Great Minds Think Alike.

Sometimes you just need a little HOME.

6 weeks ago I decided I was homesick.  Scratch that.  16 months ago I decided I was homesick.  But... 6 weeks ago is when I decided I needed to go home, even if it was only for a weekend.  I thought it would be a wonderful idea to surprise Jake, since he does so much for me!  One thing you must know about Jake is that he is a workaholic and hunting-aholic.  When he's not working his normal shifts, you will find him either picking up extra shifts or out in the Alaskan wilderness hunting.  Both of which make it very difficult to try to surprise him.

Jake with his Kodiak Bear.
Sorry Yogi Bear. But better you than that hot hunter standing behind your massive claws!  

So... I came up with the perfect plan: I would recruit one of his friends to invite him on a "hunting trip" during the time I will be there.  Jake said yes, and my plan was going to succeed!  It would be perfect.

Well, the impossible happened.  Jake decided he had enough hunting for one year.  What?  How is that possible, Mr. I-can't-buy-enough-guns-or-own-enough-hunting-books-in-my-lifetime? Really?  Okay, plan B: he says he's tired and needs time to recover from all of his hunting trips.  Plus he said he really wants to work on the house.  Phew. Okay, maybe this will work.

Jake with Mr. Billy Goat. 

Then... last week, I get a phone call from Jake:

Jake- "What are you doing the 25-29th?"
Me- "I'm working... why, what's up?" ("working" aka secret code language for "coming to visit you")
Jake- "I miss you.  I found a cheap ticket, so I want to come to see you!"
Me- "Oh I'd love to see you!  Let me talk to Dr. Watson and see if I can take a day off."  (Crap!  What to do, what to do?!)
Jake- "Okay, well hurry because if it doesn't work out, I have two extra shifts I'm going to pick up during that time."
Me- "Okay, I'll let you know ASAP!" (NOOOOOOO.... dang it.  Why must we think alike and why must you be a workaholic who doesn't know how to take a day off!)

I tried to come up with a believable plan C... unfortunately, I realized that I would inevitably have to tell him the surprise 10 days early.  Luckily, he was through the roof excited and the first thing that came out of his mouth was:

"Wait... what?! Really?! No.... that means I have to clean the house!" haha

If that doesn't show you love, I don't know what does.  :)  It also shows that it was a blessing in disguise that I told him, or the house may have looked like a war zone/bachelor pad upon my surprise arrival.

We are BEYOND excited and I can't wait to be home in just 36 hours!  It has been over 6 months since I've been in Alaska... which is FAR too long.  To my Alaskan friends... I can't WAIT to see you!

(And we're having a party at our house on Friday... all are welcome!)

Anchorage!

Nike Women's Marathon

Errrr... Unless I broke the world record time for women's marathon with my amazingly fast time of 1:48... I think the title "Nike Women's Half Marathon" is more fitting. Truth be told, I did not do the full marathon.  Even more true is that I am a very sore quitter and I've been avoiding this post since the race. I wanted so badly to prove I could do two marathons in one week.... But wise people (aka my sister- a PT, my coach, my husband, the stranger in the elevator.... and every other person I told about my crazy plan) told me that I probably shouldn't do two marathons 8 days apart. Being the competitive person that I am, it made it all the more reason to try to do the full. Then I realized... Wouldn't it be worse to prove them right and injure myself??

So... I set off on the cool, foggy morning with 27,000 other runners at an all time SLOW pace for Brittany. And you know what? It felt amazing! It was so much fun to run without the pressure of getting a PR! I momentarily thought of cutting over at mile 11.5 and finishing the full with the rest of the marathoners, but a nagging blister brought me back to reality and urged me to settle for 13.1.

The race itself is beautifully organized and SO much fun! I even got to have a wonderful girls' weekend with my favorite girl, Ashley and her friend Erin!

LOVE her.

So much fun!

We walked around the my favorite city...

I left my heart in San Francisco. Or maybe it's Alaska.  I can't remember how the saying goes. :)

We went to the expo...

Oh Nike, how I love thee.

 And spent far too long drooling over all of the beautiful running gear at Nike town!

Story of my life.

You might be a runner if you'd rather spend all day looking at sports bras and compression socks than shop for new heels and designer jeans at the kajillion (is that a word?) high end fashion stores in downtown San Francisco! We enjoyed dinner at CPK (California pizza kitchen) - a first for me! And let's be honest, there's really nothing "California-y" about it, but it's pretty tasty! Followed by a night in our classy hotel! It was a much needed weekend getaway!

