« Walking a Fine Line | Main | 'Nother Night With the Girls »
August 23, 2005
How I Wish I Had a Job
I have actually gotten quite content in my non-working status. I have come up with a schedule that seems to work for me. I wake up at a decent hour, wake up some, run, do whatever else I need to do and then maybe do some work for my parents. The main reason behind wishing I had a job is health insurance. All of this talk about anemia and iron deficiency makes me wonder where my iron level is. The last time I had a physical and blood work done that I've gotten the results from was over 3 years ago. I've had blood work done as part of a research study I did, but was not given the results and I don't even know what they were running in those tests. I tried to look for the results of the bloodwork from my last physical, but have no idea where it is. I believe that my iron level was in what they considered the "low-normal" level, but that is for someone who does not run seriously. I can't see it being very high since I don't eat meat at all and don't like most other high iron foods. My cholesterol is also a bit of a concern since the last time it was tested it was borderline high (199, but the doctor wasn't that concerned with it). I was discussing it with my massage therapist months ago and she had a high reading once and they told her that serious athletes can sometimes have false high readings because when in a hard training cycle you may create a stress on your body that increases your cholesterol reading. I certainly hope that is true, or else one of these days I'm going to end up on a cholesterol med with some not so great side effects. My diet is really not bad and I am almost vegan, I really don't eat animal products because I don't like most of them. The other day I did get a notice from the doctor that it is time for a physical again, well, when I have a job with insurance I'll do it.
Running this morning was so pleasant. It was so much cooler than it has been in weeks. It was sunny, and dare I say it, almost fall-like. Given last night's less than stellar feelings, I was not too sure about what this morning would pan out to being. I actually felt pretty good. I did my 8 mile loop, which I hardly ever do and now believe that it is actually much closer to being nine miles. Towards the end my stomach started to feel funny and my legs felt very very tired, but it was much better than I thought that it would be. I did time it, but since I hardly ever run this route I have nothing to really compare it to. It took 57:25 this morning. I have run it as fast as 53 and change as a tempo run, but most of the few other times I have done this loop it was either untimed or a tempo. I did find some (like 2 or 3) timed entries in my old log books in the 55-58 minute range. I have to remember that I am still most definitely in the "base" stage of my mileage, so running super fast or long is not really imperative at this point.
So my massage therapist most definitely had her work cut out for her today. My legs were so tight and beat up. She did work her magic, did it ever hurt! Between not running a whole lot and having rash issues I have not been able to get in for a rub out. She and I were talking that most of the people we know have not been able to train the way they would like to this summer for a variety of reasons. She is a runner herself and has not been able to run for most of the summer. Most of us have had weird, nagging kinds of problems. She did not know that I took some real time off. Not the cross-training kind of time off, but the kind of time off where you don't do a thing. She was able to get the possible plantar problem and nip it. It seems to be more that the muscles/tendons in my right foot are weak and get tired. I know that it is from tearing the base of my Achilles in college that never really healed properly that leads to this problem since it only ever happens in that foot.
This afternoon I went to the gym and rode the bike and lifted some. I also made a point to stretch. My massage therapist was so excited to hear that I was doing yoga and wanted to know if I was going to keep doing it. I didn't get to lift as much as I would have liked because I just was not into it today. I wanted to go home and make dinner, not do extra exercises, so sue me. I can always lift some more tonight when I do my core exercises since I do have some dumbbells here, but it won't kill me. Hell, I went for years without touching a weight and ran much faster then.
On the job front. I am assuming that I did not get the job that I interviewed for in June. They start inservice this week and I have not heard a peep from them. I called and followed up and they never got back to me. They were given instructions to not leave me hanging, but I guess that was ignored. The position that I interviewd for last week had a slot for an interview this week, so I would expect to hear from them soon. There was nothing in the classifieds this week. I am not going to take a dead-end job just to have a job again. I am looking for a career that has room for growth. I could easily get a stupid job, but why would I have gone to four years of college and two and a half years of graduate school to do something like folding shirts. I have thought about that kind of job when I had the summers off, but not for a full time job. There is nothing wrong with it, but it would not be using either of my degrees. One of my friends from college has a job as a manager in a clothing store, but it kind of uses her degree. I can't see an education degree working in clothing, even being a clothes lover like I am!
Posted by Blondie at August 23, 2005 07:41 PM