Cross-Country Travels (but not the Running Kind)

This week, I have not done any running. Or really any exercising of any kind. I know that's not good, and I'm not entirely proud of it, but it has been kind of a crazy week.

The weekend ended up being a lot crazier than I expected, and though I did go with a new buddy on Sunday, the long run didn't end up being long or much of a run. I think we did around 4-4.5 miles and we walked most of the way because I kept getting crazy cramps after about 10 seconds of running. We did explore a few very pretty parts of Pasadena, though, which was exciting, and it was nice to be outside on such a beautiful day and spend some time with a friend.

Monday and Tuesday were spent up in Malibu at Junior Retreat. I brought my stuff with me, but there didn't end up being much free time for running (unless I had gotten up at 5:30am to do it, but I was too tired for that - 7am was bad enough).

The beautiful retreat center in Malibu.

I left the retreat a little after lunch on Tuesday to head straight for the airport (shoutout to my awesome chauffer, Dad!) to surprise a friend of mine who was to graduate from Navy boot camp out near Chicago the following day.

Two days, two uniforms. Dress blues on top and NSUs on bottom. And no real smiling in the military, or so I'm told.

The trip has been a whirlwind so far - I got in late Tuesday night, hung out with the graduate & family Wednesday, and did Thanksgiving things today, and we're about to head to the airport (yes, at 1 in the morning) to hang out with him overnight before his flight leaves tomorrow morning, at which point I will spend the day with my suitcase in Chicago before I fly home and do a post-Thanksgiving visit with my own family since I wasn't with them today.

Phew.

My hope is to run on Saturday and get myself back on track next week now that life will be pretty much back to normal. I have another trip planned for Christmas break, but since I'm visiting the friend I met while training for the other half marathon, I'm just going to make her go running with me while I'm there so it should work out better for my training next time. Here's hopin'...