Sleigh bells ring...

Yay! It is December and Christmas is close, which means Christmas Break is close and my mom is on her way here as I type. It's been a pretty busy and fun couple of weeks. Highlights include a fun night out at the annual Wein and Co. tasting, and I do use that word lightly, I'm not sure tasting is what I would call it. But we did try some great wines and meet some fun people. They had this crazy little necklace wine glass holder... it would never really work, I am pretty sure if you tried to carry wine it it you would be wearing it. Christmas Markets are also now open, the lights, ornaments, decorations and the blue skies have made Vienna beautiful! I don't love it here, but it's hard not to love this time of year. A group of us went up to The Hague for a work conference. The conference was interesting and I met some fun people and saw some friends that used to work here in Vienna. What's great about good friends is that sometimes, unfortunately, years pass and you don't see them, but then you can just pick up right where you left off. I love that. We stayed in Leiden and it was such a great little place. They city was just gorgeous with all the canals, boats, clock towers and decorations. We also went out to some really good restaurants. I love eating. Next up was meeting a girlfriend for our annual Thanksgiving reunion. This year we decided on Athens. We had two great sunny days in Athens, toured around and ate delicious Greek food and then it all sort of fell apart... well as far as first world problems fell apart. We decided to go on a day trip to a nearby island, Hydra, but the weather didn't cooperate. There wasn't much to do there with the weather being so bad, and then, the boats and ferries stopped running due to the weather conditions and our day trip turned into a mini adventure. We spent the day "touring" the different cafes, bars and restaurants and while we were sitting in the Pirate Bar waiting for our 5:55pm ferry, they just said, oh, that's not coming and the 7:00am one tomorrow won't be able to come either. The people were extremely friendly and helpful. They found us a cute little place to stay, recommended a place to eat, all of this was a bit challenging as most things were closed for the season, but we managed! The next day was crazy, we hoped for the 7:00am ferry, but that didn't happen, so we, my friend and an Armenian mixologist, ended up on an adventurous water taxi ride in choppy waters and what I'll call an expensive private tour back to Athens. Actually, the taxi ride back to Athens wasn't all bad, the driver was great. He told us lots of stories about things, stopped at a local bakery and bought us some bread and cheese for breakfast, and we made it back to Athens in time for our flights. All and all it was fine. And, spending time with my friend, no matter what we are doing is great. I am just waiting for the window guys to finish up and then I am off to work. Late on the first day back after missing a week. That sounds about right. Ha!

Christmas is coming...!

I had my first punsch of the season... yay! Christmas Markets might be one of the best parts of living in Vienna. While the first ones don't open until next weekend, I met a girlfriend of mine at the MQ where there were a few stands/restaurants and it was like a "fake" Christmas market. Orange punsch served with a slice of orange and a sugar cube lit on fire. Delicious. I'm not a huge fan of punsch or gluhwein, but it is hard to resist. I'm super excited for the markets to open next weekend, and while it seems a bit early, I think I will get out my Christmas decorations next weekend. The weather is unseasonably warm, it was difficult to make myself work on Thursday and Friday, as it was gorgeous out and our school was hosting a soccer tournament. I found lots of reasons to "monitor" the crowds... I did manage to get into my swim class, I really almost had to laugh. There I was, sitting at work, glued to my computer, logging in and refreshing the page every other second, trying as hard as I could to pay €300 to do something I can't stand doing for 90 minutes a week on Friday nights. Oh, I feel so lucky that I got one of the coveted spots. I hope it helps. There has got to be some way to learn to like swimming. Ugh. I have been running a ton, especially in the trails, and loving it. Today a girlfriend and I met to do a hilly run, it was pretty brutal, but totally worth it. We ran up to Kahlenberg and sat looking out at the gorgeous view and drinking coffee for a while afterwards,such a nice start to the day! This week starts the running club at work, it's super fun to have a group of HS boys literally run circles around me, it's nice they come back around to make sure the last runner is with the group... I rode outside in the rain this weekend, I wrote something on facebook about needing to buy some winter riding gear, someone sent me a link to some battery powered feet warmers. I'm just not that hard core. I've been watching too much tv lately. First it was CSI or NCIS, then finished up Private Practice and now I'm back into The Good Wife. Must be winter...

