Sweet Serendipity

 It's sort of funny how life unfolds.

Running into my former coworker Darla at Sunday's 5k turned out to be quite a serendipitous thing.  Monday she left a message on my cell phone telling me that the office where I work (on call) had a Craigslist post for a full time optometric tech.  I had no idea.  It's either hit or miss with when they do need me and they have not needed me to fill this year thus far, and it's November.  When looked up the job posting I noticed that it was very recent and for a job position I already know quite well.  I took a chance and and e-mailed my boss, pleading my case and even offering to become ABO certified at my own expense.  Tuesday afternoon I received an e-mail from my boss saying they wanted to talk to me on Wednesday.  Amazingly enough, two weeks ago I had scheduled myself an eye exam for that Wednesday -- I'd be at the office anyway. I went in with an open mind.  The funny thing is that I had the eye exam first, before they would even talk to me. Fine, but, for the first time in YEARS I had a dilation exam, which meant my eyesight would be compromised during our chat following the exam.  Not only that, having my vision compromised made me feel queasy.  After pre testing, the exam, frame selection (yeah, I got new sunglasses and regular glasses) and a little chit chat with my coworkers, the grilling began.  They first wanted to know my motivation for coming back full time, then they wanted me to know that they changed their entire office dynamics, and if I could bring my roller skates because it would be that busy.  I plead my case (without being able to see and wanting to barf).  It must have been what they wanted to hear.  I start back Monday. They even offered to pay for my ABO certification.   They also went to wearing scrubs, which will save me a ton of money in not needing a career wardrobe, and they will pay for those as well.

Two of the reasons why they're bringing me back on is because they know I can be trained on all the new procedures/equipment/tools and I'm not a psychopath.  Yes, they actually used the word "psychopath."  Since another long-time coworker had to relocate 6 months ago, they have not been able to find anyone to replace her.  People interview well, but they become complacent after a short time and their performance falls apart, or their true nature comes out and they're just bizarre.  They've had 3 new hires who did not meet their standards in the past 6 months. 

Needless to say, I called Darla and thanked her profusely for the phone message about the job listing.  She is now working in another field, which is why she didn't go for it, herself.

Oh yeah, when I was in RU on Wednesday morning, Bryan asked me if I knew anyone who would want a front desk/general office job.  It seems they're having trouble finding decent office staff as well.  I said I was looking for work, but I was going in to my office later that same day to ask for full time.  Then he started asking me about my job experience and  rate of pay.  It felt like an interview while he was working on my shin.  I think he would have hired me based on our conversation.  I would have taken a job a RU if the full time job at my office fell through.

They say things happen in threes.  Dollars to doughnuts I start receiving calls from all the places I sent applications and resume's to over the past year. 

Now I must go and dust off my roller skates. Monday will be here soon enough.

Monday's Song:
There and Back Again - Daughtry

PEACE

Running In Circles

I'm kind of wondering... what happened to Summer? I know other parts of the country are experiencing typical Summer weather, but we're not. Cool, blustery, drizzly, more humid than normal weather is what we have right now. It's actually perfect running weather if you plan on an easy run, but for everything else it's kind of a damper, pun intended.

My new workout schedule is going OK. The only problem I'm having is pool time. The pool I want to go to isn't opened when I have the time available, and now that it's summer the swim lesson sessions occupy most of the pool. The gym pool is available and usually crowd free, but every time I swim there I come away with irritated, red eyes, and I wear goggles. It takes a days to recoup from that! Ick! I'll have to start looking around for another near by pool that does not require membership.

I trekked out to the gym for intervals per my new schedule.  I thought it might be easier to keep track of the intervals on the treadmill instead of taking it to the streets.   One minute warm up, then I did 4 sets of intervals x 6 minutes moderate pace and  3 minutes faster pace. Lows at about 5.2, highs at about 6.5 and 7. It was just OK. I have a lot of catching up to do, but I'm taking it slow. I cooled down off the treadmill and walked around the gym track for 5 minutes. Stretched afterward. 
3.46 miles
37:00 minutes
10:41 pace

I'm still working on nutrition. Something is off kilter, but I can't figure out what it is, yet. In the past I could pin-point exactly what was throwing me off and make adjustments, but this time I can't. I'm attempting to eat as clean as possible, using less processed foods, eating out less, no fast foods, no junk foods, keeping on top of my water intake, and so on. I've been tracking everything on Daily Burn just to make sure I'm on top of the macro-nutrients. I'll probably track my nutrition for a month. I find tracking nutrition to be tedious, but it's helpful when trying to pin-point what my weaknesses are.

