Interviewing

I have a new job!

....a new job that I had to interview 3 times (re: about 4 hours) to get. Interviews are incredibly stressful, and as I drove to the second one, where I had to teach a small group reading lesson, I thought a lot about how being adequately prepared and feeling confident can naturally help you to talk yourself off of the metaphorical cliff you find yourself on just before kick-off (you know the one I'm talking about...where you think, "I could run out of this office and they'll never even know I showed up for this thing"). As nerve wrecking as actually teaching in my interview was, I couldn't help but remind myself repeatedly that that's exactly what I knew how to do and that I enjoyed doing. I have spent nearly four years working with kids in an academic setting, and I went to graduate school to learn more about being an effective educator. The more I thought about these things, the more prepared I felt to do my best - which is all you can do. I reminded myself over and over again that as long as I did that, I would feel good about the process, and I did. If for some reason it didn't work out, it wouldn't be because I did something wrong, but because I just didn't have what they were looking for. I just wanted to make sure I was showing off the best me that I could.

Of course, as always, I quickly began to think about how this related to running. The Lansing Half is just a few weeks away, and thinking about it has definitely planted butterflies into my stomach. Thinking practically about interviews reminded me that running a race isn't just about the morning of race day, of course. The race is the interview, the place where you show off all you've learned and where you can display your hard work. You need to put the time and effort in beforehand to get there though....and if nothing else, it's important to remember that the best is YOUR best. It might mean not setting a PR...and I need to remember that that's okay. All I can, or should, want is to know I gave my best that day.