Summer 2012....

Where do I even begin! Let's just say life doesn't always turn out the way you think it will. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's not. But, what can you do, but just keep on going!

I'm currently sitting in the Vancouver airport, drinking a spicy caesar, watching the Olympics and waiting for my delayed flight to London and then back to Vienna. The delay doesn't matter at all, I had about a zillion hours in London anyways, have to love the "free" miles flight options...

So, I am currently obsessed with watching the Olympics and am up ridiculously late every night, it's as if I have no self control.

Summer has been interesting. It started off with an awesome road trip through the Czech Republic and up to Poland to watch Euro Cup soccer with Steph and Mel. We barely managed to get into the Fan Center in Wroclaw, had we not made it in (there were riot police involved...) I am pretty sure Steph would have killed me. But, fortunately, we did get in, barely, and watched a Czech Poland game and it was Awesome! We went to Auschwitz the next day, it is the second concentration camp I have been to, and, I really don't think I ever need to go again. We stayed the next night in Krakow, I would love to go back there. Driving was an adventure, but all in ll, great trip!

Not real sure exactly what/how it happened, but the night I got home Steve and I broke up. No real need to get into the details, except that it lead to a 11:00pm call to my mom and sister and a 6:55 flight to Seattle. Just a little extra trip home. It was AWNESOME! It was one of the best and most relaxed trips home I've had since moving abroad. Everything seemed like an added bonus and nothing beats being around friends and family when you are feeling blah about life. It was also the first time I've ever just come home at a random time because I felt like it, it was nice to know that I can just do that. I was able to do a few things I probably wouldn't have been able to o if I only came home once, like go o the beach house and see a friend get the keys to their first house, do some wedding stuff with a girlfriend that I will miss the wedding, and well, I don't know, just be home!

Things were not great with the break up, so I was glad my mom was already planning on coming back to Vienna with me... Summer part 2, Ironman Switzerland. I'll have to do a full race report later, I was saying that I would have loved to read about the race from a normal person, not the elite athletes, before I did it. But, the quick version... My mom and I got to Vienna a day apart, I arrived on the 5 th I thin, and we ran around Vienna running all the life errands I was meaning to do before she got there, including the 2 or 3 day process of replacing my lost metro card, and even a fun trip to the Visa office. .

Ok, so back to the race, part of me didn't even want to do it because I was so upset about Steve, but in the end, I did manage to drag myself to the start line. The race was in Zurich, so we flew in, went to the expo, met up with a friend of a friend to tour the course, talk and just have someone to talk to before the race! She was great, and an awesome athlete. So, I managed to get my bike checked in, register and drag myself to the start line. It was NOT easy. I really did just want to give up. I had broken my ribs, so swim training was nearly nonexistent, I was mentally out of it, and my training definitely suffered because of the random trip home. But... On race day things went as well as could be expected. I had never ridden my bike in the rain, and really, what better time to try thn an hour snd a half into an iron,an? Ahhhhh! I finished the swim unless than 2 hours, which was my adjusted goal after the broken rib deal, then an hour and a half into the bike it just started to pour down rain, not a few drops, or a light drizzle, but a "I can hardly see a foot in front of me" type of rain. I had gone to dinner at a friends house and her son had described riding your bike in the ron as ice pellets slamming into yor face... And, let's just say that is jut why it felt like. The bike course was a two loop course, way hillier than I thought it would be, and downpours added to the excitement. It was just plain crazy. I think I spent half the time thinking, I can't believe thi is even happening. I had a moment of panic at some point, when I thought I wouldn't make the bike cut off time and tarted riding like a crazy person. I easily made the cut off. I'm not sure what type of math I was doing in my head, but it isn't make sense. The run was fine, but once again, the wether was just insanely awful. About an hour and a half into the run, it started doing the sideways, somehow in your face rain, blowing down the barriers, crazy insane conditions. It was absolutely miserable. Combine that with a rough road surface, a few hills, dark from the clouds and it was just not that fun. I discovered that I like eating salty peanuts during the race though, I was totally excited at ever aid Titan to get more salty peanuts. They were super delicious and something to look forward to. My friend Christi came out and I saw her a few times, and the girl's family that I had just met, and my mom was awesome and she was there for the whole thing. All in ll it went well, I finished faster, even with the unbelievable conditions, and felt fine at the end. Of course, we walked around Zurich the next day and it was absolutely beautiful and perfect weather...

We went back to Vienna, packed our bags and left to come back to the states, we did take the time to go to an amazing lunch, felt like we were royalty! Of course we started out with champagne and ended our zillion course meal with cheese and wine. Fancy!

Second trip home was great too. I definitely didn't want to leave! Spending time with friends and family os just awesome. I was able o go to my cousins house warming party, see friends down in the bay area, meet lots of new babies and spend time with my niece and nephews. I miss them like crazy when I'm gone. They really are just too cute!

I'm in denial that I have to go back to work soon. I arrive late Thursday to Vienna and leave Friday afternoon for a weekend on Croatia, then bac to work on Monday. Hard to believe another summer is nearly over!

Loved every second and already looking forward to my next trip home, bit no idea when that will be...!

Oh, and I'm sure there are a zillion weird typos, I'm on my iPad, which I love and am addicted to, but it does weird things and is not a replacement for a laptop at all... It does all these uto correct things that mke me crazy.... Ok. Enough. I need to eat some dinner and get back to the Olympics.