Robin over at Running Circles Around Turtles featured me on her blog yesterday.  (Check it out!) I was honored that she she featured me and what I had to say. Most of her interviewees give concise, short answers. Ummmmm... I was a bit wordy by comparison, but there's a lot of explaining to do. I was pretty excited to see the interview on her blog and how she took the time to enlarge and bold certain words and phrases. Pretty cool, Robin. Thanks!

 At the 4th of July run, I saw a friend from the track club who I had not seen in a few months.  She actually remembered my sea green and white Pearl Izumis, and asked why I wasn't wearing them.   They have been retired to gardening duty, and this is what they now look like:

They're so beat up, but still one of my favorite pairs of shoes!

Yesterday's Song:
Morning View - Greg Howe

PEACE

Open Arms

Yesterday

Activity: Run
Date: 07/25/07 07:15 AM
Distance: 2.16 miles Time: 0:21:02
Speed: 6.2 mph
Pace: 9' 44 min/mile
Calories: 206
HILLS
That's much better...It sure beat what I did the last time I ran!

Today
Upper Body Workout - Free weights, mostly dumbbells. Chest presses & flys, upright rows, bicep curls, bench dips, floor crunches, bench crunches. I skipped lat pull downs today. I just didn't feel like working on the Bowflex today. I am still wanting to go heavier but any single dumbbell weight over 20 pounds and my left bicep starts to ache.

The article I interviewed for in Runner's World Magazine came out today, in the September 2007 issue. The author didn't use anything I said, which is pretty much what I expected, but she did address issues with expert oppinions. Oh, the article is under the Mind + Body section titled "Split Decision" by Gigi Douban.

Comic-Con is in town this weekend, starting today. I've been to it in the past but I think I'll pass this year. My daughter is attending. She had aspirations of being an animator, but decided it wasn't for her, however, she still enjoys seeing what everyone else is doing. Today my son and I are going to primer the garage, or at least get it ready for the primer. Painting walls one solitary color is one of my least favorite things to do, so maybe between my son and I we can knock out painting a few walls.

Peace

Reunited

I'm back from my self-imposed internet hiatus. Where do I start???

I had attended my 30 year high school reunion. Although it was great to see everyone who came, it also somewhat melancholy due to the knowledge that the land the high school is on will be sold and turned into another school, a condo complex or shopping center. It is truly an end of an era. There is a new campus, replacing the old one in another location, that is state-of-the-art, and by all accounts wonderful, but it does not have the same name as my old alma mater. There were several alumni who were not excited about the new name and quit donating money to the school when asked, simply because (as my brother put it) "that's not the school we went to." There are, however, walkways and courts with the "old" school name, and the school mascot is still the same. My high school graduating class was small, with about 99 graduates. We were fortunate to have about 30 attend the reunion with some spouses/significant others. We had the reunion in the old gym and we all laughed that we weren't getting busted for having alcohol on campus. One of my high school friends who I haven't seen since the 20 year reunion was there. It was as if time stood still and we had just seen each other yesterday by the lockers, well, except for having husbands, a house payment, kids, and reading glasses... Kathy twisted my arm and got me to do 3 tequila shots with her, only after one of our classmates bought a couple of bottles of Patron Silver tequila. I also had the chance to meet up with other long-lost classmates. I found out that one guy actually Q'ed for Boston a few years back but had to give up distance running because he broke his leg. Ouch!

Another classmate is a movie actor. Matthew Modine used to sit behind me in Mr. B's English class. He confirmed that he used to cheat off of my vocabulary tests in Senior year. Even though everyone was clamoring to get their photos with him, at least he did remember who I was and, yeah, I did get my photo with him and Kathy. Another classmate lives within a mile of me, and we plan to get together soon. I've exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses with many. I must admit, there was only one person I didn't really care to see, but that person was the first person who I made my pleasantries with so I could go on with the reunion and chat with others. For a group of us who are pushing 50, we seemed to all be healthy and doing just fine for ourselves, at least those who attended. The nice things about reunions now is that everyone is sincerely happy to be there and see former classmates. It's nothing like the 10 year reunion, where everyone seems like they're trying to show off their success. About 9 people in my graduating class have already died. As a class, we've decided to have reunions every 5 years instead of just every 10 years. I've actually volunteered my house for the next reunion. (Yikes!) I don't know if they'll take me up on my offer but it's incentive for me to get the house really fixed up by then. One thing I must mention about my class is even though there were groups like the jocks, cheerleaders, the rich kids, band geeks, party-ers, etc, we never let those "labels" interfere with getting to know each other now. We grew up, and thank goodness had lives and life experiences after high school. As a class we became closer than other classes. It was great to be able to give all of my classmates hugs.

