Playing catch up...

Well... Been a few days. Sorry about that.

Ran Saturday with Troy. Supposed to be a 20 miler according to the schedule, but I knew that was impossible as the past three weeks had been so irregular. Was hoping to do 16ish, but called it quits after a miserable 10.

Ran again tonight, 8 miles at 7:55. Felt great the whole time which was very encouraging. This is another of those easy weeks where I just run an 8 miler and two 7s. All at easy pace.

Food:
Getting back into the swing of things, though I blame Troy and Justin for the two day hotdog binge. It was rough, but amazing.

Ethiopia:
Still waiting game. Been in contact with NMS about schooling for Matias especially this week. Oh and trying to figure out how to get our stuff there is going to be interesting.

TGIF...

...even though it was only a three day work week.

RUN:
None scheduled today. Lifting weights at the Y later instead.

FOOD:
Invited to something literally called "Hotdog Extravaganza" later tonight. Needless to say, any salad or other healthy thing I eat will nowhere near negate what will happen there.

ETHIOPIA:
Ask me Monday if i fianlly got around to emailing NMS a few uestions and thoughts. Keep forgetting. And because of the time difference, everyone has left for the weekend.

Back in town...

Ran three more times on the trip: a 6 and a 9 miler (hardest run I've ever "run", slow as molasses, but I never stopped, even though parts were at a 17min/mile, and then a couple on a treadmill at a hotel somewhere in the Midwest.

Run:
Supposed to run 6 mi, w 4 mi @ 7:08. Failed miserably. Too hot, too fat, too.... Well, prety much everything. Hope it won't take me too much time to catch back up.

Food:
Way better than when I was on vacation, but I still have a ways to go. Somebody left a bag od mini Hershey bars in our kitchen cabinet... Needless to say that didn't go very well...

Although 2 1/2 weeks off was wonderful, i am now having to play catch up in so many areas, which although not cancelling out the restfulness, certainly diminishes it.

Ethiopia:
Mostly a waiting game, but some paper work and dates and plane ticket stuff = mostly boring emailing.

6 miles easy... eh.. HARD!

Run:
Still very irregular and I am in no way keeping up with my schedule. Thankfully it's becoming easier to breathe, but the hills here are unbelievable. Everything hurts way more than after a much longer run back in SC. But it is truly incredibly scenic here. (see below)

Food:
Better today.... i say that and remember the six, yes 6, pancakes for breakfast. Pizza for lunch and amazing taco soup for supper. Some fudge was bought and eaten. one piece of birthday cake. Still this is better than any other day while I've been gone.

Ashamed that I'm looking at my watch just as this pick was taken, but i could hardly wait for the 5.99 to become 6 miles....

I'm still here....

Run:
Been traveling. Running has been difficult to schedule and when i have run it's felt like running with a wet dust mask because of the altitude (9K ft.) It's crazy beatiful out here.

Food:
I'm on vacation, so i'm eating like a pig.

Blogging will be sporadic for a while longer.

Ugh....

Ethiopia:
Spent most of the day trying to get some last minute paperwork together. Needed certified copies of our birth certificates, passports, and marriage licence. Went to four differnt places without any luck at all. Very frustrating not to get it resolved. Plan B: Send off the originals instead of copies. To top it all off, the Saturn broke down.

No run scheduled today. Liking this easy week. 7 easy tomorrow.

Food:
- Scrambled eggs, bowl of Kashi granola
- Six dollar burger, fries, Coke Zero.
- Another ton of Oreos and two cans of Dr.Thunder (can't remember the last itme I felt that icky)
- Fishfingers, mashed potatoes and broccoli
- One of Leah's awesome homemade fudge pops.

A twofer..

Yesterday:
It was a travesty. Didn't run (was supposed to run 6mi) and I ate all kinds of crap.

On a more personal note; as I was teaching the youth group on friendship evangelism is was struck by my own failings here. I don't put on my "what's-God-going-to-do-in-and-through-me-goggles" in the morning. I don't look out for people that God might put in my path. Hopefully by writing about this here every once in a while, I'll keep a better focus. We're not here by accident. We're here to live the Great Commission.

Today:
Food:
- Bowl of oatmeal
- Chic-fil-A Chicken Egg Multigrain Bagel Calories: 490(!) - Sodium: 1230mg(!!!!)- What?!?! It was free, how could I pass that up?
- Wendy's BLT Cobb Salad
- The leftover pack of Great Value Oreos made me feel really sick, as I ate way too many of them. A dozen at least.
- Tomato soup and a boiled egg.
- Two small slices of homemade bread with stuff on top.

