5 Mile Race: Complete!

Happy Sunday to everyone! This week has been pretty great and we took lots of pictures so brace yourselves :-)
On Monday I ran my pre-race 5 miles. There's a high school track a mile from our house so I ran there, did 3 miles on the track and ran back. The last mile was pretty rough considering it was all uphill. I completed it in 48:27 which is 9:41 min/mile pace. I felt happy with the time. My post-run breakfast:

My energy booster

Eggs with spinach, mushrooms, and garlic. Yummy banana pumpkin muffin (recipe: http://preventionrd.com/page/5/) with almond butter and honey.

The internship is improving so far. Unfortunately I haven't been able to do a ton of patient counseling. When you only get a few minutes it's hard to make much of an impact on a person. In a few weeks we are doing presentations on case studies (includes power point). I was getting worried because I haven't been able to find an interesting case that would be good for the presentation. Well Tuesday morning I found one! Without going too much into detail I'm researching stages of drugs and pregnancy as well as depressed immunity during pregnancy (the impact upon the fetus and mother). I am sooo excited!

The community education department of our hospital offers a 4-day diabetes course every month. If we went to 2 classes we're allowed to skip one clinical day. Luckily I had more days off of work than usual this week so I went to 2 classes. They were very interesting. I liked how everything was simplified so that the average person could understand diabetes i.e. referring to sugars and starches in body instead of glucose. Diabetes is such a complex disease! After one of the classes I got this great dream to open a diabetes wellness center/gym. Kind of like weight watchers for diabetics. There would be fitness trainers, exercise physiologists, dietitians, and certified diabetes educators. Clients could exercise, getting educated on their disease, and get help with meal plans and exercise plans that take into account their type of diabetes. Diabetes is so common that I bet I would get business. Thoughts on that anyone? I should look into getting a CDE credential.

Monday night's dinner was chicken/pork tenderloin with au gratin potatoes and steamed veggies (thanks Mom for the pork and potatoes!):

Au gratin potatoes

Everything tasted delicious! The potatoes reminded me of McD's hashbrowns. Texture, taste, everything.


Wednesday Dan and I went to our ward's 'trunk or treat' activity. It was pretty fun.

 
Institute was that evening so we also went to that. We're covering Doctrine and Covenants so this evening was sections 18 and 19. Institute's great. Our teacher actually lived in Dallas, OR for 18 years so we were able to share some good Oregon stories!

Thursday was Dan's BIG day/moment of truth! His GRE test went very well. He scored above average in math and reading/vocab. He'll know his writing scores in a few weeks. He found out his scores are more than high enough to get him into the PhD psych program at Ohio State. CONGRATS BABE!

Dan and I received a $50 Target gift card from uncle Steve and aunt Myra (thanks!) so Thursday afternoon we went on the perfect date. Our date consisted of spending $25 on the other person (Dan's idea). So we split up and searched around Target for gift ideas for each other. It was so much fun!

Excited for his gifts!

We both loved our gifts! I hope to do this date again in the future. After Target we went to a Chinese buffet. The food was bad because it was cold. If it had been hot I'm sure it would have been better. According to the Chinese calendar Dan and I are not good companions. Dragons and dogs do not mix. Whoops...oh well :-)

6:30 Saturday morning came fast and started out like this:

On the road to Cleveland

Once we arrived and I picked up my bib number things started to get exciting. Here's are some pics that Dan graciously took of my race:

Crowd before the race

Double-knotting my shoes

Stretching

Concentrated/Mean look on my face

Me running alongside yellow shirt girl. Last mile.

