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 got an interesting email from a friend a couple days ago, asking for help for her friend. She needed donations from people willing to sponsor her climb of the three tallest peaks in Great Britain–Snowdon (in Wales and 1085m tall), Scafell Pike (in England and 978m tall), and Ben Nevis (in Scotland and 1344m tall). This is a challenge done by the Meningitis Trust three times a year to help support those that are currently fighting meningitis and those that have been affected by it. Many other groups do this climb as well–apparently thousands make the trek every year–but this one involves raising money directly for the charity and importantly, doesn’t require you to organize teams or transportation, since the mountains are a good 500 miles apart by road. The Three Peaks Challenge is done in the span of 36 hours, starting on Snowdon and ending on Ben Nevis the next day.

This email not only inspired me to give money, but also to consider doing the climb myself. I will be in England during the first climb (May 18-20), and I think it would be an amazing experience. I loved climbing the mini-mountains of the Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia, and doing the Tongariro Crossing (an 11-mile hike around the three volcanoes south of Lake Taupo in NZ), and this would be just a step further. I’m already working on my fitness as it is, and it’s always easier to stay in shape when you have a goal to work towards. Plus, I’d be raising money for a good cause, so I would not only be accomplishing all this for myself, but for those I’ve helped with the money I’ve raised.

Of course, one of the issues is time. It’s January and I’m just now considering doing the walk, but I figure that I can raise the money in that amount of time, as long as I make a decision soon. The only main problem is the idea of asking my grandparents. They are the reason for my visit to England; I haven’t visited them there since 2004 because I’ve been hopping over to Australia every chance I get, so it’ll be great to spend time with them. The challenge will only be a couple days, and I will be able to catch the train to the starting point and back; the only thing my parents and I worry about is worrying them. I don’t want to stress them out and make them feel they have to drive me all over the country and make sure that I don’t fall off any mountains. After all, I am rather clumsy and ended up in the hospital on my last visit to England…after falling into a parked car…but, all of my accidents have been stupid, while doing mundane activities. I’ve been fine on all of the adventure activities I’ve done in NZ and Australia (knock on wood). I’ll have to see–as much as I would thoroughly enjoy this opportunity (as much as I may not claim that while making my way to the final peak), I do not want to inconvenience my grandparents or give them any undue stress. All I can do is ask and listen to their reaction.

We’ll see what happens, but I can hope.

Also, James (my boyfriend) has just bought his ticket to visit me! He’ll be arriving on Australia Day–January 26th–just in time to celebrate the holiday with lots of my favorite Bundaberg Rum and Tim Tams. Maybe we’ll even have a BBQ with plenty of lamb–as long as the weather isn’t as bloody freezing as it is right now (we’re hovering around freezing and might be covered in ice by tomorrow morning!). Can’t wait til he gets here, since it’s been nearly 5 months since I left Oz.

Here I am, writing my first entry in my new travel blog. Unfortunately, I don’t have any travel to write about currently, since my next trip isn’t until March, when my friends and I are taking a senior Spring Break trip to Puerto Rico. Later in 2007, I plan on visiting my grandparents in England (May) and visiting my boyfriend in Brisbane (August). Hopefully at the end of the year I’ll be moving to Australia permanently.

Until I hop on board any planes, I plan on using this as a semi-planning guide for my trips later in the year and a place to hold my musings about the country I’ve fallen in love with and more than a few would call me obsessed with.

So, the Ashes. The Pommys didn’t do quite so well this year, as my boyfriend James likes to point out to me so I can point it out to my British grandfather. In fact, the Pommys did abso-bloody-lutely terrible. The first series whitewash since 1921? Not such a good way to defend your first series win in a long time.

I really can’t believe I’m even talking about the Ashes. My grandfather always had cricket on when we visited in England, yet an explanation would promptly leave all of us snoring on the couch. When James, his family, and I drove into central NSW last Christmas and we were fortunate enough to listen to the Boxing Day test on the ABC, it again left me snoring, only this time in the back seat of the car. It wasn’t until we actually arrived at his grandparents’ house that I managed to stay awake long enough to realize–that is the point of cricket! James’ father pointed out that he was going to show me the right way to watch cricket, and within ten minutes, every male in the room was fast asleep, leaving the women to listen to their symphony of snores. Since then, I’ve found it a much more interesting game mid-afternoon nap.

In all seriousness, I actually watched the scores rather avidly on the SMH website this year and even understood how to read them! I think it’s great that McGrath, Langer, and Warne got to retire on such a high note, even if Warney didn’t get his ton (100 runs in an innings, and something he’d never gotten before). Now Warney can concentrate on sending naughty text messages full time.

I still think rugby (union or league) is a much more interesting game than cricket, but at least I find it tolerable now. Otherwise, it would be very insulting when James told me he couldn’t talk to me this afternoon because there’s a really riveting cricket match going on that he must see the end of.