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...