we read chart after chart to try to learn about the conditions and treatments the babies were receiving. We also found a couple of nurses who were willing to answer all of the questions we had for them! The alarm to go to assist babies that had just been delivered sounded twice while we were there. The first time we were told we couldn’t come, and we didn’t know what to do, so we just stayed in the NICU. On the second day while we were there, the alarm sounded again, and again we were told that we couldn’t go in because there was already a student there. We really wanted to see the process of admitting, even if we couldn’t watch the respiratory team helping the baby, so we decided to follow them to the room and wait in the hallway. Eventually we were able to accompany them back to the NICU and watch them continue to work on this baby. We watched them insert a UVC (umbilical vein catheter) and UAC (umbilical artery catheter- they put these in instead of a regular IV which could be painful to the baby) and intubate the baby and put it on an oscillating ventilator. Everyone remained very calm, and worked very fast. A large team was there to help the baby.

"Most of the time, I really enjoyed this experience. I was really curious about what went on in the NICU and what it was like for parents who had children there. I feel like it was important for me to see the process, and what the role of the nurse was there. I also realized how frightening it must be for parents to have their child taken there and not know what was happening. It would be so important for the nurse to explain what was happening and realize that the parents have a need to be reassured and to understand what is going on. I think that because of this experience I will be able to understand parents better when they have had a child in the NICU and remember how important it is to treat them with respect and answer their questions."

I have also had the opportunity to shadow a nurse practitioner and a nurse midwife at a midwife clinic. Those were both very neat opportunities, and great learning experiences. Also, for the same class, we had to attend some sort of prenatal class. One of the options was a water aerobics class... which I did with some of my friends yesterday! It was pretty fun, and the pregnant people loved the class and said it was the only way they could get good and safe exercise.

Some other exciting news is that the half marathon is here! I will be running my 13.1 miles this Saturday! I'm a little nervous about it, because I hear it is going to be pretty warm, and I will be running farther than I have run yet! I am taking it pretty easy this week, although I will probably run or jog a little today and tomorrow. My dad will be flying in tomorrow, and will be doing the half marathon with me, Marissa, and two friends from the nursing program. My goal is to just finish and not hurt myself... maybe the next one I do I will try to get a good time or something. I will just be happy to be able to say I've done it!

Well, that's my week; I'm sure I'll be seeing/ talking to many of you soon.