Thanksgiving and Stuffing

This Thanksgiving started like all Thanksgivings, with the annual Turkey Trot 5 miler. And as traditional, the weather was crappy. It was cold and snowy and really, really windy. I hadn't run since the previous Saturday so I was just going to wing it. It's an untimed race. The awards are pies to the first 1000 men and 1000 women. I've always gotten a pie so I wasn't worried. We started the race too far back and spent the first mile plus trying to get around all the people. We then zoomed any time the wind was at our back and struggled when the wind was in our face. The climb up the incline to the finish line into the wind was crazy. I finished in 41:21, which was decent and got a pie.

Thanksgiving dinner itself was a hoot. My nephew Jared decided to wait to get sick until the very start of the meal at the dinner table. Lovely! The only clothes he had to change into were pajamas, which made my niece Shelby jealous so she spit water all over herself so she could put her pajamas on too. Kids!

Being that both Dave's and my parents live in Ohio we usually do two holidays. We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents' house and Friday and Saturday at Dave's parents' house. Good eatings. I'm defintely gonna have to get in the pool and onto my bike in the coming days (no running--I'm taking a break).

So I have to make a confession. I am a kick a-- Minesweeper gamer. And I just found out there are websites out there with rankings and there are Minesweeper tournaments. I could totally be a professional gamer! :)

Hope you holiday was well.

More Bad News

My sister had her ultrasound and it was bad. The baby has anencephaly, which means the baby has developed without a brain. Amy now has to make a choice to either abort the baby or carry it to term when it will be stillborn. She sounds pretty shaken up. Your prayers are appreciated.

Week Round-Up

I am on the computer everyday-doing research, sending e-mails, checking employment opportunities-but I have been terrible about keeping up with this blog.

Well, I've decided not to do Rock and Roll Arizona this January. I'm just burnt out. I need a break both physically and mentally. I need to get back to cross training. I need to get my head back in the game. The plan is to do an 18 week training program for Boston.

Last week was a good week for the job hunt. I did A LOT of networking. I even had an interview that I thought went alright. I have a job shadowing day tomorrow. I think something's going to happen very soon.

One last note. My sister is pregnant with child #3 and having a very rough pregnancy. She's going for a Stage 2 Ultrasound today because there is a 1/26 chance the baby has spinal bifida. Please keep her in your prayers.

I'm going to try to write more this week. I'm doing a race on Thanksgiving so I should at least have something some what interesting to write about.

Start Anew

Last week was a bad week. But this week started fresh today and the sun was shining and I'm feeling good about maybe getting an interview this week. There is a very large insurance company in town and I know A LOT of people who work there (including my dad). I've been talking to some people there about helping me network and I'm feeling good about it.

I did get turned down for a job today that I interviewed for. A couple weeks ago I had interviewed with Abercrombie for a store operations engineering position. I'm not upset I didn't get the job. It required a lot of travel and the Fitch works their people to death. I think I would have learned a lot, but I don't mold well so I think it wouldn't have been a good fit for long.

My running suffered last week too, as you can imagine. I didn't feel like doing much of anything last week. Today was a new day, though, and I got in 10 miles this morning with 5 miles at half marathon pace. Actually it was WAY faster than marathon pace, but it seemed to be going well. Here's my splits: 8:28, 8:41, 4:15 (1/2 mile), 7:13, 7:25, 6:59, 7:16, 6:48, 8:35, 8:22, 4:13 (1/2 mile). I can't believe I threw in two sub-7:00s. I've never even done that in a race. Maybe all this long running is paying off for my speed. Doesn't make sense, but I'll go with it.

Congratulations Scott and Val on the new baby. Hey Val, can you e-mail me your new address? I wrote a letter to you two weeks ago and I don't know where to send it. My e-mail is available at the right of this blog.

Thanks for all your wonderful comments and e-mails. Dave and I really appreciate it.

When It Rains It Pours

And I'm not talking about the huge storms we had overnight.

I started this blog because I wanted talk about my running and share running stories with others online and read other stories. But there is so much crap going on that I just can't bring myself to write about running.

The job search has come to a stall. I have a lot of good leads and no matter that I am trying to be proactive I am not getting any calls or e-mails. It's really frustrating and I feel completely helpless.

Yesterday we got a complete kick in the gut. My husband works for a start-up company that has started up twice. The first time the business folded was right before we got married and Dave was unemployed about 4 months. The company went back in business under different management and is funded by a state grant. In just one month that grant is going to run out and although they have some other investments, it doesn't seem enough to sustain the business as it operates right now. Dave found out yesterday that starting in December he will only be working for minimum wage.

I cried. I cried at dinner with my parents. I don't really understand how two intelligent people have gotten themselves into the situation they're in. I'm worried about depleting my savings to pay for our house. I'm worried that I'm going to have to cancel cable and internet and phone service and sit around the house in blankets because we can't pay for our gas bills. I am trying to believe that God has bigger plans but I'm just not into the suffering for a life lesson thing.

Sorry for such a down entry. It's just been a rough time.

Big Numbers

Just this week I passed 1000 miles on the year. That's the most miles I've put into a year since I started runnning 4-1/2 years ago. Rockin'!

Good luck to everyone who's running the NYC Marathon tomorrow. I'll be rootin' for ya!

Moo!

Yesterday I attended a cattle call. Not literally; it was a career information session with an insurance agency. This company had contacted me and I thought they were interested in my analytical skills, blah blah blah. Well I guess they weren't. They were interested in making me an agent. He! For those of you who don't know me...first of all, I know nothing about insurance or finance, etc. Secondly, I would be the worst sales person in the whole world. I'm emotional. I get angry and sad and hurt really easily. I'm also kinda shy.

This information session was an hour and a half and within the first seven minutes I knew I should have left. The presenter played a video first that highlighted different career agents and their success stories. All they talked about was how much money they made. This is an insurance company that specializes in selling products to senior citizens. So immediately I was put off because I was not about to swindle seniors so I had the opportunity to make six figures. And the company worked on commission only. That's not even an option.

In the end I stayed for the whole presentation, but I didn't hand in my resume. I can check that opportunity off the list.

I was supposed to run 11 miles yesterday but I only got in 8. I ran out of time. I'm hoping to finish up the remaining three miles today. My back has been hurting more and more and now I have shooting pains in my upper hamstrings. I've got a doctor's appointment this afternoon.

Sorry I haven't gotten to read very many of your blogs recently. I'll try to get to them soon. I miss y'all.