Me, Myself, and I

I've been inspired by other friends who've been blogging. I've never been a good blogger, lets just get that out there. 

About me

• a recent graduate of nursing school and licensed as an RN (registered nurse)
• single mom to three crazy kids
• training for my first half marathon
• I cook/bake as a stress relief
• the term Running Nurse came from a friend in nursing school who felt as RN's we should be role models to our patients

I started running years ago as a stress relief and for quiet time when things were getting bad with my ex-husband. Running helped hide the pain. I never really stuck with it more than a few months at a time. Almost two years ago I was getting more serious about running and had a series of injuries that weren't running related. I gave up on it for almost a year and this past June I started back into running with Couch To 5K. It wasn't that hard for me, but it was good to have a program to follow. I found out that a friend from high school was also doing it in another state, so we kept encouraging each other. I never ended up doing a 5k race like he did as I couldn't find any that fit my schedule. But on with running I went. I started the Bridge to 10K program, but found it didn't really work for me as well as C25K did. I just kind of did my own thing. I started running with a local running group. Watching a friend train for and complete a 200 mile relay race (she didn't run the whole 200 miles!), a half marathon, and then a full marathon while in our last semester of nursing school really inspired me and I registered for my first half marathon, which will be on March 31, 2012. With just shy of 7 weeks left in training, I'm getting a tad nervous. However, I've had two runs over the course this weekend (4 miles yesterday and 8 miles today).

Nursing. I have always wanted to work in the medical field. I've always been fascinated with how the body works. I worked for a dentist in high school and seriously considered medical school to either go into sports medicine or be a dentist. However, science is NOT my thing so I decided to go against that route. I ended up getting my B.S. in Athletic Training. I did consider changing my major to nursing halfway through my undergrad years, but did not want to prolong my graduation. My older, wiser (ha!) self looks back and wants to kick my younger self in the teeth. I graduated with that degree almost 8 years ago now. I started back to school for nursing 3 years ago. I took the scenic route and turned the 18 month program into a 30 month program. Throughout most of school I worked as a nursing care technician (basically a CNA) at a local hospital. I am still employed at the same hospital, however they have not hired me as an RN yet. I'm still job searching and hoping that search will end soon.

Cooking. I've always been more of a baker than a cook. My dad taught me almost everything I know about baking. I still call him with questions today. All of my fond memories of growing up in the kitchen with my dad still make me love it today. However, with having kids, I have also had to learn to be more of a cook. I find I enjoy that as much as I enjoy baking. I've been venturing out and trying a lot of new recipes.

So that is me in a nutshell. I will attempt to update on my training, my job hunt and my new adventures in cooking as my schedule sees fit.