This is how I get injured?!

This would happen to me. I played soccer for over 10 years, have worked out consistently since then, and have taken up running the past year and a half. Then today, I go to play soccer with my rec team. My first PLAY, I pull my quad. Bad. I am now iced and on the couch. It seems stretching really is important before you just start sprinting for the ball. Also, not doing any hardcore running for a week to "cool off" from a few intsense athletics days, does not mean you are protected from injury. It seems that not using your muscles is actually bad when you suddenly start doing it again.

Great. Now I am out of commission for a few days, which is hard for this work-out-aholic. It also hurts my working, since I am on my feet and walking around all during work.

Oh, and on another note, I have not seen Toy Story 3 but have a few opportunities this week to see it either with people or by myself.

Here's "Just Tap It" in healthier days...

Going to movies...alone?

People have different opinions of going to movies. I have a few friends who will see any movie they want alone, and some friends who REFUSE to go to a movie alone. I will do both. Some movies I will only see with friends, but chances are those are movies I don't really want to see much anyways but will go if other people want to, or they are movies like Sex and the City, that you see with girlfriends. Other times I am perfectly content in seeing a movie alone. For instance, last February I had done nothing all day and really wanted to get out of the house but all my friends were busy. So instead of sitting around my house bummed and bored, I went to a movie by myself. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. IF you think about it, you don't really talk to people much during the movie, so going alone does not effect the movie experience. And frankly, if I really want to see a movie and none of my friends do, I'm not going to NOT go because they don't want to. Sorry.

This all is being brought up because Toy Story 3 is out this weekend, and I reallllly want to see it. I've had a rough few weeks and could use a good Pixar cry and laugh. I can't decide if I want to go today or wait a few days, because I know opening weekend is going to be crowded and full of children, but none of my friends want to see it. Also, a matinee price is very appealing:) The movie has gotten great reviews and, thus far, is 100% fresh on rotten tomatoes after 85 reviews. That is impressive. We'll see what I do.

My New Weakness

No lie- I could eat an entire bag of these in a day. My two favorite things. Pretzels & M&M's. I bought two bags yesterday and don't think I'll be buying anymore. I have no willpower with them in my house.

The Job Process

So this is the first time I have really been able to talk about applying and interviewing for jobs. It, blatantly enough, has been rough. Last week from Monday to Wednesday, if anyone even mentioned jobs to me, I would burst into tears. I cried myself to sleep most nights. I was not feeling optimistic.

The end of last week was better (partly because of my birthday, seeing/talking to friends, and just being busier) and now I am feeling better about it all. Still, it has been a hard few weeks.

To summarize what has happened, I applied to Loudoun, Fairfax and Chesterfield Counties in January. I had a screening interview each for Loudoun and Fairfax in February. In April, I screened for Chesterfield, and in May I interviewed for 4 different positions in Chesterfield (a high school, a middle school and 2 elementary positions). I didn't get any and on the day I found out I didn't get the latter 2, I found out Chesterfield had filled every counseling opening. That was why last week was not a good week. I wasn't crazy about any of the jobs I interviewed for, but a job is a job and 2 of them were at schools I interned at! I mean, come on!

So what to do now? Well, in the last week I applied to Hanover and Richmond city schools and sent my resume and cover letter out to one specific high school in Loudoun and 5 schools in Fairfax. Fairfax and Loudoun are doing their hiring starting in July, so I will hear about those interviews probably in late July or August. I have no idea what RIchmond City's time frame is and Hanover is continually hiring as needed. Chesterfield is filled as of now, but as unexpected openings become available they will interview.

Needless to say, this will be a long summer. I have no idea how many interviews I will get in Loudoun or Fairfax since I have no connections, but it will be harder to interview there because I will have to travel. So I might have to call schools to get interviews on the same days. I also will be out of the country for 11 days in July, so I am hoping no interviews will occur during that time frame. It is very likely though that I could get a job last minute and have to do a quick move with little time to prepare.

If I don't get any jobs by the time school starts (the day after Labor Day), I have the option of long-term subbing in Chesterfield for women on maternity leave (there are a few lined up) or look for jobs in other fields. I am very torn and my position on this subject may change as the summer goes on. I can either wait around for a year, long-term subbing, volunteering and gaining experience while working at Brio, or I can completely change my job desire and try to find any type of full-time employment. As of now, waiting around for another year is not desirable. I want to move out of my parents house, get my own place, and be more independent. I feel that if I have to wait around for subbing jobs, I will be stuck in a rut. I could just bite the bullet and more out anyways, using my savings to pay rent, but I hate to waste my hard earned money like that. I am lucky that I have come out of grad school out of debt, but if I can't get a job in what I went to school for, it all seems a waste.

