Vienna Staycation

Winter in Vienna. I would say this year = awesome. We had a week or two of absolutely FREEZING weather, but there has been sun and blue skies and next to NO snow this year and I love it! Today I ran in this race at the Prater, and it was gorgeous, people were wearing shorts and tank tops. I found that to be a bit ambitious, but not completely out of the range of normal. I was definitely too warm in my winter running clothes. Lots of fun things going on in the last few weeks. I've had a few Vienna surprises lately. As I'm sure I've made painfully obvious at times, this city is clean, safe, public transportation is supposedly awesome (except to get to work...) and always ranks high on the best places to live... but, the people, it kills me. They are often rude and I get SO frustrated with people saying things like, that's just how the Viennese are, or basically just excusing bad behavior and it's just not a friendly or nice, or exciting city. You pretty much walk with your head down and avoid eye contact, which is a big difference from my friendly, small town, U.S. of A. life. And, I miss it a lot. This city just seems dead and unfriendly and I have found the people to just be cold. At first, I thought it was because I didn't speak German, but at this point I have found that is not the case. The Austrians I have met and made friends with here, are all from outside of Vienna, and many of them also say that there is like a wall around the Viennese that you can't break through, even knowing the language. Well, anyways, enough about that, because I had a rush of pleasant surprises from this city. First, I finally found an awesome running group through Internations, there are a variety of levels of runners and they meet every Sunday; I ran a race with some of them this morning, and I love it. It only took five years, but so worth the wait! Next for randomness... on Valentine's Day, I was on my way to work, waiting for the third form of public transportation of the day and not necessarily in the best mood, and as I was standing there, this woman just walked up to me and gave me a flower. I looked up and sort of looked around, and her and another man, were just standing on the corner handing out flowers to everyone that walked by! You would not believe the look of shock on everyone's faces. Really, Viennese people smiling? Handing out flowers for no reason? Not normal at all, but super awesome! Last random act of kindness from the Viennese... Heather and I went on a walk up to Kahlenberg and long story short, we were sitting at this cute cafe in Grinzing and didn't have enough money to pay for our lunch and the cafe didn't take bankomat, and while there was a bank nearby, my card doesn't work to take out cash (and hasn't pretty much the entire time I have lived here, I have ordered new cards over 30 times and have decided to give up, and yes, I have tried everything to keep it from getting demagnetized)and the lady who was having lunch with friends at the table next to us, just offered to pay for us while we left to go find an open bank that I could go in and get money out. So nice! I couldn't believe it was happening, I mean, that is nice for any city anywhere, but just shocking for Vienna! I am just at the end of February Break, it was such a great week! Heather came to visit and we had a relaxing Staycation! We enjoyed some touristy things in Vienna, walk to Kahlenberg, Hunderwasser Museum, and the Julias Meinl Wine Bar. We also had time to do some long runs, sample some food and wine from my favorite places, the Naschmarkt, who doesn't love Dr. Falafel?!, Mini and Wein and Co. to name a few. We also made some great food at home, including chocolate chip cookies. Delicious! We went on a few day trips, a cold rainy day in Bratislava, Slovakia and a relaxing Beauty Care Day at Wabi in Sopron, Hungary. The week also involved darts and drinking games, yes I did say drinking games, who does that still?! Someone said the we did the adult version, and I will say, I am not sure there is any such thing as the adult version of drinking games! Vienna is being good to me these days. Training is going well, I feel like I am wiped out most of the time, as the training days are just plain hard. I was feeling pretty discouraged with my trail running as every Tuesday I pretty much feel like the trail run is torture and not getting any easier, but then today I did a flat race after already running 45 minutes, and did 14km in barely over an hour, which I was not expecting at all. So, I guess whatever she is doing is working. I sure would love to take a year off and just train. Maybe someday! Looking forward to more fun times coming up! I just signed up for a volunteer cooking activity, a few different GGI (Girl's Gone International) events, a spa weekend, and then a rush of traveling and visitors starts at the end of March and will go through to the end of the year. And, I'd love to make it out to Barcelona again for some beach fun... We'll see!

Barcelona!

Nothing says fun like a quick trip to visit Heather in Barcelona! I escaped the frigid and grey winter temperatures and arrived to bright blue sunny skies in Barcelona. I had to laugh when the first wine bar we went to, was the one place that I had thought about telling Heather that I wanted to try. The wine was great and it was the most Parmesan Cheese I think I have ever eaten in one sitting! It was fun to meet a bunch of their friends at a roof top BBQ they hosted, yes, I did say roof top BBQ and it's February! I went on a couple of great runs, ate lots of delicious food and had a relaxing and wonderful weekend. Heather is always the best hostess and knows just what I like, so of course, that meant lots of wine, time to run and even some carrot cake. We rode around on the city bikes on Sunday afternoon; I didn't have a helmet, so I felt like such a rebel... and yes, I was terrified the whole time. Sure that something stupid would happen and I would end up smashed on the ground, no helmet... but, it was fine! Heather is coming out to visit me for our February Break soon. I hope she brings the warm weather with her!

2013 Highlights

I will let the photos speak to the best of 2013!I think it's quite possible I am the luckiest person alive! I'm still living in Vienna, traveling, racing and spending time with friends and family. This year's highlights... I'm sure I forgot something! 14 Countries - Austria, Germany, France, USA, Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy, Finland and Estonia 8 Races - Bad Fussing Marathon (PB), Paris Eco Trail 80km (1st one!), Seafair Tri, HR 50 mile Bike, Cascade Lakes Relay, Zell am See Half Iron, Brussels Eco Trail and Amsterdam Marathon (PB again!). 3 Work Conferences - ELMLE in Rome, Olweus Training in Whitefish and The Next Frontier in The Hague. 2 Weddings - Vail, CO and Zell am See Just like every year, this one had it's ups and downs and I'm excited to see what the new year brings! As usual, I have completely overplanned and have lots of things coming up! A weekend trip to Barcelona February 7 - 9, friend visiting February 15 - 22, Loisium Spa Weekend March 7 - 9, Presenting at the CEESA Conference March 14 - 15, Paris for a 50km trail run March 28 - 30, Counselor Conference in Sofia April 3 - 6, KL to visit a friend April 13 - 21, another friend visiting May 1 - 6/7, Half Ironman May 25, Rome May 28 - June 1, Paris June 7 - 9 and then possibly a Bullying Conference in Rome the third week of June. Or, I will go home. Then July 13, Fueled by Fine Wine Half Marathon, July 18 - 20 HS Reunion, July 25, 80km trail run and July 31 - August 3 the Cascade Lakes Relay again. And, some time in there I should probably be working too. Well, if there is time.