Milestones

Well, I had a lovely couple of days' visit with hubby. We visited the Buddhist temple on Sunday, and were able to spend quite a bit of time together for a few days. Yesterday we went down to the Rocket Bakery (a Spokane favorite) and had lunch together, and then I was able to study for a few hours while he worked. It was really nice. He headed back early this morning, and I'm hoping to be able to come out to Portland this weekend. I have an exam on Monday morning, but if I'm able to get my cards made early and get organized so I can study effectively in Portland, I might be able to do it. I'd like to hang out in Portland for a little bit, and go to the Portland Running Co. to get new shoes, and go to Saburos. We'll see how studying this week goes.

I had the big airway exam today. It's sort of a milestone in the program; you have to pass it with 90% or better, and it's long. John gives us 4 hours to take it, although I finished in 2. I always finish exams quickly, usually first. It's not intentional, I just don't write as much as others, and I think quickly. I don't get the best grades in class, but they are high enough to keep me strong in the program, and I don't really see any reason to change what I'm doing, so I don't. Anyway, the exam wasn't terribly hard if you studied, which I did. He told us what would be on the exam, in general terms, and it's all stuff we have to know, period. It was fair, but long, because it's mostly short essay answers. It's nice to have it behind us. I'm reasonably certain I got better than 90%, but of course you never know until you get the exam back. I had enough time left over to go home for lunch, and relax for a couple of hours before pharm at 3. Our class only lasted about an hour, and then I went to the gym.

After the rather poor last run with the shin splints, I decided to take a couple of days off from the gym altogether, so I didn't go Sunday or Monday. I looked on the Couch to 5K schedule and figured out about where I've been training at, and decided to follow it from that point on. I decided I was at about week 6 out of 9, so I did the first week 6 run today, and it went great. No shin splints, yay! It was a total of 21 minutes, broken into 5-8-5-3 minute chunks. I felt good and was able to hit a good stride (a slow one, mind you) and felt good during it. I did my full set of weights, and got done around 6. It was very chaotic in the locker room, so I came home to shower. The morning clouds have finally given way to a lovely sunny evening, so I'm going to throw some laundry in and go enjoy the day a little before the sun goes down.

The weight I gained back is VERY slowly coming back off, so I guess the plateau isn't officially over. I must need a fill. I have been letting more (sugary) snacks sneak back into my diet than usual, too. I'm shaking things up with my exercise, doing some cross training and such, and I have a fill scheduled on Thursday, so hopefully I can get things back on track here. The no-coffee thing is going okay. I have had an occasional cup when I can't stay awake in 3 or 4 hour lectures, but otherwise I've abstained. Even if the coffee itself doesn't affect the weight loss, certainly the sweetened creamer I use can't be good for it, and I like a bit more than I should really use. So it can only be a good thing to cut out the coffee. Thanks for the tip, Lori.