I passed!!!!!

Yes it is 3:30am and I am blogging. Well I am at work and it sucks!!! Tonight has been crazy, I am soooo ready to go home. But the good thing is I just found out I passed my nursing boards. Yeahhhhhh!!!!! I am so freakin excited!!! Well gotta go one of my patients just called again for the millionth time. Will update so more later.

I am going to do better!!!

WOW so it has been over 3 months since I last blogged. Time sure does go by fast!!! Brandon and I have been super busy the last few months. The biggest thing was I graduated!! Yeah!!! It is so nice not to be in school right now. I am now a RN-well at least a Temp RN until I take my boards, which are coming up very very soon, so wish me luck. Brandon is still at BYU. He is wishing he was done with school, but still has one more year to go. I started a new job in the end of Dec. I now work at IMC in Murray on the Neuro/Ortho floor. It is an extremely busy floor and is certainly keeping me running all day/night long. Iwork 3-12hr shifts, well more like 15hrs by the time I drive up there and back, they are really LONG days but it has been nice to have extra days off. My house, or what I call it "shack" has never been cleaner, which is nice.

Here are some pics over the last few months...more to come when I get some time.

Graduation Dec. 2008

Me and "my girls"

Rieske Family pics-Nov. 2008

Week before Nate left on his mission.

Almost a Bob!!!

This is what running 26.2 miles in the rain, wind, and wearing a garbage bag can do. Note to self do not let this happen again. It sucked!!! About mile 13- soon after taking the soaking wet garbage bag off, my hair started feeling really heavy. I felt it and wanted to scream it was a complete mess. These pics were after I had taken my elastic out, my hair which normally comes down to my mid back now barely passed my shoulders. It was in a million-kizzilion-batrilion knots. I really thought that I was going to have to chop it all off!!! My aunt said there was no way I was cutting it so her and I spent the next 2.5hours and a gallon of conditioning cream combing it out. I lost quite a bit of hair and it is still pretty damaged, but at least I didnt have to cut it all off!!!!

Only crazy people run Marathons

Well we did it, we ran 26.2 miles in the pouring rain. Can anyone think of something funner? It was actually a great experience. This was Brandons first Marathon and he totally ROCKED IT!! He ran it in 3hr 11min 50sec!!! Thats freakin amazing!
I was glad to finish in 3hr 58min 2sec. I was glad to do it under 4hrs. I ran it with my mom and dad. I need to especially thank my dad- he kept me going at the end. I ended up running the entire thing- yeah, no walking. It was great to actually be passing people at the end- usually its me getting passed by a ton of people.
My Dad and I at the finish

My Mom, ME, and my Daddy!!! YEAH, 26.2 miles down!!!

We had quite the family group running this year. Not only did Brandon, my mom and dad, and I run it, but also my aunt Sheila, aunt Chris, and uncle Curt ran it! WOW 7 of us. We also had quite a few friends there as well, including Kris who kicked some major butt running it in 2hr 54min- thats freakin fast!!!

The worst part about the whole thing was my hair afterwards, it was a complete mess. Some how it got completely tangled-it was basically dred-locks. I really thought I was going to have to chop it off. Luckily 2.5hrs later my aunt and I were finally got a comb through it. My uncle took pics, as soon as I get 'em I will post them!

Busy weekend

We had quite the busy weekend. We woke up early Saturday morning to run the famous Hope to Hobble run. This is our longest run before our marathon. It is 23-24 miles long. I posted the elevation profile. The first few miles are pretty brutal, then you go down for 2 miles before having to climb another 4-5 miles to the peak. Once there it is pretty much all downhill, Yeah! Although it is downhill it is trail and very rocky so you have to be careful. It is quite difficult since you are pretty tired by this point and you have to tell yourself to pick up your feet so you dont fall down. (this was the first year that I didnt fall!!)

When we finally got home, we had to do some yard work. We were having a party Sunday so we had to mow the lawn, weed, and clean the house. Fun stuff! Especially after running that far.

We barely finished in time to make it to the BYU football game! Ahhh. time to relax!

Wrong. We have student seats and everyone in front of us was standing. So we spent the next 4 hours on our feet watching and cheering. It was a great game, but I was so tired by the time we got home. Lets just say I went to bed at 9pm on a Saturday night. Man we must be getting old.

To make matters worse it poured on Sunday and we ended up having a party in our dirty garage. So much for doing yard work!

Hobble Creek Half Marathon

On Saturday August 23, Brandon and I ran Hobble Creek half marathon.

Brandon did Great!! He ran it in 1:27:26, a PR by 6 minutes!

Brandon in red
Kicking Butt- Pushing it to the end!

Brandon took 1st place in his age division. Look at him go!!
I did not have such a great day. I was just glad to finish. I started falling apart around mile 8.

I finished in 1:47:42
I was so sick, at the end. Just looking at the pics, I look like death, and felt even worse.
Unfortunantely, I didnt start feeling better after finishing. I started getting dizzy, lightheaded, began vomiting, and felt like I was going to pass out. Brandon insisted that we head over to the ER and the poor guy had to carry me to the car, as I was way too sick to walk. Then we "Baja'd" to the ER. I started feeling a little better after being there for a while. I again had a bunch of labs done- which were pretty normal, just some dehydration. I got some fluids and got to go home. After much frustration and discussion we (my dr, family and I) have come to the conclusion that I have asthma, which could be causing my problems. We are thinking that I am basically hyperventilating during races. (My dad ran the last 6 miles with me and said my breathing was out of control) I am holding onto CO2 and it is causing me to become acidic. AKA Respitory Acidosis. Luckily I have gotten the ok to run St. George, but I have to take it easy. I am not going for a certain time and will likely have to walk through some of the aid stations to make sure I can keep my breathing under control. I guess only time will tell for sure.

Called To Serve

My brother received his mission call today. He is leaving November 19, 08 and will be serving in Melbourne, Australia speaking English. It will be weird having him gone for 2yrs but it will be well worth it. Good luck Nathan!! We love ya!