When you can’t decide before your run which shoe to wear so you bring your closet with you… good thing nobody broke a window on my car to steal these!
I went with the Alphaflys that are a bit too small (my race pair arrive soon!) to help get my body more used to running in them before October 5th! We did a warm-up for about 6 miles, 5 miles @ 6:37 pace, 1 mile easy, and 3 miles closer to goal marathon pace, which was a 6:17, but…
I feel like, normally, I have a pretty good idea of what time I will run for the St. George Marathon, but honestly, I have no idea this time. Taking a gamble with this one!
Here’s how last week went (and now just 12 days until the race)!
Monday: 10 miles @ 8:28 pace (was supposed to include aerobic threshold miles but I was too tired)
Tuesday: Treadmill for 10 @ 8:18 pace
Wednesday: Mile repeats at the track and 11 miles total. 6 x 1 mile (watch split times… crossed the line about 2-3 seconds after these) 6:14, 6:11, 6:05, 6:02, 5:50, 5:47
Thursday: 10 miles on trails @ 9:09 pace
Friday: Off!
Saturday: 16 miles!
Sunday: Off!
57 miles for the week!
You know how the rest of Saturday looked…
BYU had a game and we were able to go. It started at 8:30 pm and we finished at about midnight so more caffeine was taken for this endurance event than my morning run;)
Skye took a short power nap while we were there and Beck powered through the whole game.
We even got to see my nephew for a bit… he is getting around on crutches so well!
Now to answer some of the questions that were asked that involved Andrew’s answers:
How is Andrew liking his new profession? I know it’s been a couple of years.
*Andrew: I am loving it! As an Organ Donation Coordinator every day is an adventure. I don’t typically know where I’m going until the morning and even then I can be jumping on Life Flight airplane to a hospital further away and later that day be on the same ICU unit I used to work at. I love the schedule, it feels like my work/life balance is right where I want to be. I love the team I work with and they have been so supportive of my professional development and my family!!
Now that being said, I see some of the worst possible things I have ever seen on a daily basis at my job. Working as an ICU nurse I would see those things, but it was definitely less common. As an Organ Donation Coordinator I’m constantly around death/trauma and everything in between. I have come into contact with some of the most resilient and amazing families and individuals I have ever met. Sitting with and watching people go through grief is one of the most humbling things. Humans are so very strong.
I have no regrets changing careers. I thought I would regret changing Master’s Programs (not doing Nurse Practitioner school), but I don’t regret it one bit.
How did Andrew convince Ross to sign up for this bike race?
This was quite easy. I intially tried to guilt trip some of my friends and let them know it was my birthday weekend and I wanted them to party with me by doing a 50 mile mountain bike race. All of them essentially said I was crazy. After reading the book the Comfort Crisis I have been looking for ways to get out of my comfort zone. I was riding the trainer one night and started thinking who would be crazy enough to do it and Ross came to mind. I only had to send him 3-4 texts challenging him and telling him how awesome it would be. It took him 15 minutes to say yes. I love it!!!
*Janae: I’m sorry, Megan D, for Andrew’s peer pressure on your husband. I’m positive he has done the same to Andrew on buying new bikes so at least a race registration is cheaper than a bike.
What is Andrew’s favorite and least favorite nursing skill?
*Andrew: I love this question. In my new job I don’t get to do hands on nursing skills as much as I would like. But if I were to choose I would say it is a tie between two. I loved the challenge of putting in IVs and taking care of post op open heart patients. Placing IVs is definitely an art and it is challenging. I feel like nursing school does not teach this anymore, at least when I was going to school. I would take any chance when I was working bedside to place IVs, although I was never as good as the ER nurses and now I’m terrible. As for post-op open heart patients, I loved them. They could be difficult patients because they could be in cardiogenic shock and the surgeons would essentially order whatever we wanted to be able to treat them (orders for fluids, pressors, etc.) and we had to use our critical thinking on why a patient wasn’t doing well. Those patients always seem to be high pressure/high intensity which I loved and miss now.
Christmas gift ideas for the big kids?
*Andrew: I always find gifts that I will enjoy with them. Last year we got them skateboards and I was so stoked to be able to go skate with the kids outside together. I love giving them stuff that will help them in their passions. Right now our big kids are so excited about soccer so I love to give them stuff that gets them more excited to play more. If you all haven’t learned it by now, I still have mentality of a 14-year-old, so I love all their presents right now, because I’ll be right there with them playing and having fun. Other random things that I love that my kids love too: GoPro Cameras, anything bikes wins my heart, camping gear, climbing gear, rockets or anything that goes fast or flies, fun video games – my kids LOVE Zelda on the switch, projectors for movie nights outside or out in the mountains, skis, and anything else you can find at my favorite store ALS.com – this is not sponsored – they just like to take my money.
