Three Things Thursday - Laguna Hills Half Goals

1. On Monday, I'm running the City of Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half Marathon. This year, Renegade Race Series is introducing a new medal series:

Over the next five years the race will have a different US armed forces themed medal. If you race every year for the next five years, in 2018 you will earn a Joint Chiefs of Staff medal to commemorate your accomplishment.

Neat! I'm a sucker for a series, so obviously I was all over this.

Anyway. The course is similar to the PCRF course, and seems designed for positive splitting with a downhill out/uphill back.

This is the part where I make goals, MAYBE.

A Goal: sub-2:05
9:32 pace - that's what all of my training has been built around. This is a perfect day scenario, and will really depend on the weather for me. It was 100*+ all of last week, and this week barely breaking 70 and cloudy. Right now the forecast says 80* and morning clouds. Yesterday it said 68* and cloudy. The weather is a crapshoot, and the forecast is not to be trusted.

B Goal: PR
My current PR is 2:08:56, from Holiday Half in December (9:50 pace). That was run on tired legs (after a 5k the day before), on a HOT day, on a hilly course. So I feel like I could beat this?

C Goal: Finish and don't quit
The death of me on the PCRF course has always been my brain breaking down at mile 10. The slight uphill at the second half has just worn on me and I quit and start walking. I'd like to not do that.


My training has been 8 weeks, and I never had issues hitting goal paces (until yesterday on a stupid taper run, WHAT), so I feel pretty good about my chances. But it's been awhile since I've tried to race, and since I've been even running regularly, so whooooo knows.

The suspense!!



2. I had a terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE run yesterday. It was cool and cloudy, so I thought I'd take advantage and do my intervals outside. The course I'm running Monday is hilly, so I thought I'd do the intervals on a local bike path that has some underpasses that I call "hills".

The first mile was sluggish, so I tried an extended warm up. The second mile was equally crappy, so I tried an extra half mile with strides. Still awful. Tried a single 400, and the clouds parted, and the sun shone down, and the winds picked up, and I called it quits. Bailed on the bike path, and spent my run home doing "fartleks" on a road - fast for one block, slow the next. So terrible.

I have a THING that makes me hate finishing a run on a partial mile - it's all or nothing for me. This works pretty well when I am not feeling a run and I force myself to ignore the mile click over, because then I have to finish that mile.

Not yesterday. Yesterday I saw a market at 4.5 miles, stopped, bought a soda, and walked home.

instagram

3. I've been stepping up the job hunt intensity lately, because Living the Dream just can't last forever (and neither can my savings, and so far, I have not won the lottery or found a money tree).

One crazy thing that happened earlier this week: I sent my resume off for a position in...

source, but literally any picture of this place is so pretty

OREGON.

I wasn't joking last year when I said I loved it there, and wanted to live there forever. I'd obviously been searching for a job locally, and moving hadn't been something we considered - #1's entrenched in her team, #3's oncologist is here (though that isn't much of a consideration anymore, really) - but this position popped up on my radar, and the pay was great, and I sent my resume. And it's likely a long shot, because professionally, I don't do anything super specialized so I'm sure there are a billion candidates, but just look how pretty!

Anyway, I've been working hard on job hunting, and it's pretty frustrating, but that's to be expected. Job hunting is so weird, because it's a lot of work on the hunter's part - finding jobs, creating relevant and not stupid cover letters, pages of forms even after submitting a resume - and what's the pay off? The reward?

You work.

THE END.

Three Things Thursday

1. Back in July, I interviewed for a new job that I thought was PERFECT. It was in the endurance sports industry, it seemed to fit my skills perfectly, it sounded great, and I swear I NAILED the interview.

So I was extra sad when I found out last week (on my birthday, so rude) that I was not selected for the position. WOMP.

To continue making July The Best Month Ever (BUT NOT AT ALL), I was laid off earlier this week.

I knew the position was ending eventually - the company I was working for was undergoing some restructuring, and my position no longer made sense there. I was unhappy there, anyway, so I'm sure it is for the best, but being unemployed when you have three kids to supply things for is pretty annoying.

I am lucky that I have a great husband that can go back to work at his great job full time (he left and then went part time when Gab was diagnosed with leukemia), so I can't complain too much. But still... I was hoping to find something new before I became a non-employed person. Oh wells.

When HR told me I was being let go, I was... relieved. It was not a company I loved, not the position I was well-suited for, and my manager and I did not really work well together. I guess when you're relieved at being let go, it means it was really time to go.


2. I swear I'm not copying SarahOUaL, but I celebrated Tuesday evening with my favorite beer, and took an unplanned rest day. Wheee.

I spent my first day of not working doing a 5 mile progression run in the beautiful SoCal summer weather...

Followed by my scheduled hour bike ride. And THEN went out for another short run with my ex-neighbor Will.

I went grocery shopping with Gabby. I watched tv with #1. I gave #2 all my cash so she could go out. All these things I don't normally get to do. I'm sure the novelty will eventually wear off, I really don't do great with down time, but... I guess it means I'll just have to find something to keep busy during the job hunt. Volunteering probably?


3. Tonight is the last race in the Renegade Summer Trail Run series! I'll be there tonight with Striding Mom and Angry Julie, in sparkles this time. I'm excited to try the reverse loop - maybe it's easier????

Will I see any of you there??