Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Who loves job interviews?! ME!!!

I have a job interview on Monday. You have no idea how excited I am about this. I probably won't sleep until Monday night. I am THAT pumped!!!! To make a very long story short, I was laidoff from my pharmaceutical sales job at Pfizer earlier this year. This was a huge devastating blow to my ego, but on the flipside, I suddenly had a ton of time on my hands and nothing to do with it. That's what brings me to running... As hard as it was to lose my job and literally be an emotional wreck all day everyday wondering what the heck I was going to do with my time/career/crazy 2 year old child/etc, I found a new love... running.

Here I am, first day of unemployment, literally waking up thinking to myself, "Wow, today is a new day, I guess." So I bought a used treadmill from my neighbors who were moving and laced up the Nike Shox and went for my first "run." If you even want to call it that. It was more like a pathetic first day attempt at the Hal Higdon 30 day plan. 30 SECONDS of running followed by 30 SECONDS of walking 30 TIMES for 30 DAYS. Day number one and I thought I was going to die. As my favorite fashionista Rachel Zoe likes to say "I die." And I almost did. But I made a promise to myself that I was going to finish those 30 days if it killed me. And I did. I finished. Everyday while Addy (my daughter) would nap, I would do my 30 minutes on the treadmill and by the end of the 30 days, I was running the entire time aside from a short warm-up and cool-down. Every time I'd try to come up with a reason why I should skip my run, I'd literally stare at myself in the mirror and say "You have nothing better to do, your child is sleeping and you don't have a job, don't be pathetic, DO THIS! No excuses!" And the rest is history.

Which brings me to today. When I got the email that I was going to be interviewing, it was almost a little bittersweet! As excited as I am to get back out there and possibly start something new (crossing my fingers and toes), I still remember what brought me here... LOSING my job. I would have never started running had I not been so out of my element, home all day, down on myself, and ready for a change! If there's a silver lining in any story, you can count on me to find it!

Here's where I say thank-you to everyone who has been there for me through this awesome journey. Thanks....
  • Fleet Feet Sports running group for being there every Wednesday night and Saturday morning for those fun "long runs" (which now seem like short runs...).
  • All of my friends who are runners and have given such great advice, support and encouragement along the way. I mean it when I say I never would've had the motivation without the kind words!
  • My Dad who has encouraged me and challenged me every step of the way! By challenge, I actually mean going to races with me, smoking me, and waiting for me at the finish line! Dad, I get it. You're not a bad runner for 62. You're not even a bad runner for 42. But cool it on the ridiculous pre-race stretching routine. This isn't the Olympics. Enough is enough. ;)
  • Addy, my adorable sweet daughter, for sleeping extra long on days when I wanted to run and do pilates. Or run and watch Oprah. Usually the latter. (On a side note: Addy no longer naps. She took her last nap just after she turned 2... really Addy, really?)
  • Les... well babygirl, I don't want to tear up, so I'm gonna leave this pretty generic. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being so extremely supportive and my rock throughout all of life's little adventures and for being the best running buddy (cross-country running buddy at that!) a girl could ever ask for! You're amazing and I am so lucky to have you in my life! I knew I would tear up! UGHHH! My wrinkle cream is totally running down my face now!

And finally, thank you Pfizer, my attitude needed the wake-up call and my busy schedule needed the extra time to develop a running routine. And even though I lost my job, I gained a whole lotta confidence.

When life hands you a whole big bunch of lemons, make some dang lemonade! (and if you're up for up, throw in a splash of vodka... if you're 21 ;)

xo, c

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