Sunday Blues...

Sunday is just not my favorite day. Well, actually, Sundays are fine, it's Sunday nights I don't like... The week was fine, nothing too exciting. I am going back and forth about if I should be really looking for a new job, or just be content with where I am for now. There is about a zillion things to love about living in Europe, but not quite so many things to love about Vienna. While I really could list off all the reasons to stay and all the reasons to go, I just wish I felt really strongly one way or the other. It is making it slightly easier that there are literally NO middle school jobs that are open in a city that I want to live in. So, maybe that means the decision has been partially made for me?! But, not making a decision is the same as making one. So, maybe I do want to stay? Hm, can't seem to decide. Halloween was actually fun. Normally I detest the holiday because for some reason, Halloween = normally smart women dressing up as slutty somethings and thinking it's ok. It makes me crazy! I went to an Americans in Vienna and YELP party at an Australian Bar. Besides the fact that the DJ just couldn't quite figure out the music, it was fun! It reminded me that it really isn't that hard to meet people and make friends here, it's just the Viennese themselves that are difficult... I realize that is stereotyping. I'm just ok with that at this point. The weekend was great, lunch at my favorite French place, Prosecco outside in the sun, long bike ride, Dr. Falafel, great run in the Prater with a girlfriend this morning and then coffee at her house. Then, a birthday massage, which was awesome. Really, it was a perfectly relaxing weekend. I do though, need to learn to separate tv from reality. I was literally sobbing while watching about a zillion episodes of Private Practice. I've also somehow got sucked into watching CSI and NCIS. Maybe it is better when I'm traveling every weekend! I also spent some quality time cleaning my entire apartment, from dusting picture frames to cleaning the inside of my kitchen cupboards. I even mopped the floors, that is my LEAST favorite chore. It makes me crazy. Almost enough to justify hiring a cleaning lady. I actually really enjoy all the house stuff, cooking, cleaning, etc. Makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I also did my typical cooking and prepping for the week, it takes forever, but I'm always glad that I did it. I made meatloaf and cauliflower mash for dinner. I think I am back on my Paleo diet for a while. Not sure why. Just seems like a good idea. Well, minus my new theory that fruit should only be eaten in cobbler or crisp form. It's delicious... I was trying to work out my training for the next week. I can't remember if I wrote it last time or not, but I decided to take a break from my trainer, just until December 1st. Then I'll start up again. I'm going to try to sign up for a swimming class online tomorrow morning. It's a very stressful experience. The website is in German, opens at a certain time and literally, as you are online trying to sign up, little people are disappearing as the spots disappear. I hope I can work it all out fast enough! This hasn't been the best start to a year, but, it seems like it's all at least moving in the right direction right now. I'll be happy when Sunday nights don't feel so miserable. I need a Sunday Funday night time plan...

Home sweet home...

