The first week of 2012 began with Kimi and I in Joplin. We got to spend some quality time with both her parents and then my family over my two week trimester vacation. We were fortunate to see all of my nieces and nephews several times over break. They are all a joy to be around and make me very happy. I love to see how they change from each time I see them since I'm unable to be around them on a consistent basis. At my parent's house we spent 3 days assembling a puzzle that we took from Kimi's parent's house. It was by far the hardest puzzle I think I've ever worked on. The upper portion of the puzzle was a blue sky that didn't have any differences in shade so that made the entire process a process of elimination. We basically had to try every piece in every position in order to find the correct placement of the pieces. Adam, Kimi and I sat in a semi-circle and passed pieces around one by one trying them in several positions until we were able to go through the entire pile of pieces eliminating a few pieces per round until we finally were able to complete the entire puzzle (this took nearly 3 straight hours to complete the sky).
Kimi and I have started off the 2012 year spoiled rotten by the weather. Today, we were able to run outside for 8 miles wearing shorts and a t-shirt. It was absolutely wonderful outside. I never dreamed of this type of weather in January but I'm more than glad to accept it.
This past Tuesday, Kimi and I did a workout on the indoor track at Missouri Southern State University where we both graduated from with our undergraduate degrees. The workout consisted of 9x600m repeats. Going into this workout, I really thought things were going to be great. We had already run two workouts on the indoor track the week before and they had both gone rather well. I thought this workout would go just as well but unfortunately that was not the case. This workout started at 8:00 a.m. and right away it got off to a less than stellar start. I expected our repeats to be all around 1:58 or better and only our last one was of that pace. There was a lot of carbon monoxide in the gym because of some machinery that the janitors were using to remove some flags leftover on the walls from the winter graduation. This really bothered me because I know the effects of carbon monoxide on the body can have extreme effects and that is one of the reasons I feel the workout didn't go as planned. Our splits ended up being 2:02 2:02 2:01, 2:00 2:01 2:02, 1:59 1:59 1:58. Like I said, it wasn't our best day but it could have been a lot worse.
Since we completed that workout, I have started attending classes again and now I'm starting to get prepared for my Active Release Technique seminar that I'm taking next weekend. Kimi and I are going to be spending a lot of time studying that over the next several days so that I can successfully complete that Treatment protocol certification.
Kimi and I have still been sleeping in our altitude tent consistently and now that I have my oxygen sensor, I'm able to determine the simulated altitude level that we are currently sleeping at. According to the charts, we are currently sleeping at approximately 5600 feet.
As the new trimester begins, I look forward to keeping you up-to-date on how things are going. Keep in mind that my posts will most likely be sporatic and could very well have extended periods of time between them since I will be quite busy this trimester taking care of my patients, studying Active Release Technique, preparing for my Clinical Exit exam, and of course also preparing for my part II, III, and IV National Boards. Wish me Luck, and keep me in your prayers over these next 8 months! If you keep up-to-date more frequently with what Kimi and I are up to, you can check out her blog because she keeps up with hers a lot better than I do mine. Her blog is http://www.runner4life-seekimirun.blogspot.com/
