I started training in early May, so I’ve been training for two months. But before that? Well, I decided to run this half-marathon about a year ago thanks to my good friend Charlie Brown (ok yeah, you caught me, his real name isn’t Charlie Brown, that’s just what I call him). And before that? I ran cross country through middle school and high school. Most of my friends thought I was insane for doing that – I voluntarily competed in a 4k one to two times per week during the first two months of school, not to mention training runs that could be as long as 5 miles or 60 minutes. Now that I’ve ran a whole 13.1 miles in two hours and twenty minutes that doesn’t sound so long to me anymore, but in high school it was a big deal. It was hard and it was hot and sometimes I hated it. So why did I stay on the team? To stay fit partly. But I could have chosen volleyball or basketball or even made a big fuss and joined the football team if I really wanted to. Why is running my sport?

Well there’s the process of elimination reasoning, but there’s also the fact that I genuinely enjoy running. I trace it all back to when I was about six years old and went to an after-school track and field camp. I don’t know how I ended up there, I just know that the high school track team was showing a bunch of us elementary school kids around and introducing us to the different field events. Then a few of the high-school girls rounded up those of us who wanted to see the cross country course. I was hooked immediately, it was just like going for a hike, but with a little running mixed in. I remember talking my mom into driving me back to the high school later that week just so that I could run the Estacada cross country course one more time.

So really, I’ve been planning on being a runner for 14 years now. And I’ve finally worked my way up to a half-marathon. Soon it’ll be full marathons, and even ultra-marathons!

So, I got 1075th place. Sounds really bad when I’m used to racing against 50-100 people tops, but there were actually 1799 runners, so it’s actually decent. And better yet, I met my goal! The goal was to run the half marathon in two and a half hours or less, and I did it in two hours and twenty minutes! And look at the super snazzy swag I got – fancy and actually heavy medal, plus a moisture-wicking t-shirt. Not to mention the strawberry shortcake and hot dog at the end of the race. I spent $74.80, but what with the swag and the experience, totally worth it.

Working at the Japanese Garden has taught me something important – the company itself that you work for can be just as important (or perhaps more important) than the actual work that you do. I’m just a lowly seasonal operations staffer making barely above minimum wage, but I love the garden and its mission to bring Japanese culture to the United States. I’ve had issues with the idea of a desk-job in the past, but maybe if it were a desk job here it would be ok. Maybe there are other places that I’d like well enough to work at a desk too.

I’ve always been proud of the fact that I chose my major based on my actual interests and not because it would make me money, but I’m starting to see where alternative paths could have led me… For example, one of my housemates for the summer is an accounting major. She will be graduating at the same time as me, but with much better job prospects. Right now she’s simply interning – something that in my case would mean working for free (or even paying to work if I want to at least get some college credits out of the deal), but this housemate is getting paid to do things, and I’m super jealous. Apparently the firm she’s at gives you a salary as an intern (but it works out that she’s making $22.50 per hour apparently), plus she’s sent off to conferences where she is paid for travel time and is given $50 just for dinner money. $50!!! I can’t imagine spending that much on food all day. You’re talking here to the girl who figured out how to live on $100 in food money per month (I don’t recommend it though… that much beans and rice, ramen, and potatoes isn’t entirely healthy).

So while miss accounting major is off in a land of salaries and paid travel time and meal stipends, my English/Spanish major got me a summer job in customer service just above minimum wage. Not that I don’t like my job – I really do love it – but I’m making less than half of what accounting majors my age are making, and after changing my mind about grad school and being an English professor, I don’t even know what I’m going to be doing a year from now, much less whether I’d like it better or worse than I’d like accounting.

Knowing that I still do want to be involved in writing however, I am glad that I’m majoring in English. Sure I could have continued reading and writing on my own, but I wouldn’t have had as many opportunities to grow and be challenged in those skills. I could of course have taken electives, but would I have? There are already so many electives that I wish I had time to take… Who knows what I would have picked if English classes were yet another pile of electives to choose from. And if I weren’t a Spanish major, would I have gone to Europe last summer? Maybe I would have been more practical and waited until I had the money to travel all of Europe – get a Eurorail ticket and see way more of Europe. But then maybe I wouldn’t have thought to go WWOOFing to save money. And if I hadn’t have gone WWOOFing I wouldn’t have made the awesome friendships I did or learned so much about Basque culture and language or about sheep. Sure Basque language skills aren’t practical, and knowing how to milk sheep isn’t going to get me super far in the professional world I’m sure, but they were experiences that I wouldn’t change for the world.

In the end, I know I made the right choice. I may not necessarily have hated accounting or hated majoring in something more practical than English like business or engineering, but I know that I fit in well as an English major, and I know that I’ll find something to do that I love. Life has a way of working out, and even though I’m not sure right now how that’ll happen, I’m confident that it will happen.