Greece - Days 1 and 2

Day 1 and 2 - Travel

It was going to be a LONG day. The problem with not booking your own flights is that the person who IS booking often cares more about price than schedule/convenience. I wasn't that amused to have a 6 am flight out of Denver, only to have a connection in Cincinnati - for FIVE hours, plus ANOTHER connection later in Paris before arriving in Athens, Greece.

So the plan was to meet Nicole at the airport around 4:00 am. Meaning... I of course had to get up earlier than that. Blah. I was up at 2:55 am, which gave me time to double check my bags, get ready, wake up J, and drive to the airport. What they DON'T tell you is that Delta doesn't turn on their check-in computers until 4:15. So even though I was there on time, I had to stand around and wait fifteen minutes just to check in. Gave me a chance to chat with Nicole and her dad a bit. Finally, we got our boarding passes, checked our bags, and we were on our way.

Flight left on time, around a two hour flight to Cincinnati.

sunrise from the plane

 I was REALLY unimpressed with having such a LONG layover. Five hours??? Really??? I didn't want to be sitting around for that long since I still had a VERY long flight ahead of me. So I paced the airport. Literally paced it for hours. Talk about boring.

At least they had a Starbucks!

Lunch - Grilled chicken salad

My travel outfit :D

As if our layover wasn't long enough, our flight to Paris was delayed another 20 minutes on top of that. So yes, I got up at 3:00 in the morning and at 4:15 pm, I'm only as far as Ohio. Blah.

YES!!

I was really surprised at how empty the gate seemed to be, even with all the delays. Boarding went really fast, and we were PSYCHED when we discovered that the plane was probably only 1/3 full. Nicole and I each ended up with rows to ourselves! I might survive the flight after all!

Dinner - Chicken, rice, salad, etc

Dinner was served pretty early, and it was actually good! I initially was going to try watching a movie, but the headphones kept cutting out and the angle I had to sit to see the big tv was uncomfortable. So I tried to sleep. I dozed on and off for a few hours, and then I was pretty much up for the rest of the flight. I read, I ate, I was bored. But at least I had room. That was nice.

Breakfast

Outside Charles de Gaulle airport

Welcome to Paris

Nicole

French Pepsi Max - cost me 3 Euro!!

The airport in Paris is under construction and we had to walk for a good 15-20 minutes to check in for our flight. Only to discover there was a strike and our flight was cancelled. Oh. Great. So, our two-ish hour layover turned into an almost SIX hour layover. Combine that with NO food on that side of security and I wasn't very amused. The interesting thing was that they combined two flights and we got a chance to visit with other people at the gate. I bet at least half the people on our flight were doing the marathon.

The flight to Athens was PACKED. I got stuck in a middle seat toward the back. Between a heavy guy who had terrible BO and a smaller, older man who had no concept of personal space.

Lunch - that colorful stuff on the right was sort of like coleslaw? Only gross and with pickles.

By now I was completely exhausted and I actually fell asleep a bit. I woke up when the older guy actually CLIMBED OVER ME to go to the bathroom. Yeah. He stepped on my tailbone. Really? You couldn't just tap me and ask me to move? I dozed off and he did the same crap to get back to his seat. Oy. And then... FINALLY!!

After more than 24 hours of travel - FINALLY!!

We met up with the tour group fairly easily and we got on a bus that was going to take us to the hotel. Athens is a pretty dirty city. Lots of trash. Lots of abandoned buildings. TONS of graffiti. Blech. We get to the hotel and have a few hours to kill, but there isn't really anything close by.

My home for the next five days

Originally, my sister was supposed to come with me, and we would have shared a room. Unfortunately, she didn't raise enough money. The tour asked if they could book me with someone, but apparently I was the odd man out, so I ended up with a room to myself. YAY!!!

Delivery from room service - perfect timing, I was STARVING

View from the balcony of my room

I cleaned up a bit, and then took a quick nap. Then it was time for orientation - we would get to finally meet some of the people who organized all this, as well as members of AHEPA - the non-profit that I raised the money for in order to be able to go.

Awesome team track suit!

"Dinner"

 There wasn't anywhere close by, so a few of us hung out in the hotel bar - had a few drinks.

Me and Laurie

Laurie was also from Denver, but she left 12 hours earlier than me and ended up with a whole extra day in Greece and was able to do a tour of three Greek islands! (Jealous!!) Headed to bed around midnight - I can't believe I stayed up so late.

Not So Fabulous Friday

And the walls came crumblin' down...

I look forward to Friday. Every week. Friday is the only day of the week that I stop and get a Starbucks on my way to work - venti iced coffee with 5 pumps of white mocha and a shot of espresso. Today I was in an ESPECIALLY good mood for two reasons:

1. I finally earned all my money to run with Team AHEPA in the Athens, Greece marathon.
2. I am only .2 pounds away from my goal weight (a weight I have not been in... years).

