I started a company in 2020 a few months before we found out I was pregnant and right when the pandemic was in full force. After working from home for a few months, the small company I worked for decided we all had to come back into the office, pre-vaccine. The second stipulation was my dog was no longer allowed to attend. She had been there with me from the day I brought her home as a 10-month-old puppy and 9 years later, the rules had changed. The "office" was a windowless trailer in a warehouse where 3-5 people would work. Safety measures at the time were two pieces of tape to make "social distancing" in our tiny trailer and I would have to bring Olive to daycare every day.
I felt it was unsafe to return to this kind of environment and frankly, there was no need. The world was adapting to remote work and it was working really well. Having people back in the office seemed to be a matter of control and it simply wasn't safe.
I always wanted to start my own consulting business focusing on a small sector of the environmental consulting industry. I decided a recession and global pandemic was a terrible time but also the push out of the security nest I needed. I gave my notice and got to work creating a company.
The first year was slow and I focused on the logistics like the website, insurance, taxes, and logos. The second year I had a newborn and took a few small jobs with the idea that "I would let work find me" while I took a maternity leave. Six months into my maternity leave I decided it was time to grow the business and I actively reached out to other companies and clients and started to grow the business. Whitney is a year old now and I can't keep up with the workload finding its way to my desk. A lot of my work over the last few months has involved site visits all throughout the northeast and I've spent a lot of time driving all around New England.
I was spending long days behind the steering wheel and quickly decided to always pack my running sneakers and a sports bra when I headed out the door in the morning. My goal was to try to find a new place to stretch my legs in between jobs, a way to stay active and do a little bit of Katie Wandering in the meantime. It's been a fun way to prioritize my workouts and give them a little refresh with a change of scenery. It's also led me to check out some pretty cool spaces and places, especially the designated rec paths throughout New England.
So I guess this was the long roundabout way of saying "I went to Boston for work and ran the Charles River Rec Path while I was there".
