Three More Months...Done

Part of the fun of Foreign Service life is the daydreaming.  Most of us are constantly dreaming of the "what if's" and the "where to's."  What if we get assigned to (name your top or last choice)?  Where would we visit if we were in (name that country again)?  Maybe someday we'll get (name it)!

Turkey, baby!  We're Istanbul-bound, Summer 2017.

For us, our "what if?" is actually known; our bidding was done in September!  And we're excited to say we'll be moving to Istanbul, Turkey for three years, starting in summer 2017!  YES!!  It's always been a daydream assignment for us and we couldn't be more pleased.  I've already researched schools and housing and have looked at the potential job market for me because I just can't help myself.  If you're living this kind of nomadic life, you totally know what I mean.

But what absolutely sucks about this lifestyle is our inability to fully live in the moment.  And if you're trudging through an unaccompanied assignment (which, yeah, we're doing right now), it's all the harder.  For me, I'm currently planning things in increments of three months.  Each seems to be pegged around when the fab hubby is home on R&R.

My blog has, once again, taken the back burner.  Maybe it's because I'm honestly crazy busy.   I mean, come on!  Three kids, all in different schools, a full-time job, a dog, two cats, all the stuff of regular life.  And I'm flying solo.  Or maybe it's because time seems to tick by oh-so-slowly and blogging just reminds me of it.  Or maybe it's because I'm afraid of the emotional roller coaster writing seems to bring out in me.

But here we are again, three more months done.  We're pretty close to the half-way point of our Baghdad separation.  Because tonight, I'll be picking up the fab hubby at the airport for three weeks of R&R.  It's been a long, long three months.  But at the same time, it's weirdly been a blur.

Summer.  Big kids enjoyed a month of glorious sailing and surfing with their besties in California.  Friends since our Cairo days, the kids have managed to stay close, despite the miles separating them.  I was only super jealous since I couldn't go with them to catch up with our friends as well!

School started and The Tween is now in Middle School.  He's in all honors classes (except for English, which his says is his nemesis) at his own choosing.  He's also in Model U.N. and Band (trumpet).  This nerd mom couldn't be more proud.  Abby is now in 5th Grade, also in Band (flute) and she has started Irish Step Dancing.  {Again, nerd mom proudly pats self on back.}

Kellen turned FIVE and I suddenly feel old old OLD.  He's no longer a baby, and long past the toddler phase.  I have to watch my language around him because any time I swear, he's sure to point out my effing transgression.  Dinosaurs and super heroes are center stage, but he's still trotting right behind the big kids hoping they'll accept him and play with him, despite the age gap.

As for me, well.  Let's just say you don't gain 20 pounds in a year because you've been taking good care of yourself.  I like to portray myself as having it all together (because honestly, I usually feel like I mostly do), but when push came to shove, I was sadly willing to back off of the running to keep my sanity.  My work schedule and home stuff keep me crazy enough and trying to fit in running regularly is rough.  As injury upon injury piled up due to inconsistent running, I had to make a choice.  I'm really kinda ashamed that I made the wrong choice initially.  It was sooooo much easier to choose chocolate cake and the couch instead of a brisk walk after work, time and time again.  Next thing I knew, nothing fit, not even my scrubs.  It's bad when the elastic-waist scrubs are digging in.

I begrudgingly started with a walk at my lunch break at work.  I picked up a Fitbit (a high tech pedometer) thanks to a friend's recommendation {that would be the mom of the kiddos my kids flew out to Cali to see last summer -- dang I miss her!} and I just made the tiny commitment to walk most everyday.  Increasing my steps, decreasing the cake and couch time.  It honestly kinda sucks, only because it's never instantly gratifying.  But I've stuck with it, and added some running (slow) back into my days.  It takes months to lose fitness and it takes way more time to regain it.  It's incredibly frustrating.  But I signed up for the Army 10-Miler to keep myself on track.

