I have to admit that I felt a little guilty after my last post. I complained a lot. I haven't quite let go of Denver and my life there. None of us have, quite honestly. Gabe is having a hard time with the move. Lily seems to be handling it better, but she is also having her moments. I think Marlo is feeling the same, but he has the routine of going to work in the morning and focusing on other things during the day. But it's heartbreaking when your child cries and asks to move back "home" so he can be with his friends. I guess, we would be dealing with this regardless of where we moved. It seems like the challenges of a move are just magnified here. You can't say, "Oh, let's go out to dinner at Noodles...that will make you feel better!!" We are in a whole new world here and it can be uncomfortable and scary. Coming up with positive ways of dealing with change and uncertainty is hard for me. But again, this is our new reality and we need to accept and adapt, or fall apart. And that is not an option.
Sunrise over Jost Van Dyke, this is my morning view before going for a run.
Running in St Thomas is so awesome!! Ha, just kidding, but it is getting a bit better. I am following Hal Higdon's Novice 1 marathon training program. I run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with my long run on Saturday. I haven't gotten to the part of my training where I am doing double digit runs. So right now I usually take the 5 minute drive from my house to Magen's Bay and run along the parking lot, into the woods, then back into the parking lot, up the street, turn around at the top of the hill. That trip is about 3 miles. My other option is downtown. I haven't done downtown since we moved to our house. But that run is basically cruise ship dock to cruise ship dock (yes, we have two large docks for cruise ships here). This trip is about 5 miles. I think it can be stretched into 6 or 7 if you go past the Crown Bay dock to the airport and then through the university and then back...I haven't done this yet. But these are the two main running routes that I have done. I live on the north side of the island, an area called Estate Peterborg, in a gated neighborhood called Sydney's Fancy. Peterborg is a peninsula on one side of Magen's Bay. There is another run out here that takes you away from Magen's up the peninsula to the Point. This is very hilly and challenging, but the reward it the view at the end of the Point. (Although, then you have to run back!)
As I mentioned in my last post, my main concern about running here is vehicle traffic. The roads are very narrow and, except for downtown, there are no sidewalks. Also the roads are very curvy and steep. I've had cars wait till the last possible second to move ever so slightly over as to not clip me. Magen's Bay road is basically a paved tunnel through the woods...the trees provide a delightful shady canopy for running. But, I have had to dodge crushed crabs, smushed mongoose and an occasional chicken. Last week, while running, I noticed some brown stuff in the road about 20 feet in front of me. Then I noticed a big brown blob coming down from the tree, spattering all over when it hit the pavement. Not sure what it was...it looked like animal poop, but I didn't see anything up in the tree. Some stealth iguana or ??? something was probably waiting for the right moment to hit me! Thankfully, the blob and its splatter, missed me by a foot or two. But ick!
The Road to Magen's Bay
Running on the trails into the woods requires a leap of faith! Usually I am alone in there with just occasional sounds popping and cracking next to me. I use the woods to amp up my speed. I want to get out of there as fast as possible. It's all head down, legs moving. While the woods provide much appreciated shade, there is also very little breeze flowing through. So it is very still and quiet. And, the woods at Magen's look like a haunted forest in a horror movie, I imagine some Blair Witch type creature scoping me out from a distance. Also, there are large holes in the ground along the trails. I did see movement in one of them once. I think it was a giant crab...I didn't stick around to check. But I also imagine there are 100s of black tarantulas lurking in those holes, just a few feet away from my super speedy shoes. I can probably break a 4 minute mile in there...I just want to get out! But I run in the woods for shade and to tack on a quarter mile here and there to my training runs.
The "Haunted" Forest
Even with the challenges of running on a tiny, tropical island, I'm in this thing to finish! I am still so excited to be on Team Ritter. This year the team is really active and excited about raising money for the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health. Everyone on the team has an important, personal story about why they are running. The stories can be found on the team's
Crowdrise page. Click on a team member to read their story or to donate to their fundraiser. I'm hoping to again raise at least $3000 for the foundation. The money is used to fund research programs, provide support to families and individuals dealing with aortic disease, and promote awareness and understanding of the
Ritter Rules.
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