I made it! A while ago I posted that I was going to be away from home 8 of 9 weekends, or 9 of 10 or something equally ridiculous, and now, I am finally home for the next three weekends. YAY! Of course, everything has been awesome, but at the same time exhausting. It's hard to have this much fun... Let's see. Last I posted was right before Steph came to visit and Anika's wedding. What an awesome time we had! Having Steph stay with me all week made me realize how much I missed her and how much a part of my Vienna life she was/is. We had a great time, ran around town to some of our old favorite places, but mostly it was awesome because we actually got to just sit around and talk. WAY too late though, and probably with too much wine. It was so fun to come home and have her here, with some wine and snacks ready. What's not to love about that?! Next up was Anika's wedding, which was also amazing! We rented a car and headed out right after a half day of work. We had three days of fun times and fortunately sunny weather for the wedding. I had to laugh because the song that just got everyone up and dancing was I've had the time of my life... from Dirty Dancing. Really?! Steph and I also started some sort of tunnel dance and decided that it was clearly the "American tradition" um, there were I think three Americans even there. Oh, and by far the coolest guy there was Thomas's tax guy and his girlfriend or wife, by the end of the night we were all trying to figure out how we could be friends with them... I went to a cupcake making class with the GGI group and then headed off to the US of A for the conference in Whitefish, MT. I had a weekend at my sister's house and made the most of it for sure! My mom picked me up and we managed to make it to Ella and Gavin's soccer games, which were conveniently at the same time and at fields that were right next to each other. I got there in time to see both kids score goals, which was cool. Gavin's air pump and slide after scoring was worth flying thousands of miles for, how cute is he! Ella's team was really good and playing with Dane on the sidelines was super fun. It was great to see the kids and just hang out, went to dinner at a cool place on the water, which was really fun, then came home and hung out with the family. Seemed so short though! The conference was really good, I loved Whitefish, in fact, I would LOVE to live there. Claudia came and met me for a few of the nights and that was just great too! I really do have the best friends a person could ask for. We had so much fun catching up and it was SO nice of her to drive all the way from Helena. I flew back for another couple nights at my sister's. I was able to experience FNL, which was awesome. Even homecoming... and they won. I did not want to get on the plane and come back to Vienna. I love being home, I miss it like crazy! Kristin was trying to convince me to take next year off and it does seem like a good idea! It's just that whole money and job thing... I had a quick week back at work, it really flew by and then it was off to Amsterdam. I met up with Heather and her boyfriend for the weekend. Heather and I ran the Amsterdam Marathon, I wasn't expecting to run very well as I've been slacking on my training, and have in fact quit the trainer until December, but it was an awesome marathon. The weather and course were perfect and I felt good and ran my PR, 3:46. The course was flat and fast and went through the city with lots of spectators, but then when you went out along the water, there weren't as many spectators, but it was gorgeous, so it didn't matter. The rest of the weekend was spent eating, drinking and walking. Very fun. Next up... Helsinki. I met Mel there after staying at a very interesting hotel, I was definitely not cool enough to belong there... oh well. Helsinki was an ok city, we had fun, the people are definitely friendlier than the Viennese and the shopping was good, but basically, just another city. There were lots of cool parks and we did go to a super cute coffee shop, which was fun. We decided to go to Tallin for a few days, and really, I fell in LOVE with it! We, of course, were ripped off by our taxi driver, I hate taking taxis, I become agitated at the thought of getting into one. But... I managed to get over that pretty fast as it was the cutest city I've been too in a long time. It was the cobblestone streets, tons of cute shops, restaurants, squares and most importantly, nice people! We wandered around a bit, I was laughing because Mel didn't want to see too much as we had to leave something to do for the next day... It was tough, but I convinced her to go to a wine tasting I saw at a wine shop, where we ended up meeting some really nice people. They were giving ups tips on where to go, what to do and where to eat. One guy even dropped off a photo book that he had made for us the next day at our hotel. The wine and people were awesome! We wandered our way around the town, one highlight was finding delicious nachos, which may not seem like a big deal, but to us it was for sure! I went on a few great runs while I was in Helsinki and Tallin, there were lots of parks and gorgeous fall leaves/colors. Now, I'm back in Vienna for a few weeks and am happy to report that the weather here is sunny and blue skies! Not expecting that at all, but happy about it. Not super excited about going back to work tomorrow, but I guess it must be done... Oh, I'm back to not sleeping. No idea why. It's making me crazy, but it did get me booking and planning all my upcoming trips and races. I booked a trip to Salzburg for the Christmas Markets while my mom is here, signed up for the 50km race in Paris in March and booked the flight and hotel, confirmed my entry to the St. Polten Half Ironman in May and booked the hotel rooms and started obsessing about Ironman in Whistler... July 27, 2014. I really want to do it, but am waiting to see if I end up finding a job somewhere else, as they could require new hires to be there early. We'll see!

Catch up...

