It's moving season

A year ago today, I was offered the position at VHS and accepted my first teaching job. I was so excited to have a job, after 40+ applications and tons of rejection letters, it was the peace I had been desperately praying for. I was headed down south to wait out the interviews and low and behold, the offer came when I was on the road. Two offers, actually. Within an hour of each other. I felt so blessed!

365 days, 15 applications, and 1 pink slip later, it's moving time! A week from tomorrow the parents come up and i'll try to cram all my stuff into the back of the truck so I can move back down south and play the waiting game. Although I have had an offer, the salary was much too low for me to support myself on, so I had to say no. Now to cross my fingers and patiently wait for an interview.

To occupy myself in the interim, I registered for the 13.1 Heartbreak Ridge on Camp Pendleton early September. I hope there are lots of handsome Marines there to cheer me on! Having my marathon training plan really helped me get through the stress of job applications, moving, and starting a new job. Although it also caused me to spread myself a little thin last year, I think the absence of grad school will make it a little easier to meet the goals I am setting for myself. Being that my stepdad is a Marine, it would be cool to do a race on his own training grounds. Plus, a goal of 2011 was to set a new PR for the half, which I think I might be able to do with some training. However, this is a hard course so we'll have to see how that goes. My other half marathons were flat, so I am really setting myself up for a challenge!

I also was able to convince my mom to do a 5k in Temecula in late October! I am not sure if I am going to do a 5k or half, but I am really excited to do another race with my mom :)

I still haven't selected a Marathon. One of my goals for the year was to run a marathon without having to stop and walk part of it. I am also going to try to PR again, hopefully with a sub 5 hours time! I have narrowed it down to Mailbu International Marathon or the Santa Barbara International Marathon, both the weekend of November 12. There really aren't a lot of races to choose from in the late fall, I am guessing it is because of all the holidays. Here are the pros and cons of each, and maybe you can help me decide:

Malibu International Marathon
Pros:
Only 2 hours from my parent's house
Runs along the coast
Pace team
Beach towel instead of shirt
Coconut water and other hippie stuff on course and at finish
Potential Groupon? (They had one last year around September)

Cons:
Expensive ($145 entry fee)
Pay to park ($8)
Inclines in the end (eerily similar to Boston)
Heard the first half near Camarillo is boring farm land, but flat
Sunday means no rest day before going back to work (if I have a job)

Santa Barbara International Marathon
Pros:
In Santa Barbara, which is amazing and beautiful
On a Saturday, so more rest time after race
Gu on the course, which is my gel of choice
hills are more rolling, less challenging than Malibu
Cheaper than Malibu ($115 Entry Fee)
Cheaper hotel rates for the night before
Cons:
3 hours from the house means Friday night hotel (cha-ching)
Course is difficult to understand

Obviously I am leaning towards Santa Barbara. If anyone wants to run it, we can split a super cheap hotel room from Friday and Saturday nights (I do believe it is a holiday weekend). Whatcha think???

OK, enough typing about running. It's time to get outside and start doing some. I forgot how to like running and need to train myself to like it more than being lazy. Time for some tempo miles!