Lightweight Eats

"So what do you do?" People always ask me this--an innocent question with an incredibly complicated answer.

My primary occupation is training. This takes up a good chunk of my time and energy, and is a scheduling priority for me. But training doesn't pay the bills, and often costs money.

I am fortunate enough to have a husband who helps support my training, but my extra income really makes a difference in our quality of life. It allows us to buy high quality organic produce, to eat out on occasion and to put money back into our savings.

Finding work that jives with my schedule hasn't been easy, though. I actually work a lot of different jobs.

My first work came in as personal training work. The connection is pretty obvious--I spend my whole day thinking about exercise, so teaching others about it is fun. Unfortunately, the hours are a little bit difficult to schedule--most people want to exercise outside of work hours, and this is when I have the biggest demand for my time.

So when our training schedule started settling down, I began perusing Craigslist for additional opportunities. I started by looking at the jobs section of Craigslist but with limited success--most of the jobs posted there required fixed hours and offered little flexibility. The opportunities in the gigs section have been much more suited to my needs.

I've added a few hours here and there of fit modeling and tutoring. This work is super flexible--it is usually one to three hours at a time, scheduled the week of, and fits well between my practices.

The fit modeling happens during work hours, which is incredibly convenient. The tutoring usually happens after school, but before work is over. This can be a bit difficult to schedule around practices, but is very doable for a few hours a week. Both of these jobs do require quite a bit of travel time, but I use that time to catch up on reading, blogging, recording workouts and replying to emails when I can.

Finally, I recently started an internship with a startup in SF, AnyRoad. I don't have an official title, yet, but I curate the tours and work with the tour guides to help perfect their submissions. The work is perfect. It's interesting and variable, and I get to read about cool experiences around the work. I can also schedule my work as it fits with my schedule, and a good portion of the work can be done from home.

Of course, it would have been nice if these opportunities hadn't all come in the middle of racing season, and right before we move into a new place, but when it rains it pours. I'm excited for all of these opportunities, and for the financial comfort they are providing. It's also nice to be busy!

So that's what I do--work here and there in a number of different fields and positions. It definitely keeps life interesting.