Thank you Eclipse soundtrack for being my motivational running playlist. Overall the race went well and I felt pretty good for the first 4 miles. The last mile was pretty rough because it was uphill and my hips were starting to hurt from the cold/lack of warm up. I started out really slow so that I wouldn't getting tired too soon and so that I could finish strong. The good news is that once everyone was spread out no one passed me. I gradually increased my pace which allowed me to pass several people.... So I have a story about yellow shirt girl (pictured above). At the start of the race she was about 20 steps ahead of me. I made a goal to stay in pace with her so that I didn't slow down. So through out the entire race I stayed about 20 steps behind her. On the last uphill mile I was feeling pretty great that I had stayed with her. On the hill I starting speeding up in preparation to pass her when all of the sudden she slowed to a walk. Ummm hello?? I'm pacing you don't stop!
So once I caught up to her I told her to keep going. She replied that she was dying... Once I got her to start running again we finished out the race at the same pace until about 100 feet before the finish line where I sprinted past her :-) My final time: 47:00 minutes which puts me at 9:24 min/mile. I finished at my goal pace!

Me and Dan after the race

Here's are a couple videos Dan took. The first is the start and the second is the last mile of the race:

After the race Dan and I walked down the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dan took some great pics of the city.

My favorite

The alley that Dan raced down to try and catch me finishing

My favorite #2

Cleveland Browns' Stadium

Celebrating with a McRib :-)

 What a great day it was! I'm thinking about training for a half-marathon in the spring.

Church today was great! We got acquainted with 2 other younger couples who both have kids. Dan and I spoke with one couple about training me on caring/interacting with kids and babies (don't get any ideas...). We're having dinner with them tonight! Have a great week!

Fall...and possibly even Winter...is here!

Good morning family! Sorry I have not been sticking to my Sunday weekly updates. Bad me! Sundays are usually spent relaxing with Dan, cooking/baking, reading, or napping so it's not like I don't have time to update. I guess I feel that our lives aren't very exciting so updating the blog would be a waste. Anyways, not much happened last week except Dan and I both had last Friday off! It was very relaxing. We went out to eat for lunch AND dinner. Crazy I know. Lunch was at a hog dog place that has good hot dogs. We'd never been before so I ordered mine with cheese without realizing until the hot dog came that it's was the processed nacho cheese. We also got fries with cheese. I managed to pick out the ones from the bottom that had the least amount of cheese on them. I love real cheese but nacho cheese belongs on nachos not fries and hot dogs.

Dan and I went to Applebees for dinner. Dan LOVES their boneless wings. Saturday evening I worked at Lonestar. Before work I spent 2, yes 2, hours playing a Lara Croft video game with Dan. It was so much fun! I also made these lovelies:

I LOVE pumpkin anything. I was debating between muffins and scones and found this interesting scone recipe where the scones have a muffin consistency. Next time I make them I'm going to cut the scones in half so they're each about 170 kcals instead of 340kcals. Here's the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Raisin-Scones/Detail.aspx. I tweaked the recipe slightly using brown sugar instead of white and more applesauce and in exchange for butter to make them healthier. They turned out delicious! So delicious that they were gone by Monday :-)

Work on Saturday was just ok. My section that evening was in the bar at the bar tables. I've never worked in that section so I didn't know what to expect. I ended up sharing the 5 bar tables with another server. It was pretty slow in the bar area and I don't think I made as much as I would have had I been in the restaurant area. Oh well.

Sunday was good as always. The relief society teacher gave me some high quality chocolate as a thank you for substituting last week. Somehow between Sunday and Tuesday my chocolate disappeared. Yesterday I received this little treat:

"Rachel, some fatty ate your chocolate. I beat him up and made him buy you this. Enjoy. - Dan"

Along with another very exciting surprise:

Let's just say I have the most amazing husband ever. I don't have a holiday season cookbook yet and with my Mom staying with us for Thanksgiving I was starting to worry about what to make for our Thanksgiving feast. I know there's only 3 of us but I still want to make something festive! I'll probably just cut all the recipes in half. This book will definitely come in handy for future family holidays!

