Week in Review

My first week of unemployment, freelancing, rebirth, or whatever you want to call it has been great. This training manual that I'm working on is actually taking up a lot of my time so I've been spending 6-7 hours a day working. As I mentioned before, it's a bartending manual so the content has been really interesting. Today I'm researching and writing about whiskey.

If you're wondering if I've been spending the days in my jammies, the answer is no. I've been forcing myself to still get up early and have been up at 5am to get to the gym (except for today when I slept until 7:30am). I'm abiding by my Working At Home Oath; I'll get to this in another post.

Yesterday was the first nice day of the week so I decided to work outside: loved it.

Steve has been working from home most of the week, but since our work areas are on different floors of the house, we haven't driven each other crazy yet. Having lunch with him most days of the week has been nice.

The only downside so far was something I knew when I took on this project. That is, it doesn't pay squat. Squat as in I could make more money working at Target or Taco Bell. Squat as in I'm not making minimum wage based on the time I've put into it. Do I regret doing this? Heck no! I've never had this much fun writing for work. In the long run I know I'll have to reconsider other options for getting assignments that will at least get me out of the slave labor category. For now, I'm enjoying the work and hope to get a decent reference from the employer.

That's it for now. Back to whiskey....

1997 Pool Passes

Steve and I discovered these pool passes from we bought our house 13 years ago.

Diggin' It

Someone (or should I say some critter) has been busy digging holes in the mulch in our front yard. There are at least a dozen holes.

This acorn that is a in a hole in the backyard may be a clue as to what's coming next.

Reset Button

Tomorrow is my first official workday after hitting the Reset button on my work life. I'm sure it's going to take me a little while to get comfortable and figure out exactly what it is I'm doing.

The good news is that last Friday I submitted a proposal for a training manual project before we left for WV. I was a bit worried that I didn't put enough details into the proposal, but submitted it anyway. I'm glad I did because the employer awarded me the project just a few hours later. WOOT! For this project I'll need to write a training manual on BARTENDING! I've started reviewing the existing materials that the employer provided me and it's been pretty interesting and fun so far. Don't get me wrong; this project pays very little, but it's a refreshing break from the hum-drum software application manuals.

My Soundtrack: Last Day on the Job

As I was leaving the office for the last time on Friday, I couldn't help but sing the Laverne and Shirley theme song to myself. Cheesy? Yes, but so was the ear-to-ear grin on my face as I was pulling out of the parking lot.

Spinning Yarn: The Right Way

The owners of the Asa Cline B&B were nice enough to show us how yarn is spun. Here's how it's supposed to be done as demonstrated by John, the owner:

Capon 50K

The short story: I finished! Not only did Mandy and I finish the 50k, but we finished well within the 8 hour cutoff and crossed the finish line in 6 hours 50 minutes and change.

The long story: The pre-race briefing scheduled for 6:30am didn't start until 6:45am. The gist of the briefing was:

• Follow the blue and white, striped ribbon
• The course was marked on horseback, so be sure to look up if you don't see ribbon
• It's raining
• Good luck

Pretty anti-climactic in my opinion, but that's okay since I just wanted to start running. We finally hit the gravel road at 7am. By now, the drizzle had turned into a steady rain and the clouds seemed to be getting darker. About a half mile into the course, we were in the woods and already starting to cross streams. There were so many within the first 2 miles that I lost track around the 16th stream crossing. The first aid station was about 3.5 miles into the run and in an old barn. For a small race they had everything you could need: water, Gatorade, Coke, Band-aids, Vaseline, aspirin, M&Ms, and more. The volunteers warned us that the next aid station wasn't for about 7 more miles.