Run: 6mi easy. First 3 and last 2 felt really good. The extra day off obviously did good.

Started humming this song this morning, it’s one of my favorite childhood TV memories. I haven't seen the clip in a long time, but it keeps popping up in my head fairly regularly.

Chow Fan deliciousness

No run scheduled today. So I headed to the Y instead. Nothing fancy, just a couple of circuits.

Food:
- Oatmeal w/apple sauce, scramble eggs, glass raw milk.
- One PB&J and one ham & cheese sandwich, two carrots. Prot. shake.
- Two bowls fried rice. Apple tart w/ vanilla ice cream.
- Snacks: Handful of pecans and raisins, prot. shake.
- Slice of bread w/canned makrell in tomato sauce, it's almost 11pm, and I shouldn't eat it, but it's virtually impossible to pass up freshly baked bread.

Noticed at work today that I was able to restrain myself from bad snacks as I knew I'd have to post them here. Encouraged that the blog then serves it's new purpose.

Ethiopia:
Nothing new here. Trying to get an English language Norwegian birth certificate is proving to be more difficult that it ought.

Skoleboller and Troll Hunters.

Watched the most amazing Norwegian movie tonight, called Troll Hunter. Not for young kids or the faint of heart, but if you like cheeky fake documentaries about trolls, it might be for you.

Run: 6 miles easy with Troy and Dillon. 9:45 pace (might remember wrong here).

Food:
- Oatmeal w/ apple sauce, two fried eggs.
- Three slices of bread with misc stuff on top, two carrots, protein shake.
- Two chicken and one fish taco.
- Snacks: Two granola bars, half a banana. Skolebolle. Handful of chips.

Ethiopia:
Paper work taking way too long on our side. Especially all the health forms. Had no idea that this could drag out the way it has. No forms = no visa. Not worried yet though. But there isn't really that much time until we leave. Mostly our fault though, we should have just organized everything straight away, set up appointments, etc., as soon as we got the list of required paperwork from NMS.

NMS sent a Norwegian volunteer out a month or so ago to work on our future home, here's a few pics. Not much but at least it'll give us an idea of how we'll be living.

Btw, as to time line: leave Greenwood right after Christmas, visit family in Norway, then move in mid-January to Addis for language school to learn Oromo. Then go home to Norway for missionary training in summer 2012. Only after all that will we actually move out to Bodji.

The second reason

We're moving to Ethiopia as missionaries in Jan 2012. There'll be lost of stress, joys and weirdness related to that, so this mit be a good place to put some of that into words. More on this later.

Later...

We're going with the mission agency (NMS) that sent us to Hong Kong in my childhood. We'll primarily be partnering with Mekane Yesus (the Lutheran church in Ethiopia). We'll primarily be helping train local pastors, evangelists and lay leaders in the western part of the country. We'll living in Bodji, so small it doesn't show up on Google Maps(!)

Food:
- Scrambled eggs, bowl of oatmeal w/ maple syryp and frozen blueberries.
- A lot of meat, two potatoes, salad. Two brownies, scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Two servings Mac and cheese with peas and ham.
- Scoop vanilla ice cream and a pie e of Leah's apple almond tart.

Run:
Nothing scheduled; recovery day... Sorely (pardon the pun) needed, knees and calves are really sore.

The first reason

I've finally taken the step to sign up for a full marathon (Kiawah on Dec 10th). Hoping that if I keep regular posts on here, I'll feel like I'm being held accountable, especially when it comes to my diet. It's far to easy to snack on junk when I'm at the office. There's always leftover cakes, bags of chips, bottles of soda, etc just laying around.

Run:
This morning I ran 14 mi (22.5km), at an avg pace of 8:53, goal pace was 8:30. Troy was kind enough to run the first 7 with me. Felt a lot better than I did during last Saturday's 12 mi. Though running past Westside Baptist's pancake breakfast at mile 10, felt like cruel and unusual punishment. The air was filled with the wonderful aroma of pancakes and bacon. Thankfully Leah had some ready when I got home.

Food:
- Banana and slice of plain bread.
- Two blueberry and two cinnamon/pecan waffles. Small glass of apple cider. Approx 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt.
- 4 slices of HW homemade bread, with turkey, cheese and bell pepper. 1 cup raw milk.
- Hand full almonds
- 4 pieces fried fish, grits, slaw.
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, chopped pecans.
- 100g Firkløver chocolate.
(I do fine during the day, it's just the insatiable craving for sugar at night that gets me.)

Here's to another attempt...

It's made me sad to not keep this thing updated. another attempt is coming as i now have reasons to post. more later.