It has been a long and eventful 3 months in VA

I just realized that I have not posted in too long. Well my first 1/2 marathon and race this year is now under my belt. The time was not what I wanted by a long way, however it was enjoyable. I am trying to get more runs in along the AT which is .3 mile from my house and .1 of that is my driveway. However, I have became adapted to SNAKES, I have seen more in the last 3 months than I saw my entire time in AZ. I just saw another one on the AT when I went out for a run on Wednesday and its head and my shoe met face to face, I backed up a couple of feet and waited patiently for him to make its way across the trail. It was hard to see it since it was in the grass. Today's race was not hot but it is the first time I have really felt the humidity along the James River. Some of the other activities that I have done are going sailing a couple of times and Kayaking on the James twice.

This past week they announced the return of the Roanoke Marathon on April 24th (27 years since they last held one). This one is one of the Toughest marathons in the US, there is a total of 16 miles of mountain climbing and 10 miles of city roadways (which are not flat), I am expecting for Chad to run it with me, since he did not make my last marathon. You can read about it at http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/215143

Till next time I have a minute.

This next weeks schedule

Today we will be disconnecting the refrigerator and all electronic items, because the movers come tomorrow and pack up 100% of our stuff. Thursday they will be loading it all and my car into the moving van and once they are gone, we will head out our self.

I have to work today thru Thursday, I was told by my boss to not worry about Friday, since I am a salary employee.

I have been so fortunate to have a great wife at home that is orchestrating the entire move, with the movers and what each one of us packs for the trip. Once we get to Roanoke VA, we need to find a nice home in a good area that we can get into by the end of next week, the movers are bringing the furniture over the weekend.

I also start my new job on Thursday the 14th, so I can get all the safety/security briefings out of the way and start doing my job on Monday. It seems like there is a lot going on, but last night was the first night that I slept the entire night in over three months. The stress has been removed from my shoulders and it is now up to someone else to do the moving for me. All I need to worry about is finding somewhere to live, no problem. I will just follow the signs.

I am not sure how much blogging I will get to the next couple of weeks, but I hope that all of you have a great week.

Things are looking brighter

Well, it has been a while and I do not know if any of you still want to blog with me, but I thought I would shed some light on what is going on. I learned that my position with my current employer is going away next summer, and I did not like that too much. After over 10 years with the same employer it took a big blow to me, even though they gave me 17 months to find a new position. After several weeks of evaluating the situation, I put my resume on monster and dice (I am in the Information Technology field), and in less than 24 hours I started to get phone calls. In short after several dozen of calls and interviews, I finally accepted a new position. The company that I will be working for manufactures night vision goggles for the military, however I will be working on their computer systems and not manufacturing them.

I learned this past Friday that I would be moving to Roanoke, VA in two weeks! The company is paying to move my family and it is a pay raise :). We discussed with the kids where they would like to live, if they got a chance to pick, and they both indicated a desire to live in the mid-Atlantic area, which is where most of the calls were from.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to run the Grand Canyon, I will be driving across the country at that time. Also, I will not be able to crew for Leigh at Badwater (I will not have any vacation time) and I was looking so forward to it, it breaks my heart to pull out as one of her crew members, but I must do what is best for my family and I hope that she will forgive me for it.

I will need to keep up on my blogging and keep all of you up to date on how things are going.

Missing in Action

Well I have been MIA for about as long as our new President has been in office. You can read into that if you would like. I am not going to claim any correlation to it.
I have had a lot on my mind, and have not even thought about blogging. I found out that I am scheduled to be LAID OFF from my work. I guess the good news about this is that I have a job until June 30, 2010. Yes, that is over a year away. Since I work for a local city government, the layoff's that are proposed still need council approval. Needless to say, I have become a lobbyist for keeping my job.
After Across the Years, I took some time off to recover, and I know I took too much time. I lost a lot of motivation for running, but I am now back to running an hour at a time 3 to 4 times a week. I am slowly building on the base I once had. I am still looking for the motivation for running longer and following any healthy eating habits that I once had.
The one thing I recognized with everything that is going on in my life, I did go to the Dr and am now back on my anti-depressant, I went off them for about 6 months and was doing OK without them, but with the loss of the job and lack of motivation for exercise, etc. I recognized the feelings and knew what needed to be done.
I do have the goal of doing a Rim to Rim to Rim run May 8th at the Grand Canyon. This has got me on the stair master for an hour after my runs, which is burning my leg muscles.
The only other race on my Schedule (as of now) is a lovely trip in July to the resort town of Stove Pipe Wells in Death Valley, CA. I am a crew member for Leigh Corbin for Badwater 2009. After she completes the race (great positive attitude) we are planning on hiking to the summit of Mt. Whitney, which will be my first time going from the lowest elevation to the highest peak in the lower 48 states.