A Year has Slipped By

An entire year has slipped by without writing in the blog.  And so many things have happened!

1. I was hired as full-time tenure-track faculty at the college.  I started in September and I am loving it.  I enjoy going to work, look forward to it (most days), have wonderful students and colleagues.
2. We sold our gorgeous condo.
3. We bought a beautiful boat and are living on it in the marina!   We go out into Puget Sound every chance we get.  We made the move in October and have logged many miles and trips since then.  We are looking forward to Eric's vacation this year so we can go out for two weeks - we'll probably head up to Canada.

Here are some pictures of the boat and of various trips: 

Our new home:

 Leaving Seattle:

Sunset:

 Ferry:

Sunset from our home slip:

 Another sunset as we make our way home:

Charts:

Our home port:

Long Time Coming...

I seem to have lost track of my blog.  I've been creating pdfs of each year of posts, as I am half afraid I'll discover it gone one day!

Let's see...last time I posted was our trip to Boston and graduation.  Not too much has happened - I've slowly been getting used to having my life back.  I just recently started sleeping well again - you'd think that would have happened right after finishing school, but apparently it's taken awhile to settle back down. Two new things for me:

Running:
I seem to have lost my racing mojo.  Not my desire to run - I'm still pulling in my basic 25+ miles a week.  I love my early morning runs and am very happy with them.  No, it's my interest in going to races that's gone and I don't know why.  I sort of ran the Seattle Ghost Marathon back at Thanksgiving.  I have to say "sort of" because I hadn't trained and I was sick.  My voice was gone and I had a wracking cough, but I tried anyway.  Ended up walking the last six or seven miles.  I was sick for the next month - out of energy, coughing, just not good.  I finally got over it and my runs smoothed out again.  However, even before that, I wasn't feeling the pull for races.  Due to life circumstances, we had to miss a couple of our favorites - Deception Pass and Orcas.  And, really, it didn't bother me at all!  I've been thinking lately about the Redmond Watershed 12 Hour...it's sparking an interest for me.  Maybe it's the unlimited time aspect, the trails, the loops, the friends, but that's the one that's drawing me in.  I guess I'll just flow with it and see if my interest comes back...

Adventures:
Eric and I have decided to follow a dream.  We are selling our condo and buying a boat.  Our plan is to live aboard at the local marina.  We'll spend weekends and vacations exploring Puget Sound, the islands, and north into Canada.  A long term plan is to take a summer off and travel to Alaska via the Inland Passage.  I'm really excited about this - simplifying life, trying something new, exploring, and being on the water!  At the same time, it's kind of daunting.  Putting most of our stuff in storage (we're going from 1750 sq ft to probably less than 300), living at the docks...it'll be interesting, that's for sure!

Really and Truly Finished

We just got home from a wonderful weekend in Boston - where I attended my Doctoral Hooding ceremony and graduation.  And, where we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary! 

We had a busy summer - we traveled to the Reno/Tahoe area for Eric to participate in the TRT100, we visited our good friends Jimmy and Suzy, we sailed with Web on his tall ship, we shared family time with both Web and Riley, I prepped for fall classes, then spent nine days helping my parents after my Mom had major surgery, then we flew off to Boston.  For now, I continue to teach part time, though the world feels wide open!  I'm considering several career paths - all of which are exciting.  Best of all though, is having free time. 

The funny thing is, that after three years of reduced running, I'm finding it hard to get my enthusiasm for racing back.  I still love my early morning runs, and I still get out there five mornings a week, but I haven't felt an urge to race.  I don't think I mentioned it, but the Saturday after I defended, I participated in the Redmond 12 hour, where I logged 39.5 miles - not too bad considering my lack of training.  I also signed up for the Ghost of Seattle marathon, but I'm still thinking about dropping to the half.  Who knows?  For now, I'll enjoy those morning runs and see where they take me. 

  The four of us at Easter.

 Riley - Warrior of the Month

 Web on the Lady Washington