Ode to August

August was an interesting month.

Running had been going well. I was on track with my running plan but started having some issues with my heels and Achilles tendons. Running generates plenty of aches and pains, but I woke up one morning and could hardly hobble across the bedroom floor to get to the bathroom.  One should not be constantly aware of their Achilles and heels.  I was doing some icing, taking an occasional ibuprofen and continuing to run.  After a few days of the zombie walking, I decided to pull back – way back – on my mileage.  A few people on the interwebs via Twitter offered up some well needed advice and encouragement which was greatly appreciated.  I’m learning where my level of “push on” or “pull back” is.  I made an appointment with the dear chiropractor and massage therapist, and got some solid instruction from him about stretching, icing and strengthening.  Sometimes I need to have someone come straight out, with authority and say, Do this.  Don’t do that.

Work had not been going well.  On July 28th, I received an email, asking all staff to line out short and long term work goals within the firm, which would be followed up with individual meetings with the partners. The request was the catalyst I needed to spur me into action – I was tired of being in a job that I hated doing, which has been part of the identity crisis I’ve been having this year. I spent 2 solid days at work pondering what my goals actually were.  Do I play it safe and tell them what they want to hear or do I tell them the truth?  I opted for the truth.   I explained that my goal was to leave public accounting after this next tax season – that I wanted to be doing something I love, that had potential for advancement and growth within 3 years.  In 5 years, I want to continue to be growing in my career and in 10 years, I want to be debt free and sitting on a beach.  Imagine the response this got!  Initially, I got NO response whatsoever.  Not a ‘thank you for letting us know’ or ‘can we talk about this’ or ‘pack your shit and go’.  Writing those goals down were the kick in the ass I needed to start aggressively looking for another job. Within 2 weeks, I had 2 interviews and by the end of the month, 2 job offers. And after a month of no response from the firm, I walked into the office on the last day of August, and was fired from my position.  My response – You beat me to the punch. Now I don’t need to write a resignation letter, as I had accepted a job offer the night before. I feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders. I worked with some great people and made some good friends, and I discovered that someone I thought was my friend, maybe really wasn’t after all…and that’s okay.

Family life is going great! In the midst of the running injury and the career crisis, I spent a lot of time with my wonderful husband and my youngest daughter – the sole hatchling left in the nest. We ate lots of Saturday morning breakfasts together and I learned how to sleep in past 700am (I’m still not a fan of sleeping in, but the extra rest was definitely good for the body and soul). We stayed up until midnight watching the Olympics together, and enjoyed many late-night dips in the hot tub watching for meteors from the Perseid shower.  Hot tub time is the best! There’s no television or computer or telephones. Just me and Wayne and lots of conversations about our future and where we want to be and what we want to do with the next stage of our life. We talk about marriage and life and kids and friends and family and stars and how big the universe is and life on other planets and how short life is and how to build a smoker and what color to paint the kitchen and what races I want to run and whether the neighbors can tell we’re naked through the fence. We went to a Mardi Gras party and a couple concerts and hosted a couple dinner parties and celebrated Chelsea’s sixteenth birthday.

What does it all mean? A lot of decisions were made in the month of August.  On the running front, I have decided that I will not be running the Javelina Jundred this year. My training is not anywhere near where it needs to be.  A wise person told me there’s no need to rush into your first 100 mile race. Another wise person said, You can bullshit your way through a marathon.  You can’t bullshit your way through a hundred miles. Javelina will be there next year, and maybe I will be too. On the career front, I decided to accept a position in Elko, Nevada and I will be relocating there in 2 weeks. It will mean some time away from my family, but together, we can get through anything. And we decided to paint the kitchen orange and yellow.

August was an interesting month.