So, just a quick catch up as it is getting late and I am tired. Yes, I realize it's 9:00 and that may not be considered late to everyone. Speaking of sleep... I am currently addicted to an app called Sleep Time. Try it out, you'll love it. I love it because it confirms what I already know, I don't sleep well. I also did some tests with my different sleeping pills and with one of them, it's like I'm sedated, all blue all night. The wine weekend was awesome. We stayed at the Loisium Spa and Wine Resort and I loved it. My mom and I stayed at the other one and to be honest, they were both great, but in different ways. I would willingly go back to either. In fact, I will likely go back to both. We had such a great time laying by the pool, tasting our wine and eating delicious food. And, the company was amazing. Work was, well, there is a reason you get paid to work. The next weekend I met some friends in Brussels for a trail run. The run was great, but it wasn't really very traily, it was more of a city run through a few parks, some corn fields and over the cobblestone. Of course it rained, because when would I ever do a race that it didn't rain in?! I had to laugh, when we finished, a friend of mine was upset because according to her watch, it was a couple kilometers short. I was just looking at her thinking, um, it was pouring down rain, we ran for over two hours, your dad met us at the finish line with wine and beer, what is there to be disappointed about? Brussels was a great city; I stayed with a friend and her husband who live there and I would love to go back and spend more time. It reminded me a little bit of Copenhagen, which is up there as one of my favorite cities ever. We all met up for dinner and then went to a local bar and sat, talked, drank and played 10,000. Good times! The time went way too fast, I wasn't ready to come back to Vienna. But, what's new?! When am I ever ready to come back to this city? There are so many great parts about living in Vienna, but I just struggle so much with the overall gloomy feel of the city. No one seems happy. My brother's friend was staying at my place, so we had a nice dinner on Sunday night, and I met a friend who used to live in Vienna and moved back to S. Africa on Monday. I had to laugh, we met for a drink at 4:30, somehow I didn't end up getting home till close to 10:00, which for me is like the middle of the night, but it was such a nice night, didn't really want it to end. It's pumpkin season already, which I am SO excited about. I just love this time of year. It's rainy and cold though, I would prefer that perfect Fall weather, you know, bright blue skies and falling leaves. I really should run to the Prater and check it out, I bet it's gorgeous. Speaking of running, I have basically started taking my training plan as a mere suggestion. She says swim 45 minutes and I think, well, that is equal to about 60 minutes of cycling. How do I figure that? No idea. Then, she has rest day, and I think, no thanks. I'll run home from work today. I really should be doing what she says, I have a marathon one month from tomorrow. Hm, we'll see how that goes. My friend arrives tomorrow from KL and I'm so excited I can't stand it! Our other friend is getting married the next weekend, so we are all going to have so much fun! AND, most importantly, it's almost the weekend. I started to do the countdown to Summer Break and realized it's a bit early for that. Oh, I also am registered and am starting to look for a new job. It would all have to line up perfectly and be a great school in a great city and hire me by December 15, when I need to let my current school know my plans. What's that saying? Ask. Believe. Receive. ? So, just need to figure out what I want, ask for it and believe it will happen. Isn't that an easy question. What do I want? Hm, answer to that changes moment to moment. Right now, I just want my friend to hurry and get here and the weekend to start! Oh, and it would be nice if I could somehow get my light bulbs changed too. The little things...

