Peace out 2018...Hello 2019

Every year I always like to wrap everything up with some kind of end-of-year post. Even though I didn't write a ton this year, I still like some closure on everything that went down. Some years I write about the highlights (and low lights) and sometimes it's just a summary of what went down.

Last year it was all about how 2017 didn't end up being "My Year" liked I had hoped it would be as my first full year as a Chicagoan. So that was a huge bummer. Well, spoiler alert: 2018 wasn't my year either. However, it wasn't too bad of a year at all. I am well aware that with the many ups, there are always downs. No one constantly just wins, and believe me, I don't expect to. However, I just want to feel like I came out ahead at the end of the year. Last year I definitely didn't, but this year, I do believe I came a little closer. Below I have rounded up the positives and negatives of this year in the more glaring portions of my life.

You can't win if you don't play

Last week was a big drawing for the MegaMillions lottery with a pay out of $1.6 billion. I mean, that's more money than I can even fathom having. It's an unimaginable amount of money. While I am not one to play the lottery, with everyone talking about it, I got the itch to play a little. I mean, why not? I decided to get in on the fun and buy tickets, because after all, you can't win if you don't play. I went to a local convenience store and bought three lines and automatically felt some hope. In reality, the odds were were ridiculously low to win, but the little excitement of "what if" got me and it was just fun to be part of the action. So many people I know who usually never play the lottery also bought tickets too, so we were all talking about what we would do if we won. A girl can hope, right? In the spirit of having disposable income, I decided to compile a list of what I would do if I happened to win all the money. 

Chicago 26.2: A Recap of #13

Thirteen is supposed to be an unlucky number and that wasn't lost upon me when I started training for this marathon. This was my second marathon of 2018, my sixth Chicago Marathon, and 13th total overall, and I still can't believe it. Running a marathon is not an easy task.Ever. No matter how many times you do it, it's hard, it's stressful, and ithurts. But I love it, and I keep coming back for more as long as my body cooperates (which actually hasn't been much in the last few years). People constantly ask me why I continue to do them and it's because I truly love running and the purpose and sense of accomplishment it gives me. Sure, there are moments where it totally tears me down and makes me question myself, but there are way more times that it makes me feel like I can tackle anything. And those are the moments I stick around for. 

Europe (Take 3) by the numbers...

Five years ago I went to Europe for the first time, solo, and thrilled for the opportunity. I was gone for about three weeks and saw 8 countries and 22 cities in that time. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I was hooked on traveling and exploring new places. It gave me such a sense of independence and gratefulness and just overall joy. I knew I wanted to keep doing this kind of thing as long as I had the time, the money, my health, and just the enthusiastic desire too. 

Turning lemons into lemonade...or wheat into beer

(Unintentional) DAY 17
 After another late night out yesterday, J and I woke up, packed up, ate breakfast, and headed to the airport to head on back to Chicago. We were flying from Dubrovnik to Munich and had a one hour layover until our flight to O’Hare. As the time kept getting closer to our boarding time, there was no one at the gate and nothing was happening. Boarding time came and went and we started to get anxious. Having a one hour layover in a big airport is cutting it close enough, but now time was getting real tight. People eventually started lining up at the gate to board, including us, even though nothing was going on. The time on the flight board said we were delayed 20 minutes, but no one from the airline said a word. Some people went up to the airline attendant, including me, to ask what the deal was and they had no answers. The girl, who was now hiding behind the counter, assured me we’d make our flight and it would all be fine. More time came and went and I didn’t believe all would be fine. I was getting very anxious (and that’s an understatement). It was now almost 40 minutes past our take-off and we still were waiting. More people kept going up to ask what the deal was because there were people who had connections to Boston, DC, Newark, and Vancouver, all within the same time frame as ours, more or less. We were all panicking with zero information and no communication from anyone from the airline. Finally, they started the boarding process to the shuttle bus and then on the plane. Once on the plane, we sat some more. Again, no information. At this point, J and I had figured we were going to miss our flight. We were taking off about 5 minutes prior to when our connecting flight was supposed to leave. This clearly wasn’t happening for us. 

Guess I need to watch Game of Thrones...

