Setting the bar high

Well, I got out of the habit of blogging when I was on my trip and man alive, it's hard to kick start myself into doing it again. Ok, I'll be honest, it's been hard to kick start myself into doing much of anything after this trip home. I have the post vacation blues, majorly. While my motivation levels were sky high in the states now that I'm back here I'm struggling to hang onto those feelings and keep myself pushing forward. I found myself again when I was in the states. I got the feeling that I was strong enough, smart enough. I remembered who I was and what was important to me. I got my confidence back and I'm going to run with it. Literally.

I ran a lot when I was in the states. I ran a 5k right before I went home and kept up with my running. I loved it. I loved running at dusk when the fireflies came out, I loved running on the trail around Burke Lake and around my neighborhood. I was running fast, feeling great. The day before we left for Maine while stocking up on chemical free bug spray and sunscreen at REI I grabbed a women's running magazine at the register. I didn't open it up until a few days later and saw there happened to be a half marathon training plan in there. I got to thinking. Then a couple weeks later, after finding the first magazine so motivating, I grabbed a second running magazine and it had an article about running your first half. So... here it goes. I am going to see if I can train for a half. Just see how it goes. Ok, I've said it on here, announced it. So now I have to do it. I'll keep you updated and posted about how this goes for me. I'll say this, I ran 7 miles this morning and thought I was going to pass out or barf, but I didn't and I'm super proud of myself. I haven't picked the half I want to run, but I want to do one in the fall before Brad gets back. And preferably one with the least amount of hills possible.

Massive, overwhelming and scary goal #2: In the states I got a crazy thing in my head, the desire to go back to school. It crept up on me suddenly, hard and fast like a wave. I graduated college in 2006, I have no idea if I could even get into a grad program and how I would navigate starting a program while overseas or if I'd have to wait until I get back to the states. If I have to wait I'm worried this desire for school will wane and I'll never do it. I feel like I need to do it now. So, there are a lot of questions, a lot of areas that I need to explore, but I'm just thrilled that I want to even think about going back to school. Up to now this was unheard of for me, college was hard, borderline hate-my-life hard and on my graduation day my friend reminded me of my exclamation of "thank god I never have to do this again!" So, I'm going to talk to some people, do some poking around on the internet and see what I can see.

Of course I have other more attainable, small goals like taking a scuba class this summer and I have my usual horse related goals. Bring it!