How do you motivate each other?
*Janae: Andrew has supported and motivated me in many ways since day #1. I finally got that sub-3 once I met him! But if we are going to be honest here, haha, we are also pretty horrible at motivating each other;) We are both constantly trying to tell the other person to skip out on work/running/biking to hang out and be lazy together. I’m not proud of this habit but at least it’s fun.
*Andrew: I shouldn’t have read Janae’s answer to this before I wrote my answer. I must confess there are times I try to get her to skip a run early morning to hang out with me and we can always run later (she does not like running later in the day). But Janae supports me plenty!! I love the cycling world and she is always asking me about my daily workouts and supporting me when I’m telling her I’m thinking about doing a few races or I need a specific thing for biking.
Favorite thing about the other person?
*Janae: Andrew’s sense of humor. He can make me laugh so hard; it’s ridiculous. I love how fun he makes life. He is so adventurous and always up for a challenge or to go BIG on anything that will bring the kids and me joy (i.e., Halloween… my kids told us they like Halloween more than any other holiday, including their birthdays;). I am much more of a routine and type-A personality, and I love how he has brought out a more fun side of me. He doesn’t want to sit back and have life pass him by… Does anyone remember when he used to work the night shifts at the hospital purely because he had so much FOMO of missing out on things with everyone during the days? He loves life.
*Andrew: I have many things I can say but no one wants to read that novel. I love Janae’s compassion for others. I always find her talking to everyone and always building them up. It doesn’t matter if it is someone new in the grocery store, new reader to the blog, a friend she hasn’t seen since high school, or our neighbor, or our kids, she is always there and connecting with people. She wants everyone to be heard and supported. It’s an amazing quality. I also love our humor together. Sometimes we are just laughing and teasing each other back and forth and its a fun way to live together!!
Advice for newly married couples?
*Janae: I have many thoughts jumbled up into a paragraph. Remember that you are on the same team. Our biggest aha moment was realizing it was us against the problem… not him vs me. Most problems we’ve had can be solved by getting more sleep, eating something, going out into nature, or making time to be just the two of us… It’s easy to think that massive changes must be made to be happy, but in reality, we’ve found that simply taking care of ourselves and each other makes marriage so much more seamless and FUN. We tease each other a lot and really try to keep things fun… It feels flirty, and we laugh a lot more that way, so keep up the things you were doing in dating now that you are married!
One last thought, It’s much harder to be happy and exercise that muscle in our brains than it is to be miserable. Being miserable is the easiest route. Being happy takes work but runners love a challenge. Choosing to be happy and find joy in the littlest things can make a world of difference in marriage.
*Andrew: I don’t know if there is anything that should allow me to give advice. I just read something that I loved, “Inspire Happiness.” I think this goes for any kind of relationship. Be the person others turn to, be the biggest advocate for them, love hard, it requires work but is always so worth it. Janae is literally my best friend – there is no one I like to tease and love more. Life is fun when make it that way!!
Advice for getting through divorce. My husband of 25 years just left me.
*Janae: My heart is broken for you. I cannot even imagine. 25 years of building a life with someone for him to leave. This is horrible. My biggest advice is to give yourself all of the time possible that you need to heal. Feel what you need to feel now and give yourself the grace to experience each stage of grief. I remember planning something each month to look forward to. Spoil yourself if you can. Lean on your friends and family. Cry. I remember going to the movies always helped me to feel an escape for a few hours when things were really hard. Dive into new passions. Rediscover yourself and what brings you light. I’m always here if you want to chat.
Every day, I would remind myself that the sun always comes up. Every single day, no matter how dark it gets at night, the sun always comes up. I didn’t know when it was going to come up or when I would ever stop feeling lonely BUT I knew that it had to come up. Hope really got me through those darkest years.
*Andrew: I’m sorry – this hurts so bad. I also very inadequate to give adviceo on this. This is by far the biggest trial I have gone through and it doesn’t go away. But there is happiness out there. I’m sure everything is so dark, you might feel broken, and you don’t know what is going to happen next. Some days its just survival. It gets much better, unfortunately this is a journey some of us go through. Find those who love you and lean on them and find hope in the things that you enjoy most. Get something on the calendar that you will look forward to and find little bouts of joy in anything you can to make it through!
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Anyone want to answer any of these questions?
Tell me a highlight from your weekend?
Do you stay up later on the weekends or keep it the same?
What is your Monday run?