DAY 16

It’s our last full day here and we wanted to start it running, literally and figuratively. I thought I set our alarm last night for 5:05 this morning so J and I could do another sunrise run while in Croatia. However, I must have done something wrong because I woke up at 5:40 to use the bathroom and freaked out because we should have been running by then. Whoops! I immediately woke J up and we quickly got dressed and headed out on our run. There looked to be one long path but we couldn’t seem to find it so we did a little out and back and I went another way up a hill and found some road. I also happened to pass the cave bar I read about online. We ran for three miles then came home and showered and changed quickly to begin our day. 

Took it (fairly) easy today...

DAY 15

After a really fun, late night out in Hvar last night that included three different bars (Hula Hula, which was a disappointment, plus two other ones whose name we do not know), lots of Coronas, tons of dancing and sweating, meeting some guys from NYC, and a slice of pizza to cap it off, it was a rough go getting up this morning, but we did it. We packed up our suitcases yet again to hit the road (or the sea) for our final destination, Dubrovnik. It was a little over a three hour ferry ride there, which most definitely included a little napping. We eventually made our way to Dubrovnik and to our hotel, which again is super nice. It sits on the beach and had a really nice pool so we are happy campers. It’s a rocky beach too so we will obviously be staying pool side yet again in our free time. 

Such a surreal day!

DAY 14

After a long day yesterday, it was hard getting up to a 5:30 alarm this morning. J and I packed our bags for today last night so we’d be able to get up and out to catch our 6:35 ferry back to Split this morning. We made it there in a little over an hour and sprinted to the meeting point of our excursion group for the day. Luckily we knew exactly where they were meeting and got there with a few minutes to spare. I was way less anxious after meeting up with our guide and soon enough we were on the road. 

Our first stop was to a town called Sibenik. It’s another coastal town with very few tourists and we got a walking tour through it and then some free time on our own. We saw a very pretty church, a Game of Thrones shooting location, and learned the history of the town. We spent about an hour and half there and then hit the road to Krka National Park to see the very famous and often talked about waterfalls. When planning this European trip to Croatia, J and I had to decide between Krka National Park and Plitvice. Although both are supposed to be absolutely gorgeous, you can’t swim in the water in Plitvice, so we made the choice to do Krka because we could swim in the fresh waterfalls. This was one of the things I had most been looking forward to on this trip. 

Sunrise in Split, Sunset in Hvar

DAY 13
This morning started with something I haven’t done this entire trip: a sunrise run. I ran once in Athens, but it wasn’t at sunrise because since it wasn’t near the water, I didn’t really care. After walking the Riva promenade last night, I knew (and had told you guys) I wanted to run along it this morning. The sun rise was supposed to begin at 5:11 so J and I had a 5:00 alarm set to get up and out. Not only were we excited to run as the sun rose, we were also looking forward to explore the city with no one else around. The best time to see a busy touristy city is when everyone is sleeping because you get it virtually to yourself. I usually do this on trips all the time, but this time around there hasn’t been much opportunity. There certainly wasn’t any on the cruise ship and Athens wasn’t very runner friendly.

We split Greece for Croatia

DAY 12
This morning it was off to Croatia. J and I woke up earlier than usual and ate breakfast at the hotel before grabbing a cab to the airport. The Athens airport is pretty sparse for a major European city airport and didn’t have a lot of amenities or stores to browse while we waited for our plane. When boarding, we actually all had to get on a shuttle bus to the airplane, which is something neither J or I had done before, but apparently is the norm there. (We had to do it again after getting off the plane in Split.) Once we got our seats, a very smelly European woman sat down next to us and we immediately recoiled by her strong awful body odor and asked to move seats. Luckily, there were open seats in the back and we nabbed them. I was not going to sit next to that odor for an hour and a half. Every time she shifted, I got a whiff of the BO and knew I wasn’t going to be able to handle it. Plus, all I could think about was the BO episode of Seinfeld when the BO stuck to everyone else and I didn’t want that happening to me. Sorry not sorry. Once we moved, it was all good. The plane was only half full, and the flight was short, but there were no TV’s or chargers. Soon enough we were in Split, Croatia (home of Chicago Bulls’ great Toni Kukoc), and ready to head to the hotel. We had a lot to see and do today as it’s our only day here, so we wanted to get started ASAP. 

