Marathon Update

I got an email from marathon organizer Donna Deegan at work today. The name of the marathon is changing a little bit. It's now the "National Marathon to FINISH Breast Cancer."

I'm all fired up for the 5K tomorrow!

Girlfriends

I love my boyfriend, George. He's an amazing man and is clearly my better half. Starting this weekend, he's going to put up with seeing me everyday and night plus he recently made me an amazing website to help with my job search. (Which everyone should check out! www.strikedesigns.com/Cindy_Krenek)

But I couldn't get by with just him. Since George is so great, I know I can write this and not offend him!

My girlfriends are wonderful. Tonight I got a much needed recharge by seeing Ashley, Lee & Tara for Yogaberry. Then Lee and Tara helped me scope out dresses.

I'm blessed to have such strong, caring and interesting women in my life. I have quite a few great girlfriends around the country, most notably my best friend Stephanie in Boston. But I'm so glad to have good girlfriends who I can see every week even if coordinating our busy schedules takes some effort.

Plus some of them keep interesting medical photos on their phones that amuse me.

It's my next to last night sleeping in this apartment so I better get to bed!

Moving On...

Marathon training is on the back burner this week. We're running a 5k as our graduation from the "Getting Started" program Saturday. So this week I just have some easy walks to do. Yesterday evening I was lucky enough to take a lovely walk with Tara along the Northbank!

I'm doing double shifts all week, producing the noon and then 6. It makes for long, very busy work days. It's hectic at times but it's nice to be back to a faster pace. I do enjoy the relaxed pace of only producing the 7 p.m. But this is the last week I'll produce the 6 p.m. show at First Coast News. It's always been my favorite show to produce so I am feeling a little nostalgic about this week.

My big project of the week is packing. It somehow slipped my mind that this upcoming weekend is the last of the month. Thankfully, George had his head on straighter than I did and gently reminded me. He also called the U-Haul place to get a truck while I breathed into a paper bag at work to prevent myself from hyperventilating over the prospect of packing up my apartment in just a few days.

That is an exaggeration since George and I have already moved some of my things. We need the truck Saturday to move the big items, like my bed and dresser. Then I still have until the 31st to get everything else out and clean the place.

I worked on packing this evening and am pleased with my progress. The kitchen is almost done and that's the room that always seems to take me the longest.

When I was getting boxes out of my storage closet this weekend, George commented that he couldn't believe I save the original boxes for things. This evening, I re-packed my leopard print dishes (one of my most prized possessions) back into their original box for the the 5th time in 6 years.

In the past 8 years, I have moved 9 times. It wasn't always in between states or cities, but nonetheless, it still involved packing up my belongings in boxes every time.

I hate the actual process of packing things up, but I love moving. Some of my moves have meant big steps in my life, like moving to college or to a new job. Some have involved painful goodbyes but those have always been outweighed by the excitement over the future.

This move does come on the brink of a big turning point in my life, although they are not directly related. I have less than 4 weeks left at First Coast News and most likely in the television news business. But tonight packing my things up into boxes reminded me that the possibilities for my future are endless!

I'm in it for the clothes...and a general life update

I wish there were more hours in a day because I need them to get everything I need/want accomplished!

Training is going well. At the group training last Saturday, I felt at first I should have gone with a quicker group. I was leading the pack for at least the first half of run. But once we approached the 50 minute mark I was glad that I was with the slower group!

I got some exciting new running stuff after training! After a short nap, George and I went to First Place Sports in San Marco. This is where I got my running shoes a few weeks ago. I joined the mailing list so I had a $10 off coupon.

While George picked out new running/walking shoes, I went through the sale racks for cute running clothes.

It was in the dressing room that I realized I LOVE running clothes. They're so cute and comfy. I got two shirt and a cool pair of shorts with a nifty zippered pocket in the back so I no longer have to tie my car key to my shoe! And George bought me four new pairs of the most comfortable running socks ever! (Thanks sweetie, my feet and I really appreciate them!)

So perhaps I'm training a little bit for the clothes.

The rest of the weekend was kind of a blur of chores, errands and family time on Sunday. On Sunday evening I got the chance to meet one of George's work friends, Stephanie, who is about to move to DC. We had a great dinner although George and I ate lightly because we were still pretty stuffed from the massive lunch his mom and dad made us after church!

This week has been busy also. I've been working and was slacking on my chores until this evening when I finally got some of them under control. Google now has a new "Tasks" application on Gmail and I'm already in love with it. I've always been a fan of the hand-written to do list but I like typing it into my Gmail and then checking off the things as I finish them. It gives me a nice sense of accomplishment.

I had a much needed girls night with Lee, Tara and Kristen last night at the Cheesecake Factory. But I learned my lesson about buying a drink from a menu with no prices. My glass of sangria was delicious...but not worth $9.50! But mine ended being cheaper than Lee's margarita and Tara's martini. Perhaps I should become a bartender...