In October, I ran that race.  Sluggy slow, but injury-free.  And 10-pounds lighter, which I'm thrilled with.  I'm still walking at work and running on the weekends and whenever I can sanely squeeze in a couple extra miles.  It feels good to be back on the road and taking care of myself again.

And of course.  The fab hubby returns tonight! All the usual prep work is complete.  A new pair of specs and a haircut for me.  I've splurged on bi-weekly housekeeping and oh my gawd is it completely and utterly worth it.  The house is spotless and I'm not yelling at kids to (halfheartedly) scrub toilets and vacuum the floors.  I've also written out a calendar so the fab hubby isn't at a loss of remembering when and where the kids are day-to-day, because although the weekly crazy is etched in my head permanently, he's been gone from the household crazy.  It's all gonna be fuzzy (and a blur for him).

Plans are made for the rest of month.  Every weekend is of course already booked and the fab hubby is home this R&R for Thanksgiving.  We're meeting up with family for turkey day, but the weekend after will be spent at Great Wolf Lodge with some friends.  Because dude.  I turn 40 that weekend and nothing says party like an indoor water park and bazillions of children running around.  We embrace the crazy.

Ack.  I just admitted I'm turning 40.  I'm considering just celebrating 39 again.

Here's a photo tour of the blur from end of summer until now:

Post-Surf Camp gang.  I'm pretty jealous, having missed out.

Abby, sailing!

Owen and his buddy Josh, sailing.

These girlies have known each other since Cairo.
Oh, and In-N-Out.  Again, jealous.

Geek squad and a bromance.

End of summer fun at our community pool.

Boys will be boys.

Middle School = Locker Time.

Socks and ghillies (dance shoes) are a must for Irish Step Dancing.

Weekend of the Army 10-Miler; I took the boys paddle boating in D.C.

Epic photobomb by the Washington Monument.

In case you're wondering what Five Years looks like.
Newborn on the left.
5yo who loves toy spiders on the right.

I adore him.

Requisite birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's.

Five burning candles.

Blow them out!

Getting my bib for the Army 10-Miler.
And my shirt says how I feel most days.

I was a slug but I did it.
And I'll do it again.

On the trail, taking care of myself with a good run.
And a sassy new haircut to boot.

Geeze It's Been a Couple of Months of SUCCESSES! Spring Break, TDY's, a New Job, and Running!

Because after a hard afternoon of tromping through a museum,
everyone deserves ice cream on the national mall!

This poor blog has been left alone and abused!  How can two more *expletive* months have gone by without a single entry!?

But honestly, it's been a successful, and of course busy!, couple of months.

Spring Break success!  The kiddos' friends arrived from California  (we'd know them in Egypt!) and hung out with us for a week.  Hard to believe that this was my last update.  We were so excited that Spring was finally here!  And now it's summer already?!  ALL FIVE KIDS (that's our three and the two who flew out to us!) had a blast.

I was still in the middle of a RN contract assignment and had somehow been scheduled 48 hours that week, so the fab hubby took off some time to hang out with the kids and keep them out of trouble.  He took them bowling and to the movies and also to Great Falls!  If you live in the DC area, you must go there.  It's absolutely fantastic!

All five kids at Great Fall.  The fab hubby was super fabulous
and took the kids to great places like this!

Gorgeous.

After some schedule finagling, I managed to pull a fab mommy moment and take all the kids to the Smithsonian National Natural History Museum.  The dinosaur exhibit was about to be closed for FIVE LONG YEARS, so we had to get in and see it!  Unfortunately, it was the last day of spring break and it was PACKED.  I'd never seen so many people crammed into a museum at once.  But we'd navigated crowds in Egypt, so we knew how to handle ourselves.  The only scary moment was when The Toddler decided he could navigate faster by crouching below knee level and crawling between legs.  That kid completely owns me.  I bellowed  out "KELLEN" so loud that the crowd of people surrounding us hushed and parted so that I was able to scoop up my wandering toddler.  Thankfully, I hadn't resorted to tears.  And yeah, I'm that kind of mom sometimes.