Back at it in Athens...

DAY 11
We woke up this morning in Athens, had breakfast in the ship, and finally disembarked. We were so ready to get off that cruise ship and back to our nice hotel. First things first, laundry. We had heard there was a place we could drop it off and pick it up later (which wasn’t open the first time we did it) so we took a cab over there to drop off our dirty clothes. The lady told us to pick them back up at three so now that we knew the way, we walked back to the hotel to get directions to our next adventure. J and I wanted to see the Olympic rings while here. I had seen them in London and thought they were at every site the Olympics were held at, but maybe that wasn’t the case. We asked for directions at the hotel on how I get there and were told it was a three hour bus ride. Yup, no thanks. Not happening. That was out of the question. We had figured they were at the Olympic stadium from the Athens games in 2004, but apparently they are all the way out in Olympia. We weren’t going to make a six-hour round trip so we went to our second agenda item, exploring the neighborhood of Psyri. I had heard this neighborhood had some cool street art and we hadn’t really had time to walk around it before and it wasn’t a priority, but with free time today, we went for it. 

Below Deck: Turkey

DAY 10
Last night we were hanging on the top deck of the ship and saw some really bright red coloring on the horizon. We could not figure out what it was. At first we half-thought a volcano erupted, then jokingly thought maybe it was a really bright parachute heading our way. Finally as it became clearer, we realized it was the blood moon. It was huge and red and actually really awesome to see. We knew it had happened last night, but didn’t see it then. However, tonight, it was pretty spectacular to see. 

Anywho, today was the last official day of this cruise and onto our second country of the trip, Turkey. And surprisingly enough, our second continent of the trip also, Asia. I had no idea that Turkey was a part of Asia until I looked at the map this morning and then our tour guy confirmed this as well; it’s Asia Minor. We are only here for the day and to the town of Kusadasi, to the site of Ephesus. My parents have been here before and told me it’s a pretty incredible site to see so I was excited. 

Wait, this palace isn’t current?

DAY 9
We woke up this morning in Heraklion aka Crete. It’s the southernmost city in all of Europe and is super close to Africa. We had also heard it was going to be super hot here, and that proved to be correct. 

After breakfast, we caught a cab to the Palace of Knossos and our driver waited for us there to take us to our next place. J and I could have signed up for an excursion today, but decided we wanted to do our own thing. I knew the palace was a must-see on the island and that we’d go, but assumed it was a large current palace, but nope, it was another archeological site of an abandoned palace from around 1100 BC. It was discovered around 1878 and excavation began in 1900. We’re not really sure how or why it became abandoned, but it was huge and must have been amazing back in its heyday. There were some really cool parts of it, and then some more ruins. We’ve seen a whole lot of ruins this trip, which I totally didn’t expect, but maybe should have. 

A Mullet of a Day

DAY 8
This morning I finally had to admit to myself that yes, I have a cold. I was really trying to believe this whole throat, coughing, no voice, night sweat thing was allergies, but I’m pretty sure now it’s a cold. Grrr...  Nothing I can do now. 

J and I ate breakfast and headed out on our excursion. Originally I had thought this one was supposed to be yesterday, but I guess they swapped the days. This excursion included a tour around the island of Santorini, specifically stopping in Oia and Fira. We had gone to both places yesterday so knew what to expect, but Oia was much nicer there during the day today than last night because there were so many less people. It was just a sea of humanity last night and without the crowds, it definitely made it more enjoyable. We decided to skip going to Fira with the group because we didn’t need to walk around and could do so later if we wanted, so we did some research looking for a pool to use today. We didn’t want to go explore Perissa or Kamari beaches because we heard both are black beaches too like yesterday so it would be all rocks and we were definitely done with that.

Today was A DAY

DAY 7
I went to bed last night with no voice at all, like full-on laryngitis. I’m not sure if it’s allergies or all the cigarette smoke around here or what, but I have no voice and a dry cough. I sound much worse than I feel, but I am def not feeling 100%. But I’m on vacay so have to keep on keeping on. 

