Philadelphia Rock n Roll Half Marathon

On Sunday the 21st of September I woke up at the ever so evil time of 5am. I enjoy nothing about this time what so ever, but it had to be done. The reason for this early wake up call, is that I was participation in a half marathon. Now no, i'm not known for my exceptional running skills, or having ever been interested in doing such a thing in my life. But I was roped in as my host mom's support team. So off we went. We were only fast walking it as she has bad knees and calves or something like that. But really fast walking was fine with me. The race didn't actually start till 8am. We go there at 6.30 so we had some time to "warm up", and look really professional. The race eventually got underway and as it was a staggered start our corral didn't start until 8.35. Once we were underway we were going at a solid pace. Fast walking actually meant that we were passing many of the "runners" (or people who look like they are running, just really, really slowly). So the first 8 miles I was feeling good. By the 9th mile I started experiencing some tightness in my thighs, and blistering on my feet. Not so pleasant really, but you know what they say "no pain, no gain". I wasn't going to let a little pain stop me really, so I powered on. At this stage I was kind of really sick of walking and just wanted to run. But I had promised to do it with Jen so I stayed with her. At the 10th, mile to my utter frustration, Jen started slowing down drastically, she hadn't been feeling well that day so I understood. But I couldn't handle people passing us due to my competitive nature. I just keep pushing her along until the last mile where she gave me permission to run ahead. So I ran the last 1.1 miles and boy did it feel great. I started passing a tone of people, and actually felt like I was accomplishing something that day. I crossed the finish line and collected my "participation medal", along with all the other free drinks and food they were handing out. Jen finished, we took our post race picture and left. 

My favorite thing about doing this was the sense of accomplishment. No we didn't have the fastest time, and we mostly walked it. But still it just showed me that I can achieve more than I think. As much as I was sore the days after and during the race, I want to do another race again soon. This time I want to really train for it. 

The Rock n Roll Marathons are great because they are held in many of the major cities in America. The marathon is designed so that we get a tour of the city and see the history behind it along the way. At each mile mark they also have bands playing. It's a fun race, where people of all fitness levels are participating. I defiantly recommend the Rock n Roll Marathons if you are just looking to have some fun, whilst also exercising.

5 more months

I think it's easy when you are away from home for a long period of time to feel sad and just wish the days away. Of course I want to see my friends and family, and be at home. But right now I need to live in the moment. I can't keep looking towards February and wishing that I was there now. I've been given an opportunity that I might never get again. I'm extremely fortunate to be able to be here. So I doing my best to try and live everyday without wishing it would hurry up and end. Some things I have been doing to get myself out and about and exploring are: Hiking at Valley Forge - which is the site of a famous battle in American history- it's a massive area with many trails to explore, you can even see some of the old shelter houses where soldiers took refuge from the constant fighting. I've explored a few different towns in my area, I go to the coffee shops, or the parks, different boutiques, and book stores. I go to the gym, I have been trying hard with my health and fitness, but I really needed more motivation to work out. So actually going to the gym is the motivation I needed, once you're there, you look stupid if you aren't exercising. I've been trying to make new friends and I see them during the day when I can, and when they are available. This has given me a greater understanding of many different cultures as most of them aren't American. 

There are a few things that I want to do here before I leave, and i'm going to try my best to do them all:

-Skydivng (don't tell my mum)
-visit California
-Florida
-New York at Christmas time
-Ice skating in Central Park
-Do a half marathon
-Learn how to Snowboard
-visit chicago

I know I might not be able to do everything, but they are just some of the things that I really want to do.

In 28 days my family are visiting me, and I couldn't be more excited!

Oh Canada!

On the 14th of August we all packed up the van as one big happy family and started a 12 hour road trip to Canada. The land where the maple syrup flows, and the honest humor hits you from every direction. The van we rented had a TV in the back. So the boys played xbox for the majority of the trip. I tried to watch a movie but car sickness got the better of me, and Preston played the iPad for what felt like 5 hours straight. Our first stop before Canada was Michigan where Jen's mum lives. I can't say I've ever had a desire to visit Michigan. Which was a whole lot of what I like to refer to as woop woop. A lot of farms, grass, and small towness. But it's another state to cross off I guess. 

On the way, so excited clearly!

Isn't he just the cutest

The whole trip I knew I would be meeting family, and old friends of the family. Which I also knew meant the weekend would be full of awkward chit chat. So having prepared myself for that I met the first lot of family friends when we were having dinner with them at 10 O'Clock at night. The journey to michigan had taken 10 hours and by this time I was tired. But seeing as we were only their for one night we had to see as many people as possible apparently. So I did all the awkward greetings, saw more stunned expressions when people found out I was Australian. Got asked about the wildlife in Australia (I'm honestly not sure why they all care so much), then proceeded to do my dutiful role of entertaining the children. 

The next day we hung around with Grandma for a while, had some "world famous pizza" for lunch. Then headed off for the two hour journey to the Canadian border. When we got to the border it took us an hour to get across the bridge. Paul thought that they would pull us over cause I was with them. But I just smiled politely, answered all their questions. They stamped my passport (which excited me cause I have another page stamped now), and sent us on our merry way. In 15 minutes we were at Paul's parents house. Who thankfully were normal and weren't awkward. We spent a couple of hours there. I met Paul's brother who lives just around the corner. Then we headed off for dinner at Paul's sisters house. