Rocking that *International* Paradise

Annette picked Carrie and I up at 6:15am this morning.  The plan was for her to drop me off to run the half marathon, and then she and Carrie would wait for me at the finish line.  The Max Tott Half Marathon is the oldest race in Guatemala, I think.  This year was the 78 th edition. The race starts in Zone 1 of the city, then winds through Zone 5 and up into Zone 16, passing through my home turf as it then cuts down onto Blvd. Vista Hermosa in Zone 15, past Campo Marte, and along 10 Avenida to end at a stadium back in Zone 5.  Unlike the Guatemala City Half Marathon held at the end of August, this route is anything but flat.  The race includes two serious climbs and a handful of smaller ones with a total elevation gain of 1000ft.  The route (and my pace, if you're curious). I had been training well, but the last two weeks just hadn’t felt the greatest.  I told Carrie and Annette on the ride there that I was not really nervous, but I had a feeling as if the race was

All of a sudden it’s been nearly a month since I’ve written anything.  Perhaps it’s unnecessary for me to say that January has flown by in a rather uneventful sort of way.  On the 2 nd , I spent the day in airports and flying.  Leaving from my hometown’s small airport, I am always ensured at least 3 flights and 12 hours of travel time to get to or from Guatemala City.  While I don’t particularly enjoy these long travel days, I have found that the three flights provide a sort of natural transition from one life to the other.  Take this most recent trip, for example.  My first flight was on a small plane filled with mostly small-town people leaving home.  We were nearly homogenous group.  The next flight was filled with more variation; we traveled from one big US city to another.  By the time I boarded my final flight, I was already feeling farther from home.  But then on that plane, filled not only with vacationers and business men bound for Central American, but also with Guatema

“When I am worried and cannot sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep And I fall asleep counting my blessings” As I lay tossing and turning the other night, unable to sleep, these song lyrics came unbidden (I hadn’t thought of this particular song from the movie White Christmas in years) and lodged themselves in my.  It’s funny, because the words are oddly perfect.  The fact of the matter is, I am insanely blessed and have had such an incredible stay at home this holiday season.  So when I lay in bed unable to sleep (who knows why, but this is indeed a problem I’ve been having for the past week or so), I really do find myself counting my blessings.  And there are so many of them. On this stint home, I’ve been blessed to reconnect with old friends—hours spent sitting over a table or on a couch, saying all the things that didn’t get said via Facebook messenger or Snapchat over the last few months…or years.  I deepened relationships with people, made connections, r