Last Place Runner

Today was the end of my cleanse! I lost about 3.5 pounds, which is just fine for 10 days. Especially 10 days worth of rotten weather.

I’ve been sticking to the running schedule I made for myself and yesterday was my mid-week rest day. I usually rest on weekends, too, and I was so surprised how good I felt during my Monday-morning run. I have my runs structured as intervals. The run time will increase by one minute every few days, but the walk time stays one minute. Today I skipped my first walk breaks and just ran for 18 minutes. Of course I can run for 18 minutes, and more, but I like the walk breaks because I get so thirsty! And I have a hard time on the treadmill flipping my water bottle open and getting a drink while I’m moving too quickly. And to that end, I’m trying to decide if I should take my CamelBak to the race. I know there are water stations, but my CamelBak is so small and compact that it doesn’t really hinder me. I’ve never been able to finish the water in it, either, so it holds more than enough. But I’ll probably wait to see what the forecast is for March 28 before I get too worried about it.

March 28!

I had a job interview on Friday. I gave myself just enough time to get ready, even though the interview was late in the day. Then, when I was wandering around the house in my underwear, I caught a glimpse of the front sidewalk through the dining-room window. It looked like someone had covered it in rock salt and I could not figure it out. The weather man had said we could get snow flurries but nothing serious until later in the weekend.

Huh.

When I finally made it to the interview, the woman I was supposed to meet with was hurrying out of the office on her way back to the central part of the state because it was snowing bloody murder. I interviewed with the office manager, who was just a hoot. She was so nice and so easy to talk to. I showed her my portfolio of work, though, and she admitted she didn’t have a clue about what made any of that kind of thing good or bad. She said there would be a second round of interviews and they would let me know “either way.” I left feeling good about the conversation I had with the office manager, but I still felt kind of upset that I didn’t get to speak with the woman who was supposed to interview me.

It took me almost two hours to get home, and I slid off the road twice. It snowed and snowed and snowed all night and all the next day. Then it started to melt off just in time for me to grab some groceries before the ice and snow hit.

While all that was going on, I got an email for a second interview! The woman said the office manager was really impressed with me during my interview and, weather permitting, a small team would travel up from Little Rock to meet with me on Friday. I don’t see how that is going to happen, but I’ve got to prepare for it anyway. She told me to bring any letters of recommendation I had — which was zero — with me to the interview. So I spent yesterday afternoon hitting up friends, old bosses, and anyone I could think of for letters. I’ve gotten three and I’m surprised that people feel so warmly about me. I know I shouldn’t be.

Anyway, every school district in the state is closed today. That’s the weather situation we’re in. Hopefully everything will work out and I can have my interview in the morning. Then I’ve got a 54-minute run on the schedule I need to get to!