Running

Good God, I have run, simply to run.  It’s not a day I ever thought would happen, even now that I am fit.  Two years ago the only running I would have done was for the last chicken ball at the Chinese buffet, and if I knew there was another tray on the way I wouldn’t even have bothered then.

A friend of mine is doing something called the Warrior Dash today.  I only found out about this on Thursday and immediately thought it would be a wicked thing to do.  Basically it’s a 5km run with various obstacles along the way like climbing a hay bail mountain, getting over a big wall, leaping over fire and whatnot.  I looked for the sign up right away but registration for the only Ontario date has long since closed.

My immediate thought was I would love to do that, and hmmm yeah I bet I could.  And then I thought about what it takes to do well, so I looked at the results from one of the past events and the top people are finishing the course in around 20 minutes give or take a few, the top guys my age are generally around 27-32 minutes to complete the circuit.  Seeing stats of course got me thinking.  If I did this could I do well?

I have not done any direct training for running at all, because I generally don’t like running.  However my last two assessments at the gym have involved the beep test and then running an obstacle course that Jodi designed.  And during a couple of my workout days I run sprints on the treadmill.

Today I woke up early, which sucks, but I put the time to use.  As I lay in bed trying to go back to sleep at 6am I was thinking about could I even run 5km?  If I tried how long would it take me?  So I got out of bed, did my Wii fit measurement looked up what a 2.5km course would be got dressed took a sip of Gatorade G2 and went outside and then… Ran.

My goal at the outset was to run the 2.5km and see what the time was, as I approached the end I said to myself, I could run this again, so I hit the lap timer on my watches stopwatch and did the course again (plus a little just in case Google maps rounds up.

Today I ran 5.2km in 23:46.68 and the split time at 2.5km was 11:19.01.

Not too shabby for my first time out running I would say.

What I Like

I'm at my new job and everyone is adjusting.  Some to new routines, some to new faces, and some to new tasks and gaining a knowledge of the lay of the land, and some to everything at once.

I like bright smiles and moments where you can see the light bulbs flashing with ideas and thoughts.  It's exciting and entertaining.  I hope the skills of bringing out these bursts of interest and focused enthusiasm become easier to access.  I like when the day goes relatively smoothly.

I like that I get to wear whatever shirts I want.  So far I have worn three superhero shirts to work this week! This is something that I could not have possibly done at my old job.  Clearly I am pleased by very simple things.

I like the drive out here, up until now all my work driving has been about five minutes from my house to downtown, but driving the roads from home to Ennismore is easy, passive and calming both on the ride to and from work.

I like that my hands will never be sunburnt, though I still hate sunscreen!

I like the children and the people I work with.  So far, a great week! 

Career Decisions

A friend of mine recently questioned some decisions they had made involving their career, I think everyone has, and if you haven't yet, you will.  How can you not?  When you go to the same place to work each day there are going to be things you like and things you don't like.  If the ' don't likes' outweigh the ' likes', start searching the want ads.

My career has gone in many directions since before I even left highschool.  Originally I had wanted to be a teacher, when I saw my dad become a bit displeased with his job due to changes from the government I decided I was going to go into computers.  I went to University of Toronto for a while to become a programmer, that didn't pan out, so I went to Flemimg to become a computer support guy.

I got a job at one computer place supporting the libraries of Ontario, when that looked like it was going under, I got hired with CIP. My computer career had begun.  After only just over a year I was offered a job with a larger company for more money.  And herein was my first career decision, do I go for more money, but more responsibility and traveling, or stick with the place I know and the companionship of workmates I like.

I chose to stay.  Financially it might not have been the best decision, but it has resulted in a friendship that will last a lifetime.

I have since been layed off from that job.  I tried working at one other computer place but was miserable so career decision #2 came and I decided to go into ECE, returning to school has netted me more friendships that will last a long time and has me in a career that I have been enjoying almost every second of!  A huge part of that enjoyablity had been the places I have worked and the people I have worked with.  I am confident that my new workplace wil be one that satisfys me again, just as working with friends did.

Once you begin a career, you are hopfully in it for a long term commitment, some decisions must be purely business, but the most important ones are about how much you enjoy your work. 

Be happy in your work!

A New Career

A couple of months ago I blogged about having new jobs, those new jobs have given way to a new career that starts on Monday.  I’m quite pleased about the way it all turned out really.  Having the supply jobs with three different companies gave me the opportunity to see my options in depth, and the ability to make an informed choice.

Child care is not the kind of job where you want to settle for any position I think.  If this were my first time in the working world my opinion might be different but since this is actually my second career I was already aware of the type of things that keep me happy at work.

A good and positive atmosphere and enjoyable people are the main things that I need at a workplace.  In this instance I have more than just my co-workers to provide that to me, also the children that I will be around and helping on their journey to learn and grow.  I expect this career to be very rewarding and fulfilling even if it is draining from time to time.

Some of you might be wondering why I make the distinction of ‘job’ and ‘career’.  To me a ‘job’ is something like working at the gas station, or tutoring at the college, you get part time hours and the expected amount of pay that goes along with doing something that anyone can do.  A ‘job’ is not specialized, very little of one’s full potential is used and the money that comes from it is enough to scrape by by the skin of your teeth.  A ‘career’ to me, is something that requires training, either some sort of apprenticeship, education or hours upon hours of dedication to do well.  You get paid well enough that if you live responsibly you have some extra money to spend and it’s something that you might spend some time on while you are not getting paid so that you can either do better, or make it even more enjoyable when you are there.

I’m very excited about this new career I’m about to begin, two years of college and now two months of supply work have prepared me as well as they were ever going to.  I’m quite certain there will be many learning opportunities along the way for me in the weeks, months and years to come, but really if I can do this well enough, everyday I should be able to learn by playing, how many people get to say that when they are over 30?