November Coffee Date

Assorted Life Updates

1- The past 2 days of running have gone well! I am taking today off at the instruction of my coach but felt really good on Sunday’s (mini) long run of 7 miles and yesterday’s run with my (fast) friend with a couple of ~8:30 miles thrown in there. We were talking and I wasn’t looking at my watch so was pleasantly surprised to see the splits.

(It was also 62 degrees which helped and felt a-m-a-z-i-n-g.)

I am leaning towards running my race as long as I get in a couple of decent long runs AND as long as I don’t have any signs of injury. I will definitely adjust my time goal but I think since I’ve been training for soooooo long I’d rather just do it, see what happens, and then regroup to train for May’s Bayshore marathon. This one can be more like practice/getting my feet wet rather than ultimate maximal perfectly trained effort, if that makes sense.

2- I am getting really excited about planning 2024. I started during the retreat, but since I was leading it couldn’t exactly get into the ideal headspace. It was fun to start generating ideas and as usual I LOOOVED hearing about others’ goals and dreams! I already have a tentative word of the year which I will reveal at a later date just in case I decide to change it. Ha.

3- I am behind in budgeting. It’s November 7 and YNAB is a mess. I also managed to spend over $300 at Trader Joe’s this past weekend – a first. I really want to try to use what we have over the next couple of months. Maybe a freezer/pantry challenge of sorts? I would love to do my monthly audit today but I have:

• school drop-off
• a mammogram (ugh but at least 6 months overdue so I’m getting it done)
• BLP ep to record (Nov Q&A)
• BOBW show notes to write
• BLPA Session #5 (Seasonal + Monthly Planning focus – a fun one)
• Soccer game – my first chance to see C play on his school team, so I’m grabbing it (I missed the first two due to clinical work + being away)
• Orthodontist appointment – very grateful it’s a 5:30 appointment! I do appreciate this later slot.
• Gymnastics pickup (may be me or Josh depending)

Whew. Not a lot of empty space, as per usual. Budget audit will have to wait . . .

4- I am enjoying the more frequent posts from other bloggers during this NaBloPoMo! I am trying to comment a bit more. My biggest commenting roadblock is that I often have trouble with leaving comments a) on my work computer (some blocker in place) and b) on my phone. That only leaves my laptop which honestly IS the best place to read blogs, but sometimes when there’s random downtime the other modalities are more convenient.

I am happy old school blogging is still a thing and perhaps even more of a thing than it was a couple years ago.

5- I am going to create a little paper check-off sheet to use in clinic indicating what I need the front desk to print for each patient. For YEARS I have gathered and/or printed everything out myself (and have felt annoyed/resentful about it because I have never seen a physician do this in any other office I have gone to myself). I had been dreaming about this option (having these little checkoff sheets in the room, handing it to the patient, and having the front desk print instructions / labs / imaging orders etc instead oof having to personally chase them and often reprint them becuase our system is glitchy) and THEN the orthopedic surgeon I saw (who is in the same healthcare system) was using exactly what I was envisioning and I am now determined to make it my own reality.

Not having to go into each room twice will probably save a lot of time and effort and 10 years into practice I’m tired of chasing my printed orders around. I will probably get fewer steps in but I am fine with that.

I will end with a pen test I did the other day because I was influenced to order a gel pen in every Hobonichi monthly theme color!