Off the road and temporarily unemployed!!!

Well today I am technically unemployed - my last day at my old job was Friday and my first day at my new job is tomorrow. And how do I feel about being off the road?

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(times 100)

(or maybe more)

It is funny. Taking a job with 100% travel enabled me to move without looking for a job across the country. And at this job I feel like I met some lifelong friends and professional contacts and learned a ton, for which I will always be grateful. And it allowed me to hedge my bets with regard to moving - if I didn't like it here, I could have easily moved somewhere else. That said, I don't think it's a very healthy lifestyle for me (especially when the travel is to Houston). And now that I live here, I want to be able to have more of a life here rather than coming in for the weekend, training, and leaving again. So I am so excited to be working in the city. I am also excited that I don't have to get on a plane tomorrow. In the first two months of the year I flew 25,000 miles. That's just about enough I think!

It is truly amazing to me how much better I feel just knowing I'm off the weekly travel schedule. My load feels lighter and the stress I always felt weighing on me is gone. It's a good feeling. I also feel excited to be integrated into the daily life here. It will be weird to walk to the train station and go to work in the city like I always wanted to. The funny thing too is that when I was in school I almost moved here, so it's like I'm a new graduate just 10ish years late!

So in the spirit of meeting people and getting to know the city and surrounding areas, I signed up for a 10 week ride program with the NY Cycling Club. I went to an orientation meeting yesterday and I'm excited. It was great to meet some new people who share my interests and it sounds like we'll be doing a bunch of cool rides! Right now I know two rides so it should expand my repertoire quite a bit! It starts next Saturday which is great. I am about ready to stop doing long trainer rides.

Other than that I am just kind of trucking along with training. My butt has been bothering me which I think is due to travel related alignment issues, so now that I won't be sitting on a plane for 7 hours a week I am going to get adjusted and hopefully my butt and hips will feel better. But outside of that I feel good and I am finally feeling excited about the season ahead. It's my last year in 30-34 and probably my last year of hard training so I'm ready to tear it up a little!