Recovery....

I haven't been feeling too well the past couple days, so I decided to head on out for a nice easy run in the beautiful early afternoon God gave us today. Did you happen to notice the outside weather? Oh yeah, its 53 degrees and sunny as can be. Can there possibly be any better weather for running? I don't think so.

So I did take it relatively easy today...definitely not hitting the same pace as Wednesday, but not being a total sloth. Though, I must confess, I did actually walk two blocks when I ran into a work colleague I wanted to chat with. Don't worry, that walk time is actually reflected in today's pace and overall time. It was a great conversation though. He just returned from basic training and we chatted about deployments and leave time from the military...for all of two blocks.

I then completed the run. Had I not felt guilty about running without my blackberry, I probably would have run half the afternoon. That said, I headed on back to the locker room to get on with the business of life. Here's to hoping this weekend's snow storm holds off long enough for me to get in about 10 miles this weekend.

Stats -
Miles: 3.76
Time: 33:00 (average pace of 8:46 per mile)
Location: Capitol Hill, Eastern Market, Lincoln Park
Feeling: Not too bad considering yesterday I was doubled over

The careers of military spouses...

That's right, my husband is a Marine. So that makes me a military spouse...but not quite.

I think that there is a general perception of a military spouse in America today that sends us back to World War I days. It is true, the average military spouse is still a "wife" rather than a "husband," but today's military spouses are anything but the homemakers of yore.

Yes there are still many military spouses that choose the life of the stay at home mom running the Key Volunteer Network (or family readiness group if you happen to be in the Army), but the ranks of military spouses in the professional world is substantial and growing every day. According to a 2004 RAND study, today's military spouses are on average more educated than their civilian counterparts. I like to think I fit into this category.

But having a career while being a military spouse is not without its challenges. Let's just take my case for instance. I am not a lawyer, nor am I a nurse/doctor, or even a computer scientist. No, I am a policy analyst...defense and foreign policy at that. What that means is there are very few jobs available to me in the vicinity of your average Marine Corps base. Therefore, in order for us to be a happily employed, dual-career family, I live near Washington, DC and my husband lives...well...wherever the Marine Corps tells him to.

My chosen situation is not unusual and one that the military may soon have to face as they address family satisfaction as a factor in reenlistments.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not complaining. I actually love this life! But I do know that more and more military spouses are frustrated by the lack of meaningful employment opportunities near many military bases.