Medal-ed

Sorry... another post without pictures.... I forgot to take one when I finished, but I figured I would let the results be known.. I'm still alive from my half marathon debut. It took me 2:59:24... which means that I made it within my personal goal by 36 seconds... Woohoo! I mean, I would have liked to be done faster than that, but I'll take it! I ran with Al Roker for about 5 miles. I mean, I didn't run "with", but I definitely ran behind and next to and in front of him for quite a while, and it took me about 3 miles to figure out who the guy was running with an in-shape person and a person on a bicycle. Best news though, I beat him by about 3 minutes. Woohoo!

Next time (if there is one..) I would like to be faster than 2:45... we'll see if that happens. John and I might end up running a 10 mile in November. I hope to get in better shape for that one, and train more than 6 weeks and run more than 5 miles during said training. We'll see how it goes though. :)

Now the countdown begins for our trip to Europe. We have booked hotels, plane tickets, and train tickets... I can't believe we are almost there. I've told my office that if I get any sort of job while on vacation, I will not be returning to my current position.... I don't know that they believe me, but I would do bike tours, I would sell cheese (my friend's sister sells cheese in the Netherlands and she always has delicious cheese when she visits).... I would hmmm.... I don't know my limit... but I love visiting and it's always so hard for me to come home.

We are starting a travel blog for our experience .... I'm trying to get John into blogging so that people don't have to listen to me all the time. :) It will also show our trip and pictures and the likes which will hopefully be good? We'll see how it works out. (Ohhhh... and the blog will be up soon, but it's still in progress so I won't post it just yet...)

We are still looking to find Sheeba a home. We are also looking forward to having a dog-free home. Call that heartless, what have you, but it's been such an eye-opening experience about how UN-ready we are for a dog! She's so wonderful, but she needs a yard... she needs a suburb! All things that we cannot offer. We are hoping that she finds something before we leave so that we can come home to a dog-hair-free zone. (Crossing fingers)

Otherwise we are gearing up for the next couple of weekends. Lifehouse at Ravinia (yes, we are reliving the late 90's and early 00's).... Dubuque, Iowa (every one's favorite vacation spot).... and then the most ridiculously full Labor Day weekend ever.... Fantasy football draft, Guster at Ravinia, Beer Olympics, and a Cubs game... Phew... all to take it easy so that we can get pack and get ready to be gone for 15 days... Yeah, we might be dirty Americans in Europe... I hate laundry........