This summer is going to be long and full of anxiety. I have already dropped about 10 pounds from a combination of a stomach bug and all my anxiety/nerves. I am worried I won't be able to enjoy my trip to Italy because of my job uncertainty and I am just always so anxious that I can't enjoy myself.

The only good thing to come from all this is I am getting a lot of interview practice and have learned what to say and elaborate on and how to sell myself better than if I had just gotten my first interview. I also will really appreciate GETTING a job, whereas if I had just gotten one right away, I may have not been as excited or as appreciative of it. It really is true that to really enjoy the highs in life you need to experience the lows. I am at a low right now and am just waiting and hoping for that high that I will TREMENDOUSLY appreciate:).

Last 5k of the season

I competed in my 4th and last race of the spring- the Dash for Donna 5k. This was a local race that ran through my neighborhood, and it took place at my elementary school. It was for a former teacher who got sick and lost both her legs (from septic shock- very rare. It was a bad infection), so this race raised money for her prosthetic legs. I ran with my brother, his girlfriend and my mom and dad. I got the best time AND did my personal best on a 5k- 28:55. I was very pleased and felt pretty good until the last mile, but to be fair it was all uphill. I am now retiring for the summer because of the heat, but I am excited to get back into running in the fall once it cools off. I am definitely feeling better and stronger than I did when I started running consistently last year, so I am optimistic for more races and even better times next year! I will do an occasional run this summer when it is cooler in the mornings, but I am hoping to get some swimming in!

This is how I wish I looked when I run- I actually look like I am in pain and dying most of the time. I'll work on my form more in the fall:)

Birthday...what do I do?

My 24th Birthday. I went to work, talked to a lot of friends on the phone, and ate more food than I have in a while (I've been having some stomach issues). This was worth every single gram of fat and calorie:

Delicious. Now one more year til I hit my quarter life crisis.

Robyn the Runner

So apparently in the past year I have become a runner.

That is not to say that I love and look forward to running a few times a week. But now I can actually do it, which for anyone who knows me, is impressive. See, I always ran but it was for something- like to get to the ball in soccer or to run away from my brothers chasing me. My choice of sport was never running. I swam and rode bikes but never busted out the shoes and went for a jog.

Well that started to change in college. All my roommates were runners, and UVA is known for it's running students. I could jog a mile fine, but I mostly went to the gym instead, though I did start doing the treadmill more and might occasionally run to the gym. After college, though, I decided to enter into a 5k after many of my friends did the 2009 Monument Avenue 10k. It seemed so fun that I wanted to enter a race. So I started running. My goal was to just not stop and to be able to complete a 5k in around 30 minutes. After about 6 weeks of training around the neighborhood, I could do it! I successfully ran my first race- the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure- in May 2009. I ran on and off throughout the summer and fall after wards, but if the weather was ever too extreme (hot or cold) I wouldn't run. I operate best between a temperature of 40 and 70.

2010 came and so did the Monument Avenure 10k in March. I was running about 3 miles once or twice a week or so, and decided to register and walk with my mom. Well, I got so into the race that I couldn't stop! I ran (mostly) the whole race and finished around 1 hour 7 minutes. I was hooked. It was so fun that I knew I had encountered something I was interested in. I still had obstacles to overcome- blisters, bad shoes and randome aches- but I knew I wanted to run more. I did the Race for the Cure again a few weeks ago and finished at about 30 minutes. I did have to walk but only breifly due to some stomach cramps. I am not a pro at working through pain, but I recover quickly and can tackle hills and distance better than I could last year. This past weekend I spontaneously did the Carytown 10k. I finished in 1:02.30! I beat my time from the Monument 10k by 5 minutes (and I didn't train for the distance). I start feeling lously after a 5k, but I am able to push through. I walked for probably .2 miles yesterday, so I felt I did great. I sure am paying for not training though- aches and pains all over!

So I am becoming a runner! I have a 5k coming up in June, and then I will probably retire for the summer until the weather cools off. Heat and pains still effect me pretty easily, but I hope to get better running shoes and start going longer distances.

And I leave you with a photo of me and Marge after the race...