Spartan No More

It's with heavy heart I type these words. Here's my story (I know nobody asked, but I'm not sleeping and I have a computer, so why not?) Hope you enjoy my pics, they are all in 2019 in order of me completing the races.

In Summer of 2018 I ran a Spartan Sprint with my brothers. Something I thought would be fun to do with my siblings and an excuse to get back into shape.

If you've never heard of a Spartan race, it's essentially a 5K race with obstacles (ranging in difficulty from jumping over a hay bale to climbing up a rope). You can skip around the obstacles if you want. It's a lot more physically challenging than running/walking a 5k due to those obstacles.

Leading up to the race I was overwhelmed and never did end up exercising properly. I did end up losing about 10 pounds, but there was little to no training going on leading up to the Sprint.  I completed the race (there was little to no running), 4 miles in 2 hours.

Driving to my first Spartan race in June 2019

Life continued, I ended up gaining all that weight back and more.  By Fall of 2018 I was over 230 pounds and felt like shit. Every time I rolled over my belly stayed behind, any it was the first to make it to the other side. I was always tired and hated the way I felt.

Finished the Spartan Sprint, 4 miles 1.5 hours (.5 hours faster than 2018)

Met some Street Fighters walking around after my race

I decided I was not only going to run the Spartan Sprint (5k), but I was also going to earn the Spartan Trifecta. That would be completing 3 races in a calendar year, one Sprint (3-5 miles), one Super (7-10 miles) and one Beast (13-15 miles).

There was a lot of excitement each time I registered and walked to the event. Walking around you could see everyone's excitement as well (and dread of what was to come). Every event had different places to sit, hang around, and prepare/cool down.  The excitement was clearly there.

Beautiful sights walking around the Spartan Beast in WV, August 2019. 

This is Oscar, he joined me for all my runs since my family couldn't be there

Taking a quick selfie while resting (this mountain was one of many nightmare peaks we needed to climb)

Finished the 14ish mile Beast after 7 hours (and had to do CPR on the side of a mountain, I hope that Spartan made it)

I won't bore you with all the details from here on.  I earned my Trifecta in November 2019.  I couldn't stop smiling when I crossed the finish line.  It was a terrific achievement.  I fought long and hard to get to that point. 

Walking around the events area, always something fun to see

Finished my 8 mile Spartan Super, completing my Trifecta. Couldn't stop smiling

The Spartan races will always have a special place in my heart.  This is why I hate that I will no longer be participating in the Spartan races.  I continued to train, paid to attend all three races again, then the damn Covid 19.  My races were cancelled and now they have changed everything. 

They have changed it with good reason. They are doing their best to keep everyone healthy.  They are doing their best to prevent the spread of the Rona and keep their races going.  I don't blame them at all for anything they have done.

Though these changes are for the best in the current situation, I feel that it is no longer for me.  I will forever hold the Spartan Races in high regard. I will encourage anyone to participate if they have the chance.

Throwing Your Weight Around

One thing that always bothers me is people who throw their weight around.

A patient came in with his daughter. First thing she said after explaining their visit was "I work in the ICU and I need to be with him in the room".

Due to the current pandemic, no visitors allowed except for minors and patients with altered mental status.

Her: "He doesn't know what's going on so I need to be there to explain things to him".

Me to the patient: "Are you confused, are you able to sign for yourself if needed?

Him: "I'm not confused, I can sign."

Her: "I want you to talk to your charge nurse and get me permission. If she doesn't I will call the house supervisor and talk to her."

Unless you are directly responsible for my evaluation or my check (or can influence it in any way), I honestly don't give a crap who you are or where you work. But since I can be diplomatic so I say I'll explain the situation to the charge nurse and ask her to wait in the lobby, knowing that the answer will be no.  Before going back I make sure both have phones so they can communicate with each other if she was not allowed back.

I officially confirm that she is not allowed back and return to the lobby.  I again explain to her that she is not allowed at this time and if she felt it necessary to call the house supervisor she was welcome to do so. 

Guess it didn't go her way cause she wasn't allowed back. She was even asked to exit the lobby (nobody in the lobby who isn't a patient). It was very pleasing to see that she, with all her weight she thought she had to sway our decision, was asked to leave the ER.

On a lighter note:

We rolled the patient off the backboard, doc informed him that he was going to get on something hard, but only for a minute.

It was really hard not to say it....

Rambling

Fair warning, I'm bored and just rambling here.

The other day I was the lead nurse on a trauma that will forever be ingrained in my mind. Though HIPAA laws prevent me from giving details I can provide some information.

A motorcycle was speeding around a corner and hit an SUV going the opposite direction. Though he was wearing a helmet, that did not do much to save him. He succumbed to the extensive injuries while under my care.