Ahhhh the dream mattress.  If only some people didn't snore... then it really would have been a dream haha

The next morning, we rolled out of bed and walked the 2 blocks to the starting line.  Along with the rest of the city!  The starting line is in Union Square, surrounded by tall skyscrapers and jam-packed with runners from around the world!  I even got to stand 200 yards away from Shalene Flanagan and Kara Goucher (2012 Olympic marathoners)!  A dream come true!

You can't see them, but the olympians are out there!  I promise!

Wahoo!  Love this moment.

Ready to ROCK!

The best part of the race is this:

Is that a Tiffany's box I see?!

Um Yes.  You are my new favorite piece of jewelery I own.  Besides the beautiful ring from Jake, of course :)

LOVE.

And this:

Why hello there, Mr. Firefighter!  Too bad my firefighter is way hotter!  :)

I am officially in love with this race and hope to do it every year I am able! A must do for any runner!!!

Okay, if you insist.  I will RUN.

Great finish to a GREAT weekend.

St. George Marathon!

Pure joy.  

26.2 miles.  Thank goodness it's not 26.3, because THAT would be crazy!

St. George is one of the most beautiful places I've visited.  Red rocks, canyons, stunning mountains, amazingly nice people, and running paths unlike anywhere I've ever been.  I must be an Alaskan because mountains make any place THAT much more beautiful.

The best part about my arrival to St. George was seeing my parents and sister for the first time in months, and my amazing cousin and uncle for the first time in FOUR YEARS!  Can you believe how quickly time flies?

My family! 

It was so amazing to see all of their smiling faces :)  And not to brag, but I had the best cheering squad at the race. :)

Best support squad ever!

So blessed.

My quick weekend trip started at the Marathon Expo to pick up my bib and runners packet.  There is something so amazing about an Expo.  Looking around and seeing other runners who share the same crazy obsession, vendors selling running gear that "I swear I'll use every day," free bite size samples of goo (who doesn't want a spoonful of sugary slime at 6pm?), and vendors promoting upcoming races that you can't wait to sign up for (but somehow quickly forget after the marathon when you can barely walk!).  I love the expos.  Another fun fact about Brittany is that I love freebies.  Free candy, pens, stickers, pads of paper, powerbars... all things I will likely not use/be allergic to... you name it, I love it.  Hence my love of expos.  Amazing.

Saturday morning, my alarm went off at 3:30am. Just a mere 3 hours after I fell asleep.  Luckily, nerves and excitement helped me get right out of bed as I threw on my runner's outfit that was neatly planned the night before :)  My training buddy and running-partner-in-crime, Dennis, was also running this race, so we met and rode the bus to the start together.

Greatest training partner ever!

WHAT A FUN STARTING LINE!  It was about 45 degrees at the start, so the race had fire pits with free coffee and hot chocolate (both of which I didn't partake in... not exactly a good pre-race idea).  The bonfires however, were amazing.  It was like a giant camping trip with a bunch of runner friends.  Aside from the 26.2 miles of running, it was my favorite part!

Clearly I was making a fashion statement.

Free space blankets for all! 

Camping with 7000 new friends.

Where's the s'mores?

The race itself... well... it was amazing!  Miles 1-10 were definitely warm up miles, but as my coach told me, "it's dark out, so they don't count." There was a nasty hill from miles 8-11.  But the moment I stepped at the top of the hill, the most beautiful sunrise spread across the sky.  Quite the reward.

Yes, I am that girl who takes pictures while running.

 My legs felt like bricks at mile 13, but luckily by mile 16 I finally felt amazing and started to pick up speed.

And yes, Dennis runs while looking backwards for the perfect photo op. :)

I can't say I've ever negative split the second half of a race... but I did for this race!  (Negative split means running the second half faster than the first half).  I took the first half out in 1:37 and the second in 1:31. With a total time of 3:08.04, a best time by 8 minutes and a 5th place finish in my age group.  :)  I'll take it!

Almost there...

High five!

The advantage to the course is that it is primarily downhill after mile 15, with the exception of a couple of small hills and flat stretches.  I can't say I've ever averaged under 6:50 for the last 10 miles of a marathon!  What an awesome course!  Now... that's not to say it wasn't painful.  My legs buckled multiple times on the downhills and my quads were on fire, but it was nothing I couldn't mentally power-through.  Hopefully I can get in the lottery again next year!