Speaking of the holidays...Dan and I booked our flights home. YAYYY!!! It's official. We will be flying home the evening of Dec. 22nd and will be staying until the 28th. I cannot wait to see my family and friends. The past (almost) 3 months have gone by so fast I'm hoping the next 2 will go by just as fast.

To continue on with this week: I went to Zumba last night and Monday night with my friend Amy. It's such a fun class! It brings me back to my high school dancing days. Wednesday's boot camp class was intense. Amy and I challenged the instructor to make a circuit using just your body weight and she actually did it! Unfortunately I pulled my hamstrings on my left (the weaker side) leg. I iced Wednesday, yesterday, and this morning and have been taking ibuprofen for the pain and to reduce inflammation. I decided to take today off since tomorrow I have my 1st (and only) 5 mile run planned before my BIG race next weekend! I feel like I'm a little behind from where I want to be but there's not much I can change now so I'm just going to be happy doing the 5 miles under 10 minutes/mile. Next Thursday Dan is taking his GRE test. He's been studying for it for the past several weeks. Judging from how he's doing on the root words I know he will do well! Wish him luck and say a few prayers for him!

On Monday evening Alicia (neighbor girl) stayed with Dan and I while her Mom was at work. I made delicious macaroni and cheese with sliced hot dogs. The side of the mac n cheese box had a cute opening:

 
Anyway, I hope everyone's Friday is going well! Have a good weekend :-)

Shopping in Cleveland

Good evening friends and family! General conference last weekend was AMAZING. I hope you all got to see at least some of it. I especially enjoyed the Saturday morning session. I felt that President Utchdorf's talk, "Of Things That Matter Most" (http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-7,00.html) was made for me. It's really easy for me to get caught up in the day-to-day activities. What homework do I have? When do I work? When am I going for a run? What time should I start dinner? I'm always thinking about what's next on my to-do list and I rarely take time to slow down. Elder Utchdorf quoted Elder Dallin H. Oaks by saying, "We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families." This is something that I need to improve in and something that never hurts to focus more on.

School and work went well last week. Unfortunately some of my hours have been cut. I went from working 30ish hours/week to 20 hours/week. Today I opened for the first time. I enjoyed it because I got home around 4pm and had dinner made by 5pm. AND Dan and I actually got to have family home evening on Monday night. Opening shifts usually are the worst because you don't make very much in tips. Today, however, was really busy!

Last Friday I ran 4 miles! I haven't been training as consistently as I should for my 5 mile race (which is only a few weeks away). I was pretty proud of myself for a 9:41 min/mile. Considering my neighborhood is full of hills I'd like to think my time was great. I'm aiming for a 9:30 min/mile for the race... it may or may not happen. Friday I also went to Cleveland with the other interns in my group. I had so much fun! We HAD to go to my favorite store of all time:

I was so tempted to buy this sweater in charcoal gray (it looks good on, trust me):

link to sweater

I used restraint however and bought some much more needed things. Dior mascara, bare escentuals eyebrow color, and handmade honey-vanilla body soap (the soap actually has honeycombs on it!). After shopping, my friends and I went to a delicious burger joint, The B Spot.

The B Spot

This restaurant is owned by Michael Symon (those of you familiar with food network will know who he is). I got the "Shroomage" burger. It was delicious. They don't serve fries with their burgers so I was adequately stuffed without being too full.

After burgers we walked down to Trader Joes. I guess I took for granted all the high-quality stores that were located so close to us in Oregon. I'm actually not a HUGE fan of Trader Joes. Even though it has some great products, this store does not fit into a student budget at all. I look forward to shopping there in the future.

Anna, Amy, Emily, and I in front of Trader Joes

Friday night, Dan and I spent time together playing football on the PS3. Let's just say I'm awesome at football :-) Yesterday I taught a lesson in Relief Society on repentance. At first, many sisters were hesitant to speak up but after I got the sister missionaries involved more women commented. It ended up being a really good discussion and I felt that those who were investigating that day were well-informed on the process of repentance and the purpose it serves in our lives. Repentance truly is a privilege. I'm grateful to have the ability to have a "clean" slate and continually work towards becoming perfect like Christ.

