A Hot Springs spa experience!

Since a girl always deserves to be pampered - especially a girl who's been dumped - I decided to take a day trip to Hot Springs which is a mere one hour drive from Little Rock.

Hot Springs - named appropriately for it's mineral springs that spout from the rocks at a blistering 140 degrees - is one of those towns with a history of being a major resort area in the early 1900s. Back in the days when people visited spas for the healing waters, folks would come to the area and bathe in the bathhouses to cure their ills. Today it's mainly a downtown area with various day spas, antique shops, art galleries, boutiques and tourist trap souvenir shops. Along Central Avenue, the National Park Service has maintained many of the old bathhouse structures and you can tour the Fordyce (pictured to the left) which has been maintained as a museum.
There are several hiking trails in the area which is actually designated as a National Park ... interestingly enough it was the first official National Park - even older than Yellowstone. Hot Springs is also home to a famous horse race track, but I didn't make it out there because it's not fun to bet on the ponies by yourself.

The downtown hotels are starting to show their age, but walking around you can imagine it in it's hey day when celebrities and gangsters roamed freely. This is the Arlington which really has a 1930s feel. Walking through the lobby you really feel like you're walking back in time.
This is the view of the hot water bubbling out of the ground, the same water that is piped into the bath houses, but it was hard to catch the steam in the pictures. The one on the left you can kind of see it floating above the rocks.

















This is me posing along the paved promenade trail that goes behind bathhouse row. Apparently back in the day, bathers were also encouraged to walk and exercise to improve their health - what a novel thought!
So after wandering around and shopping a bit, I decided to go for the full treatment. Instead of going to one of the fancy new spas, I went to the Buckstaff Bath House which is the only old bathhouse that is currently operational. It's old, built circa 1912, and is definitely showing its age inside, but I found that charming!!
I wasn't able to take pictures during my bath treatment, but for purposes of description the pictures are from the National Park Museum ... and those preserved facilities looked VERY similar to the Buckstaff.

There are separate areas for men and women, and the women's baths are on the second floor. I was led to a curtained stall where I was told to get naked (don't worry this story is PG) and put my clothes and belongings in a locker. When I was ready, a bath attendant wrapped me in a sheet and led me to the bathing room which consisted of little stalls which each had an old porcelain tub. Again these pics are from the museum, but it looked a lot like this.
The tub was full of water piped directly from the spring and cooled to 100 degrees.
The attendant had me step carefully into the tub, then with a loofah mitt she scrubbed my back, arms and legs (this is the part where uptight people probably have a major invasion of space issue). Then the whirlpool propeller was turned on as I was allowed to soak for 15 minutes. I was given three cups of the steaming water - from the faucet not the tub! - to drink which is supposed to raise my body temperature and assist with the "treatment." I should mention the baths are drained and cleaned thoroughly between each bather - it's even regulated by the Dept of the Interior.

After getting out of the tub, the attendant again wrapped me in my sheet and led me to the sitz bath. Basically it looks like a type of urinal and you sit in it submerging your butt and lower back (you gals who've given birth know what I'm talking about). It's supposed to help with lower back pain, hemorrhoids and such. The sitz bath water is more hot than the tub, and was the strangest part of the experience for me because there were no curtains in front of you - so basically you're naked sitting in this thing with a towel draped over you as bathers and attendants walk by.
Following the sitz bath, I was placed on a massage type table for hot pack application. Their "hot packs" are towels soaked in the hot water then wrapped around you. I requested the packs for my shoulders, back and knees and damn they were hot! During the hot packs, a cool cloth was placed on my forehead and I was given cold mineral water to drink.

Following the hot packs, I was put in the steam cabinet which is probably the funniest looking contraption. You sit naked on a bench inside the cabinet and just your head sticks out as you cook for 5 minutes. It was a strange feeling and you feel like you're sweating from every pore in your body. I was totally ready to get out after my 5 minutes.
Now that you're good and sweaty, they take you to the needle shower to be rinsed off. The water shoots out horizontally in dozens of spouts pointed at you. Now this is one of the parts I'd love to have at home! I could have hung out in here for a while!
After my shower, I was wrapped again in my sheet and taken to the massage area where a massage therapist did a 20 minute swedish style massage. They used lots of lotion so I left feeling all lubed up when it was over. This is me in my sheet after my whole bathing experience, what a relaxed looking Jenn :)

Some of the newer spas also offer full services like facials, manis/pedis and more extensive massage services that would be fun to check out. I don't know if you could spend a whole vacation here, but it would definitely be a fun day trip or weekend place if you were in the vicinity.

