I recently realized that I am turning 30 in two years. Well, 20 months to be exact.
I don’t know about any of you, but when I hit 25, I had a quarter-life crisis. I kept thinking about all the things I wanted to do and be, and that I didn’t do/wasn’t most of those things. It was depressed about it for a good six months. My husband thinks it’s silly (maybe you do, too), but it was certainly not silly and I was certainly very unhappy.
I started thinking, ‘what will I do if am still in the same place in life and I turn 30?’
To be honest, my exact wording (yes, I said this out loud), was “If I am still fat when I turn 30, I’m going to kill myself.” Joking, of course, but to an extent that is how I feel.
I started to think back to the time I last felt incredibly happy with my body. I remember it vividly.
In 2009, I started running. I’ve started running before, but never for more than a week or so at a time. In 2009, however, I started meeting my friend Nikki at the track near our homes a few nights a week. We started slow, just running two laps around the track, walking, running. It became a good habit, and soon we were meeting 4 times a week (3 weekdays and Saturday mornings). My husband started joining us as well.
We started racing. I still remember my first race. The Jana Piccola Walk 4 Love (a 5K). It was the longest distance I had ever run and I walked a few times, but finished in around 38 minutes.
Afterwards, I felt AMAZING. And I was hooked on racing. All these people coming together for a cause and just running.
We did a few more 5Ks, and then decided we wanted to train for a marathon that upcoming May (figuring we’d do longer and longer races in between as we were training).
I was also going to personal training three days a week, and I was getting stronger and leaner as the weeks went on. I felt the best I have felt in years. I felt strong, fit and in charge of my body.
And then I got hurt. I have a bad back, and tend to move the wrong way and pull it. I’m not sure how I did it, but I hurt my back and tried to take it a little easy and take a few days off. As the nagging pain continued, a few days off turned into no more running.
That’s what I want to get back to. What I need to get back to. The way I felt when I was consistently exercising and running and eating clean and healthy.
So I texted Nikki and told her we needed to revive our running career. I signed up for that same first race that started the fire two years ago. I will be running it in the end of September. We made an agreement to meet twice a week to start at the track.
And I decided on a lofty goal for myself. 30 Before 30. I want to run 30 races before I turn 30, including a marathon.
Howeverrrrrrr….there may now be an issue.
I have also been thinking about changing careers.
I got my BS in Therapeutic Recreation in college, with a minor in Computer Information Systems. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do (as apparent from the two opposing fields). Out of college, I started working at TutorTime. While I loved it, it paid nothing, and I needed to make more money. So I took a job as the back-office support for a local staffing agency. I’ve been there for almost 4 years.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy what I do (because I love being organized and doing paperwork – I’m a dork like that), and I’m hella good at it (yes I just brought back hella). But I can do it in my sleep. And there is not very much growth opportunity. I don’t want to be doing this for the rest of my life.
I’ve been thinking lately about becoming an Ultrasound Technician. I have always been very interested in the medical field (I was looking into PT for a while), but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. I definitely could not be a doctor or a nurse as I cannot handle blood. Ultrasound Technician sounds great for me. It would be extremely interesting to me, I would meet/help new people every day and I would make more money. It would be much more fulfilling than the job I have now.
I spoke to someone at a school that does a two-year certification today and I am meeting with her on Monday evening to apply. They are already full for the Fall (I decided on this a bit late), but she said that I could be put on a waiting list and that the waiting list is not too bad and I may have a shot.
If I were to do this thing, I’d be working 8-5 and then going to school from 5:45 – 10:15. I will be exhausted and I don’t know when I will fit in running. But I’m sure it will work out. Even if I can’t train much, I can still sneak in 30 5Ks in the next 20 months, right?
Stay tuned to find out. ;)
