My crazy week

Sunday: Jeff ran the Nike 10K in Lima.  Jeff rocked the 10K last Sunday by finishing in the top 110 out of about at least 8,000 runners!  He finished at about 41:00!  We're so proud of him!!

Monday: I had a crazy start to the week by running into a sharp curb and blowing a tire!  Yes, female driving at its best.  In my defense, I wasn't going fast, I was merely parking at a friend's house but got too close to the curb and blew out the tire.  Thankfully Dave was right there to come out and fix my tire and take it to get air.  It wouldn't have been a big deal, but I was dropping off Sophia with Mende and on my way to sit in a meeting all day.  Needless to say I was late to my meeting. :o)

Tuesday: More meetings, but no flat tire.  I sat with my colleagues to discuss mission business from 9-4pm, then came home to get dinner going while Jeff picked up the kids.

Wednesday: This morning I met with Dorothee and began the process of taking back over the Peru Personnel job.  We spent the entire day going through files, protocol for certain events, transferring emails, and discussing the ins and outs of my new job.  Though I have done Personnel before, it has taken on a whole new entity (in my opinion) and is much bigger than when I did it previously.  I'm looking forward to taking it on again, but am a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

Thursday: I did it!!  Not only did I drop the kids off at school, but I managed to drop Jeff off at the airport and get back to our house successfully!  I was so excited to make an official airport run, knowing that this is part of living in Lima, but the exciting part was that I didn't get lost! Yay!  I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon with Dorothee finishing up the transferring of the Personnel job.

Friday: Jeff is now gone for a week so today I played a bit! :o)  Annie called me and wanted to know if I wanted to go fabric shopping with her...of course I did!  So we took off for a not-so-great part of Lima and found exactly what she wanted.  Then we spent the rest of the day with her, hanging out, until the kids were done with school.  Brandon's friend, Gabriel, had a sleepover here and the kids all had a great time. 

Random catch up post

In an effort to keep up with my blog, my good friend Mende and I have decided to hold each other accountable to staying caught up with our blogs. I hope to not just "review" my week, but this week has been so crazy, it's all I can do to keep up!!  I imagine I'll be posting many catch up posts for the things that are going on in our lives.

Two weeks ago, I ran my first race, it was only a 5K, but for me it is the start to a new chapter in my life.  I started running last summer with my sister-in-law in an attempt to try to get into shape.  I have never been a runner, never enjoyed it, or actually ever even tried it.  So Betsey encouraged me to get out with her and start running...we started with a "shuffle" and then upped it to a slow jog/walk routine.  As the summer wore on, I was up to about a mile (I know, not much) and then I hurt my foot. 

So I took a break until January of this year when I went to Dallas with my Mom on a business trip; we woke up early each morning to get to the exercise room to be the first ones on the treadmill.  I thought I was doing great running each morning at a whopping pace of about 4.5 on the treadmill...insert laughter.  I returned to Wheaton and convinced Jeff that he needed to add me to the couple plan at the Wheaton College fitness center and started going each morning to the indoor track.  Soon I graduated to the treadmill and then before I knew it, the winter was over and we were headed back to MN.  I ran off and on throughout the summer and then hurt my foot and back again and was out. 

We came to Peru the middle of August, and finally the end of September I was able to start up again...I really never knew how much wear and tear your body takes from running, it seems I just get into a routine and then get hurt...such is running.  Finally, on October 30th I ran my first official race, the McDonald's 5K.  It was so much fun!  My goal time was to run the race in 30 minutes or under...my official time was 30:36!  Just 36 seconds off my goal.  I now know what to expect, what it feels like to race, and how to better pace myself.  One of the highlights of my experience was that I started the race and ended the race with friends!  Some of the teachers in the boys' school were also running, and now we've set a new goal for ourselves, we are all going to run "La Vuelta a San Isidro 8K" next month!!  Viva Peru!