Well that's about it. Thank you Grandma for the birthday card. Love you all. Please keep Dan and I in your prayers. Have a good week!

Long week

Sorry I missed updating the blog last Sunday... We had the Elders over for dinner and then somehow updating the blog had slipped my mind. Anyway not much has happened the last week and a half. Just work and school for both Dan and I.

Last week:
 Tuesday after work I was really naughty and went to "McNasty's" (as Dan and I like to refer for to it aka McDonald's) for dinner. I got Dan some McDoubles from the value menu and a happy meal for me!

Delicious!

Wednesday I went visiting teaching with my companion, Shari. Unfortunately we were only able to visit 2 sisters. 1 sister was sick and canceled. The other 3 are inactive and their phones are disconnected so it's hard to get a hold of them. We stopped by their houses to see if they still lived at the addresses we had for them. Fortunately we found out that all 3 sisters still have the same address so we mailed them letters. I am thankful for this calling and I hope to meet the rest of my sisters soon. I wasn't able to watch the Relief Society Broadcast over the weekend because of work so I watched it this week. Sister Thompson spoke on the about the blessings we receive when we visit teach and the blessings we bring to those we teach. When we visit teach we are putting other sisters and their needs before our own. This  Christ-like act shows our obedience and love for the Lord. If you have not done so already I highly recommend reading her talk: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-38,00.html.

Friday I made spaghetti with salad and garlic bread. I love cooking when I have the time.

Work on Saturday was pretty busy and intense. I found out that one of my tables ending up being secret shoppers. Basically what they do is after being served the shoppers fill out a survey that asks questions regarding their service (Ex: Did your server greet you within 45 seconds of sitting down?) Turns out I got 90%! I need to work on pre-busing my tables (clearing plates and glasses throughout the meal).

Last Sunday we had the Elders over for burritos. This dinner was especially a treat because I made burritos with GROUND BEEF (the leanest of course) instead of ground turkey. For dessert we had no-bake cookies...YUM! In church Dan received a calling to be the Duty to God supervisor. I am excited for him and his new calling. I know he will do a great job!

Tuesday night at work I started getting a sore throat. When I woke up Wednesday morning I felt horrible. I was really congested and had a sore throat. I called in sick to work yesterday (Thursday) in order to rest and get better. I'm still not fully recovered but am feeling a little better. Fortunately I requested this weekend off for General Conference so my sickness came at a good time...I guess lol. I'm hoping to be able to run a couple miles tomorrow if I'm feeling better. I really don't want to get behind on my running because my 5 mile race is in a month!

Speaking of running... I received my first issue of Runner's World this week! I have read it several times and am so excited to have it. It has great tips and some good recipes that I plan on trying.

Wednesday we had turkey burgers and fries:

Future fries

My burger (with turkey bacon on top)

A great burger for a great guy

Dan and I both have a lot to accomplish this weekend. Dan has endless grading to do (I'll have a picture to prove it next time). I have a take-home test to do for my interpersonal communications class that's due Tuesday. It's not a hard test just reallllyyyy time-consuming. I have 6 questions that require about a 1 page response for each question. Here's an example:

Chapter 1. Define fatal attraction. Explain why fatal attraction (FA) may occur using social exchange theory (SET) and relational dialectics. Relate these theories to the hypotheses for why FA occurs (e.g., sour grapes, time will tell, rose-colored glasses, etc.).

I also have to prepare a lesson because next Sunday guess who's teaching Relief Society??? ME. It's on repentance which won't be too bad. Our class is pretty talkative once you get them interested. I'm really going to try to make the lesson stimulating by only using the gospel principles manual as a guide. Any ideas please let me know!

HAPPY FRIDAY from the Pattons