On the Road Again

Hello...I'm here...I'm not avoiding you- I swear.

Life has been somewhat hectic the past few weeks. Why, you ask?

Well, let's see. January 18th was my last day of work at my job in San Antonio. I gave my notice after the New Year and then spent a very chaotic 2.5 weeks there trying to train my former co-workers to take over my responsibilities. That was crazy. Just a few days after my last day there I headed up to Rhode Island to attend Paul's graduation from Navy OCS- Officer Candidate School. From RI we headed to Boston for the weekend to celebrate. From Boston, we both returned to San Antonio in order to prepare for our move to Pensacola, FL that would take place just 12 days from our return. I should mention here that we didn't even find out our move dates until we were in Boston so we basically had just 2 weeks to prepare.

We are beyond fortunate that the military contracts movers to take care of the packing, loading and delivery of the household goods so that made the move a million times easier. That being said, there are still alot of things involved in moving hundreds of miles away like finding a place to live, where to stay while the household goods are in transit, what needs to be packed and taken with us (like important paperwork, dog meds, underwear, etc) and of course all the fun stuff like calling the power company and waiting on hold for 38 minutes just to stop service - which took less than a minute to do once I was on the line with a human. Sheesh!

And of course in the mix of all the moving stuff Paul and I started training for the Gulf Coast Half Marathon on April 7th here in Pensacola. We had a crazy first week of training because we thought it would be smart to do back to back to back runs- speed work one day, long run the next, and then a 7K race the day after that. I should also mention that we did that 7K race after an 18 mile bike ride. Needless to say my legs were TIRED after all of that. We had to fit in the runs whenever we could but it would have been smarter if we skipped one of those and gave our bodies adequate rest. Or at least maybe done an easy run in place of speed work. Hindsight, right?

Week two of half training was almost non-existent for me. I think I only got in one run, maybe two if you count the tiny bit of time I spent on the treadmill and elliptical Saturday morning before we drove to Pensacola. I had great plans on how to squeeze in my training schedule around my move but it just didn't pan out. Faced with the choice between running or cleaning/packing/organizing I had to go with the move stuff. It NEEDED to be done. Oh well, I am definitely not losing sleep over missing a few runs especially since it was only week 2. Life happens, we have to be flexible.

Now I am 'settled' into our hotel room here in Pensacola and have much more free time this week. I have gotten in 2 training runs so far (both on the treadmill) and have a my long run on the books for tomorrow. Paul found a great, unpaved running trail along the beach at NAS Pensacola and since I am still not working I will be able to join him tomorrow for a run.

On Saturday we sign the lease to our new apartment. We were hoping to rent a house but that didn't work out. We did however find a pretty awesome apartment complex with some amazing amenities; two pools, two fitness centers, and a huge dog park. Oh, and it is just 2 miles from where I will be working. So, yay me! I totally lucked out on that one. We are still waiting to hear from the movers- we were told the other day that our household goods might arrive Saturday which would be awesome. If not, they will be here early next week. Either way, I am just super thankful that it won't be much longer before I can get back into a normal routine. My body is sick of eating out every day and sleeping way too much. Ugh! I just keep telling myself that this situation is temporary and that I just need to make the best decisions I can.

Next week I start my new job, we'll be able to settle into our new home, and hopefully the weather gets a little bit nicer (no more rain, please!) and we can do more exploring of the downtown/beach areas. It should be great! Oh, and last night Paul and I went to Mellow Mushroom for trivia night and even though we were just a two person team we managed to come in third place. It was super fun and I think it will become a weekly tradition for us. Yay!

So that's my update for now. I hope to be back blogging regularly soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!