Almost done!

I've got two more days of vacation left. I fly out Saturday afternoon and get back into Portland at around 8:30 p.m. I honestly would not mind staying here another month, but I'm getting antsy. I miss my animals and I feel like crap, health-wise. My back is wrecked from sleeping on the pull-out couch, and I can barely walk when I get up in the morning.

Yesterday, Mom and I went to her relatives' condo to swim and have lunch. I'm glad that I stayed an extra seven days because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten to say goodbye to them (they were busy last week). I can't remember the last time I saw them. They moved back to Germany in 1987, but surely it can't have been that long. At any rate, it was wonderful to see them again and I really enjoyed spending time with them. Now that I'm working on my fear of flying, I'm all fired up to visit them in Germany next year. I can't believe I'm this old, and I haven't seen Europe yet. This is where I start beating myself up for wasting so much of my life, so I'll just shut up about it.

On a side note, I'd like to point out that even though I said they were my mom's relatives, they are my relatives, too. My sister and I are adopted, and my whole life I never felt like I belonged to either side of the family. I've always referred to them as "my dad's family" and "my mom's family." A lot of my problems stem from feeling shut out my entire life. But that's what therapy is for. Another reason I'm eager to return to Oregon.

In happier news, I'm going to my second hockey game tonight, if all goes well (the Bolts are playing the Minnesota Wild.) My friend had to euthanize her dog yesterday, so her friend J said that he would take care of the tickets. This may or may not involve us using an acquaintance's season tickets. I'm very excited.

And now, I'm going to do some stretches in the hopes of getting rid of these crippling back pains. Next week this blog will be back to 100% running.

(Me at the beach in Treasure Island. My mom took this. I think she's got a good eye for photography, especially considering she had no idea what she was doing.)

Change of plans...

So...I'm not leaving tomorrow. I'm leaving a week from Saturday. Not my fault! The other day my mom asked (out of the blue) if I wanted to stay another week. After checking with my sister and my mom's caregiver back in Oregon to see if they minded (they're watching our animals, after all), we went ahead and changed my reservation. For only $10 extra!

I'm really happy about that. I was starting to feel like I was being rushed, that I didn't have time to do everything I wanted to do. And that's true, actually. Being sick for a week really forked up my plans. Another reason I really wanted to stay is that this will be one less week my mom will be here alone.

On the negative side, the Self Challenge starts in four days. However, I'm not going to stress out. I can start it a week late and it won't really make a difference except that my info on the website will be a little off. I just didn't want to start the Challenge while I was here. We don't really have any fresh foods and I don't have access to my exercise equipment. I know I can exercise doing something outdoorsy, but I'm anal retentive and want to do things a certain way.

In the mean time, I'm getting out and doing stuff everyday. I have a lot of plans with my friend Julie (including, hopefully, another hockey game. Sadly, the Bolts aren't playing the Caps again until the end of March.), plus! Now I have time to get my film developed. I should probably go do that tomorrow.

At any rate, that's what's going on. I swear -- I'm coming home next week and this blog will resume its running-only status.

Plans

I'm flying back home on Friday. Initially, I wanted to jump right back into running on Saturday, but I figure I should give myself some time to adjust. As of right now, I'm planning on starting running again the following Tuesday. I'll give myself three days of Week 1 and then get back into Week 2. If it turns out I need to start all over again, so be it. I'm trying not to beat myself up for slacking off so much (exercise-wise) while I've been in Florida. To be fair, I've been out and about a lot, and though I haven't been eating as well as I do back home, I also haven't been eating in excess. So that's good. And I haven't lost my zest for exercise, either. I am eager to get back into my routine.

So now I'm just trying to make the most of my last days here. Thursday I have to take my camera back to Walmart. There's no way I can justify having it; not while I'm mostly unemployed. Still, it was nice while it lasted, and I've gotten a lot of great photos out of it. This past Saturday, my friend Julie took me to see my very first hockey game. The Bolts played the Washington Capitals. The Caps won, but it was still an exciting game. Plus? I GOT TO SEE OVIE. And a couple of fights. I've never been one to think athletes were sexy, but hockey players? Damn.

At any rate, next week this blog will be back on track (literally), and I can't wait! This is, of course, assuming the weather agrees with me. I'll be forcing my sister to join the gym this week, so we'll at least have that as back up if it's snowing or, as we call it in Portland, snaining.

Bummmm

Still in Florida. Still not running. I've been here two weeks now and am still waiting for it to feel like I'm on vacation. Waiting is useless. Going out and doing something is what's going to bring the vacation feeling. So Friday I hopped into my mom's car (which I now call the Fauxpala) and drove to Tampa to meet my friend Julie. We've known each other online for about four years now, and I was really excited about meeting her. That's half the reason I flew out here in the first place. We're both photography nerds, so we were looking forward to going out with our cameras.

We ended up going to Lettuce Lake Park. We were really hoping to see some alligators (there's a 12 footer that lives there), but all we found were gator-shaped logs. We did see lots of lizards, ibis, blue herons and ospreys. And a gooberfish. (Star Wars nerds, we are.) Sooooo much fun.

I conquered two fears that day: Driving to strange places by myself and meeting people. I've got awful social anxiety. People (and especially crowds) make me nervous. But meeting Julie was like hanging out with a friend I'd just seen the day before. I was instantly comfortable with her and never felt the slightest twinge of panic or anxiety. We had a great day together, and I can't wait to see her again. What's next? Manatees? Gators? Dinosaur World? Yes, yes and yes.

Oh, I also came home that night with a boxful of Julie's clothes. I'm not a klepto; she offered! I snagged six pairs of pants (including a sweet pair of Budweiser pj bottoms), a cute summer dress, six shirts and a pair of shorts. I can't fit into any of the shirts or the dress, but I fully intend to use them as goal clothes. We were so wrapped up in the day that we forgot she also wanted to give me a vegan cookbook and an old camera of hers that has a broken light meter. Next time!

So that's pretty much what I've been up to. I was sick the first week I was here and this second week I've just been depressed. I miss my sister and my animals. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm having a lot of trouble sleeping. Every now and then I'll have one night where I have difficulty falling asleep, but I haven't been able to fall right to sleep since I got here. I think a lot of it has to do with me not exercising or running. So today I forced myself to work out. My mom's condo is tiny, so I don't have a lot of room. I flailed around the front room for a warm up and then used two 1-lb cans of Heinz (roasted garlic and onion) pasta sauce as weights. I normally use 3-lb weights, but I guess I'll have to make due with what I've got on hand. At least I worked out, right? I'm hoping it'll help me get to sleep tonight.

The weather has been pretty crappy here as well. Seems I brought the weather with me from Oregon. The only good news is that, though it's raining, it's not freezing cold. This week is going to be really nice. Perfect, in fact, for running. I just can't bring myself to put on my shoes and head out the door. I'm not brave enough. I'm convinced I'll get mugged or something.

I briefly toyed with the idea of going to the local Y.W.C.A., but it costs $35 to join and I'm only going to be here three more weeks.

Mehhhh.

I really miss running. I don't know what to do.