Choose Your Trail

Me: I planned out our 11-mile loop,

up up up then descend.

Him: I haven’t ran in weeks, I

may not be up for that.

Me: You’ll be fine. We’ll go

slow! And we’ll figure

out what we wanna do

when the time comes.

 

We were planning on a long trail run on Thursday morning. I woke up tired, for some reason it was hard to get out of bed and just push the brew button on my coffee pot. But I had a friend to meet at 8am to run…11 hard miles. He met me at his door and we started walking, the weather perfectly chilled with Fall on it’s way. I told my friend my difficulties this morning and he said he was feeling the same.

My friend reminded me of our text conversation last night; we can do whatever we want. “oh yeah” I thought. Just because we planned on doing 11 miles didn’t mean we absolutely had to. That’s the beauty of running, you choose the distance, pace and location—all you really need are shoes.

We decided to walk up through the park and up the road called 2060. We hike up for a good 90 minutes, talking, sharing, trying to solve each other’s problems, or just be there to listen which is what we both actually needed.

 

Him: I have a plan. Let’s run down.

         Then around the park for a

few miles. Yeah?

Me: YEAH!

 

The run down was quick and easy. We turned off onto the trails of Lithia Park, I chose the direction, then my friend cut ahead and took the lead, twisting around, changing direction quickly and keeping me on my toes and eventually leading us back down town. It was a game of cat and mouse, the leader followed and then they switched places. It was fun.

A lot of times I forget how much we’re actually in control. Just because something doesn’t go as planned doesn’t mean you can’t take the reins and still make it a great run, day, experience. You’re, more often then not, in control of the direction of you future. Sometimes just making the decision to go for the run, change jobs or (in my case) move across the world, is exactly what you need to remember to make something happen—today!

 

Check out the new tab up there in the right corner…!

 

 

Let’s Talk About Thailand a bit…

I guess it’s time to talk about Thailand a little bit more. Currently, I am scrambling to find my immunization records to prove to some doctor in a walk in clinic that, yes, I did have all my shots as a kid, so that he can sign off on a bill of good health and let me on my way. So if you know if a secret stash of records somewhere in the state of Michigan, let me know. I guess moving every couple years of your life is glamorous, but when it comes to being organized about the important documents it can get tough.

On another note, Thailand is approaching SOON! Oh dear, really really soon! I have my placement of where I will be living, what school I will be teaching at too. It’s a private school in the Kamphaen Phet Province. Your homework for me is to google it, research it and report back to me of the coolest locations, funnest (I know that’s not a word) places to go, and the most delicious food to eat!

So far what I’ve learned is that it’s on the Ping River which is pretty rad, I love water. And it’s at the foot hills of some HUGE mountains that I hope to explore via foot. I want to run all over this place, but hopefully not get Malaria in the process.

Getting all of this ‘stuff’ gathered is making me feel really adult. I’m having to take financial responsibility for it all, gathering records, filling out paper work for the visa and work permits, I’m selling pretty much everything I own and just donating the rest, (keep an eye out for a free box in front of my house soon.) This whole process is making me appreciate all the help from my parents in my past travel excursions and appreciate the help they are giving me now, not just with gathering the information, but emotional help too. This process is exhausting!

 

In the mean time I’m pushing forward, working a ton, trying to enjoy Oregon as much as possible and getting really excited for a trip back to Michigan in just over a week!

 

Stressing a bit about Thailand

Early morning stress about Thailand