Despite the fact that all I've been talking about lately is traveling, there have been some breaks from the excursions for us to have a little bit of a life at home this summer.
I never talked in any detail about my half marathon, but it was a really great experience that has only left me wanting more! I enjoyed my training a great deal. I was fortunate to have family in town for the latter part so that I was able to do my longer runs without the jogging stroller. As physically tough as it is to get out there and run for hours, it was an amazing sanity break. No one crying, trying to climb my leg, asking for a snack then pushing it away and shouting "NO!". Ahhhh, blessed peace!
The run is a very popular one, so I had no worries about being the last one across the finish line. It was almost entirely flat and paved, and I liked that I didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn since it was a night race. The drawbacks were that there were a couple of parts on the course that weren't terribly well marked, and there was one sickening half mile where I was reasonably certain I had missed a turn and ended up on the full marathon course. Then once the race was over and the runners were funneled into the finisher's festival, it was very difficult to figure out how to meet up with Colby who was not a part of the race. It took us about 45 minutes to find each other, and by the time we got home it was close to midnight, and everyone else was snoring peacefully in their bed while I was trying to quell the endorphin rush I was still riding!
But bottom line was that it was a great experience and I met my goal of running sub 12 minute miles. I finished in 2:36:09, averaging 11:54/mile and beating my previous half marathon PR by over 2 minutes (previous PR was 2:38:37). Yay me!
In the realm of big life events, Colby and I have been having lots of talks about where life and the Air Force will likely be taking us next and what our long term visions are for the next ten years. It's so hard to believe that this summer he reached 12 years in the Air Force. I can still vividly remember watching him swear his oath of office for the first time. It's remarkable to me that we're likely closer to his separation from military life than the start of it. So, no news on that front yet, but we hope we'll have some answers or at least narrowed down the options within the next couple of months.
We enjoyed the remainder of my parents' visit to Germany, and had to say goodbye to them on Tuesday. Of couse, that was also the day that Coby left on a trip, leaving the girls and me to try to remember how to function with just the three of us! Answer: Lots of help from Elmo. But that is not to last for long as Colby gets home tonight and MY SISTER ARRIVES TOMORROW!!!! I'm just a wee bit excited.
Her arrival kicks off our last furious explosion of travels as we wrap up a pretty epic summer. Brittany and I are taking Charlotte and Annabelle and heading to Marseilles next week, and then after a week of recovery and on the job training at home, Colby and I are ditching her with the girls while we jet off for a kid-free vacation to Croatia and Bosnia. I am feeling equal parts glee and terror at the thought of being without my babies for 9 days. I'm not sure I remember how to eat dinner without a meltdown from one of my table companions (usually a toddler, sometimes me) or how to go to bed without at least two snuggles and a rendition of Old MacDonald sung in three part harmony.
So, it may be another bit of time before I get my next post up. We had a terrible incident with the SD card containing the majority of our Copenhagen and Baltic cruise photos, but hopefully we'll be able to complete at least a semi-recovery soon so that I can write up that recap as well as my trip to Garmisch with my parents and the girls. I should have plenty of time for all of that come September when we have nothing planned. Nothing... nothing... nothing... I almost find myself looking forward to it!
congrats on the half marathon, looks like you rocked it!
and a parents only vacation sounds awesome! you two are going to have such a great time. can't wait to hear about it.
Posted by: Katelin | July 31, 2014 at 09:00 PM
The bit about the three-part harmony on "Old MacDonald" cracked me up. You just sound so content (in spite of how hectic it has been). That's great to hear.
Posted by: Kate P | August 02, 2014 at 05:21 AM
congratulations on the half marathon - sounds like you did awesome!
Posted by: Karen | August 03, 2014 at 09:04 PM