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The radio silence is over. Michael and I are finally, finally in our new house, and I can breathe again. The process went smoothly and quickly - but it still took over a month!

I thought I knew what to expect, since I spent my entire childhood in a house, but, after four years in dorms and apartments, owning my own place is even more magical than I imagined.

During the pre-buying process, both sets of parents suggested maybe buying a condo as a starter place, but I (and Michael) were completely against this. Our rule was our walls couldn't touch anyone else's walls. (We later had to modify this to also disallowing homes where we could touch someone else's house while still standing on our own land - some cities here really jam their houses together!)

I'm still adjusting sleep-wise to a new place with new ambient noise, but I can't get over how amazing it is that it is quiet enough to sleep virtually whenever I want. (Irony - our neighbors had a huge birthday party for their son the day after we moved, but it wrapped at 7 PM!) I knew being in an environment with the possibility of loud noise was really stressing me out, but I didn't realize how much until Sunday night when I started noticing lots of palpable tension in my shoulders and back around 9:30.

I'm also adjusting to a new running environment. While we're still in a suburb of Cleveland, we're straddled right on the edge of a county of nothing but farmland. This means that while our subdivision has nice sidewalks (and some running paths!), the surrounding area has none. It took me a minute to realize I can just run along the road safely because we're out in the country, but it will take some getting used to. For what it's worth, everyone on my run this morning was super courteous!

But to get to the important part - the house! We were really lucky to find a city that had homes with all our "needs" (an attached two car garage is a must in Northeast Ohio but surprisingly hard to come by) within our price range. I can't decide what my favorite part is yet (if you don't count the peace and quiet). However, a little work needs to be done. My parents came to help, and they get a huge shout-out for whipping our exterior back into shape.

Yard mowed, landscaping weed-whacked, trees pruned, mulch added.

We do need to call in a few tradespeople to fix a few minor things (ie, our dishwasher isn't attached to anything and tries to run away while being loaded), and our radon mitigation is scheduled for next week. There are a few minor aesthetic items to tackle as well. We started with spackling some giant holes left in the spare bedrooms, under the tutelage of my dad, - but next up will be painting over the giant baseball motif in the guest bedroom.

This is how I react whenever I look at it.

When we're supposed to tackle all these tasks, I have no idea! We're out of town the next two weekends (ok, we will be here Sunday, but I'm not sure finishing up the mulching would be fun the day after a marathon), and gone every weekend in July. Luckily, Michael has the option to work from home, so we can at least get the trades out ASAP and just deal with everything else...some time. (Our first guest will almost certainly be my best friend, and she assured me as long as the baseball room is climate controlled, she will be happy!)

I don't want to sound like I'm whining though - I will happily figure this whole thing out in turn for living in place that is actually mine. Which is a weird concept in and of itself. I was thinking this morning it'd be nice to have a little shelf or basket by the door for my Garmin and iPod - then I realized I could put in whatever I wanted! I think I'm focusing on the more straight-forward tasks first, because the thought that Michael and I could theoretically change everything is a little overwhelming.

But back to this weekend, we'll be running the Hatfield-McCoy Marathon! I'm super excited, especially since I'll have a sign to look for, since I'm a repeat runner. Plus the atmosphere is so much fun - everyone is so much more relaxed and outgoing without a time limit.

But - the predicted high is almost 90 degrees, and the written description for the day is "humid." I ended up being sore from moving (!!), but my legs felt fresh and normal today after a super slow, dead-legged run Monday morning. I'm hoping with a little more rest this week, they will be ready to go come Saturday. Either way, Michael and I are just running this one for fun together.

And no matter what happens, I know we have a home to come back to.

No Longer a Michigander

What a whirlwind it has been.

10 days ago I packed up a truck (and my car) with all my earthly possessions and moved them four hours away.

Nine days ago I traded in my boring white Michigan license for a shiny red Ohio one.

Seven days ago I started my new job.

Oh yeah, and in five days, I'm running another marathon. The best laid plans....

It's hard to believe all that has happened over the course of two weeks. It feels like about two years. There's a lot to adjust to here - my commute is 15 miles but takes an hour (can't wait until we move and I can take the bus!), my beloved Meijers is gone, and there's hills on every running route I seek out.

But there's so much more good than bad!

The library system here is amazing - there are 28 branches, 3 in my city alone, and I can see the closest one from my window. I managed to restrain myself and only check out five books this past weekend, and I binged on one in two days. (It probably would have been faster if not for March Madness.)

The book mentioned twice how terrible my previous employer was. I'll take it as a sign!

The Metropark system is also phenomenal. It's called the Emerald Necklace - since it forms a necklace-ish shape around the city of Cleveland. I thought having a couple metroparks by me growing up was awesome, but here there's more than I know what to do with, all within an easy drive. In fact, this past Saturdat, I drove five minutes to a parkway in the system and enjoyed a wonderful 10 mile run through quiet neighborhoods along a creek.

There's also tons of races in the area! I haven't had much to do at work yet, and one of my coworkers tipped me off to the big racing company in the area, so I finally found a comprehensive race calendar for Northeast Ohio. I spent quite a few hours yesterday drooling over it. Because not only are there actually choices, they have good start times (like 9 or 10 AM!), and lots of them have fun themes. I'm not lying when I say we have two different pierogi races within a three week span.

And speaking of work, I love my job! I've only scratched the surface, but it's a really nice change of pace to go from a for-profit chemical company to a non-profit hospital. I don't have any patient contact, but it's much more fulfilling, since I'm supporting clinical research. Plus, since we're a hospital, wellness initiatives are our jam. Right now I'm waiting for a free pedometer to come, so I can convert my daily steps into gift cards. How awesome is that?

