Back to life

So - i'm back - back to so called normal life. Don't think it's really set in just yet- i'm still a little jet-lagged to realize that i'm back at my old desk again and not in Hawaii. I am excited that although work is still going to be crazy - my evenings are no longer filled with wedding appointments - so that is a nice feeling. Now all i have to do is unearth our house from all the wedding/honeymoon piles that have taken over.

The trip to Hawaii was amazing - it's hard to believe that such a beautiful place exists - and that the whole world doesn't just pick up and move there! I got a couple of nice runs in while i was there - my body is definately not ready for running in 85 degrees in sun through lava fields - but I did all right. Oh - i have to tell you about the half marathon. Well - it was described as a scenic rolling hills course with timing chips. Well - not quite - don't get me wrong - I'm so glad i did it - but it was a rough a course - and it was a small field of about 100 runners - . Well since i wasn't planning on running a race - i didn't bring a watch with me - but i thought that's ok - i'll just get my times at the mile markers - or at the very least i'll get my chip times afterwards. ha! there were no chips to speak of - and i thought ok - there will be someone somewhere with a stop watch. Well i passed the first mile, then the second, then the third, then the fourth - -still no stop watch. so i thought - alright just go with - you're on your honeymoon - just run to run in this beautiful place. Well i made friends with a surgeon from british columbia around the 7 mile mark. We ran together for about a mile - and he had a watch - so i learned that i was on pace to pretty easily run about a 1:55 - sweet - a random half marathon and I would finally break two hours. Well - as i mentioned - for a pale girl from ohio - 85 degrees can be a bit of a shock. I very quickly started feeling really bad. I just tried to keep going to the next water stop where i was hoping there would be gatorade. no such luck - no gatorade on the course. I started to walk and was really worried about even finishing. I took a gu which helped for awhile - but i found myself on the last few miles just hoping to finish. by the time i got near the end - i saw steve waiting for me - and i said this in my worst race ever - how long has it been? 3 hrs? he's like what are you talking about? so i finished and guess what - no clocks! steve was pretty sure it was just over two hours - but I didn't know for sure. It took me til yesterday to track down the results on the internet. my 'official time' 2:04:16. It was a rough race - but that is actually still a personal best. I should have broken 2 hrs that day - but oh well - there is always the next race right?