I'm now working more weekly hours than I had anticipated. They do have ads out for techs, and have interviewed a few candidates, made offers, but these people aren't really looking for jobs. They're looking to get raises at their current places of employment OR they don't live up to their resumes. There's time and money wasted. I'm almost back to working full time again. This is not what I wanted to be doing right now, but I must admit the extra cash is handy.

A little over a week ago I was feeling somewhat sluggish, but just thought I was tired from work. I ended up getting a bad stomach flu. I can't remember the last time I had a flu like this last one. I couldn't even hold down water but forced myself to drink it just so I could have something in my system AND to not get dehydrated. It took a good 4 to 5 days to get that barfy feeling to go away and for food to taste like food again. Nothing was palatable. NOTHING tasted good, not even chocolate, not even water! The rotten part was calling in sick to work on a day I knew they were slammed with patients. With the 4th of July holiday and expecting a house-full of people, I had to get myself well. I did get better but I'm still exhausted. I just can't figure how someone could be incapacitated in bed for several days and still be tired...

The 4th of July happened. Hubbie and I ran in the the Coronado Annual 5k-15k. I was so tempted to not go, and that would have been a first for me because I still was not feeling strong, but I had to go. My brother flew down for the holiday and wanted to join us. This was THE SLOWEST 5k I have ever run. (28:15) I felt so weak, but I ran the whole way, tempted to walk, but I reminded myself that it was only a 5k, and that I could go home and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. By the way, my brother ran the 15k and finished in about 1:13:00 and change. After a returning home and getting in that 2 hours of sleep, it was time to get in gear for our party. The party began around 5 pm. We kept it relatively simple and grilled burgers, veggie burgers, and hot dogs, and all of the usual foods and beverages. It was kind of funny how just about everyone brought beer, though. We have enough beer leftover to have another party. The cool thing about where I live is that we could view several firework displays at the same time, even though a few were way off in the distance. The fireworks that we could view the best came from Sea World. Too bad the clouds rolled in, which muddled up some of the fireworks, but it was still fun to watch.

On the workout/running front, not much has happened. I've only run 3 or 4 times since the marathon, and that includes the 5k. I think I fit in 2 weight workouts before I came down with the flu. Even with the flu my weight stayed the same, and I suppose that's a good thing, but I feel like I've lost muscle tone. July will be all about get back on track and training for a half marathon scheduled for August.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. Back to blogging!

Peace

Question

LBW today, leg extension and leg curls. High reps, low weights.

I was *just* interviewed by a writer from Runner's World Magazine! On the Complete Running Network site they had asked about running in an event with pain, and how we dealt with the pain or if we dropped out. I put in a little blurb about my first marathon (2005) and running with the stabbing pain arthritis at mile 18... The writer called me and asked me questions about this "pain" for an article she's writiing that will go out in one of the fall issues. It's not absolutely certain that she'll use my information, but it was cool that she interviewed me.

About the tie-dyed shirt...
Here's a link that talks about Sue Krenn, the lady who the race is in memory of. Here's a blurb about the shirt from the San Diego Track Cub website:

The race t-shirt for the Sue Krenn 15K race has a silhouette of Sue on the front and a "No Wussies" symbol on the back. Dr. Goforth remembers when Sue would use the term "wussie" - "It was a comment she used when someone may say something about the workout suggesting fatigue or disappointment with the conditions (i.e.,wind or rain)”. She would say "come on ... don't be a wussie!" Hal was the race director for the Sue Krenn 15K for ten years and it was Hal who put the word "WUSSIE" on the race t-shirt inside a circle with a diagonal line through it. One year, the day of the Sue Krenn 15k race was one of stiff winds and rain, and Donna Gookin said to Hal, "Sue is looking down on us and saying, "Come on … don't be wussies."

PEACE