This little guy is about to be my best friend.

But probably the most amazing thing about the move is getting to live with Michael. After being long distance for our whole relationship, it is amazing to be able to see him every day. Plus, since he leaves work an hour before me and has half the commute time, he has been doing most of the cooking. But even if he didn't, just being able to sit in the same room together each evening is so nice, even if we each do our own thing.

It also makes planning our trips so much easier! It was wonderfully easy to plan our Knoxville trip side by side on the couch, as well as to look at flight options for Montana. (If you missed it on Twitter, we got our vacation time approved and will be spending a whole week there in July! So so so so excited.)

How is Glacier a real place?

On the topic of Knoxville, I feel surprisingly good for the race this weekend. I was feeling really stressed about it before the move, but I realize now that I was just channeling all my anxiety into that one event, instead of thinking of every single stressor involved. (I guess there are worse coping mechanisms?)

I have noticed since moving that my easy pace has gotten substantially faster, despite the hills. I had a hunch that RLRF was stressing my body quite a bit (mostly because I gained a little weight and couldn't lose it no matter what), but this just seems to confirm it. I think my body has had enough time to recover, and I'm bouncing back with faster times. I had been a little nervous to try for a 4:45 again, but after keeping a 10:36 pace without trying (too hard) Saturday, I'm ready to give it a shot.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some downtown traffic to fight.

Any tips for dealing with driving in a major city?
Any tips for not crying when I look at how expensive flights to Montana are?

Big Changes

Despite my best intentions, things have been very quiet around the blog the last few weeks. I've talked about the Real Life Stuff that's been going on, but I've been unable to share. Well, the last few pieces have fallen into place, and I finally can! (Thank God, I hated being a vague blogger!)

Michael and I have been long-distance our entire relationship. (We've known each other since fourth grade, though, which I think helped us make it work.) In college we were only about 1.5 hours apart, but since we both started working, it's been 4.5 hours.

That's why I'm super excited to announce that I got a job in Cleveland and will be moving to join Michael!

It was actually the second job I applied to (womp womp) once I started looking, and I am thrilled about the position, the organization, and my future team. I'll still be in accounting, but I'll be moving from cost to doing grants. I've had a little exposure to this in college, but I'm certainly a newbie, but grants seemed very interesting, so I figured what the heck, why not apply. I'm so glad I gave it a shot! As a very risk-averse person, this was especially exciting for me. (And just to note, I was totally up front about this in all my interviews!)

I obviously didn't want to share on the blog I was looking for work, in case anyone from my current job stumbled upon it. It was weird keeping it a secret though, since it obviously affected my stress levels and my running. (I skipped a few runs to work on job apps, and I felt sort of keyed up a lot of the time.)

Though to be honest, it's still affecting my running. We planned our races this year around my work schedule, and it sounds like my new job will have a very similar set-up, so the races should still work. Worst case, we only have one marathon in the fall, so there's lots of other races we could do instead, and the only thing we are out at this point is registration fees. (And I think some of the races even allow transfers, so maybe we could re-coup some of that.) Plus, the next three races we could squeeze in with no time off - though it would be an awful suckfest - so there's really no reason to worry.

However, I am who I am, so this is causing me a ton of anxiety, but I know it's out of my control, and I will just talk to my boss when I start. My only concern is sounding lazy (hey, I know I just got here, but I'm going to need to take some time off, byeeeeeee), but I'm sure it's normal for new employees to have pre-planned trips, and I'll obviously communicate I'm flexible. Plus - it's a marathon, I'm not just running off (ha!) to lie on the beach or something.

I'm also having some anxiety over fitting in my training with the new job. I'm eligible to get a gym membership at Case Western, which is only a few minutes walk from my office, but I'm not sure they will pro-rate the membership. (I'm fine with $33 a month, but $80 would just be stupid.) That means lunch time workouts are probably not an option until July, but I know I can just get a gym near where I live and (gasp) actually get up to do some workouts in the morning. I'm also hoping to use my lunch break to get active and go for a walk in the building or outside.

I realize this post makes me sound like the love child of Grumpy Cat and Debbie Downer, but I want to share my honest thoughts about the transition. I sort of realized suddenly I was depressed again after starting my current job because of all the changes and related anxiety, even though I was certainly happy.

I think being open on the blog (and with myself) will help combat it this time around. I have had a lot of fun researching gyms and found what looks like an awesome one near my new apartment. (Their indoor track is made of rubber. I might marry it!)

There was also one other big change to share (that I will detail a bit more in my South Carolina Recap), but Michael and I got engaged while we were at Myrtle Beach!

It's very exciting to move on to the next step of our relationship. (Though since I look like I'm 12, people still keep calling him my boyfriend instead of my fiancé, even with my engagement ring on.) I personally find it annoying when running blogs I read suddenly morph into wedding blogs, so I will try to keep everything to a minimum here, and only talk about it as it applies to my running.

But wedding planning won't even begin in earnest for awhile since our next goal is to buy a house. Michael's lease will be up at the end of June, and we would like to be out of there by then. We are both sick and tired of loud and inconsiderate neighbors. I can't wait to live in my own place and know it will be quiet whenever I want it to be. (Read: 100% of the time.)

Please be patient with me as I go through these changes. I will get my recaps up soon, but it is a little overwhelming packing up my life and getting ready to settle in a new state. I can't wait to share my new Ohio adventures, but I need some time to get into a groove.

My New Year's resolution was to post three times a week, but I think I will scale back to just once a week for now. Hopefully once I settle in and have someone to share chores with, I will have more time than ever to write!

Have you ever had to ask for vacation time soon after starting a job?
Any house hunting tips for us?