Everything that happened during the trauma, injured, procedures, and his eventual passing, didn't really affect me or my other coworkers as far as I know (having spoken to them after, we all seem to be OK). There was only one thing that bothered me, his legs and feet below the knees. 

The extent of the injured allowed both feet to lay flat and pointing in the same direction. He didn't fit in the body bag because of his stature.  Those same injuries allowed me to fold his legs/feet into the body bag. That was what bothered me the most.

I had a chance to talk with my boss, she wanted to make sure I was mentally doing OK or if I needed to talk with anyone.  Honestly I'm fine, minus that one thing.  

Trip

I'll be going to Corpus Christi later this month. I grew up visiting family there almost every weekend until I was in high school and after that it was usually once a month.

The area of Corpus Christi I knew was not the safest in the world. After dark you didn't keep your head above the window line in the off chance there were stray bullets.

It wasn't until I was in high school that I realized Corpus Christi was a tourist town.  I had no clue and I was honestly baffled why people wanted to go there.

Now that I have an opportunity to go back, I'm checking out a few tourist things including the Selena statue and a turtle sanctuary.

Though I'll be extremely tired by the end of the trip, I think it'll be a good visit.

Well, that's all that's truly on my mind. Watching some cheesy 70s horror movies while typing. Entertaining.

Favorite Villain Songs

It's been a while since I've written anything. I'm going to start trying again, if anything to keep my mind occupied while I'm waiting to be tired enough to sleep.

Today I've decided to write about my Favorite Villain songs. A good villain makes for a good movie, and their song tells the world quickly what they are about.  These are my current favorites, in no particular order. 

There are other villain songs that I didn't put on the list. It's not cause I don't like them, I'm just getting tired (I wrote this part after I was done with the post).

Shiny

The Moana soundtrack is fantastic, as are many other Disney movie soundtracks. Though the big song was How Far I'll Go, I personally think this song was the star of the show. It's fantastic. I love the beat, the lyrics are hilarious, and honestly, I really like Tamatoa. What's not to like? 

Friends on the Other Side

Dr. Facilier is smooth. It's no wonder he was able to dupe two people into believing him. This song proves it. The animation, colors, and music are fun to listen to. Though he isn't the worst Disney villain, he only managed to kill a bug (still more than other Disney villains), he is definitely one of the creepiest. I definitely wouldn't want to cross paths with him.

Dentist

Everyone hates the dentist (except Bill Murray in this movie). Everyone loves Elvis. What's not to love a bout a sadistic Elvis dentist? This song is hilarious. I've made a post about it earlier.  Steve Martin does a fantastic job. You can listen to the song but watching the entire move puts it in much better context (just like many other songs on the list).

I Put a Spell on You

What's not to love about this rendition? They were fantastic. Very entertaining to watch and listen to. I hope they succeed in completing Hocus Pocus 2, would be fun to watch the Sanderson Sisters.

Pretty Bird

The Rio soundtrack is phenomenal. The entire movie is great, it's like 20th Century Fox pulled a Disney. And this is the second song on here by Jermaine Clement. This bird is evil, he poops on people and he blames it on seagulls.

I'm Hispanic, NOT Caucasian

One thing that has bothered me and gets worse as time goes on is this: When I'm filling out paperwork and it asks for race, there is nothing there for me.

Going to my background: I'm first and foremost American of Mexican descent. I believe it was my great grandfather who came to the States from Mexico. and I honestly have no clue where from.

It basically boils down to this: I'm not Caucasian.

My only options for race, I'm none of these

Trying to read up on it and as far as I can tell the US Census Bureau was too lazy (I'm sorry, too confusing) to figure out an acceptable way to group people Hispanic descent so they tack on the ethnicity question.  There are basically too many sub categories of Hispanics/Latinos to make this a determination.

But if this is the case, why are they able to generalize African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders?  There are just as many sub categories with them as well.

Once again, I'm left out

I suppose I could start selecting the "Other" category and start doing it that route but that still means my race/background isn't properly represented.

I did read that the census bureau is going to discuss it again next year, in 2020.  Here's hoping that they will officially add the Latino group as a race and not just an ethnicity.

Here is a link to one of the articles I read. I felt it broke the reasons down well in terms of why it's Hispanic is an Ethnicity and not a race.  And for the record, I'm completely opposed to the Latinx. Part of my Hispanic heritage is the use of gender identifiers.  Or are we supposed to start putting an X in place of those o/a at the end of words (tortillx, mamacitx)?  It's absurd and people just need to get over themselves.

Anyway, I'm done with my ranting session.  Night peeps!