Sunny Goes Pink

I'm off to spend my afternoon volunteering at The Jacksonville Running Company's "Sunny Goes Pink" event. Sunny is the running store's logo...a running sun! But for this event, he is, of course, colored pink! Check him out: http://jacksonvillerunningcompany.com/pink

I'll be working at the booth for the 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer. I'm excited to tell other people about what a wonderful experience training for the marathon has been to encourage them to join!

Adventures in Unemployment: Volunteering

I keep very busy despite being unemployed. When I tell people what I have been up to lately, they often comment that I wouldn't have time for a job.

I obviously do spend some time everyday on the job search. However, I can't apply for jobs everyday because somedays there just aren't any new postings in public relations/communications/marketing.

Besides job searching and chores around the house, I spend a lot of time volunteering...so much that I've started calling myself a full-time volunteer. Right now I'm volunteering for The First Tee of Jacksonville (although that has died down since A Taste of Golf earlier this month), Women's Center of Jacksonville, Much Ado About Books and The 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer.

I'm working with all of these organizations because I am passionate about their causes. I love having time to devote to all of them!

More milestones!

I have now had a run in the double digits! This past Saturday, I ran 10.5 miles with my "Sole Survivors" running group. This is the new group I was placed in after running my second Magic Mile at 8:40.

We started our run at 6 a.m. along the St. Johns River near San Marco. I was happy to have lots of people to talk to during this long run! Not only was Lee there, but her fiance Mark was in town so he joined us as well. Jonathan was also there.

I'm also trying to get to know everyone in the group. Jonathan introduced me to a friend of his, Melissa. She's very energetic and helped me get through the end of the run when I was dragging. We're hoping to plan an after-training trip to the movies on one upcoming Saturday!

Lee is planning on moving to the next group, "Superheroes in Training," which is slightly faster than ours. She wants me to also, but I'm not sure. We do have another Magic Mile coming up, so perhaps my time will improve slightly to put me in that group anyway! But I am tempted to be a part of their group for Halloween because they are wearing pink capes....

I've also joined another group for runs during the week, "Bridge Buddies." Lee invited me to join them. I believe they are all training for the marathon. They run the bridges downtown on Mondays and Wednesdays. When I joined them for the first time Monday, they were a little fast for me but Lee held back with me so I wasn't alone. Training with them should be good for me...and be less boring than running alone!

This Saturday, I am running in my first official timed race, the 5K Race for the Cure. I'm very excited! I'll keep everyone posted on how I do!