First world problems

I realize there are a lot of very major problems going on in the world right now. The one I am most focused on is that I am feeling too tired to go to the grocery store and pick out snacks to accompany the Moet champagne I plan on drinking on the way to a wine/spa weekend getaway to celebrate my friend's wedding that is coming up at the end of the month. Yes, I know, it's a really rough life. I also am really wondering about what clothes I should bring and how I will manage to pack eight champagne glasses and not break them. The list just goes on and on... Seriously. Sometimes I wonder, is this my life?! My other conversation that we had at lunch today was just as unbelievable. I did something to my neck, I have no idea what, but the pain is debilitating. So, as we were all discussing different ways we have dealt with different aches and pains in different countries, we started talking about how much we missed certain countries, where all you had to do was go to the pharmacy and tell them what you needed and they just handed it right over. Oh how I miss the Dubai life sometimes. All I want is a muscle relaxer, anything that will take this pain away! I have an appointment for next Monday, but am pretty sure I will barely survive. That being said... sometimes life abroad is well, disastrous too. And, I miss my friends and family every day! Looking at the pictures of my niece and nephews on their first day of school and knowing my brother got to be there to see them off made me extremely jealous and sad! I'm happy I'll be home in less than one month. Last weekend I did the Zell am See Half Ironman. It went ok. I forget sometimes that these races are actually hard and I don't think I take them seriously enough and train quite as well as I could. Then, I am slightly disappointed at the results. As an example, instead of taking it easy and focusing on the race the day before, I was up hiking around, climbing on a rock wall, swinging on a rope swing and well, just doing whatever I wanted. At the same time, I don't want to take them so seriously that I don't enjoy the time before the race and seeing what the city the race is in has to offer. But, back to the race. I woke up to the sound of rain, what a surprise, me, race, rain?! Sounds about right. My friends, Mel and Kathy, were with me in Zell am See and we had some breakfast and then I threw on my backpack and grabbed an umbrella and walked about a mile to the start of the race. It was a bit cold and sprinkling, not ideal race conditions, but not nearly as bad as last year. I saw a guy that I had met and racked our bikes with the day before, we talked for a bit, but his start time was 15 minutes before mine, so we both went to our bikes to do some last minute checking, which for me means, stare at my bike and look around at what everyone is doing and hope and pray that I don't get a flat tire. Swim 1.9km The first swimmer was already back to shore before we even started. The swim is 1.9km, but I did quite a bit extra. I have done this course before and thought it was pretty straightforward course, out to the far buoy, around to the second and then back to shore. Sounds easy enough. The swim start was pretty crazy, it was a wave start and I think there were somewhere around 300 of us. I was kicked in the face, arms, legs and had to put my goggles back on my face at one point and it definitely wasn't fun, but as far as swim starts go, it was fine. But... while I was swimming I felt slightly alone, but kept looking up and seeing the buoy in front of me, so thought all was going well. It wasn't until I noticed many green caps coming towards me very quickly that I realized someone was going the wrong way. That someone was me. Oops. I had inadvertently swam towards the closer buoy and now had to swim back out towards the far buoy. Ugh! And, it's not like I like the swim to start with! I definitely lost between 8 - 10 minutes, so my finish time of 48 minutes seemed great to me considering my rookie mistake. Bike 90km The bike course is a two loop course with no mile markers. Annoying. The transition went ok, it always takes me forever to get off my wetsuit and put on my biking clothes, I really have no idea how people can make the change so quickly. There were no problems, I just move slow. I started off on my bike and felt ok. It was pretty disheartening to see so few bikes left in the transition area, but I just had to remind myself that I started 25 minutes after the first group and I wasn't in it to win, I do this because I love it. I love it, right?! At this point it was pouring down rain, but it wasn't too cold. The bike was pretty uneventful. In my mind it was a flat course, but then when I came around one of the corners and saw a long, steady climb, I thought to myself, oh, that's right, there is some climbing. It is nothing compared to Ironman Nice or Switzerland, but it isn't a flat course either. I was catching some people on the bike, but was also passed by the pros during the course too. The rain was coming down pretty hard at some points, but the roads were good and it was all slightly familiar so it seemed to go by pretty fast. I get frustrated on the bike, because even though I don't get tired, I just can't seem to go any faster. I realized mid way through that I was not really on track to finish in three hours, which is what I did last year. And, the weather last year was much worse. Cruising through the towns and having a few chats with fellow riders made the ride go pretty quickly, but I'm not going to lie, there was more than once that I was thinking, why do I do this? This is not fun. I am freezing cold and getting soaking wet. I finished the bike in just over 3:20, which was pretty frustrating as I did it in 3:00 last year. Grrr. But, at the same time I am always so relieved to get to the running part. Run 21.1km My favorite part! Once I get to the run, I feel like the race is almost over, even though I know I still have around two hours to go. The transition was once again slow, but went fine. I had a momentary thought of just leaving on my wet clothes, but then thought twice about it and put on new shorts, socks and a shirt. I was SO happy that I decided to do that, I felt like a new person and was excited to start the run. I couldn't seem to get my bike things all back into the transition bag, so one of the super nice volunteers just grabbed my bag and told me to get running and she would do it for me. So nice. I started off on the run and felt great. The rain had stopped and it was the perfect temperature. The run was really well marked and there was a lot of crowd support, so it was awesome! Running through the town was especially fun. It was a three loop course through town and then along the lake. In the middle of town we had to run by a bunch of bars and cafes, at one of the bars there were a group of people holding out a sign that said "Free beer, stop here", I laughed and waved the first time around, but when I got back the second time there was a table of small beers sitting there and they were all cheering everyone along, so I decided why not?! So, I stopped, grabbed a small beer, said "this is purely for your entertainment" and slammed down the whole thing. I do not drink beer. Ever. I don't like it. I know, I'm from Oregon, that's hard to believe, but they all cheered and it was good fun. And, that's why I do these races for fun. The last loop went well and I was passing people, which always feels good. The time seemed to fly by and before I knew it, I was finishing the half marathon in less than two hours, so I was happy. I felt like I finished strong and Mel and Kathy were at the end, always feels good to finish a race! Overall, I don't feel like it was my best race, but I've been stressed lately and am still recovering from my injury in March. Well, I guess I am recovered from the injury, but didn't really allow enough time to build up the endurance I would have liked to have had for this race. My trainer also had discouraged me from doing all three of the races that I did this summer, so I guess I could have listened to her... that might have helped. No excuses though, I was actually happy to finish the race and even though I have my moments of doubting it during the race, I do these races because I do love them. I think I actually enjoy the training as much as I enjoy the race itself. Two things I would like to do is come up with a way to not be so freaked out by the swim start and also become a stronger biker. It seems like no matter what I do, I can't get faster on the bike. For now though, I get to focus on running, the part I know I like! I have two races coming up, a 26km trail race in Brussels next weekend and the Amsterdam Marathon on October 20. What a way to celebrate my birthday :-)

