Superficial Joy

The Run that Just About Killed Me ...was in July. The Ragnar Trail Relay in Tahoe. We have an 8 member team. The race is 3 legs and each person runs all 3 legs, which are roughly 3, 6.5 and 7 miles. For a total of 16ish miles, for those of you counting. I ran 6 miles once all last school year. And about 10 shorter-than-that runs the rest of the year. This is the condition in which I arrived in Tahoe to "travel" my 3 legs. Leg 1. I asked for the hardest one first. See how I am still alive? Smiling, even? Do not be deceived. I am hurting. It is like 85 degrees and dry and I have not run at all and I am barely hanging on. Our camp. The gray tent is where I spent about 3 hours after leg 1 trying not to die. At the suggestion of a teammate I drank water with electrolytes in it but felt nauseous and overwhelmingly icky.  I contemplated not running my next leg. The only consolation was that the hardest run in the hottest part of the day was over. Let 2...

I turned in my form on Tuesday of last week (which is now 3 weeks ago). It's official: I'm staying in Abu Dhabi for another year! The debate has been going on for months. In fact, I came back this year expecting to stay just a year. That's why I'm not coming home for Christmas vacation--so I can maximize travel time before I leave the Middle East. But the second year has been massively, fantastically, astronomically better than the first. The very first day back was better than any given day that first semester of last year (with the exception of the day I flew home): I knew how to get home I knew where I was going I knew how to talk to the taxi driver My rental car was all set up for 10 a.m. that morning When my apartment wasn't clean, I immediately email school, who immediately took action and within hours had my apartment restored to cleanliness The culture shock had worn off The wall of humid heat when I got off the plane didn't surprise me  ...

It has been forever since I posted!  I have run myself so ragged that I have no time for anything. My dear friend. But more on that later. I just wanted to quickly update: I am alive I am well I am considering staying another year Last weekend I took a trip to visit a friend from Boise on her birthday. It was amazing!!! I am exercising consistently (as opposed to 6 times last year. Ragnar team, I wouldn't die if we ran now) Work is busy and stressful but still good. I am taking Arabic classes. A friend and I are visiting Ukraine the end of November. I won't be home for the holidays but am going to travel instead. (suggestions welcome) I miss you all! I love you all! the Sea of Galilee Another view of the Sea of Galilee Do you need a saint? My dear friend This is at a gas station!  Seriously! The Mediterranean. We had the birthday part at the building behind me. The beach near Ceasaria. A run to the beach near C...

My second first day of school in the UAE is done. It could not have been more different than last year. In fact, the week I have been back has been massively different. What a difference a year makes!  First day, looking VERY teacher-y Last year at this time I was in a constant state of hyper vigilance. I was in absolute shock at being in the Middle East; I was overwhelmed by all the work there was to do; constantly afraid, I was on the defensive and irrationally felt like people (like taxi drivers, sales clerks, random people walking along the street) were out to get me. Everything here takes forever and requires a tremendous amount of patience to work through, and I met all of those obstacles with fear masked as anger, irritation and entitlement. I was restless and dis-easy down at the core of my soul. I couldn't sleep and to quote Cher from Clueless , I had an overwhelming sense of ickiness. Few times in my life have I had such an awful feeling that something...

I love running. My former husband taught me how to run when we were first married. I was not athletic to begin with and got my P.E. credit in high school from band [I know, I know. We did arm circles]. We started by hiking a 2.5 mile loop at a park in San Antonio over and over again, each time running for a little bit longer. Next thing you know I am signed up for a 5 mile race (which I thought was a 5K, but that's a different story) and I ran the entire time! Now I've done some marathons, a bunch of half-marathons and get to run with an awesome bunch of people on Ragnar trail relays around the West. There are so many reasons I like it. Nothing makes your legs look good like running. Some of my closest friends I met through running. I love how I feel when I am  finished  with a run (this may account for up to 87% of my running). I cannot overemphasize how great it feels when I reach my goal distance and I get to walk. If I go in the morning, I get to bask in the knowledge...

I had a brief interlude in Dallas, my unofficial port of entry and exit in the United States. Aside from lounging in front of the tv in "soft clothes", playing games and eating pork, here are the highlights: I was collected in my aunt's new car! A year ago I left Dallas around the same time but utterly paralyzed with fear. The drive to DFW was amazingly anxious. We took a selfie, said our goodbyes and I went on my merry [read: terrifying] way. I felt that fear of going off the high dive when you don't really want to mixed with a fear of being forgotten, seasoned with a little worry about being laughed at. The economy seat I was in was so claustrophobic I asked for an upgrade to Business Class. I would have gladly paid the $2000, but there were no seats available. The terror continued as I walked down a tunneled,  air conditioned stairway to exit the plane and when the humid, hot air hit me I wondered what I had done to myself. A completely cavernous feelin...

After a few days in Dallas I arrived in Austin to volunteer for the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Not only is it in my hometown, I grew up in the Diocese of Texas , I was super active in the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho  and I stayed for two weeks while simultaneously visiting my parents [read: it's easy to visit for 2 weeks when we all have lots of things to do that keep us busy]. I imagined summer being full of rest and relaxation and sleep and pool lounging.  When I looked at my volunteer schedule it occurred to me that I may have sabotaged my own dreams...  The days were full but wonderful! I made some new friends and saw lots of old ones.  I volunteered mostly in the House of Bishops, one of our two houses of government (if you need sleeping pills, try this explanation of the structure of the EC). There were times when I wondered how in the world the Episcopal Church gets anything done, but other times I felt immense pride ...