Yesterday we had talked with some people in our group and we all agreed we were interested in doing the same thing today so our tour leader said he’d get us a deal on it. He slipped something under our door had all the information and told us where to meet in the morning. When we got there, half the people didn’t show, including the girl whose idea it was in the first place. Annoying. It was becoming too complicated and irritating so J and I just decided we’d do this all on our own with our Canadian friends. 

Blue water and bluer skies

DAY 6 
After a late night out in Mykonos, we let ourselves sleep in today, especially since our cruise ship didn’t actually leave until 6:30 am and wasn’t expected to get to Milos until 1. We woke up, realized our legs were sore from dancing so much last night, I pretty much lost my voice (I’m currently rocking a very raspy, hoarse, yet sexy voice), and we were still very tired. But it was worth it because last night was a blast. We thought breakfast ended at 10:30 so went down around 10 after and were shocked to see it had indeed ended at 10. Ugh. We’d have to wait until noon for lunch unless we wanted to purchase food. We used this time to shower and pack our bags for the day and just lay down a little more. 

A day AND night in Mykonos

DAY 5
As soon as we woke up this morning we just wanted to get off the ship ASAP. Our toilet stopped flushing in the middle of the night, which was not okay and we just wanted to begin our day. After breakfast on the ship, we got some money and talked to reception about the toilet
sitch, and apparently you aren’t supposed to flush anything down the toilet except poop and pee. So we are supposed to wipe and then throw the TP in the garbage can for poop and pee. Gross. Also, we weren't going to do that for poop. Sorry, not sorry. 

Anyway, after all of that nonsense, we caught the shuttle bus from our ship to Old Town where we wanted to do some siteseeing. We saw the famous Panagai Paraportiani church, the little Venice area, and then the windmills that Mykonos is known for. We were there pretty early so when we hit the church, we weren’t even sure if we were right because no one else around, but we realized we were just ahead of the game, as usual and had it all to ourselves. Awesome. The windmills were also really cool to see and take pics with, naturally. We did all that touristy stuff pretty quickly and then just wandered around town a bit, but were a little hesitant to veer off too much because Mykonos is like a maze. We learned that was to confuse the pirates and the Turks from getting to the locals. There were cute little shops and beautiful white washed buildings, narrow passageways, colorful doors, bright flowers, and lots of cool steps and balconies. I don’t know how someone realistically lives there because it seems so inconvenient, but obviously many do. We also saw Pelican Pete, a local bird legend, who roams around Old Town minding his own business. When we first saw him, it freaked me out so much because I am not really an animal person, let alone a wild animal person because they freak me out with their unpredictability. It was surprising to see a really pelican just  doing his thing.

So-Crates

DAY 4
Today started quite leisurely after three days of go-go-go. We slept in until about 8:30 (and I use the word sleep loosely as I did very little of it), grabbed breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and headed on our way. First things first, hopped onto the subway again, which came with some drama/entertainment depending on how you look at it. The people in front of us in line at the kiosk had no idea what they were doing and got out of line very confused. J and I stepped up to buy our tickets and were halfway through when the woman tried to tell us it was her turn again. Mind you, this was midway through using the machine and she was trying to push her way back in through the side while yelling at us in Czech or Russian or something that was most definitely not Greek or English. I don’t know how she would even think we’d understand her, but that didn’t seem to bother her. J and I both starting yelling at her to relax and that she left the line so can’t just come back in, especially in the middle of our transaction. She clearly had no idea what we were saying either but I think our tone and body language was universal for “back the fuck up." She was certainly trying to intimidate us, but it wasn’t working. I don’t know who she thought she was thinking she could leave the line and just re-enter. Nope, not happening with us. We just closed her out, finished up, and went on our merry way. 

Popping my laundromat cherry...

DAY 3
I finally got a solid 6.5 hours of sleep last night and awoke to the wake-up call shocked that it was morning already. Although I’ve been sleeping in my compression socks (hi, I’m an old lady...but at least they’re cute ones), my legs were sore. J and I have been walking so much lately and it’s starting to take a little toll on my calves and feet, but we’ve gotta see and do as much as we can for now so I’ll live. 

