Real quick

I would love to create a routine schedule where I write here once a week?  Every other day?  I don't know, but something more than what I am doing now...

But, today, as I was walking through the halls of my house I just couldn't stop myself from being so thankful for where I am at in life right now.  I have so much to be thankful for and always have.  Side note-I remember thinking at a race in Greece that I had just won, about how I felt like I had everything in life: an awesome job, an awesome boyfriend (at the time), a solid life plan (nothing can ever be solid), having the ability to travel around the world, being healthy and able to participate in sports, having a super supportive family and friends but at the same time I wasn't happy.  I wasn't content.  I felt like I had it all, but I still wasn't happy.  At the time I didn't know what life was going to be like four months later but even though now I am 'missing' some of those things but I am so much happier than I was. 

Until next time---

Love my friends :)  

So much love to this lady!!  Man-I'd be a mess without you!!!

Yahoo!!!  Love to tri!!!!

I am so lucky to call this place home.  

Again--just wow!

I hope to write more often!

Hello all!  So----I didn't quite keep to my word.  I sincerely apologize for that.  But, my oh my how things can change in a year (or in a day for some)!

So here are a couple of new parts of life.

1.  Moved back to Hawaii on July 4!  Glad I got to celebrate America's birthday with America :)

2.  Found out lots of new information.  Some people really aren't who they say they are.

3.  Started working at HBA.  I am truly blessed and I have felt so welcomed here!  My class is pretty great too.  They are a bunch of fun loving 3rd graders!!  :)

4.  I have been helping out with the girls XC team.  I am not the head coach, which means I don't have as much responsibility or much leadership too.  I really enjoy the other coaches, so that makes it really fun.  I am also really enjoying getting to know the girls and figuring out how I can best motivate them to be the best runners they want to be.  This is truely a great passion of mine, so I hope to continue learning and developing this part of my life.

5.  I've been racing and that has been going really well.  I have a great new coach who I am super excited about.  I feel like she really gets me and knows exactly where I am coming from in so many parts of life.  My workouts have gotten a lot harder and take up a lot of my time, but I am really enjoying it.  Right now, I am really excited to focus on my training and be the best triathlete that I can be.  I know she can also help me achieve my goals, so I am pretty excited!

6.  Ended a relationship.  Again, people aren't really who they say they are.  I have never felt so loved and so forgotten about in a relationship before.  There is so much to say about this.  The bottom line is he gave up and only really cared about himself.  He told numerous lies. He cheated.  He moved on. I was sad.  I missed him.  I believed what he said.  I fought.  I stayed true.  I am hurting.

Although life is really busy right now, I am enjoying everything that I am doing.  I love my workouts, I love my job and I love coaching.  I also love being home with my best friends.  I am so blessed to have such great friends from all over the world, but I am also blessed to be able to come home to people who know me inside and out and who get me.  These girls will always be there.  I am so thankful.

Getting back in it

Aloha!  I mean--Gia sou--I'm still in Greece, so I should keep practicing my Greek :)

Today I got back into racing!  Over the last month I did two half marathons, which in hind sight, probably wasn't too good for my body.  Although I might look strong, I actually have a pretty fragile body-heart included ;).  The first half marathon went well and I was able to stick to my paces and even go a bit faster, but the second one I fell apart.  The second race, The Athens Half, was a hilly course, which has been foreign to my body.  However, today I competed in a duathlon and I felt nice and strong.  It was a short race, 5k run, 20k bike, and 2.5k run.  I felt good the whole way and I felt that I pushed in the right spots.  My power meter decided not to work which PISSED me off the whole bike!  I mean I paid a lot of money for it not to work!?!?!?  Also, my heart rater monitor hasn't been working, which also annoys me.  Apparently the Garmin heart rate monitors stop working after a while?!!?  Anyone know?  I will try to get it sorted when I go back to the states.  Anyways it was a nice day to be out in the sun running and biking with other people who like to run and bike too.  Afterwards there was a group that went for a swim in the sea, and I thought about if I was in Hawaii I would be part of that group. I am really looking forward to being part of a team and being surrounded by friends and with people who like to do the same things as me.  In Salt Lake, I was just starting to get in with the triathlon community, and then I left and then here in Greece there aren't many girls and I don't speak Greek, so it is a bit harder to get in. Plus I don't have a car-so that is also another challenge.

