Phew! What a crazy few weeks it has been!

Within the past three weeks I competed in my first Ironman 70.3 triathlon, traveled to Italy for 10 days, celebrated our first wedding anniversary and started a side business with a close friend. Things have been happening so fast lately that I’m not sure I’ve really processed everything!

I think the day after I got back from Italy and was drinking coffee out of my new 70.3 Ohio mug was the first time that it really hit me that the race was over and that I had competed and not only survived, but thrived. It feels surreal and I can’t believe I spent so much time training for the race. I must admit that although I am still training for the Akron Marathon on Sept. 24 — there is almost a feeling of lacking importance now when training. I know I’m in great shape to complete the marathon, but it’s weird to not be tracking my workouts or obsessed with my total weekly mileage. Like…it’s SUPER weird.

I did an 18-mile run last weekend and an 8-miler today, which were both fine. I felt decent during both. I don’t have super high expectations for my 4th marathon in six days, but I’m also not really interested in PR’s with 26.2 anymore (at least for now). To me running a marathon is all about the experience and your total time is just kind of a secondary thing. Anyone else with me on this?! I know I’m never going to qualify for Boston, so I relax and enjoy getting caught up in just being there.

I still cannot believe we were in Italy. We traveled almost 5,000 miles from home and now we are back like nothing happened. It’s crazy! Being overseas for the first time was exciting and I still can’t believe we actually made it happen!

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary out at a wine tasting tour in beautiful Tuscany, where we could see miles and miles of grapes vines. We saw the Colosseum, which was another “wow” moment” for me. We toured the Vatican, which was breathtakingly beautiful. (We even saw The Pope!!) We swam in the Mediterranean sea and dove off cliffs into the blue water. We hiked up a mountain. We strolled the stone streets of Florence imagining what life was like 500 years ago. We watched the sunset and the sunrise. We met Italian locals and laughed about Donald Trump. We drank lots of wine and ate lots of pasta. We stopped at tiny cafes and had pastries and cappuccinos every morning. We saw artwork that took your breath away and architecture that was so old you couldn’t even comprehend it.

Everything was simply amazing and incredible. It was a trip of a lifetime.

Here are a few pictures!

Monterosso al Mare – The Mediterranean Sea, cliff diving and hiking views.

Monterosso al Mare – celebrating our one year anniversary dinner at an adorable mountain top hotel that my husband and I found.

Some of the amazing food we had!

Vatican City, Rome – We were able to see The Pope come out to the crowds after the mass to canonize Mother Teresa. The Pantheon – (bottom left) was so massive and SO old!

Day trip to Pisa, Italy.

View of Florence after climbing 414 steps in the tiniest, most claustrophobic stone stairway! Worth it!

Visiting the Colosseum in Rome, Italy.