Europe Bound

In less than 9 hours I’m leaving on a nearly 4 week long vacation to Europe. I’ll be meeting my mother, sister, aunt and uncle in Rome. From there we’ll tour the city for a few days and then visit Venice, Florence, and San Marino. After that Allison heads back to Vancouver and the rest of us will be going on a Mediterranean cruise with stops in Italy, Greece and Turkey. That will be 3 new countries for me! Sounds like a dream, eh?

I have to admit that over the last week or two I’ve been feeling a little guilty about the fact that I’m taking such a long vacation. I haven’t had as productive a summer as I might have liked so for some reason I feel as though I don’t “deserve” to take a month off. However, I am going so the only thing to do is enjoy myself and come back to Seattle prepared to kick some serious research butt in the fall.

The trip is going to force me to take time off from training too. I’ve been running a fair bit lately and I’m sure my body could use some time to rest and mend some minor aches and pains. I may not run at all while I’m away but I am brining my shoes and one set of running clothes in case I want to jump on a treadmill on the cruise ship. I’m hoping that doing lots of walking will keep me in reasonable shape so I’ll be ready to start training for the Seattle half marathon when I return.

I may or may not be posting while I’m abroad (my sister is already in Europe and she managed to post this morning) but rest assured there will be lots of pictures and stories to share when I get home. Ciao!