Run.Drive.Sleep?Repeat.

First of all, who flies all the way to Utah to run?! This girl right here. This last weekend was the Wasatch Back. The Wasatch Back is my most favorite race in the entire world. My team and I have done it for 3 years now. Somehow 3 years ago I talked 11 crazy people into joining me on a 200 mile run from Logan to Park City (only running 1/12 of it of course). Some were scared, some were excited and some I had to beg on hands and knees to do it. But by the end of the 24 hours and 200 miles we ALL loved it - and loved each other! Since then we have signed up every year and spend the entire year talking and planning for it. It's an event. This year was a BLAST!! We stared on Friday at noon, most of us switched it up this year and tried a new leg, and oh boy was it a challenge! Unfortunately, Ingrid (known to most as Coop) had to step out at last minute to be with her Dad for health reasons (he is in our prayers Coop!). We were sad to be without her, but so glad that Bryce was able to step in and join us with 48 hours notice. He did an awesome job, and even though he hadn't been training to run 3 times at all hours of the day and night in a period of 24 hours he kept up (and even smoked) the rest of us! We were all impressed.

It all begins with the decorating of the truck. You must know that our team name is 'Rapid Thigh Movement'(we won best team name 2 years ago). Really best running team name ever! Some teams drive vans, we prefer a truck because it is so nice to throw all your stuff in the back along with an air mattress so you can rest on your down time!
Every year there are always little things that we do to make the party a little more fun. Our first year was the year of silly string amazing-ness. I think we silly string-ed everyone along the course. We would cheer people by telling them how amazing they were while silly stringing them. Our second year was the year of the party in the box. You know those tiny bottles that you pull a string on and confetti flies out of. Well we threw EVERYONE a party! The line was "You're amazing! This party is for you!" (cue party). This year was the year of "The Eye of the Tiger". Traci brought a boom box. Everyone burned CD's, but only one CD and 3 songs on the one CD were played the entire time. At every exchange we would bring the boom box so our team member could run into or out of the exchange to Eye of the Tiger. Pretty soon we were getting requests from other teams to play the song for their team members. I think I heard that song over one hundred times and loved every second of it.Traci's Tiger Pose, so appropriate given the year of Eye of the Tiger.
Bryce was the only one that could figure out this horn Friday was SO hot, but we cooled down Saturday with the rain! I'll be honest right now, this leg kicked my booty. It was my first run, 7.5 miles uphill. It was killer and I was SO glad when it was finally over! This was Jolynn's killer uphill. The good thing about my uphill was it was my first run and I could just get it done with. Jolynn didn't get her killer uphill until the second day - she rocked it though! I didn't get any pictures of our night runs, but man oh man, you should have seen Chris' second leg - 8 miles up to East Canyon. Cheerleader kicks to cheer on the runners... Jolynn doesn't seem to be receiving it well. When do you start calling yourself a runner? When you start wearing spandex?! Oh man what is this world coming to?And the party isn't complete without some punk jumps... I thought this was a cool picture of Bryce's last leg into Heber.And a finish in the pouring rain... it's amazing how quickly the weather changes. Unfortunately from here the weather went from bad to worse and by the time our entire team crossed the finish line it was raining so bad I wouldn't even pull out my camera to take a picture. We crossed the finish line in our cute coral team shirts though and we looked great even if we were rain soaked!

What a fun race! Even though we make it such a party I do have to mention the how amazing each of these runners are. My team is seriously works very hard to be healthy and prepared for each run, good job guys! I can't wait until next year!

Happy Day to My Dad!

We had such a fun Father's Day filled with lots of fun and family. I failed however, to wish my dad a happy day on my blog. So... Happy Father's Day to a wonderful Father! My Dad is such a fun guy with an amazing outlook on life. I am so proud of the things he has accomplished and the things he has taught me just through his example.

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

Wishing Vacations Lasted Forever

But then, I guess it wouldn't be called a vacation. I have a new love in my life. That love is a country people call Greece. I never thought I could go on a vacation and dread the day that I had to go home. Normally I love a vacation, but welcome the return home to normal life and my soft bed. Not this vacation. Even with rock-hard mattresses, Greece is simply amazing! Simple because the people (on the islands) choose such a simple satisfying life where iphones and nice cars aren't the object of ones affection. And amazing because the clean white architecture set against the bright blue Mediterranean Sea and the sky with not a cloud in sight really does take your breath away.

I have thought for about a week what the best way to present this trip would be via blog. I have about 900 pictures (that is not an exaggeration in the slightest) and I know full well I can't post 900 pictures with a little story of how I loved that exact moment... as much as I would like to. Instead I will share my favorite pictures and thoughts as it pertains to this wonderful adventure.

