I'm Alive!

I wanted to write a quick blog post to assure my (two) ardent followers that I am indeed alive. It's been so long since I've written a blog post that it seriously just took me 15 minutes to figure out how to even log back into my blog. I think it's time to get back on the proverbial horse.

The last three months have been fairly uneventful in the Patterson household. While my sister was off at surf camp (amongst other things) in Australia and New Zealand, I was surfing an endless stream of drug names, dosages, indications, contraindications, and adverse effects. If I could have designed a semester consisting of the therapeutics modules which I'm least interested in, it would pretty much looked exactly like this semester. Sure, schizophrenia seems really interesting in "A Beautiful Mind", but when you have to start memorizing the differences between olanzepine, clozapine, asenapine, iloperidone, risperidone, ziprasidone, and lurasidone, it sort of loses its appeal.

I do have some highlights to report from the last several months:

My training is going really well! I keep thinking that my workouts are just flukes. I sometimes even fear my run workouts because I feel like I can't possibly do as well as I did the week before; and yet, I keep improving. I've gotten to do a lot of my track workouts alongside my coach, Michael Harlow, and Endorphin coach/athlete Parker Spencer. It's so much more fun to run with a group and far easier to push myself when they're on the track with me. My new powertap (thanks grandparents) is immensely helpful on the bike. My consistency has skyrocketed from this time last year. I've started swimming in the endless pool at Endorphin Fitness, which has also been very helpful. I feel so much ahead of where I was last year, and I continue to improve with each training block.

I started planning my summer, and it looks awesome! I have plans to compete at a lot of great races. I have another summer fellowship to support database outcomes research in a topic of my choosing. I have a family vacation in West Virginia and am going to visit my brother in Chicago for the first time.

I finally feel like more than a number at school. The transition from 20 person classes with professors who knew a lot about me to 140 person classes with professors who couldn't pick me out from a line-up was a challenge. This semester, I've actually been taken off guard a few times when teachers pass me on campus and greet me by name. My research group professors always ask me about training, and one professor actually pulled me aside after class one day to talk about triathlons. Pharmacy school is beginning to feel more like somewhere I belong, which is a good thing because I'm going to be sticking around for a while!

It's hard to believe that my first big race of the season is in about a month. In the mean time, I'll compete at a short age group race and at the Monument Ave 10K. I'll also get to cheer on my ever so charming husband at the Richmond Tri Club Sprint Triathlon!

Julie