Heading for the Hills

I was very proud of myself last week–I managed to run about 8 miles and do a little bit of elliptical training and soccer in between all that. Unfortunately, I think I’ve hit the trails a little too hard, after being a little out-of-shape and out-of-practice for quite a while. My ankles started throbbing midway through my run on Thursday; I thought it would go away, but unfortunately, it only got worse when I finished the run. By Friday afternoon they were feeling alright, but the soccer game I played on Saturday just made them hurt again. As of Monday evening, I can still feel them, although not nearly as much as I originally did on Thursday.

I don’t think it is tendonitis pain, since it is in both ankles; they are probably just inflamed from running after only doing low-impact elliptical infrequently for so long. At least, this is what I hope. I tried to do the elliptical yesterday, and only made it through 10 minutes, and I’ve decided it might be a good idea to take today off, especially since I am going to Puerto Rico on Sunday and do not want to jeopardize everything we plan on doing there. I also invested in some slip-on ankle braces to give a little extra support during the workouts.

Fundraising for the Three Peaks is chugging along. My fundraising site is located here (you know, in case you’d like to donate and help out the Meningitis Trust, a great charity that helps out survivors of meningitis and their families). So far, I’ve raised £125. I have to raise £140 more by the middle of April, and £110 more than that by the middle of June.

Speaking of fundraising, I was especially touched when I got a message from Jay, who writes the blog at mysontom.com. Tom was 20 months old when he contracted meningitis, which put him into a coma for 5 days. When he woke up, he was profoundly deaf. He now has cochlear implants in both ears and is doing incredibly well–I definitely recommend reading his father’s blog, because it is incredibly touching and emotional. Plus, Tom is adorable–I especially recommend the “Tom gets a racecar bed” video. The Meningitis Trust has helped out their family immensely, and it was great to hear a personal story about the charity that I am doing my best to help as much as possible.

And finally, I’m going to Puerto Rico on Saturday! Since it’s our senior year (even though I’m not graduating until December), 11 friends and I are spending a week there. One of my friends’ parents (who are awesome) are taking us around the island and showing us as much as possible. We’re planning on visiting Old San Juan, Ponce, Vieques (which is an island off of Puerto Rico and has a wonderful bioluminescent bay that we’ll be snorkeling/kayaking in), El Yunque rainforest and the Camuy caves, to name a few. In between all that, we’ll be lying on the beach, drinking piña coladas, and generally soaking in the tropical goodness. Plus, we’ve never been on a big group trip before, so that’ll be fun, and possibly interesting. Hopefully we won’t kill each other by the end of the week!

I hope that I’ll be able to update this every night as we go along, but I’m certain that we won’t have internet for at least two nights, and I’m not sure about the other nights. So, chances are, there will be a whole lot of updates from my handwritten journals starting about March 11.

I know it’s been a long time since I updated, but my boyfriend left the country after his two week vacation here, and I’ve been insanely busy with schoolwork. It’s been a while since I’ve had a blog, and I need to get back in the swing of updating often, rather than updating once and then leaving it idle for months.

Anyway, something that has been all over the news in Australia-although perhaps not quite as much as crazy astronauts and Anna Nicole Smith are here–is the saga of Ralph Fiennes and the stewardess. Apparently, on a flight from Australia to Mumbai, where Ralph was going to speak about HIV awareness, he had crazy, unprotected sex in a lavatory with a stewardess, who later denied everything, claiming he followed her into the toilet and forced himself on her. She has now said that, in fact, she did have sex with him, and did so four times more in his hotel suite in Mumbai. Unsurprisingly, she has lost her job with Qantas, who don’t particularly enjoy being associated with the image of flight attendants who never wear underwear to work. I thought the funniest part of this whole thing was this article, published in the Sydney Morning Herald. This was my favorite part:

The Mail then followed up with a story about the “debauched business” of flight attendantry, commissioning a piece from Imogen Edwards-Jones, author of Air Babylon, a novel about the seedy side of the flight industry.

She describes a boozy, drug-fuelled environment, with flight attendants ripping us off during the Duty Free trolley runs, stashing alcohol around the plane as well as drugs under toilets in frequently visited hotels and stashing the corpses of passengers who died onboard in toilets.

“So next time you’re onboard and that ‘toilet engaged’ sign appears to be permanently on, there’s probably a good reason. There could be a dead body inside,” Edwards-Jones writes.

Ok, I can understand flight attendants having sex in the bathrooms–there is something called the Mile High Club and they have plenty of time in which to join it on those 14-hour Sydney-LA flights. I’m sure that it happens more often than it ends up in the newspapers–only the flight attendants that have sex with celebrities and then lie about it get that honor. But dead bodies? How many “corpses of passengers who died onboard” could there possibly be on an average airplane? I would certainly think I would notice if someone died on the plane, especially since there would probably be an uproar around said person and a call for a doctor. And really, who wants to think that when the door is permanently locked that there is a dead body waiting inside? I can certainly think of much nicer thoughts to have whilst locked inside a giant metal cylinder at 35,000 feet.

Speaking of giant metal tubes–I’ve bought my ticket to England for this summer, so I am definitely going! I can’t wait to see my grandparents–although I’ll be getting to see them a lot sooner when they land in Houston in three weeks. I also can’t wait for the Three Peaks Challenge, although I’m glad there’s quite a bit of time between now and then to train! I’ve decided somewhat on a training regimen, although I haven’t gotten the official packet yet with training recommendations. I think that I will be running 3 miles outside every other day, and then doing the elliptical and stair stepper on the days I don’t run, with one day off per week. We’ll see how long that lasts. I ran most of three miles yesterday, although it got rather dark so I cut off the end of the trail, since I’ve heard of entirely too many robbings/flashings/other bad behavior after dark there.

My running was very much helped by my new Camelbak, which I slung over my back before I took off. It’s an amazing thing, and a very good investment. No more having to stop to drink water for fear of sloshing it everywhere! It wasn’t a bad deal either, since I used gift certificates, earned on IgoUgo to buy it. I also bought a decent pair of hiking boots to break in–Vasque Breeze GTX XCRs. I tried them on at REI and they feel great on my feet. Plus, they are partially made from Gore-Tex, so they are waterproof but breathable–very important for hiking in Britain during the summer! I got lucky on those, too, since I found them for $100 online when they cost $145 at REI. Now I feel like I can honestly be a member of Bootsnall, because I own a real pair of hiking boots!

Last week I had my first article published on Bootsnall. It’s about my mountain climbing adventure with my Aussie friend Michelle. See it here!

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve updated, but James arrived on Australia Day and I’ve been trying to spend as much time with him as possible, since he’s only here for two weeks and I won’t get to see him again for 5 1/2 months. We had a good Australia Day, complete with an Aussie BBQ. No, James didn’t put shrimp on the barbie, but we did have great steak burgers, caramelized sweet potatoes, and potato wedges with sweet chili & sour cream.

The big news I got yesterday was that I was accepted to the Three Peaks Challenge in May! I thought I’d be pretty low on the waiting list, having only applied for a spot in January, but apparently someone dropped out and I’m in. Even better was that I talked to my grandparents about it, and they approved and somewhat promised not to try to drive me to Bristol. That means I’m actually going! I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn’t go because my mother was so dead-set against asking my grandparents to let me go, so I’m just amazed right now, and so excited. I’m filling out the official forms tomorrow and am going to set up a justgiving website to start raising money for the Meningitis Trust. I think I can raise the £375 in time, and hopefully can raise even more for the cause. Now, to start training and get hiking boots to break in…