And things went just as you would expect...

So, surprisingly enough, the Visa office was a disaster. Long story short, there were a lot of tears, new paperwork needed that involved getting a police report, more tears. Really. At one point I was just sitting on the U2 with tears streaming down my face, not even bothering to wipe them away, or care that I looked ridiculous. When I finally made it back to the Visa office with the "new paperwork" they were as nice as could be and acted as if it was all completely normal. Ugh. Oh, and my car fell through and we found out that a woman at work died from an illness that was very unexpected. Seriously, bad things just keep happening. Obviously some WAY worse than others. But, sometimes I wonder if it ever gets any easier. Life that is. Kids started back to school this week and we were super busy. I had a pretty busy weekend, Kirtag with some friends from work on Friday afternoon, an Italian dinner, long run in the rain on Saturday and then some time to relax at home. Well, until another fun Austrian experience, picking up my phone. After waiting in line for about 45 minutes, they gave me back my iPhone saying that it worked, but it wasn't charged so I couldn't check. I told them I wasn't leaving until it was working. So, after they charged it for a bit they couldn't get it to work. Their suggestion? Take it home and see if it will work. If not, just come back next week. Um, not going to happen! I must have looked ridiculous, but I just stood at the counter and refused to move until they had my phone working or a new loaner phone for me. The guy just kept repeating to me that it wasn't his fault that my phone didn't work. I just kept saying that I didn't really care who was at fault, I wasn't leaving until I had a working phone. Eventually he got it to work. This place is killing me. Really, it is. I went over to a friend's house and met some new teachers at the other school and saw some other friends, it was so relaxing! I left early and came home and painted my entryway, I ran out of paint mid way through though, so will have to go and pick up more paint and also get some white paint to touch up the ceiling. It already looks so much better! Sunday was a long bike ride with one of the new teachers at my school, it was great to find someone who wants to ride! And, this weeks bike/run was not nearly as painful as last weeks. Which is good since I have a race soon. I met some friends at Starbucks and then went and saw a movie. All in all a pretty good weekend. Still feeling like life is an emotional roller coaster, but maybe that's just how things go. I'm trying to figure out how to prepare and pack for Fall Trip and the Race. I have about a zillion things to do before I leave, including picking up my bike and the rental car, but also trying to pack some food. It would be easier to just eat the hostel food, but it's so bad. Just not worth eating. Sure hope the bike fits in the car... Still can't believe Steve backed out of our car agreement. And, of course it was after I had given away my free car, and rumor has it that the person that I gave the car to just turned around and sold it.I will be so disappointed if that's true. Time to sleep as next week will be a busy one!

