I've been away from the blog for awhile because I've been reconnecting. With my husband, with my friends, and with myself as I try to get motivated again. After the last year of craziness I needed some time with my husband. And my friends. And I sort of lost focus with my fitness and triathlon training.
Hawaii
After a particularly rough day, I came home, plopped on the couch in tears, looked at Ken, and knew that we needed to get away. So we rearranged some schedules and finally booked our honeymoon. A week on the warm beaches of Kauai is exactly what we needed. We stayed in the southern area of Poipu, at an amazing boutique hotel called The Koa Kea. We took a helicopter tour of the island, snorkeled on remote beaches, ziplined over gorges on private property, and ate at 5 star restaurants. Even if the luxury was short lived, it gave us a chance to spend time together and focus on just being happy.
Our hotel room, the view from our lanai, and the beach less than 50 feet from our door:
The Na Pali coast from the helicopter, and Ke'e Beach (we snorkeled here the next day):
Us getting ready to head down the first of seven ziplines,eating dinner on the beach at sunset, and swimming with the sea turtles:
LIVESTRONG Challenge Seattle - 70-mile ride
Jenn, Ken, and I participated in the LIVESTRONG challenge this year. After originally signing up for the 100-mile ride, I had to drop down due to lack of training, the stress fracture, and just a feeling of not being able to fit it all in. After the ridiculous weather we experienced, I was sort of hoping that I had dropped down to the 40-miler! But we raised a lot of money for the foundation, and I was reminded that I can do just about anything with a little determination and my amazing support system.
Ironman Coeur d'Alene - Spectating and Sign-Ups
This past weekend we made the trek to Idaho to cheer on our friends (Cory, Ian, Jason, and Josh) and so that I could sign up for next year. The weather was perfect and everyone finished in amazing times with huge smiles. There were so many adventures and inside jokes that will not be understood by most, but I'll list them for posterity...'Ho Hats, total awesomness, HooosEEE, cooling off in the lake, get SOME backSIDE, and Confuscious saying many things. Race day spectating started for us at 6am, I watched the swim start (I will always be in awe of the starts), volunteered as wetsuit peeler from 7am-9:30am, cheered the bikers and then the runners, volunteered in the women's change tent from 3pm-5:30pm, then cheered in the finish line bleachers until midnight. You can't watch the finish line of an Ironman and not be touched down to your core. And the last hour will make your heartache. There's really nothing like it.
I came away from Idaho remotivated, reminded of what is important to me, and with fresh perspective on many things. More on that later.
3) PASSING MY PE EXAM!!!! Washington state results were issued just after 5:30 this morning and thankfully my letter began with "Congratulations" (which I was able to barely read by peaking through my hands covering my eyeballs), my Mom sent me beautiful flowers to the office, and Ken came home with a sweet card and then took me to a celebratory dinner. Not to mention all of the wonderful calls/texts/emails/posts from my amazing circle of friends and family. Thank you! 
