Summer Things

Well, I did it... registered for the Loch Ness Marathon! It's one of the things I decided I wanted as a goal for myself this summer. I run much better when I have an event to look forward to and motivate me, plus I got tired of telling people I was just thinking about it, haha. I've always wanted to see Loch Ness, and since it's on island I won't even have to use precious days of leave for the weekend! Martin won't be back from deployment yet, but a few friends have told me they were considering running it, so hopefully I'll have a travel buddy or two. I booked my hotel too, got a nice place right near the expo and finish area. So now I am officially in training!

I ran two 5Ks this weekend, sort of by accident... I told a friend a while ago I would do a charity pub run in Cambridge on Sunday, then forgot the date and challenged my weather flight members to run the base 5K on Saturday. None of them took me up on it, but I didn't want to back out, and sometimes if there's a small showing at these base runs I can snag a place with a prize, so I figured what the heck. Racing always motivates me to run harder anyway. Well, to put it bluntly... I got beat, pretty soundly by two girls I very much underestimated at the start. Oh well... still got a t-shirt! :-)

The pub run was a good time, even though it was cold and rainy. The course in Cambridge was really pretty, along the River Cam and through some of the city. We started at one pub, ran 1.8 miles to another pub, had a drink (I had water), then ran a different route 1.5 miles back to the original pub, where more drinks were had and the pub owner cooked up some burgers for us. The run organizer said we raised over 300 pounds (that's GBP, I don't know how to make the pounds symbol on an American keyboard...) for Cancer Research UK, so all in all a good day.

Okay, since my non-running readers are probably bored now, I'll talk about something else...more plans for the summer! One big event is this Thursday... my new boss (Brian) arrives. As you may remember, I have been the acting weather flight commander since November, when Jose deployed. Now, you all know me, I am not the type of person to have control issues, or to worry about being a notch lower on the totem pole. I guess my anxiety is about how I will define my role in the flight now. Since I've been basically doing two jobs for the last 6 months, what am I going to do with myself when half or more of that is gone? I'm sure it will be fine, it will just take some time and getting to know Brian to figure out our working relationship. He seems like a nice guy from the email communication we've had, so I'm looking forward to meeting him and his family on Thursday.

That sort of brings me to my next topic... travel! As much as I hate to stay put over 3-day weekends, I'm going to this weekend because I am Brian's sponsor... and I decided it would probably be rude to pick him up from the airport on Thursday and then leave town for 3 days. So I'm going to look at it as a chance to show them (he has a wife and 3-year-old daughter) some of the local attractions, like the Bury St Edmunds market or maybe even Cambridge. My next chance to go somewhere will be 4th of July, but I haven't decided where yet... thinking somewhere beachy, but I'd like to find a travel buddy!

One exciting thing that happened last week was a phone call I got from a member of the USAFE weather staff. She asked me to talk at a focus group at the USAFE weather conference in September about a binder I made for our inspection that covers all of the staff element checklist items. I got the idea from the Spangdahlem weather flight commander, but she just happens to be moving this summer... so I get to present the idea at the conference. So why is this exciting? Two main reasons: 1) The conference is at the gorgeous Edelweiss military resort in the German Alps, and 2) The new weather assignments officer will be there. This is crazy important, because it will give me a chance to meet him/her face-to-face and talk about joint spouse assignment options for Martin and me, so I won't just be a name on an email or voice on the phone.

No, we still don't know when we are getting married. A lot of it will have to do with what we can get out of our respective assignments teams over the next several months. Having him in Korea now makes it even more complicated, but it's just one of those things we will have to adapt to. I've been really blessed in the last month or so to have conversations with several military women/couples who have worked through their own circumstances and willingly shared their stories with me. It is good to know that others have been through this, and that we have some options to make this work.

Martin and I have been able to Skype almost every day, though the time difference (he is +8 hours) is a challenge. Skype is such a wonderful thing. I get so excited every time I see the spinning circle saying "starting video", because I know it will just be a few seconds until I see his face! Weekends are the best, because we can talk for longer periods of time. We are looking at a Mediterranean cruise for after he gets back this fall, so that is really exciting!

Good List:
1. Martin (and Skype!)
2. New music. Currently listening to The Veer Union, who I think sounds somewhat like Skillet, and Green River Ordinance, who reminds me of The Pat McGee Band.
3. Free APO-to-APO mail. This means I can send Martin all kinds of fun things whenever I want! :-D
4. Being reminded not to judge a book by its cover... or not to judge at all.
5. Peanut butter.
6. Finally getting around to posting Prague pictures, and re-living all the great memories and moments they contained. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150672294250002.694943.701905001&l=cc94081472
7. My Brita water pitcher.
8. Productivity. I cleaned all my kitchen counters and appliances, re-organized the cabinets, and cleaned out the fridge and freezer. Now if only I can continue this with the rest of the house...
9. Opportunities to meet new people and do new things.
10. OG Softball. I actually got a couple hits and scored twice last week!