Ask. Believe. Receive.

Tomorrow will be good. The Visa Office will be fun. Public Transportation will go smoothly. Ask, believe, receive. Right?! Ha. So, being back in Vienna and back to work is well, manageable. I really feel I am a summer person. Or maybe just a part time worker. My job is fine, but I really do love spending my time doing what I'd like to do when I'd like to do it. While I realize this is not necessarily a reasonable expectation, it doesn't mean it can't be what I want. Not too much to report. I'm trying to have an attitude of everything works out the way it's supposed to and all things will eventually be fine. But, I tell you, if I could just fast forward to the part of life that seems normal and good, I would do that. I am finding myself wanting and thinking things that just aren't that nice and I'm not used to that. I am hoping to have a car soon, which I know will make life a whole lot easier. For every person that has made different suggestions on how I could use and appreciate my time on Public Transportation, I just want to say NO THANKS. I'm sorry, spending two hours of my life five days a week to commute?! Totally unreasonable when it could take about 30 minutes a day. I'm not sure what I was thinking the last 4 years not having a car. And, looking forward to weekend trips and just little things like driving to the store, buying more than what I can easily carry, shopping at a grocery store that is slightly larger than a gas station convenience store in the states... I also am in process of painting my apartment. So far I have a few walls finished and the taping done, but I need to figure out how I plan to reach the high parts. Last time Steph did it for me. I guess I need to make a new tall friend. Preferably one that speaks English. Kids start this week and next week is Fall Trip and then the Half Ironman. I feel so unprepared. I swam for about 40 minutes today, I should probably do that every day till the race, not because the last minute training will actually do anything as far as time, but it might calm me down a bit. It is a near panic attack when I think of those open water starts! Why do I do these races again?!

Fast Forward...

