Looking for a race....but not just any race

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a hoarder. When I was packing up my room to move to Florida from New York, I was surprised at how many things I had collected over the years. Old cat toys, weird headbands, shirts that I thought were being kept for some important reason.

But the thing I seem to hoard the most are old issues of Runner's World. When I first started running in January of 2009, I went to the local CVS (1/2 mile away...I drove there. My how times have changed) and bought the February 2009 issue of Runner's World. I got on a treadmill at my college's rec center, and ran for as long as I could with the speed set at 4.6 MPH. I've read that issue over and over and over, and I still have it.

And it's that way with every issue since. I've been a Runner's World subscriber since that issue, and every month is the same. I read the issue from cover to cover while on the treadmill/elliptical/stationary bike/stairclimber. I've kept every issue, and it's a pretty large hoard of magazines at this point. Now I'll just grab a random issue and read it during my workouts.

How is all this relevant? Last night I went to the gym, and after doing a solid round of strength training, I got on the elliptical with a random issue that I grabbed from the pile. This issue happened to be from May '09, with RW cover girl Kara Goucher. In her article, she says something that had me thinking...

"I need a race every month or I go crazy..."

I ran my last half marathon a little over a month ago, and I haven't done a race since. No 5K, no 10K, not even a mile race. My workouts lately have been going fine, but I'm worried that I have no real motivation. What am I training for? At this point I've been going to the gym because it's something to do and because I don't want to lose my fitness. But I want more.

So I've been looking for a race to run. I've told myself that I refuse to start training for a marathon until I can run sub 2:00 in a half marathon. My PR is 2:23, so I'm still a little ways away. I'd like to run another half marathon in May or June, so that I have more than enough time to train smart since I tend to overwork myself in training.

Where do I go? If I'm shooting for May or June, I have the option to run either in the southeast or the northeast, since my mom will still be living in the New York house at that point. Do I stay local and run a potentially very warm Florida half? Do I run the LI Half Marathon...again? Do I make a trip out of it and just travel to a random part of the country?

Decisions decisions...

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...