Changes, changes

It's official, two months to Boston!  Wow.  It will be here before I know it. 

I went to boot camp this morning and didn't run at all.  In fact, it was almost like a Monday boot camp for me, in that I didn't really do much.  Lots of standing around and watching others workout.  My legs were somewhat sore from yesterday's run.

But mostly I'm resting up for tomorrow.  We have our second and final lactate threshold run test.  That means we'll run easy for 15 minutes, then run as fast as we can sustain for 30 minutes, then cool down for 15 minutes.  Based on what our heart rate and pace are during the 30 minutes, the remainder of our Boston training season paces will be set.

This means my performance tomorrow determines what my Boston goal finish time will be.  I'm again starting to think about the same pressure and stress I felt (and posted about) before our first lactate threshold test this year.  Although our run tomorrow isn't an official race, so at least my results won't be available for the world to see forever.  But doing well is just as important now, if not more so, because with all the big changes to future Boston marathons that were announced this week, my goal is no longer to requalilfy.  Instead, the larger my margin of qualification, the more likely it is that I'll get into Boston again. 

But I don't even know if I'll want to run Boston again.  It's kind of like life at my first legal job.  I was at a big firm and the mentality was if you work really hard and bill the crap out of your life for the next 10.5 years, you'll get to make partner.  But not everyone stops to think, wait, do I even want to make partner?  Look at their lives -- is that what I want for mine?  It works for some people, but I realized (much later than most) that it wasn't what I wanted for my life.

So I changed jobs.  Followed a friend to pretty much the polar opposite.  I went from one of the largest firms in the world to one of the smallest (though there are hoards of very small ones, obviously).   

But that ends next week Friday, my last day here.  Wow. 

I'm not taking any time off (other than that weekend, which, knowing me, will spent still trying to wrap things up here).  It didn't make sense to take more time in between jobs because hopefully we'll still be making our big Boston-Italy trip in April.  Anyway, the following Monday, 2/28, I'll start my new job.  It will be in-house, doing more litigation management than actual litigation.  So while right now, I draft the briefs and motions and a client reviews them and then they get filed with the court, at my new job, I'll be the one reviewing the briefs and motions drafted by outside counsel. 

I can't even say how excited I am.  I try not to post about work much, and I really, really like the partner I work with here (though I'm not sure his management style is the best, it's because he's just too nice), but there are some really dreadful staff personalities here.  There seems to be constant drama among them, and sometimes including me and other attorneys.  It's sometimes very unprofessional and emotionally draining. 

I'm hoping that won't be such an issue at my new position.  I have many reasons to be optimistic, primarily because there are more attorneys, so I'm guessing things are less personal and more professional. 

So that's the big exciting news I've been sitting on -- it's all been decided fairly recently, and while I don't use my real name in blogging, I wouldn't want to post about it until it was all lined up.  Another good thing about the job is that the hours will work well with my current training schedule.  While I start running at 5:15 in the morning, when I have to run 10 miles, it still takes a while, even if there's some race pace (or faster) involved.  When I get home, I'm fairly drained and it takes me a while to get into gear.  It's a real struggle when I have to be in court early, or at something else at a specified time.  I'm sure that will still happen sometimes at my new job, but it won't be a battle on a daily basis.  Love it!