Other than my race I did a bunch of work.  Oh, last week I applied for a couple teaching positions at Punahou.  It has always been my dream to return to Punahou to teach.  I mean, today on my cool down I was thinking about how I am living my dream right now and when I go back to Hawaii I get to live another dream.  I don't have a job yet, but I will find something.  But I feel really lucky and so fortunate to be living this life that I live.  Although there are some struggles, I am really lucky and I have so much to be thankful for.  I am not rich in money, by any means, but I am rich in love and experiences.

Okay, off to bed.  I need to get ready for the next week.  This Friday I am heading to Bucharest, Romania to check out another new place.  We will just be there Friday-Sunday, but it'll nice to be able to see a little bit of the country.

20 days till Hawaii.  Tomorrow will be 19!  I remember when it was 91 and I didn't know how I was going to make it!  Although, the closer it gets the more nervous I get.  I don't really know what to expect.  I have a lot things planned and I hope they go smoothly.  I also hope that I am not too exhausted! Usually when I get back to Hawaii, I spend the first week on the couch and sleeping, but there is no way that I can do that this trip!

Have a nice week guys and kalomina!

Before the Nafplio half.  Yahoo, friends to run with too!!!!

Before and after shot of the Athens Half Marathon.  I think you can tell who PRed and who didn't :)  Yah Jess!!!!!!!!

From this weekends race.  Fun times :)

Enjoying Schinas.  Didn't go in the water, but it was nice to be at the beach.  Thanks Kostas for being my right hand man!

Bulgaria

Hello again!  Don't worry, my last post wasn't a fake, I am going to get back into the habit of writing again.

Kalomina!  Happy April!!  April!?!?!  What!!?  I have been waiting and waiting for April to arrive :)  I can't wait for Spring Break and my trip back to Hawaii.  I've had a count down, which I am not proud of, but I am just super excited to be back home again. :)

Don't worry though, I am using my time here in Europe wisely.  Last weekend, I took a trip to Bulgaria with some of my friends here.  It was another amazing trip!  This one was a bit different, since we were able to stay with a Bulgarian family.  We stayed in Sofia one night and got in a good walking tour (of course :) ).  Then after the walking tour we wanted to get a quick lunch and walk around and do more exploring.  However, the quick lunch turned into a 2 hour lunch-due to the fact that there was one server and who knows how many cooks!  The food was good and it was nice, but we didn't want to spend 2 hours sitting in a new city!

Anyways, it's all part of the adventure :)  Next, my friend's boyfriend is from Bulgaria, so his family came to pick us up and hang out with us for the weekend.  One minor challenge though, only the 15 year old daughter and one other family member spoke English.  Bulgarian's don't speak a lot of English, so you do what you can :)  Despite that, which again is just part of the experience, everything on our trip was great!  We got to hang out with the 15 year old the entire trip and she is an amazing young women.  She is in a language school and speaks 3 languages and will start another one next year.  It is pretty amazing, what people can do.

During our time there, we ate a lot of food, went to a Bulgarian hot spring bath, went to an outdoor zoo, went to a small quaint town to see what old Bulgaria used to look like, bought a lot of beautiful bowls and plates for my new living place in Hawaii, and I think that is it.  The family we stayed with was pretty amazing!  They were so welcoming and such great people.  Even though we couldn't communicate very well, our smiles and hugs went a long way!

This weekend I am taking it easy.  I have a race on Sunday-a duathlon, that I am looking forward to.  My first bike race in a while.  And other than that just getting things done.  I finally made an appointment for my biyearly haircut.  I just don't get my haircut very often, there is no real reason why.  Anyways, it is my last Saturday in Athens till May, so there are a couple of things that I want to get done, so I am looking forward to it.