Next place I plan on visiting when I have a few days off is Eureka Springs which is in northern Arkansas.

Where do we go from here?

This has been a bad week for me, there's no point in candy coating it. I don't think I've cried like this - well actually cried much at all- since my grandpa died because cool, independent chics are above all that. As my friend Kim said, "see, now you're just like the rest of us."

I do have to give a quick shout out to the Hot Legs who have been so supportive of me! I always have my fabulous girl friends around the country who are just a call away, but it's so nice to have people locally who can be there when you just need to talk or go for a run as a diversion. I've also been touched by how both of B#1's sisters have made a point to reach out and make sure I know that we are friends regardless of whether I'm dating their brother.

On top of the previously mentioned issues, I'm also at a point where I'm having to decide where to go next. I have 5 weeks left on my contract and they currently aren't renewing any of their travelers. I've really started to dig Little Rock and I feel like I'm building good connections here, but I crunched some numbers and I just can't afford to go staff yet.
In the midst of all my personal chaos, the hospital I previously vacated in Denver needed a traveler. The nurse manager there very enthusiastically wants me to come back for the summer and apologized again for how my contract was terminated. So it will be Denver until the first week of August and after that I'm really hoping that something opens up here and I can come back to Little Rock and resume my training with the Hot Legs.

In any case, I'm thinking that summer training at altitude will do me some good. Not to mention, JCR and I can have a ton of fun going to shows at the Performing Arts Center and shopping for her baby who just arrived today!! I gotta give much love to her ... you know that you have a fabulous girlfriend when you get a text message that says "Hope u r ok today. He is an ass, and u r fabulous. BTW, I'm in labor, almost time 2 push"

Again I have to be thankful that when my life starts to suck - and come to think of it, it's sucked a LOT in 2007 - I have wonderful people in my life. Hugs to all of you :)

Back to the drawing board

Now I remember that I had a reason for not getting into my personal life on my blog ... I mean work, travel and training are fair game, but I always avoided talking in detail about my friends and relationships. So now that I put it out there, I get questions in emails like "how's B#1?" and "what happened to B#1?" Which are all valid questions given that I posted so effusively about my online match that appeared to be made in heaven.

Umm... yeah ... that didn't work out.

After a month of dating we went our separate ways, or to be more specific he just wasn't that into me. Of course this is my assumption because after having a great evening out together on what would have been our one month anniversary (which he was the one to point out) - he just NEVER CALLED ME AGAIN! If I were a different type of person I'd abuse him all over the internet, but it's just not who I am. Besides, I can abuse him all I want to my friends and there's no written record.

I can't lie - I'm hurt and angry ... probably more hurt at the moment... but I've gotta try to find the silver lining. So let's pretend to be positive! I'll say that it was fun and I got some great evenings out of it that I wouldn't have had otherwise in Little Rock. There was our final date which consisted of an excellent play at the Arkansas Repertory Theater, a fun charity event/egg themed art auction, and who can forget the evening of sushi, burlesque and hip hop?? I just wish that it would have ended differently - I mean seriously, use a Post-it to break up with me if you want.

Now it's back to the drawing board .....

A sore knee makes for a concerned Jenn

I guess I've been lucky because up until this point in my "athletic" endeavors because I've never had anything hurt. This week I started to have troubles with my right knee and now it starts aching after I've been running about 15 minutes. I remember when I started out last year, I stayed on nice padded surfaces because I was worried about aggravating my knee.

It all goes back to an Outward Bound backpacking/mountaineering expedition that I took in 1998 in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Yosemite. It was an 8 or 9 day trip and we had to carry pretty heavy packs since we were going into the woods for so long. Around day 6 we climbed to a peak and had to descend in flurries and drizzle - it was a bit scary that's for sure - at one point as we were coming down a scree covered slope, I felt something pop. At the time there wasn't much I could do except keep descending to our camp. I ended up taking a ton of ibuprofen and hiking out the last 2 days in excruciating pain with every step. It was probably made worse by the fact that we were descending most of the time at that point which put even more stress on it. By the time the expedition ended, I had a horrible limp that lasted for at least a week and the pain took several weeks to completely go away. I was underinsured at the time so I never had it evaluated.

