The New Job

It's been awhile since my last post so I apologize ahead of time if you are getting some of this info twice....
The past few days have been filled with moments of A.D.D with plenty of emotional rollercoasters. This blog will likely be filled with the same :-P

I have my new townhome about 90% complete. I won't go to 100% since there are still a few pictures and shelves to be hung but my main space is free of cardboard boxes and plastic bags. But all in all it feels like home and I love it.

I start my new job tomorrow. Officially my title is Special Projects Coordinator at the Miracles of Mitch Foundation. My main focus will be assisting the Race Director, Tony Schiller, for the Miracle Kids Triathlon. I won't detail everything out but if you know me and read about the foundation and the triathlon....you'll probably be like me and think it just sounds too good to be my new job. I'm really excited about it and everyone I've met is great. But I'm also a little scared. There a bit of "faith jumping" for this job. It will only be part time to start with the potential for me to fit into other areas of the Foundation to assist and make it full time. But for now it's definitely a pay cut and unemployment will be helping to pay the bills.

Speaking of paying the bills, let's talk about my emotional rollercoaster. It all revolves around the financial situation right now. Money was already tight, then I get laid off from a pretty decent paying job (but the work was very unstimulating and I can say that now :). Then there are some extra payments that were unexpected. THEN we got the new townhouse. THEN Kevin's overtime gets cut back. THEN my severance is going to run out and we have to learn how to live on a very different budget. Basically we are dangling on broke. And this time it's not just an exaggeration. I mean we can pay the bills and that's it. All other spending is out...completely. Especially since we know we are going to get hit at tax time again this year. So basically I seem to have a problem feeling really depressed about the situation at least once a day for the past week. I very dearly love all my friends who have helped out, even if it's just buying me a coffee. But on Sunday I was out with some friends and (long story short again) they wanted the buffet and I just couldn't go. Doug bought me into the buffet and that was very sweet but I was fighting back tears of what maybe I could call lost pride or something. Again, I really appreciate my friends stepping up to help out, just as I would for them. But it just hurt. I feel like I owe them back and knowing I can't pay that back really sucks. I feel like I've got "going broke" stamped on my forehead. The emotional fallout happened again today over wanting to stop for a Caribou mocha but knowing I can't afford the $3.50, all while trying to find the shortest route home as to conserve gas.

OK seriously....enough of that....on to training.
Training has been going very well and I've been outside for a few cold runs. Saturday we had our first TNT training run together and a lot of people showed up. A few of us showed up early to get a lap in before hand and then we ran another slow lap with the team. A bunch of us hung out at Jamba Juice afterwards and I got to meet a good handful of new members. What a blast. I can already tell this is going to be a fun year.
Had a 2 hour 15 min bike this weekend. All the Ironman workouts are still pretty much at or below 75% max HR so the longer bikes are mentally challenging for me. (And physically painful for my behind!)
I'm a little stressed about settling my workout schedule around my new work schedule but Tony has assured me many times that my hours can be flexible (come early or stay later) to fit in my workouts. It is definitely refreshing to work with someone that appreciates my training and personal goals for racing. Unlike my last job where if I mentioned any word like swim, bike or run, I would likely get told to stop talking about my "outside life" so much. That was depressing!

Well I feel better that I got my blog up to speed now. I need to get to bed and see what my first day at the office brings :)

Oh and of course if you would like to assist in my fundraising efforts again for TNT, here's my website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/mn/pctri09/kmielke. And for any local folks, I'll be holding my fundraising garage sale again in May so if you would like to do some spring cleaning and donate some items for me to sell, please let me know!