After breakfast (where I finally had some delicious spanokopita) it was finally time for our Acropolis tour. Obviously the Acropolis is the premiere site here in Athens, so to be here two full days already and not do it was tough, but we had our scheduled tour today and were so ready to learn about The Acropolis and its history and significance. Our tour was early in the morning to beat the heat and the crowds as best as we could. We met our guide in the lobby and made our way to the Acropolis which, as to be expected, was pretty spectacular. The architecture, the history, and the enormity of it was absolutely incredible. Our guide, Kostas, was so knowledgeable and so nice and we were so happy that we had one for this site because we felt like we were getting as much out of it as possible and got to learn so much.  

On the hunt for toilet seats...

DAY 2
After a rough nights sleep (maybe a solid 4 hours) last night, when my alarm went off this morning, I was in a bit of shock that it was already time to wake up and head over to Panathenaic Stadium. This is where the very first Olympics ever was held. They opened at 8 and J and I wanted to be the first ones there and have it all to ourselves if possible. We ran over there and bought our tickets (student discount FTW again) and were the first visitors of the day, which, not gonna lie, was amazing. We ran on the track, climbed the stairs to the top of the stadium, and took pictures on the podium. It was awesome! As a runner, I was totally in awe. I know it is where the finish line for the now current Athens marathon is, which is really cool to imagine. (I mean after all, I was beyond pumped to finish the Illinois marathon on the Illini 50-yard line.) After playing around the track a bit, we went inside to the museum area of the stadium and saw all the torches from all the previous Olympic Games, winter and summer. It was actually super cool. Of course, all I could picture was the iconic moment of Muhammad Ali carrying the torch many years ago. Goosebumps. 

It’s All Greek to Me...

DAY 1
This morning began #RayRaysEuroVacay3 and I couldn’t have been more pumped. I haven’t been to Europe in three years and it feels damn good to be back. This time though, I’m not rolling solo, I’m here with a friend, J. When she heard that I had wanted to go to Europe this summer she asked if she could join since she’d never been.  Although I do love traveling alone and have basically only done it this way in the past, I knew it would be nice to have some company this time around so J and I decided upon Greece, Turkey, and Croatia and the planning begun. When the day finally came, there was a mix of nerves and excitement as to be expected. 

We had a flight to Montreal with a three hour layover until our flight to Athens. Randomly enough, on our flight to Montreal, we ran into one of my college best friends/roommate. I hadn’t seen her since we met up last summer, so not only was it nice to see a friendly face, it was fun to catch each other up on what’s been going on in our lives. She spent the entire layover with us (which included an order of poutine, because of course, when in Canada, do as the Canadians do) until her flight and then we boarded our 9-hour flight to Athens. 

Illinois 26.2: A Recap

12 is my lucky number. Champaign is one of my happy places. And running is something that I love so much. When you put all three of those things together, you'd expect some magic to happen, right? I would. On Saturday, it kind of did, and I am so so happy about it. I got to run my 12th marathon, the Illinois Marathon, in the very city where I fell in love with running in the first place, get a little redemption on my body for being hurt for so long, and prove to myself once again (because for whatever reason, I seem to need constant reminders) that I am a strong, determined woman.

Big Admission...

I feel like every new post I write lately is the first one in a while, so why would this one be any different? I haven't written in almost two months just because there isn't a ton to report on the comings and goings of my life. And even though my last post was about running, this one will be about it as well, and my next one will most likely be about it too. Sorry not sorry. Running is something that I love to do, is finally back in my life, and it just makes me happy, so I'm going to continue write about it.

Can We Call it a Comeback?

Picture this: I'm in my race corral with a few minutes until it's my turn to go. I turn on my iPod shuffle and randomly, yet perfectly, Young Jeezy's "Go Getta" comes on. (I mean, could this be any more symbolic?!)  The start gun goes off and I'm about to get this thing started. I'm really about to do this. Finally. My first 13.1 in over 15 months. My first real race since the Chicago Marathon of 2016. It's on!

This was the scene Saturday as I started the F3 Lake Half Marathon after a long hiatus from racing due to injury. So how did it all happen? I know I've talked about it a bit before on, but in case you don't know, here's the short version...