Anyway, in the years since that happened, every now and then when I'm lifting something or move a certain way, I might feel a shooting pain in that knee. I'm guessing that since I'm actually following my training plan and upping my miles appropriately, I'm finally reaching the point where my knee is rebelling.

On Wednesday, I had shooting pain during my run that was quite uncomfortable so I iced and rested for a day. On Friday, it was just a bit sore at times during my 3 miler. Today was my big test since it was my long run. I took more frequent walk breaks hoping to rest it, and still managed to do 9 miles. It's definitely sore and the discomfort during the run was bearable but worrisome.

I'm not sure what to do at this point, I guess I'll continue to follow my training plan but take it easy and walk more frequently if I have to and ice after each run. I think I'll try to get some different shoes, maybe that will help - and maybe if I wish hard enough it will just go away???? I can't have a bad knee this early in my race season!!

Little patients or big patients - either way I have no patience!

So the question of the night....
Which is better?? Having my patients be babies who scream all night long despite my best nursing interventions - or taking care of adults who actually form words but can at times be reasoned with?? Now that I've actually applied for a job in the adult world and have an interview pending, this is something I *really* need to think about.

On a night like tonight when two of my three patients are messed up kids who do nothing but arch their backs and squeal (it's not their fault that they have brain damage, but it doesn't make it easier to deal with) ... it's appealing to think of a different patient population. Of course I'm kidding myself if I think that "big" people are going to be any easier. They'll just be challenging in a different way.

I haven't officially decided to quit the NICU world or stop traveling for that matter, but I figured it would be good to at least explore my options. A travel job did just open up in Seattle and I bet the weather would be fine there for the summer ... if only it wasn't SO far away!!

View from Pinnacle Mountain

Took a nice hike to the top of Pinnacle Mountain today. It's not particularly long or difficult, the only hard part is not falling on my butt crossing the boulder field near the ridge. From the top you can see the Arkansas River and Lake Maumelle and downtown Little Rock in the distance.

It was actually pretty crowded and there were several college aged couples I met along the way. Who knew that kids these days actually went out of doors?? My only problem was that one of these young whippersnappers asked "are you OK ma'am?" as I paused on the way up. I actually was moving out of the way so they could descend - not because I was near death or anything. I mean I'm training for a marathon! I'm only 33!! Don't freakin' ma'am me!!! Instead I just said, "I'm fine, just letting you pass through! Have a great day!" I don't care if I am in the south .... I'm NO ma'am!!!

[edited to add: Apparently young men in the south are taught to refer to a female of any age as "ma'am" so I was told to not be offended by this after all]

It's just a moment - this time will pass

I was out for a 5 mile run today - still following my training plan you see - and listening to my iPod. I'm always amazed at how the right song can just suddenly come on and lift your spirits. During my run I was thinking a lot about my job and my life, specifically stressing a little bit on what to do after my current contract is up. Then all of a sudden a U2 song came on that just made me feel better, "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" from the album All That You Can't Leave Behind.

"And you are such a fool
To worry like you do
I know it's tough
And you can never get enough
Of what you don't really need now
My, oh my
You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it

And if the night runs over
And if the day won't last
And if your way should falter
Along this stony pass

It's just a moment
This time will pass"

I'm diggin' the healing and calming power of music and I also had an amazingly fast run, so life is good!!

A good Monday!!

Today was a good day!

I did an 8 mile run and though I was pretty slow (13:30 miles) I really felt good the whole way. I wasn't struggling or thinking "please God let it be over" and for me that's a major accomplishment when I'm getting up to this kindof distance. It was an enjoyable run along the River Trail which is alongside the Arkansas River and it was slightly overcast with a mild breeze, absolutely perfect running conditions! I'm training with a run/walk ratio of 8 minutes/2 minutes and it seems to be working well. My plan is to stick with this ratio and use it during my race.