We did it!

Wahoo!

The rest of my weekend was spent recovering.  With lots of delicious homemade recovery foods from my Mom :)

YUM.

And of course, there was bocce. 

A classic Italian family tradition... Bocce! Perfect post race fun!

And Utah favorites...

Read the label. - Polygamy Porter... Why have just one?  haha

And lots of love. 

Sisters = best friends

My gorgeous cousin, Maria!

First time we've all been together in a year and a half!!

Now... onto Nike Women's Marathon in just 2 days!  Eek... what did I get myself into!

Life is precious.

When someone tries to tell you that you are inadequate... what do you do?

PROVE THEM WRONG.

The past few weeks have been tough.  Okay... maybe it's more along the lines of horrific, painful, & awful. In every bad situation, it is so so so important to try to find the positive.  For the past week, I did not have that ability.  Today?  Well... I didn't cry today, so I'm feeling slightly more confident and more able to highlight the good :) The positive is that I learned that you have to do whatever it takes to survive a bad situation- no matter the pain or sacrifice.  I also know that a bad day doesn't mean a bad life and it takes bad to make the good that much better!

Being a PA student has it's good moments and bad moments.  You are expected to know everything about everything and let's face it, my brain just isn't that big!  The 4-wk pediatric liver/small bowel transplant rotation I'm doing is very specialized; PA school does not teach you about indications for orthotopic liver transplants, histologic findings of autoimmune hepatitis, titrating prograf & sirolimus medication levels, and signs of organ rejection.  All of which I am expected to be an expert at by now (day 14). Luckily, I know how to survive on little sleep so my nights are spent studying and mornings begin with an early wake-up call at 4:30am to head to the hospital and pre-round on my patients for the day.

The good moments in my day are things like seeing a sick child laugh, holding a patient's hand as they undergo paracentesis (procedure that removes fluid from the abdomen), and hearing that a patient asked specifically for me.  Looking into the eyes of a horribly sick child and knowing that you are helping them get better is one of the most gratifying feelings in the world.  The children I assess every day are critically ill.  They are either post-transplant, or back in the hospital with complications after having a transplant.  Most children are under age 10, severely emaciated, and have been in and out of hospitals their entire life.  If it doesn't make you appreciate the blessing of good health, I don't know what does.

Life is precious.  Forget the bad, focus on the good. And always remember, tomorrow is a new day.

6th Quarter!

I've been slacking lately.  I'm sorry.  I wish I had a good excuse other than: I'm in PA school, I'm simultaneously getting my Masters in Medical Science, it was finals week, and I just started my inpatient rotation in pediatric liver and small bowel transplantation.  Pretty lame excuses, I know.

My home away from home.  Stanford, even if you and I don't always get along, you are beautiful. 

The week after my amazing Ragnar Race, I had finals.  Let me tell you a little about finals.  They're no fun!  Early morning studying, class all day, followed by studying until the wee hours of the night.  I'm happy to report that I PASSED all of them and I'm officially in my 6th quarter of PA school!  In case you were counting, that leaves just 2 more quarters (including this one!) to go!  I cannot wait to be done.  You literally have no idea.

Studying with the BEST coffee in the entire world. EVER.

Although finals aren't my cup of tea, the weeks we come back to Stanford are like family reunions.  37 of your closest friends coming together to laugh, eat, drink, and learn about Public Health.  Always a good time :)

Blurry, but post-finals celebratory lunch with friends!

As I said above, I started my inpatient rotation last week.  I am working at the Pediatric Hospital at Stanford with liver and small bowel transplant patients.  It is one of the most intense and overwhelming things I've ever done.

Lucille Packard Children's Hospital

Home for the next 4 weeks.

If you asked me last week I would have told you that I love the rotation and I couldn't imagine a better experience.  Today... the mascara smudges on my face and dried tears will tell you otherwise.  I won't go into too much detail because today was FAR from awesome.  All I have to say is that some people should learn to live by the following rules:

True story.

Mainly the second part of that statement.  I think if people would live according the that rule, it would be a much happier place.  And far fewer tears would be shed by PA Brittany.  Let's hope tomorrow is better and I can give you a positive play-by-play in the world of liver transplants!  Hope you're all doing well!