Orange Line, baby!  Riding the metro.

Quite possibly the greatest metro rider. Ever.

Chaos in the museum!  (Abby took this photo!)

Tourist time!

I had a hard time getting the boys to not do something crazy whenever I
took their pic.  This is the best way to get them - when they're not looking!

How can I not forgive him for running off in the museum?  Such a sweetie.

Anyway, just as we sent our visitors back on a plane to California, and things were getting back to 'normal', the fab hubby headed out into the world on a 2-week TDY.  Thankfully, my mom flew in from Ohio to help out with the munchkins.  The kids were happy to see her and I took her to see some of my fav NoVA spots.  You know.  Starbucks.  Old Town Alexandria.  More Starbucks.

Teaching my mom the fine art of the sippy face.

Old Town Alexandria.  One of my favorite places.

Because when you help out with your crazy grandchildren for nearly
two weeks, you totally deserve a beer at lunch at least once!

And then, in all this craziness, my contract at NIH concluded.  I'd been a travel/contract RN since arriving in NoVA, but I was starting to feel like a vagabond.  As much as I loved contract nursing, I was kinda tired of moving from job to job every few months.  And I really, REALLY love working Pediatrics at NIH.  So, I took the plunge.  And accepted a full-time position at NIH.  I honestly couldn't be happier.  This is a great direction for my career, and I'm up for the challenge.

And speaking of challenges.  I'm officially in Marathon training mode.  It's about four months until the Marine Corps Marathon and I'm convinced I can do it in under 5 hours. I ran The Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco in 5 hours 38 minutes.  Honestly, I WAS pleased with my time, but at the same time, it was sorta frustrating -- I was tracking for under 5 hours at the 20-mile mark.  The last 6 miles killed me!  Anyway, I'm on the trail again and have increased my distance while decreasing my time.  And of course, I love it.  I have sadly been having some arthritis flair ups - especially on cold/wet/humid days.  But I've been able to work through it, and that's really all that matters to me.  Power through it or quit running.  I chose to power through it.

My favorite compression shirt for those days when my hands really hurt.
Arthritis sucks.

A pain-free and awesome running day; hitting a local trail!

Right now?  I'm on a TDY!  But mine is for the Army.  I'm at Fort Carson, Colorado (in Colorado Springs) completing my annual Army Reserves training.  Really, it's fantastic.  I work in the ER as a nurse here on Post for two weeks every year.  I love that my military career mimics my civilian career.  Doesn't get better than that!  And despite my work load, I'm still able to get out and run, whether on Base or at my favorite stomping grounds -- Garden of the Gods.  Nothing but successes right now.  And it feels really, really good.

Fabulous TDY.  Pikes Peak in the distance.

Garden of the Gods.  One of my favoritist running places in the world.

Fabulous trails!  Doesn't get better than this!

Of course we all know the dreaded bidding season is upon us, right?  It's all the Foreign Service rage. And we all love it.  <insert eye roll here>  But we've got our theoretical plans for bidding mapped out and we're comfortable with it.  Here's hoping one of those theoretical plans works out in our favor.  We'd love an additional success!

Yup.

I Said One And Done…But I Really Didn't Mean It

Yeah.  That shirt is a cliche.  But every time I run, I really do feel invincible.

There's a strong love-hate relationship between me and running.  I've been a runner, off and on, for about 20 years.  {And BAM!  Just like that, I feel OLD!  20 YEARS.}  In my running 'career', I've done numerous races.  Countless 5K's, a couple of handfuls of 10K's, the oddball 8-mile and 10-mile races, four (as of this past weekend!) 1/2 Marathons, but only ONE Marathon.

I'm a slow runner.  I'm not particularly built like a runner.  I've got numerous physical complaints when I run.  But bottom line --- when I run, I feel good.  That runner's high is intoxicating.  Get it once, and you want it again and again.  So I've run, with lots of complaining, lulls, and repeat back to running, off and on for 20 years.