The other thing that makes this a great day - and don't laugh - is the new season of Dancing With the Stars!! There's nothing more infectious than B and C -list celebrities trying to rhumba and tango with ballroom professionals. It's probably my favorite reality show of all time and I can't wait to see the premiere. There's even an amputee with a fake leg this season ... I mean seriously can it get any better than that?????

Taking a deep breath

I'm feeling like it's time to stop, take a deep breath and see where I'm at in life.

Career: I'm half-way through my third travel assignment and I'm starting to feel a little burned out on the whole traveling thing. Mainly I hate moving (an unfortunate necessity of travel nursing) and I get very frustrated at never knowing how the system works. Simple things like where are the supplies? How do I page the doctor? How do I order this test? Right around the time I start to figure a place out, it's time to leave. I thought I'd absolutely love it, but honestly I find that I spend a lot of my time worrying about the stupid things which make me think that a long-term traveling career is probably not for me.

Right now I'm pondering .... wait for it ... MORE school! I always assumed I'd go to grad school (well to be more specific finish a master's - can't forget those 24 hours of credit on my M.A. in environmental studies long abandoned at U of I) so I'm thinking it might be sooner than later. I'm feeling the pull of being a nurse practitioner, specifically women's health care, and keeping myself in the maternal/child healthcare field.

Training: I'm four weeks out from my 2nd half-marathon and I'm actually on track with my training. I did skip one run this week, but in general I'm putting in the recommended miles and I'll be much better prepared than I was for Lewis & Clark. Don't know if I have a sub 2:30 in me, but definitely know I'll run a better race than my first one. I'm enjoying my training a lot more and it's not as hard to get my butt out on the pavement.

Now as far as tri training??? Yeah - there needs to be some serious thought about that. I haven't been in a pool since I left Columbia, and my bike hasn't actually touched a road since July. I do have the bike trainer and I've used that a few times but not in the past three weeks. If I'm going to have any chance of improving my performance at Wolf Creek (first tri I'm planning in June) then I really need to commit to training in all three sports.

So after taking a deep breath and smelling the roses it's time to make some goals.

1. Continue to follow my half-marathon training plan religiously! A well prepared Jenn will be very happy at the finish line in St Louis.

2. Join a pool here in Little Rock and get my butt in it!

3. Embrace the bike and go for a ride. There's a great 16 mile paved trail along the river - I have NO EXCUSES!

4. Put together a tri training plan, put it on the fridge and live it!

5. Explore my graduate school options.

6. Make some tough decisions on whether to keep traveling or whether to take a staff nurse position somewhere.

We'll check back in a month and see how I'm doing.

Procrastination and Thigh Jiggle

I admit it!
I'm lazy. I don't naturally want to work out. I am a professional at wasting time.
I'm not proud of who I am - but it is who I am.

So yesterday there was a 4.5 mile run listed on my training plan ... you know the half marathon training plan that I was committed to following faithfully. Anyway, I thought about running in the morning, but it just seemed too early so instead I went shopping with the thought of running in the afternoon. Well by the afternoon I was tired from my shopping so a nap seemed like a good idea, so I'll just run early in the evening after my nap. Well then American Idol was going to be on (can't miss that) and I didn't want to get sweaty so late in the evening so we'll just run tomorrow. You see how easily I procrastinate?? I could seriously make a career out of it!

Today I wake up to a rainy morning - not that I'm afraid of rain per se, but I am pretty clumsy and me and wet pavement are not a good mix. So instead I head to the apartment complex "dread"mill with my iPod and the latest episode of the BuffCast. I haven't done much running on treadmills and after 1/2 mile I had killer shin splints going on so I had to bag that. My best compromise was to spend some time working up a sweat on the elliptical trainer.

So there I am happily working out, listening to Randy and Wayne discuss the finer points of Buffy Season 3, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirrors along the side wall. There beneath my adorable electric blue workout skirt .... some definite thigh jiggle!!! I'm sure it's ALWAYS been there, but on the road I can't see it - so in my mind it DOESN'T EXIST. For the remainder of my workout, I kept glancing at my thigh jiggle getting more and more distressed. Do I just ignore it?? Do I wear workout clothes that cover it up?? Do I try to isolate that area and work it out?? Is it really a sin to get liposuction??