Speaking of employment, sometimes I worry about the clock ticking more quickly on my time left at First Coast News but there's so many signs to point out that it's going to be time once August 14th rolls around.

As for my job search, I decided this week to take the approach I should have been talking all along...more networking/research now and actually applying for the jobs later. George is amazing and continues to work on a website for me.

I think I've done enough chores for the night...time to watch Rachel Getting Married!

Tom the Army guy

Even though I didn't get a three day weekend, I was relieved to get out of work on Friday evening. George and I had date night at the Pizza Palace. It probably wasn't the best dinner to have the night before a run, but I'm still working on transitioning my diet (No fast food starting August 1st!)

Saturday morning, I was pretty tired when the alarm went off at 6:30. In addition to not being a runner, I'm also not a morning person. I actually get up earlier on Saturdays now for the group runs than I do for work during the week. Giving up precious weekend sleep was a big deal for me. But giving up sleeping in does give me the chance to take advantage of another favorite pastime: afternoon naps!

Once I got up and moving, I felt better. I hoped in my car and made the quick drive over to the Riverside YMCA. It wasn't too hot yet, but super sticky.

Since it was the 4th of July (yay America!) we didn't have a speaker before we set off for our 45 minute run/walk along the St. Johns River, which runs right through the middle of Jacksonville.

The first part of the run, I mostly kept to myself because I was still waking up. As I ran along the Riverwalk, I was thankful that the training program introduced me to that course. I've lived in Jacksonville almost two years and didn't even know it was there! You get such a great view of the river and the areas along it. All our trainings are on it for the Getting Started program so I have a few more group runs to enjoy along it and no doubt some solo runs in the future.

I made a training buddy previously, Erin. But she was running with the fastest group and I was feeling not quite up for that so I went with a slightly slower group. Halfway through the run, I got the chance to speak with a man named Tom.

As we chatted about our motivations for doing the marathon, Tom commented that he was retired. If I had guessed what Tom did before I told me, my guess would have been some sort of voice work because he has one of those booming, articulate voices that sounds like it belongs on a commercial or movie trailer.

But Tom is retired from the Army after more than 30 years. He's been stationed all over the world but is now enjoying retirement in Florida. We ended up chatting about his daughter for awhile. She's my age and experiencing some of the same mid-20's issues I am going through. She's a hairdresser but has moved around so much that she hasn't been able to build a clientele list. Her boyfriend is unemployed so they're both living with his parents.

I explained to Tom that I could completely relate to what his daughter was going through. At the end of the run, as we said our goodbyes, I told him to tell his daughter that Cindy in Jacksonville said it'll all get better eventually, we 20-something's just have to be patient!

Let's Try This Again...

Since I tried starting this blog my life has changed dramatically.

Currently the biggest change in my life is that I am now in search of a new job. So because of that my boyfriend George suggested I re-vamp this blog since it appears when you do a Google search on my name. That of course means prospective employers are likely to see it.

Although my time at First Coast News is running out, I have been afforded one opportunity that will last after I'm done working there. I signed up back in May for the 26.2 with Donna, the National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer.

Don't laugh. I'm serious...look at http://register.breastcancermarathon.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=athletes.main for proof!

Ever since I started training, I've thought it would be a good idea to chronicle the experience. but of course hadn't thought about an actual way to do that until recently. When George brought up my outdated blog, I decided it would be a perfect place to write about getting ready for the marathon.

I was inspired to sign by watching one of my best friends in Jacksonville do the race last year.

Lee was such a rock star doing it that I couldn't help but think, "Hey, I can do this!"

I'm not a runner. In middle school and high school, I also got my aerobic exercise at dance class. In college and the years after, I've tried to take up running many times to get in shape. I even attempted to train for a half marathon with my old roommate but wasn't able to raise the thousands in fundraising required to get to the event in Colorado.

But in addition to signing up for the 26.2 with Donna, I signed up to train with Olympian Jeff Galloway's program. One of the main ideas of his training is a "run-walk" method.

So technically I won't run the entire marathon. But I'm still already excited to cross the finish line!

Right now, I'm still in the "Getting Started" training so we're taking baby steps. We measure our runs by time, not distance yet. Every Saturday we have a group training. So far they've all been at the Yates Family YMCA in Riverside.

During the week I run/walk by myself through San Marco. I've realized lately during my workouts that although I'm really excited to move to Atlantic Beach in a month, I will miss the neighborhood where I've lived for almost the last two years.

Tomorrow I am run/walking for 45 minutes with the group! Then the rest of the weekend is packed with fun activities, like hanging out with friends and a birthday party for Austin, George's 5-year old nephew. His sister got a massive inflatable "jumpy" for the party and although I know it's more for the kids, it's big enough for adults so I hope it's not wrong that I'm pretty excited about that too...