In October 2012, I flew from Cairo to San Francisco to run the Nike Women's Marathon.  I'd spent years dreaming of running a marathon.  After submitting my name in Nike's lottery, I left the marathon possibility up to chance.  When my name was drawn, I assumed it was fate; I was meant to run that race.  I'd only ever wanted to run one, and it was, despite the hardship of training (the heat in Cairo, the street dogs chasing me, getting smacked across my behind by a Cairo taxi driver, the exhaustion of working full-time/chasing three kids around/trying to keep a 'normal' life, etc, etc, etc), the race was EPIC.

I hurt.  I nearly cried when I crossed the finish line.  I crashed into exhaustion post-race.   And the pain that lingered in my small joints (primarily my feet and hands) for the month after, was later diagnosed as as an uncommon subset of arthritis - inflammatory osteoarthritis; unfortunately, running could be one of those things that causes an inflammatory stress reaction to my arthritis.  But I did it.  Against so many odds, I DID IT.

And it was amazing.  In fact, I'd say it was one of the greatest achievements of my life.

I felt strongly that a marathon was a "ONE AND DONE" event for me.  I've told everyone it was one of the hardest things I've ever done, and I would never have the strength or courage to do it again.  Of course, I'm still running - it's how I love to discover the world.  But never again would I do a marathon.

And of course.  I was wrong.

It started with a "don't you remember how amazing it felt to cross that line?", and was followed by a "you could beat your time if you did it again", and then the "do you really want one of the greatest events of your life to have already been completed?" crept into the thoughts in the back of my mind.  I've got so much more time to do so much more.

I bounced the idea off the fab hubby, who in all of his fabulousness simply said "do it".  No reminder of how much I loathe the five-month-long training plan, no complaint of how much family time it eats up, not even a mention of how much my joints will hurt.  Just a "do it".  He's always got my back, and has always been my biggest supporter.

I submitted my name for another marathon random drawing.  And today, once again, despite the low chance of success, my name was drawn for the event.   And just like that, I'm committed to the greatness of a marathon once again.  Because in October, I'll be lining up for this:

Sure.  I said one and done.  But I didn't really mean it.  Because it's time to do it again.   The Marine Corps Marathon.  An epic race with some of the greatest you'll ever meet and be proud to run along side.

And speaking of the greatness of running.  Last weekend, I ran a 1/2 Marathon with some amazing FS friends.

It was Jill's first 1/2 Marathon! and according to her, it was also her last.  We'll see.  I don't really think it's her last.  We ran the Marine Corps 10K last fall, and it was so fun, that we signed up for the Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon here in DC.  We ran the entire race together, crossing the line at the exact same time (with visions of lattes dancing in our heads!).

Training this winter has been HORRENDOUS.  I don't think I can stand another snow day!  But we were lucky and the snow never came on race day.  It fact, it was nearly 60 degrees when we ran!  And my other friend, Sara, she rocked her best 1/2 Marathon ever!   And now she's thinking a Marathon may be in her future.

That's really how running gets you.  You have a goal.  You train for the goal.  You meet it head on and nail your goal.  And then, you need another.  And another.  And another...

And sometimes, you even get to have fun doing so.  Time with friends like this is never a bad thing, especially if you're running 13.1 miles together.

At the Race Expo, getting the goods!

Every 1 hour, I eat one of these.   Love, indeed.

Me and my posse.  I love running with these girls!  Jill and I are new
to running together; Sara and I ran together in Cairo.
Even through sandstorms!

Pre-race photobomb!

Start line!

Mile 10 selfie.  Sara was way ahead of us by now.  She was going for a PR!

Another mile 10 selfie.  Why run together if you can't have fun together?

This right here?  Best feeling in the world.

Supergirls.

That's how you celebrate!
(I'm going incognito in those shades!  Does the latte give me away?)