So even though traffic has been suckier than usual, even leaving at my regular time, I was still 15 minutes late. Between the construction and getting EVERY.SINGLE.LIGHT.RED, I usually have a very stressful drive in (my commute is between 45 min and an hour each way. But on Friday I don't usually care... because I know in 8 short hours I'm out the door.

Friday is also the only day I actually leave the office and take a lunch. Usually I sit at my desk and eat a frozen dinner. How sad is that. I drive into Boulder, go to Whole Foods and indulge in their fabulous salad bar. Today was no exception. I got a better-than-usual salad and brought it back to the office. And then... around 2:00 my boss called me into her office. A two minute conversation and all of a sudden my job that I've had for 6.5 years was cut from a full-time position to part-time. Just.Like.That. Effective immediately, I no longer work an 8 hour day. I work a 5 hour day. I work for a super small company. And I know that we have had a rough few years, sales have been way down. They cut my hours because I'm hourly. And then know that I will be forced to quit because I cannot support my family on a part-time job. I'm a single mom!! By forcing me to quit, they don't have to pay me unemployment.

**** **** **** **** !!!!!

I graciously leave for the day (early) without totally flipping out. Quite an accomplishment, I was seething by the time I left. Good news is, I had time for a "relaxing" run.

West Big Dry Creek Trail - Friday, August 20


Hot outside... almost 90 degrees when I headed out.

I was feeling pretty cranky, but I must say that I looked adorable:

Most awesome running skirt ever, and compression socks!!

The first 20 minutes felt GREAT. I looked at my watch and knew I was pacing too fast but I couldn't seem to slow down. I was cycling a great mix on my iPod and I think my work rage had given me some (short term) energy... it all came crashing down after the halfway point. I ran out of fluid. Again. It's like I never learn. 16-20 oz is NOT enough when it's this hot out. I was super tired and hot and fatigued on the way back. I walked a lot more than I usually do. Which of course got me even MORE worked up over my dumb job :(

I still made decent time - finishing 6.55 miles in just under 70 minutes. It was too hot to continue running outside, but I still had some pent up energy/anger, so I headed over to the gym since I still had a bit of time before I had to pick up A.

Treadmill - Friday, August 20

Blah. So. In conclusion:

1. I put in my two weeks notice... over email. The pay/hours they have reduced me to is less than I would make if I was on unemployment. Between that and the 2 hours I spend commuting, I can say it's totally not worth it to bother staying on. Which essentially puts me without a job by the time I'm on a plane heading to Kaua'i.
2. I went to my first adult gymnastics class last night and my "glory days" are back in the sense that I could still do a roundoff into three back handsprings and I didn't break my neck. I'm paying for it today, I haven't been this sore since I took my first BodyPump class last year.

Running Skirts are HOT!!!

Treadmill - Wednesday, August 11

Bonus picture for my outfit Tuesday. It was an off day for running, I was just at the gym to do a BodyPump class and 20 minutes on the elliptical. Could you believe that I did NOT buy this outfit together? Every piece was actually purchased separately... over the course of probably a year. Could it BE more obnoxious? LOL

With awesome sweaty band:

Anyway, back to my treadmill run. I was wearing my newest running skirt. There had been a problem with my order and I somehow had ordered a different style... the ones that came ran smaller so I had to exchange. Anyway. I was a bit worried because all my running skirts have the little compression shorts in them. These? Just briefs. I felt like a cheerleader in them... but I LOOKED HOT.

I am absolutely in love with this one!!! Looking adorable naturally put me in a good mood, and maybe THAT is all that needs to happen to have a good treadmill run? It really was a pretty good run overall, and I kept a decent pace.

Other random items...

1. I got a shout out!! Check it out here.
2. I cannot say enough good things about my Zensah leg sleeves. I just LOVE them. I wear them every night after I run and I have not felt the soreness/tired feeling in my legs. Maybe it's all in my head, but I think they are fabulous.
3. The Newtons feel GREAT. I love them too. And they are so fun!!
4. I remembered to buy some wrist bands so I will test them out during my race on Saturday to see if that fixes the problem I seem to have with the Bezel and start/stop & lap buttons not working on my Garmin.
5. I picked up one of these so I don't have to keep poking holes in my shirts. My phone IS big enough to fit in the pouch but I'm concerned it will be too heavy. I'll test it out during my easy Friday run. Anyone have this? Do you wear it around your chest or waist?
6. I pick up A from daycare at the gym last night and the lady at the desk says "Why are you losing so much weight?" Um. I'm not. Seriously. I promise. My weight has been within one pound for the last... month at least. But, that must mean I'm toning up or something. I love a complement!! Made my night.
7. Still raising money for Greece... I'm in my last month of fundraising. How did THAT happen? That means the race is getting close... Anyway, the money I am raising is for the AHEPA - and I will be representing them when I run in October. All donations are tax deductible. I'm less than 5% from my goal. Anything at all helps :D Here is my donation link: http://www.active.com/donate/athensmarathon/RWALKER539