3Mile Run

Today I set out to time myself for a 3mile run at 1:30pm at SJSU's glorious track. This is my prime running time because there is absolutely no one on the track, especially today with a heat index of 79 °F! Within the last lap, I re-found my focus to give the job market one more chance. How, you may ask.

Many of you know I take running very seriously. Today, I had full intentions to set out and do 8minute splits for each of the three miles. The first two miles were pretty routine due to my previous training and and as promised 16minutes was the result of my second mile. That time is okay, but its not my best. Breaking a pretty big sweat, I started to notice at the end of the 2miles that my sweat was no longer sweat but dried up white crust on my face. *gross hunh* At this point I was concerned that I may have dehydration problems if I were to push out another 8minute mile. Fulfilling my promise, I made the first few steps to grind out one more 8minute mile, or so I thought...

After 100meters in the ninth lap, wind against the front of my body, a "AH, HELL NAW, WTF are YOU doing!" was transmitted from my entire physical body to my brain. In these types of situations, you really need to focus your energy at the task at hand and grind it out, regardless of the pain. *At least that's how I think and it sounds super hardcore* Ultimately, it was up to me of when and where I wanted to stop this run.

I dogged it big time for the next two laps. Instead of feeding in the constant reminder of my lungs and legs telling me to stop, I concentrated on my breathing and kept reminding myself that I was on the last four laps. By the middle of my third lap, I really considered calling it quits because of the amount of water that I lost and my uncontrollable breathing. These are really big signs of dehydration.

Then I started my final lap. What a big mess: my leg brace nearly fell off, my breathing was obstructed by severe cotton mouth, mentally I was doubting myself if I was going to finish, and physically I was severely passed my comfort limit. It was at this point when I closed my eyes, looked up, and with one big breath and push left in me, ran FASTER. That's right, rather than keeping pace or slowing down, I ran faster. Surprisingly, upon finishing my 3mile run, I had the total time of 24:40. Not too far off my of my original goal of 24minutes. I was totally surprised! Upon finishing, I had a feeling of accomplishment, but more than that, I related it to my effort towards my current situation: College degree, jobless for seven months, and hella jaded off of the job search.

After ranting on and on in my last blog about how I feel about "Corporate America", its obvious to see that I have a strong disliking for anything in a cubicle or cubicle like. What to do from here is still a big blur. I definitely have legitimate career paths in the Army. After talking to a recruiter and doing tons of research, I found several career outlets for myself. Then again, what about the other career paths I made for myself here in California? Should I totally throw them out the window now that I can't find anything?

I honestly don't know where I will be in the next few months but I do know for a fact that I most likely will transfer into public service. As for the Army, its still a major option and back up plan. I look forward to continuing my path towards local law enforcement. Thanks to some good old B.S.T. I was able to reanalyze my situation and find a positive challenge rather than a negative dead end.