We trekked on and found ourselves walking quite a bit since there seemed to be one hill after another. All this walking was starting to worry me a bit since it meant our pace was slower than if we had been running. I tried to not worry about meeting the 8 hour cutoff for now and just kept going. Around mile 9 we made our way downhill toward the water and I managed to plunge my right foot into a puddle. My big splash covered the back of my right leg with stinky, nasty mud that continued to drip down my leg as we made our way up this really steep hill. You know a hill is steep when (a) you have no choice but to walk hunched over because standing up straight would send you toppling down the hill, (b) your heart is beating just as hard walking as it would be if you were sprinting, and (c) if you did attempt to run, you'd be moving the same speed as you would be walking.


Not soon after this steep hill we got to a stream that was about 20' wide. Up until this point I had been trying to step across the streams on rocks or logs to postpone the inevitable wet feet. This stream was too wide to attempt that so in I went. The water was frigid, but at least I got most of the muddy gunk off of my leg. Steve and my parents were at aid station 2 to cheer us on. Spectators aren't allowed to drive on the course since it's all on private property so they had to hitch a ride to and fro with volunteers. After a quick drink, we left the aid station. By this time the rain had stopped but the winds had picked up. It was as if we were in a snow globe except the snow was pollen; lots of nasty pollen getting into our eyes and lungs. It seemed that all of us were choking on that crap.

We ran through some grassy areas, up some gravel roads, over more streams, up and down through the woods, and ended up near the power lines. We ran down, down, and down some more. As much as I would have loved to let gravity help me pick up some speed, the downhills were brutal on my quads and toes.


We ducked back into the woods, eventually made our way to the next aid station, and then on to a low area that was uber-squishy before finally getting to the longest climb of the day around mile 15. We saw some interesting sites along the way including a few trailers, some on cinder blocks others with their own port-o-john. The most memorable was a wooden home that had every imaginable household item on their front porch (cue Dueling Banjos from Deliverance). We're talking rocking chair, fridgerator, dishes, TV, and so much more. This same place also had about 20 beat up cars in their backyard; beat up as in completely rusted. I wanted to take a picture of the place, but I honestly was afraid that the owners would come out with a shotgun if they saw me.

We trekked on and got to a stretch where it was just Mandy and I in the woods. It was probably around mile 21 and the loneliness was really starting to get to me; not to mention I probably should have been taking in more calories during the run so I was feeling a bit tired. We finally had another group of runners catch up with us and that helped. We crossed a few more streams including the one below.

We got to the last aid station and realized that we might be able to finish in under 7 hours. I personally didn't care if we made it under 7 (I just wanted to finish before the cutoff), but I could tell Mandy wanted to get in sooner.

If you're thinking about running an ultra, this is a great one for first timers. The course is really well-marked and runnable (walkable). The volunteers are great and the post-race BBQ dinner was much appreciated by this hungry runner. My biggest piece of advice would be to do your hill workouts. Here's the elevation profile from my Garmin:

More pictures from the weekend in the 2010 Capon Valley 50K album here.

Spring Break

I had a dream that I quit my job. Oh wait; that wasn't a dream. Today I gave my employer my two-weeks notice. "Where are you going to work now?" you ask. Not sure. That's right. I'm quitting my job and don't have a position with Company X lined up.


Have you lost your mind? Nope; I'm actually working to get my mind back. I've spent the last few years working on mind-numbing tasks (think preparing PowerPoint slides) and very little time writing or developing new skills.


What are you going to be doing? I've done a little bit of freelance writing on the side and have always been interested in the prospect of doing more of it. So primarily I'll be focusing on freelancing. I've also considered working as a personal trainer on the side because I'm one of those weirdos that actually enjoys being at the gym. To be honest, I'm open to pretty much anything where I can learn something new.


What does Steve think of this? This was actually Steve's idea. He knows how unhappy I've been at work and encouraged me to leave.


Aren't you worried? Yes, I'm nervous and have had more than one Holy Sh*t moment. But I'm also really excited about the freedom and opportunity to try something new. I know it's going to be hard and a LOT of work. But at the same time I know I'll be able to learn a lot more than if I stay in my current situation. Yes, it's a risky move but it's also a risk if I stay put.


What if nothing you do works out? Then I go back to corporate life silly.