Yay!

After my training was derailed for 2 weeks due to heavy coughing and what was thankfully an evil end-of-the-season cold instead of a newfound allergy to hayfever, I was pretty down about the whole training thing. It never felt like I was improving on my time and my legs never felt STRONG. The approach of a major proof point - the Bonn Half Marathon - filled me with complete dread. Yesterday night as I was packing my stuff I had my heart in my throat, and there were quite a few trips to the bathroom due to overall stress (I know, this is way more info than you need). But somehow, this morning I got up to gorgeous weather, steadied nerves, and ran a 1:57:42 half marathon time...not as fast as I would have liked, and it's certainly not fast enough so I can be relaxed about Stockholm, but I am SO HAPPY that I had to post it out there - the 5am runs did pay off!!!


My favorite sign held by a spectator today: Pain goes, Pride stays.

Pig asked ahead of the race, so are you going to be 1st, or 2nd....that's a lot of pressure to put on your mom, little man. I was 84 of 310 women in the 35-40 category...if I keep at it I will be 1st or 2nd some day!!

Recap II: Spring Does Not Mean Summer Follows

Back in early April on one of the first decent days we ventured to a nearby openair musem. I have a weakness for these...pretty much any open space where you can have a nice walk and the option of peaking into historic buildings, preferably with some characters in period dress churning butter or tending to any other unspeakably tiresome household chore. Pig, however, hates going into these musty old places and turned his nose the first time he stepped into a kitchen with a pot of cabbage stew simmering - he couldn't be enticed to stay a minute longer.


So we kept ourselves outside.

Pig has now taken up photography...although do we need another documentation of our beer consumption??

Gravel makes Ponchi happy!
And things have pretty much gone downhill since. Except for the Bonn marathon day it's been back to being cold and cloudy the past weeks. As typical for this region the slooow start to summer defeats the promising spring...Come sunshine!!

Recap I: Skiing with Hsin

So amazed still that Hsin came all the way here to go skiing with us, back in March. After a hellish 18 hr drive down to Austria we made it and had a great week.

For not having skiied in a while Hsin was a trooper. Here she is giving offpiste a try....or not!