No Place Like Home?

A few weeks ago I moved down to Florida from Long Island. I know - I went from an hour train ride from New York City to a 30 minute drive from a "city." I'm still young, and it's been kind of a culture shock so far.

So why did I move down here? Well for one, my dad came down here to work....3 years ago. He and my mom are still very happily married, but they left a thousand miles apart (some would say this is how they've been able to stay married!) and I saw my dad every few months. Within the next few months, they'll be selling the New York house and the whole family will be down here. I figured I might as well get a head start.

Why else? For lack of a better reason, and to quote Summer Finn from (500) Days of Summer, "boredom." I graduated college a year ago, did a semester of grad school, and have just been flat out bored with my life. Nothing improves that quite like a change of scenery, so here I am.

To be honest, things so far are no better down here than they were in New York. The few improvements have been the weather and the lower cost of living, but I've been kind of home sick. The job hunt has been going nowhere, mostly because I have no idea what I want to do. It's hard to even search for a job when you don't know what industry you want to work in.

Here's where my running comes in. My dad's boss is a season ticket holder for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and ticket holders get these coupon booklets for businesses around town. One coupon got me over $100 off my gym membership, and so far the gym is infinitely better than the gym I was using in New York - for just $5 a month more. I find myself going there way more than I went to the gym in New York. If I'm going to be bored, I'll at least be in shape.

But running has allowed me to figure out more about where I am. The local running store had a group run at the beach the other night. I only met 2 people, but it was a start. The New York me would never have gone out to run with people who I knew would be way faster than I am. I live in a pretty big neighborhood, with miles of road that I can use to run on. Last night I went almost 5 miles, and I didn't go anywhere near the main road.

I may not know anyone yet, but I have a familiar running route. For now at least, it's almost as much a home to me as New York.

Now to start that job hunt...