A Big Fat Triathlon Blog: I am still here :)

Hey all,

So it has been a while since my last update. The reason for that being I don’t have internet at home anymore! When I first moved in to my apartment, the previous people never canceled their internet so I was using theirs, until one day it shut off L Sad story, but after one and a half weeks of playing phone tag (they would only call during school hours and I couldn’t call them back) and then talking in English when the other person spoke in Greek (luckily a co-worker came to the rescue) I should have it tomorrow-although I am a little doubtful. So we will see.

Okay, now to more exciting things!!! Um, lets see…I did my first triathlon in Greece and it went well. Again, there aren’t many girls that compete here in Greece. Last weekend I just did a sprint triathlon and there were 120 competitors and only maybe like 20 girls-at the most…so not too many girls at all…however I did beat a lot of the guys so that was good. J But all went well in the triathlon. I am still not on a proper training schedule, but I am still training when I can. I am coaching cross country after school so that has been taking up a lot of my free time.

Oh, so that brings me to share another new part of my life-being a coach! I have always wanted to be a coach…a teacher and then a coach after school (like Mr. Link, Mr. Tuttle and Senora but now that I am doing it is exhausting! During the first week (we are in week 3 now) I had a couple of break downs…but all is well now. The hardest part was leaving school right at 3:50 (it ends at 3:45) and then going to practice. Those that know me as a teacher know that I am not one to be 100% organized all the time. I am organized, but it takes me a while and I like to take my time in planning my lessons and figuring out what we will do the next day, but with coaching I don’t have time to do that until 5:30 and by that time I am so exhausted! However, like I said it is getting way better and I am getting better with my time management skills. J

Anyways, we have our first meet this weekend! Our schedule is different than what I am used to because we only have 2 meets-and coach was excited about having 2! So hopefully all goes well and the kids have a good time! It is fun working with older kids and having conversations and talking to them about running.

School is going well. I am getting used to things now and how things run and what I can control and what I can’t control. I am really enjoying my class!! Although they are really talkative they are fun kids!

My friends here in Athens are great! Just like usual I have my workout friends and then my social friends. I seem to always find myself with different groups of friends and not much mixing happens-but that’s okay. I am really lucky that I have met the people that I have. They are making my experience here so much fun!

So this was a long one! Thanks guys for reading my blog and keeping up with me in my life journey. On my ride today I was thinking about how I really am here-teaching abroad. I have wanted to do this for so long and I actually did it! That made me excited. It is fun to see your dreams come true! I miss you guys so much but please keep in touch and let me know how you are doing!!

Aloha,

Carly

Picture from my race last weekend.

The olympic stadium-view from The Mall (that's what it's called).

The view from my bike ride Mt. Imatos (spelling). It is about a 15k climb..(I will clock it next time) and it's about an 1:45 round trip ride from my house-if I don't get lost :)