Mile Repeats & Life Changes

One thing I like about blogging is that it holds me accountable. In my last post I said I was going to do some mile repeats, but they were the last thing I actually wanted to do as I set out on Wednesday morning.

But then I thought how nice it was for you guys to wish me luck on them and give me thoughts on other speedwork, and I wanted to report back on a (hopefully) successful workout.

I’d say it was somewhat successful. The repeats felt good, which means I didn’t push myself hard enough. I’d like to get these down to 7:20 – 7:30 miles, and really think what I need to work on most is getting comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. I’m glad I got this workout in though, because it gives me a benchmark for how hard I’m going to have to work next time!

I’ve been keeping a secret…
On November 6 I didn’t just run a marathon. I was also anticipating some news – either very good or very bad. Talk about crazy, roller coaster-like days.

(I finished that bitch but it wasn’t pretty)

So as I sat at my computer awaiting this news – uncomfortably, as I was chaffed within an inch of my life, my IT band throbbing and my legs so stiff I don’t think I could have gotten up if my apartment caught fire – I hoped for something good to soften the blow of the marathon disappointment.

And exactly at 7:00 p.m. I found out I was accepted to the NYU Dietetic Internship, the one I wanted so badly to get into.

HOORAY! I really wanted to shout it from the rooftops.

But I didn’t, because I wasn’t sure what to do about my job situation and I didn’t want to jeopardize anything before I had a game plan. The internship starts at the end of January, but since the first half of it is academic (so three classes at night and a recitation on Friday morning), I decided to keep working full time. The classes will be more challenging and take up more time, but I thought I could do both until July, when I’ll be placed in a hospital for the clinical portion of the internship and would have to quit my job.

So even though I had this exciting news for months, I haven’t been able to talk about it because I wasn’t ready for my work to know that I would be leaving in the future.

My job is pretty demanding, and I’ve been stressing A LOT about how I was going to be able to do well in my internship classes and do well in a gig that is anything but 9-to-5.

Very recently, I had an epiphany of sorts.

(proper “epiphany-like moment” photo)

I came back to work from my vacation and just thought, “Ok, enough. I’m done.” 

And that was it. I got an additional student loan, secured a part-time job, did some financial planning to make sure I wouldn’t end up homeless before the end of the internship and gave notice to my firm.

OMG, OMG, OMG.

So in the course of about a week, I’ve basically changed my whole life around. I’m not a spontaneous person AT ALL, but once I put my mind to something important like this, I do it and I don’t turn back. I think the last time I made such a change, I moved to NYC from Boston not knowing a soul. And look how that turned out!

(appropriate, yeah?)

Sure, it’s scary that I won’t have a salary, my health insurance won’t be as great and I’ll be slightly more in debt to Uncle Sam when I graduate, but sometimes you have to take risks in life and just hope they work out.

So here’s to hoping, following my gut and the fact that I can’t stop smiling about what the next year holds.

Question: What was the last big life change you made?