I'm Back
What the heck have I been doing for the past year????
As you may have noticed, I’ve been gone from posting on Substack for… ALMOST A YEAR?!
So yeah, it’s been a little more than just a while.
What have I been up to? Some different things but mostly a lot of the same.
The biggest is that I quit my job in April 2023. I briefly mentioned this change when I was reflecting on what I've learned since I started running. In short, I burnt out at my gig as a cold-caller, ultimately deciding to quit without much of a plan. It was something I was terrified of doing, but I knew my brain couldn’t handle even another month, let alone day, of cold-calling.
To get through this period, I started running more.
A lot more.
Like a little over 400 miles last year alone more.
Why? I got the itch to try my hand at half-marathons. It was late 2022, and I’d been running for only a couple months when I signed up for my first half in Manitowoc. It was winter and I needed a goal to focus on so I wouldn’t keep thinking about how badly burnt out I was from work.
The training went well for the most part, except one training run where I almost crapped myself (But didn’t!). In between my runs while I was unemployed, I stayed busy even without a full-time job. I volunteered at my city’s (now non-existent) co-op, did some event set-up work for a local concert series, and looked for any promising leads for work.
I ended up finishing my first ever half-marathon — the Maritime Marathon in Manitowoc — in June 2023, just a couple days before I started a part-time job that would eventually offer me a full-time position and a much better environment than my previous employer.
And while I thought I’d be scared through this ordeal, I was actually excited at what might happen next. I wasn’t sure what was going to pan out, but knowing that there was going to be more to life than just feeling burnt out every day of my life was a huge relief.
I’m not telling everyone to go quit your job if you hate it since I know that’s incredibly tone-deaf. For many of my previous jobs, quitting might as well have been a death sentence. But this time, with the help of my partner Jenn, I was able to take that risk and I can easily say it was worth it. I’m also forever grateful to her for helping me make it happen.
I just finished the Maritime Marathon once again, and I can’t help but reflect on how much has changed since last year. I had a great time at this one and had some beautiful weather, so it feels right to end the half-marathons on a high note. But I’m not abandoning running; I’ll still be running 5ks and training in between them. And while I’m done with half-marathons for now, I’m sure it won’t be too long before I get the itch to run them again.
He’s baaaack!!!
Thanks for posting! Maybe some library related posts next?