When the world went into lockdown last March 2020, I stopped writing anything in my blog. It would have probably been therapeutic to use this outlet but I honestly couldn't get up the motivation to do anything else 'online' with the rest of my everyday life unfolding on a screen at the time. As I was behind in recapping races when the pandemic started, I still have races on the road to 40 in 40 before 40 that need a replay. So I'm kicking it back to late 2019 to cover these off [Marathons 5 (Thailand) & 6 (India)] - and make space to recap upcoming races that seem to actually be sticking on the calendar again. (Fingers crossed!)
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Marathon 2/40: Cambodia
After making the decision to run 40 marathons in 40 countries in 4 years, finishing the month of my 40th birthday, and sharing this goal publically, I started planning my race schedule for the rest of 2019. I also had some sleepless nights filled with anxiety, terrified about this big goal and thinking about everything that could go wrong to stop me from achieving it. That fear slowly faded when I started adding to my weekly running volume and getting back into shape. I didn't make any solid goals at the beginning of this calendar year. On New Years day, Erik and I sat on small boat in a harbor in Queenstown, New Zealand, drinking champagne and talking about our dreams in the next year. We spent 2 weeks traveling over the holidays, checking Fiji and NZ off the list, and my 50th country traveled. (I also ran 100 miles around the South Island in 10 days!) I've never been one for resolutions but I can typically throw out a couple goals for the year - making them SMART by the time my birthday roles around in February. But this year, I wasn't ready to jump in with a plan. I was just happy, I didn't want to rush the process.
I'm ready now. Somehow, I'm 35. Shouldn't be surprising. I celebrate my birthday for a whole month every year, it's not like this one just crept up on me. I've made a mantra out of embracing every day and living life to the fullest, being open to opportunities and running (and eating) all over the world. I've raised my hand to take on more and chased down promotions and PRs.
But every so often, I'm still amazed that this is where I am. That I can love my life this much. That I can be this happy. Two weeks ago we moved to Japan, indefinitely. A country neither Erik or I had ever visited. It seems crazy to most people but, as strange as it sounds, this fact didn't even phase our decision.
There were of course some things that we talked through, like the cultural differences in the work place that may be challenging, or the cost of living (rent likely doubling for less space) and that life would be a bit more restrictive for our puppy. Our biggest concern had actually nothing to do with Japan itself but with the distance between ourselves and our families and good friends. It feels really good to be in W1D5 of 2018 and have already checked off a step toward one goal. I changed the title of my blog/site (welcome!), launched a market place with my coaching offerings (let me know if you would like to work with me!) and kicked off a matching FB page to further share my love of running, eating really good food and traveling. All on January 1st! I gave myself a quick pat on the back but now it’s back to work. Continuous improvement of each of these will be necessary – and maintaining them is where the hard work really falls – so please keep me accountable and let me know what you think and where I can improve!
Shit. It's been 6 months since I've even looked at this blog. It's been on my mind... I should write about this, or that seems to be something I should work out over my keyboard on this platform. But I didn't. In all honesty, writing has just seemed exhausting. Sitting down with a purpose and actually focusing on what I wanted to say was too much.
This year, per usual, I celebrated my birthday all month. I moved to a new city. Started a new job. Traveled to London for work. Had a pretty epic trip to New Orleans. Ran 100 miles. Celebrated my 6 month wedding anniversary. And adopted a rescue puppy. (Also, by the time I'm posting this, I'm two weeks post birthday month which I suppose is to be expected with how busy life has suddenly become.)
Aside from the running - which I'm grateful has become part of my daily life - I had no clue that my 33rd year was going to be so transformative and fulfilling. So we're moving to Seattle.
In two weeks time, we'll be moving into our new apartment (that is HALF the cost of our rent in San Francisco with, I'm pretty sure, more than double the space) and nearly eleven months after leaving our first apartment together, we'll be creating our first home as husband and wife. #allthefeels With a new year comes the desire for something - sometimes anything - new in your life. This is where resolutions come from. The desire to make a change and to feel something different than you've felt for the past few months.
Running an overnight, 200-ish mile, 12 person relay is a great way to tap into your inner-child. You can experience that feeling of going to camp and competing on a team all in one. The experience is rounded out with the feeling of withdrawls when it's all over. Because you can't share that intense experience and walk away like nothing happended. Mostly because you may never have experienced sore legs like the aftermath experienced from running three different legs of varying distances with no sleep - but also because there is such an elevated level of bonding and trust that is developed in such a short time.
Iceland. It might as well be another planet. It's the most unique place I've ever visited in terms of landscape. Glaciers, volcanoes, black sand beaches, geysers, geothermal pools, lagoons, SO many waterfalls... It was also expensive AF. But we weren't there for the restaurant scene so eating carrots from a bag while road tripping was fine by us.
The purpose of adding Barcelona and subsequently Andorra to our honeymoon tour was simply an aspect of cost and convenience. We were flying into Italy and out of Iceland a month later. In between, we knew we wanted to spend some time in Greece. So we needed to figure out the most cost effective way to get from Greece to Iceland and it turns out 5 days flying into and back out of Barcelona was the way to do that. Andorra - a small mountain country that is located on the boarder of Spain and France - was an inexpensive three hour bus ride from Barcelona so we figured, why not? Just adding to that country count! (45 for me, in case you were wondering.)
The second* country on our Honeymoon Tour was Greece. We are using this time we have to travel to explore places we haven't been, or that have been on our "list" for quite a while; and that uniquely blue water viewed over a landscape dotted with little white buildings was calling. I also thought the land of hummus was calling, but now understand that I have been duped by Americanized Greek food because this is definitely not a staple. The eggplant salads made up for it though.
I'm not one to back down from a challenge. And I tend to create them for myself - even when they're not necessary. We were five days into our honeymoon adventure - five of thirteen we were spending in Italy - and realized we'd had pasta everyday. So why not keep that streak going... for eight more days? Once that idea was planted, there was no turning back. I'm happy to say we made it! I'm certain a few pounds heavier, but happy.
For as long as I can remember - I wanted to go to the Cinque Terre. Probably since I first saw a picture of those breathtaking little villages overlooking the sea. It looked like the most romantic place in the world. So it wasn't even a conversation that Erik and I needed to have when planning our Honeymoon: we would be staying in the Cinque Terre. I never thought, however, that I would run the connector trail between them.
Years ago, I had conceptions of what I thought travel (and love, and life in general) should look like. Travel was something you planned for over months and even years. It was budgeted for and structured and it fit nicely into the standard cadence: meet a guy in high school / college, get a job, get married, go on a week long honeymoon, buy a house, continue the 9-5 life, have a kid, take a week long vacation to somewhere new every couple years, probably have another kid, continue the 9-5 life, maybe take a big trip for our 15 year anniversary (without the kids? should we?!)... And I firmly believed that Italy should be a place to travel with someone that you love - it would be perfect for that week long honeymoon someday. Even as this perceived cadence of the right way to do life dropped away from my reality, I was still holding strong on Italy.
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AuthorA Midwest girl gone global. I choose happiness everyday: I run, eat well, travel, and love completely. Archives
March 2022
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