Somehow time has just escaped me, instead of any sort of detailed account of anything, I'm just going to do a quick run down of the highlights of the last 10 months and then try to keep up better from now on... I'm sure I am going to leave out some important things. November - Malta with Heather for Thanksgiving, we had a great time and the weather was nicer than I expected it to be. December - I went home for Christmas, which was awesome, as usual! January - Rome for a conference and then extended the weekend to hang out with Anika and her sister, we had a great time! February - A marathon in Germany, I can't even remember the name of the city with Steve and then to Seattle for February Break. March - Paris for my first ultra marathon, and an annoying injury I'll get to in a bit April - Rpad trip through Spain with Mel and Amy, and we also saw Heather in Barcelona. May - Last minute trip to Barcelona to visit Heather, long weekend in Nice with Mel and Cathy and an awesome weekend in Copenhagen with Anika, where we found her wedding dress! June - Zell am See to finalize some wedding details with Anika, spa weekend with my mom at Loisium Spa, a week in Nice with my Mom, Boun and Mia, Stacy, Claudia and Chelsea and Steph and Eddie's awesome wedding in Vail, CO with friends from Dubai and Vienna, such an awesome time! July - Home for the summer! I spent time at the beach house, up at my sister's and in Portland. I also did three races, an Olympic Distance Tri in Seattle, a 50 mile bike ride in Hood River and Cascade Lakes Relay with my new best friends. August - Back to Vienna... Sad. This last year was as crazy as any other year. I overplanned and ended up traveling way too much, but looking back I have no idea which trip I would have given up! I went to this small artsy town in the Czech Republic with Claudia one weekend too, but I'm not sure when that was... I also went on a day trip to green lake. I'm still training and "racing" or at least signing up for races. I started with a trainer this year, I thought she was crazy in the start, as the first thing she did was cut back my training, which made me insane. And forced me to lie to her. I decided to get a trainer because I had signed up for the Nice Ironman again and also wanted to do my first Ultra Marathon, the Eco Trail Race in Paris, which was an 80km race, with a friend Gail in March. When I tried to work out the training on my own, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. Long story short, she did an awesome job training me, I guess less is more. I was convinced she was crazy as she had me sign up for a training marathon in February, but my longest run before that was only 2 1/2 hours, I didn't think there was any way I would be able to do a marathon. Steve and I woke up the morning of the race and it was snowing and freezing, I was feeling far less than confident. I ended up finishing in 3:48, my second best marathon time. I decided she knew what she was talking about. Ha! I had a great time at home in February, I just spent the week in Seattle, it seemed to short to try to make it to Portland also. The race in March was awesome! I met up with Gail and some of her friends for dinner the night before and four of us set off the next morning to do the 80km and another two people were doing a different distance. The race itself was pretty awesome, it was a trail run that ended at the Eiffel Tower. You had to carry all your own things, so I was wearing a back pack and a lot of clothes, it was quite cold. There were some rolling hills, some flat sections and some steep sections that you had to walk up, single file, and at the end there was running through the city of Paris at night. Overall, I thought the race was pretty fun, easy to say when it's over! I took off at the start and ended up running by myself, the other people stuck together. I felt good throughout the race, but when I looked up at one point and saw the Eiffel Tower and knew that I still had 20 km left to go I was annoyed and just decided to run as hard as I could. I didn't even bother to stop and fill up my camel back, I couldn't be bothered, and ran out of water before the end. It also POURED down rain the last hour or two and was pitch dark. Fun. As I was running through the Paris streets I was looking at all the people dressed up and in fancy restaurants, drinking wine and wondering why that wasn't my idea of a vacation! During the race I felt fine, but after my leg started to hurt and by the time I got off the plane in Vienna the next day I was in excruciating pain and could hardly walk. Condensed version... it was a partially torn tendon, stress fracture and a torn muscle. It had me not running, on crutches and in PT. I was an absolute disaster physically and mentally for weeks. I didn't realize how much a part of me running was, take that away and I just went crazy! After a while I could bike and swim, but running took a while and the PT was incredibly frustrating. My foot just wouldn't do what it was supposed to do. It also made for a pretty difficult trip to Spain as I couldn't drive and had crutches. ANNOYING. Work was annoying, everything was frustrating for me. I was not able to do the Ironman in Nice, which was also frustrating. My mom was already coming over, and my friends were doing it, so I still went and cheered everyone on. That was hard! I think it has been just over a month that I have been allowed to run over an hour. Now it is "healed" but my foot still shoots out to the right and I sometimes walk funny, putting my toe down first. Whatever. I was able to comfortable complete all my races over the summer, so it must be ok. Summer at home was great. The wedding and Vail were awesome. I rented a car the whole time and will definitely do that again! I also signed up and did the three races and they were all good fun! The tri was especially fun because Gavin and Ella did the kids tri after, it was SO fun to watch them! The HR bike ride with Amy was great, and then I met two friends and we spent the weekend just hanging out and of course eating at 6th Street. I also met up with friends from Vienna that live in Trout Lake now, and also Lindsey and Simon, so great city and great people. The CLR was awesome. I only knew one person, but got to know everyone else and had a great time, the relay races are just awesome. Somehow, running three legs and not getting any sleep is fun. Who knows. Work was crazy as usual, I like what I do, but sometimes it just seems unreal. Steve and I are no longer together as of a couple days ago, so that should make this year in Vienna interesting, as I really don't like the city/people very much. I find it cold and lifeless. I'm really busy through October though, so that will help I think. Crazy schedule. Sept 1 is the Half Ironman in Zell am See, the next weekend is Loisium Spa for Anika's party, then meeting Heather and Gail in Brussels for another trail run, Steph gets in the next weekend, then it's Anika's wedding in Zell am See, then hopefully Whitefish, MO for a training for work, then the next weekend is the Amsterdam Marathon with Heather and I think I'll just stay the rest of the week as it is October Break. Need to stay busy to stay sane..! I'm sure I left out a number of really fun things I did, but... that's the way it goes. It is going to be a goal of mine to keep up with this better this year! Won't be a hard goal to meet seeing that I haven't written in nearly 10 months...