In March, I ran Leprechaun Chase 10k in 1:02:05. In April, I completed the Drake Relays On the Roads 10k in 1:01:39 and The Grand Blue Mile in 8:03. I ran the Des Moines Women’s Half in May. It was hot. I was undertrained. I finished and raised $400 for Girls on the Run. I did a hard thing (fund raising) and though I didn’t meet my goal of $500, I did surpass the minimum goal of $300. I also finished in a time of 2:26:14. Not my fastest half marathon, but it was mostly pain free! I ran the final Dam to Dam 20k in 2:25:16. There was a half hour delay due to lightning. I was soaked and freezing at the start. I waited for 15 minutes to use the portable loo between mile 2 and 3. It got hotter than Hades through the course of the race. I’m glad it’s over. Next year it will be Dam to DSM and will be run by the same organization that put on the Des Moines Women’s Half. I’m still undecided if I want to participate in the inaugural race. We’ll revisit this next year.

I’ve fully transitioned from working in the print industry to retail full time. It’s refreshing to not work 50-60 hours per week. Though sometimes I do miss working two jobs. But only slightly. I’ve actually been able to fully recover from the injuries I sustained through hard training and operating at maximum stress levels. That being said, I’m also very hungry to figure out my career trajectory. I know that I can glean a lot of knowledge from the retail sales world from the company that I’m currently working at, I’m just a bit timid to trust that I already have skills that are marketable and worth a higher compensation for the market. I have already applied for two other full time positions where I currently work and just found another that I am very likely to throw my resume at as well if the others don’t pan out. It is purely strategic. I want to learn as many skills in all areas as possible as my goal is to grab a leadership position. My preference would be for behind the scenes type of positions, but I can be front facing if needed.

Other fun things that have happened: I was able to witness Jenny Simpson set a new American Record for 2 miles on the track during an exhibition at the Drake Relays. Kyle and I were given access to shoot video and photos for a friend that works at Drake Athletics that needed new footage for Relays promotion. Through that opportunity, I volunteered for the USATF Outdoor Championships this past weekend which were also held at Drake University. I volunteered to escort athletes for drug testing post competition. It was very much a once in a lifetime opportunity. Although, since Drake is hosting the Outdoor Championships again next summer, I am highly likely to volunteer for the same position again in 2019.