In the end, if I had just run yesterday like it was planned - none of this would have happened and I could have remained blissfully ignorant of what's going on beneath my skirt.

Fried Pickles and Young Brides

I really thought that fried pickles were a myth .... one of those things we Yankees say to denigrate the south. Well, apparently they are alive and well in Little Rock!! Saturday night was spent on the town with some of the NICU's finest and most fun nurses. We started the evening at a downtown night spot for dinner and I quickly understood that health food is not a priority for these Arkansans. Three of the girls ordered fried pickles which apparently are best when dipped in ranch dressing - there was a part of me that was morbidly curious but I just couldn't bring myself to try them! Others were ordering fried mushrooms, or just the fried appetizer platter. Then for the main course there were "sticky fingers" all around - fried chicken fingers that this particular restaurant is known for. You could order one of about 8 varieties of fingers then two dipping sauces. Now I have to admit, I was totally down for the fried fingers but as I was thinking about my diet for the day ..... breakfast of biscuits and gravy, lunch of a corn dog and now this for dinner?? I was starting to worry that if I'm not careful I'll be a little plumper by the end of this assignment :)

After dinner we headed to a local piano bar which excited me because Jenn LOVES piano bars!! There was of course the requisite 80s songs, and piano bar favorites, but with a healthy sprinkling of country music. When those songs were played, I'd just smile and bop my head back and forth and pretend that I had actually heard it before. I mean I'm down with Johnny Cash and Devil Went Down to Georgia ... but who the hell is Carrie Underwood???

The piano bar had an interesting mix of culture from the young girls in revealing tops to the white trash fat ladies who should have been banned from revealing tops, to the 40-50 something men with mustaches who were just plain creepy. For me, the saddest part was the blonde celebrating her 21st birthday complete with cute tiara and sash. When they brought her on stage and then asked for male volunteers to assist, she protested because SHE WAS MARRIED! So instead they brought her husband of one year to the stage to lip sync "you lost that lovin' feeling." I know they get married young around here, but it just made me feel sorry for her. On my 21st birthday, my sorority sisters took me out, got me completely loaded, and apparently I ended the night at a bar telling random boys to "kiss me! It's my birthday!!" Then I woke up the next afternoon on the bathroom floor of the sorority house (with a pillow and blanket 'cause my sisters loved me) so hung over I could barely move. Now THAT'S a good memory!! Sadly one that this girl will never experience ... unless she wants to go to divorce court.

A cool day of racing in Little Rock!

Yesterday I ran my first race in over 5 months, the Little Rock Half-Marathon relay! By running with the Hot Legs running club, I was hooked up with another gal looking for a relay partner which saved me the agony of going the full 13 miles on inadequate training. I took the first leg which was 6.8 miles and nice and flat. The scenery included going over the Arkansas River via the Broadway Bridge twice, traveling through North Little Rock's Argenta neighborhood, a stroll past the Bill Clinton Presidential Library and the timing chip handoff at the Arkansas Arts Center.

One of the things that makes the Little Rock marathon "special" is their huge finisher's medals which are classified as the world's largest by Runner's World. This year they had pink ones for the girls and blue for the boys. The globe part spins and there's even a genuine faux diamond!! It definitely made me covet a full mary finish for next year so I can score one of those!!

I had decided to race in a skirt (aren't I a girly-girl??) so I was sporting my hot pink gym girl and a white long-sleeved technical shirt. It was pretty cool - around 40 degrees at the start - but B#1 dropped me off a few blocks from the start 15 minutes prior to the gun so I didn't have to wait around too long. My hands were really the only thing that were cold (forgot my cheap $2 gloves) so I just pulled them up into my sleeves until they felt better at about mile 1.

There was a good vibe among the racers before the race started and lots of excitement in the air. My goal was to do 12 minute miles and then a one minute walk break at each mile mark. I was sporting my new Polar monitor which tracks heart rate, speed and distance, but I've only run with it three times and honestly I haven't played around with it much .... yeah that was a mistake. So when I crossed the start line I started my Polar only to have it start beeping continuously. I wasn't sure why it was doing that, but I knew it was going to drive me crazy not to mention annoy the hell out of those around me. So I switched it off and played with it the first half mile until I figured out why it was beeping (some alarm for when I was out of my HR training zone). So basically I ended up missing the first half-mile of data which was my bad for not knowing how to use it better. Come to think of it, I'm lucky I didn't trip and fall as I was playing with it - luckily the crowd was still pretty thick.