Lindsey, Sarah, Erin, Lacey and I left to Greece not really knowing what to expect and not really having much of a plan. We knew what day to be on what island, but other than that the trip was free game! The 4 of them all left from Utah, had a layover in Paris, had their bags lost but finally arrived on the island of Mykonos in one piece (their bags arrived a few long hours later). I, leaving from Oregon, decided to travel on a different route that would shorten my travel time, but would leave me alone for the 24 hours it took to get there. I had a layover in Amsterdam. Getting off the plane in Amsterdam I was a little nervous that I would somehow get myself stuck in this foreign country where I wouldn't know how to communicate and be sold into some sort of questionable trade where people eat Americans for dinner (too many scary movies i.e. 'Taken'). That was not the case, the people were lovely. Most everyone spoke English and even added an accent to their English that made me just want to sit and listen to their words. I will note that they stood WAY to close to me, apparently personal space is a non-issue for some Europeans, but I was successful in making it to my connecting flight to Greece.

When I arrived in Greece I had one more plane to catch to take me to Mykonos and meet up with the girls. When I stepped off the plane in Mykonos I don't think I have ever been so excited to hear my name. Lacey was there waiting for me and I probably gave her the biggest hug I have ever given anyone. Tired (oh SO tired) and confused.. finally, I had made it!

We visited 2 islands while in Greece, Mykonos and Santorini. We also spent a day in Athens at the end of our trip. As to not spend hours and hours spilling every detail of every second (I bought a journal on the trip to do that) here are some pictures and key observations about our travels.

Mykonos - the locals are incredibly friendly. They would spend time with us just about everywhere we went trying to help us perfect our Greek greetings. They have the smallest roads I have ever seen. No joke, I think their 2 lane roads are 10 feet wide and their passenger cars are about a half of a step up from a smart car. They don't may much attention to road laws, to be honest I don't even know if they have any! We saw one cop the entire time on the island. Party town... it didn't help that it was spring break for the surrounding universities, but holy moly! They begin their festivities at about midnight. They get breakfast about 6am and head to bed about 8am. One morning as we were heading out for a run at about 7am our neighbors were coming in for the night. Gotta love it! We transferred to the next island by a hydrofoil. It was like an airplane on water! Super comfortable, they even had a little store on the boat to by treats.

When we arrived in Santorini we were (for lack of a better word) attacked by people trying to sell us hotel rooms, cab rides, rental cars and more. The first one or two who approached us were told very politely, "no thank you". About about 5 or 6 we just started pretending like they weren't there! We rented a car in Santorini as well and driving was a lot more comfortable. Still ultra small roads, but I do believe traffic laws are followed some-what because we couldn't leave the island before paying a parking ticket that we received in our short time there. The story of Santorini is that it used to be a perfectly round island. Some thousand of years ago there was a volcano on the island that irrupted and broke a significant amount of the island off. The piece that broke off, along with the volcano, sunk into the sea and has since resurfaced about 20 miles away from Santorini. Now, because of the volcanic irruption the west side of the island is steep cliff. However, west side is actually where they have built most of their towns and houses. This is where you would see movies like Momma Mia and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants filmed. The small towns look just like that. Santorini is exactly how I pictured Greece to be - we even rode donkeys! Because of all the lava rock on the island the beach that we stayed at, Kamari Beach, is a black beach with lava rocks as sand. It was really cool!

We did our final transfer from Santorini to Athens. Athens is like New York City before Giuliani. The buildings are big and but the streets are dirty. Dogs roam the city with no owners and no where to be. The people are friendly in a more fast paced sort of way. We visited the Acropolis and the temples surrounding. We saw markets that were built thousands and thousands of years ago and we stood atop Mars Hill where the apostle Paul preached of God. To be right where history took place was amazing and the craftsmanship of each structure that had been built or re-built is truly indescribable. And to top it all off... the trip couldn't have been complete without an ice cream cone every night! I would have expected to see gelato in Greece, but we never found any. However, Greecian ice cream = amazing (even though it's probably the same as everywhere else).
I feel like I just puked out Greece pictures with no rhyme or reason. I have so many pictures I love that I have such a hard time choosing only a couple. Maybe as I look through them as time passes I will choose one to tell a story about every once and a while. I loved every second of this vacation. I love my life in Portland, but I've been home for 7 days and my heart still wishes it was on top of a mountain staring at white houses set against the blue water. Greece I miss you!