The next two weekends I'll be traveling.  First to Bucharest and next to Rhodes.  I hope to write about those later.  :)

In the Honda Civic like car with our boxes of dishes in the back and backpacks on our lap with two other people. :)

The deer that would feed out of people's hands.  I just watched.

Don't get too close...they don't like it. 

It's been a while

So, although it might have seemed like it, but I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I am just in Greece. :)  Wow guys.  It has sure been a while!  My last post was from the July 2014!  I guess a lot has happened and at the same time things are still pretty much the same :)  Here are some of the highlights:

1. I have a new class!  My class this year is mainly Greek students, similar to my class last year, but things are going more smoothly this year.  Maybe because I know it is my last year?  Whatever it is, I am really enjoying them :)

2. I decided that 2015-2016 was going to be my last school year abroad and I will be moving back to Hawaii to start life there.  I am excited about this, but also nervous at the same time.  I feel like life in Hawaii comes with more stress and pressures than life here in Europe.  However, I am doing my best to keep a positive attitude since positivity breads positivity. :)

3.  I began a year long long distance relationship in August 2015.  During the summer in Hawaii I basically met the man of my dreams.  If I was to list all the things that I wanted in a life partner and put it into a machine, this man would have popped right out.  Although I don't regret starting a relationship 8,000+ miles apart it has been very difficult.  The first four months were great and we spent hours on the phone talking each day and really getting to know each other.  I felt like everyday was a dream come true.  He came to visit a couple of times and we spent time in Switzerland, Amsterdam, and other places in Greece.  I felt like we were on Bachelor/Bachelorette dates. :) However, when January 2016 came around real life settled in and his life got extremely busy, which meant that he didn't have much time to talk anymore.  We went from talking a couple hours a day to sometimes only talking an hour or so a week.  Anyways, all I can say is that it is tough.  Really tough.  However, I know if it works out it'll be the best thing in life and either way I don't regret any of the choices that I have made.

4.  I have been traveling as much as I can!  I had a bit of a slump this February, which turned out to be a really hard month, but I am back into the swing of things now!  Last weekend I was in Kiev for 3 days and I really had a great time!  I am glad that I got out of Athens, was able to explore a new city, meet new people, and explore the world!  I mean this is the reason I came back to Greece-I wanted to see more of the world!  But since July 2014, I have seem so much!!!  A highlight for sure is Czech Republic with Audrey.  We rented bikes for a couple of days and biked around part of the country.  It was amazing. :)

5.  I have been doing some races.  My training took a bit of a hit this winter, being sick and unmotivated, but I am back in the swing of things now.  I have been running more than usual and so far so good.  I feel good.  I have a bunch of races in Greece planned and I am really looking forward to them.  Some friends and I have turned the races into mini-vacations.  I mean, life doesn't get much better-traveling and racing in the same trip!

Phew-so I am going to end this post here.  One of the reasons why I haven't written is Google wouldn't let me into my account and today I figured out why (I had to switch my default email).  So, I will be updating my blog more so you guys can follow my exciting life :)

Here are some fun pictures from the past 2 years :)

April's wedding in 2014

First day of school 2014-2015 School Year!!!!

Christmas Break 2015. Love and miss these guys!!!!

 Miss this guy!  Nafplio 2015
    

The end of a 70.3. This was a very difficult race, both mentally and physically.  I am still recovering. 

Biathlon in Schinas July 2015.  Fun and fast race.

Summer 2015. Olympia, Greece.

Summer Big Island trip with mom.  Most southern point of the United States.

First day of school 2015!  Great new team :)

First obstacle race.  It was a lot of fun with these guys!!!

Skiing the Swiss Alps.  Such an amazing time with this guy :)

Best birthday cake!!!!!!  Thanks Erin!

 Christmas with mom!  Train from Edinburgh to London.
 

House Boat in the middle of winter in Amsterdam.  Good thing we love each other--lots of cuddling to keep warm!

4th grade field trip!

Kiev, Ukraine.  Legend says if you rub her nose, you will marry a great man.  I rubbed extra hard ;)