Anyway, despite the technical difficulties, my race went really well!! I kept it under a 12 minute pace the whole time and I felt really strong. My only problem was the whole needing to pee thing. I went twice at B#1's apartment, and once right before the start, but still felt the call of nature a mile into it. The first set of portapotties were right after mile marker 2 and there were only FOUR!! I stopped, but there were 10 people ahead of me and the line wasn't moving at all. After about a minute I decided "screw it" and kept going. By the time I hit the second set after mile 4, there was no way I couldn't stop. Again a huge line and frustratingly slow, but it was either stop and wait or be in tears because I had to pee with every step. I was in and out in a flash. As a matter of fact the crowd in line were exclaiming how fast I was - I may not be a fast runner, but I can pee quicker than any girl that's for sure!! It's a skill honed over the years, mainly by needing to pee in inconvenient spots - like the side of the Kansas Turnpike, a well used trail in a National Park, a golf course and other places where someone might come by at any moment and see Jenn in a not so flattering position. So anyway, after my quick pit stop, I sprinted it out a bit and by mile 5, I was back with the group of people I had been pacing with most of the race. I didn't end up taking any walk breaks except for the potties so I was pretty happy with that. I was feeling great when I headed into the relay point and I handed my chip off to another Hot Leg who took it the rest of the distance.

Results:
My leg 6.8 miles = 1 hr 17 minutes 11 seconds
Pace = 11:21 per mile!!!! (CAN I HEAR A WOO HOO?!?!?!!!!)

Leslie's leg 6.4 miles = 1 hr 5 mins, 42 sec (pace of 10:16/mile)
Total for "Hot Legs T00" Relay Team = 2:22:53 (pace of 11:10/mile)

After the relay exchange, I walked three blocks to B#1's apartment. His place was right at mile 7 and he had a station setup for the Hot Legs Running Club. The gals really appreciated the food and drink as well as a real bathroom to use instead of a portapotty!

Here's me and B#1 after my finish. He handed me a Nebraska sweatshirt to wear, but my Big 12 loyalties lie with Mizzou so I turned it inside out. We hung out watching and intermittently cheering the walkers, then I took a little nap. We headed down to mile 26 right around noon to watch B#1's Dad finish (he was walking the full which is pretty impressive for a 73 year old!) as well as hang with the Hot Legs and cheer some of their finishers.

Afterwards we had pizza for lunch then dropped by a Hot Leg Party in the evening celebrating all of the various finishers. Overall it was a great day and a fun race experience! Did I mention that B#1 even got me flowers the day before to commemorate my first Arkansas race?? He bought a Little Rock Marathon water bottle to use as a vase which was just too sweet. Ain't I a lucky runner?? :)

So now it's full speed ahead to the St. Louis half-marathon!!!

The gang's all here for marathon madness!!!!

It looks like I'll have plenty of company on my marathon quest in Chicago and I'm TOTALLY psyched!! My buddy Kevin was the one that got the ball rolling by telling me that he and his wife were both registered and inviting me to join in (it will be both of their first marathons). So after I joined up, I sent a harassing email to our mutual buddy Rob threatening him with a light saber duel if he didn't sign up. Rob ran Chicago sometime in the late 90s so he can be the voice of wisdom on the quest, or at the very least I can count on him to giggle at even the most desperate of circumstances. Not to mention he's a damn good chiropractor and would be helpful to have around in the event of injury .... and come to think of it, his wife is an M.D. so she could prescribe drugs (legal ones - stop thinking like that!!) So Chicago will soon be another reunion of the coolest trio from Sacred Heart Griffin's Class of '91, but likely not as fun as our beer filled golf outing a few months ago.

I also just found out that B#1's sister is going to run it as her first marathon so now I'll have someone to share the joy with (or more likely agony) of long, never-ending runs in the humid late summer of Arkansas. Though I still think this is a completely crazy undertaking, at least I'll have some good company!