I don't tend to have solid or official New Year's Resolutions, but I do like the idea of starting fresh and therefore I do think a lot about what I plan on accomplishing in the following 12 months.
What got me thinking about it today was, you guessed it, jobs. I thought to myself that I hear about so many people being way better than I am at being proactive. So I think if these next few job interviews don't go through, that I want to start taking days out of my week to walk into businesses and point blank ask them if they need help. I was reading about a young girl pursuing a legal degree getting laid off from her intern position and grabbing a job for $9/hr at a tanning salon to make ends meet while she did an unpaid internship elsewhere. Most people commended her for it, realizing even as job hiring managers that everyone needs to pay bills somehow. So I need to quit caring and just get a minimum wage job until I can get recognized for my qualities.
And I started thinking, where would I really love to work?
So maybe I'll go for those spots next year and see what happens and have fun in the process. Any of those jobs would allow me to practice being a better person, mentally and physically. Sometimes I need something in my every day routine to help me achieve my goals rather than fitting it in my free time. Like riding a bike.
What got me thinking about it today was, you guessed it, jobs. I thought to myself that I hear about so many people being way better than I am at being proactive. So I think if these next few job interviews don't go through, that I want to start taking days out of my week to walk into businesses and point blank ask them if they need help. I was reading about a young girl pursuing a legal degree getting laid off from her intern position and grabbing a job for $9/hr at a tanning salon to make ends meet while she did an unpaid internship elsewhere. Most people commended her for it, realizing even as job hiring managers that everyone needs to pay bills somehow. So I need to quit caring and just get a minimum wage job until I can get recognized for my qualities.
And I started thinking, where would I really love to work?
- Developing raw and healthy pet food
- Any sort of green company
- Gardening or landscape outdoor hard work
- Open space/state parks/national parks, etc
- coffee shop, coffee roaster, importer, sales, etc
- bike shop
- Alternative energy development, sales, etc.
- Anything that doesn't make me feel like a soulless monkey
So maybe I'll go for those spots next year and see what happens and have fun in the process. Any of those jobs would allow me to practice being a better person, mentally and physically. Sometimes I need something in my every day routine to help me achieve my goals rather than fitting it in my free time. Like riding a bike.
Trail Running
I attempted to run 20 miles before my marathon next month. It's the standard distance in training before a race, with most people running 26.2 miles for the first time on race day. But the first attempt was on a snowy cold day and the park that SAID WAS OPEN ON THEIR WEBSITE was actually closed and I was pissed. The second was Thursday, really a little too close to race day as far as resting goes, but I thought it'd be worth a shot with good weather. 8 miles in and already I was feeling a little weary with how my leg was feeling.
My left knee has IT Band syndrome and the top of my foot is bruised and stressed. And while those did hurt a bit, it was my right hip and IT band that was causing me the most trouble, probably due to overcompensating. But I thought to myself "If I do 20 miles today, I'll hurt, but I can totally do nothing for 2 weeks and be baby all I want and it'll be really good for me." However, steep downhills for a mile halted that plan, and I started to cry out of frustration for not having any stabilizing ability for hitting rocks and ice, which forced me to come to a complete stop to limp down them. It wasn't fun, and it was to the point that I thought injury would do more harm than enduring 20 miles would do good for race day. So Jake suggested we turn around and by then end, we did 10.3 miles of grueling pain.
And yet, the mile of walking back uphill still yielded a 15 minute mile and my goal for race day is under a 17 minute mile to finish before the cutoff time. So at least I have a little more confidence in finishing, even if I walk some (stopping is not an option considering lactic acid rigor-mortis).
My left knee has IT Band syndrome and the top of my foot is bruised and stressed. And while those did hurt a bit, it was my right hip and IT band that was causing me the most trouble, probably due to overcompensating. But I thought to myself "If I do 20 miles today, I'll hurt, but I can totally do nothing for 2 weeks and be baby all I want and it'll be really good for me." However, steep downhills for a mile halted that plan, and I started to cry out of frustration for not having any stabilizing ability for hitting rocks and ice, which forced me to come to a complete stop to limp down them. It wasn't fun, and it was to the point that I thought injury would do more harm than enduring 20 miles would do good for race day. So Jake suggested we turn around and by then end, we did 10.3 miles of grueling pain.
And yet, the mile of walking back uphill still yielded a 15 minute mile and my goal for race day is under a 17 minute mile to finish before the cutoff time. So at least I have a little more confidence in finishing, even if I walk some (stopping is not an option considering lactic acid rigor-mortis).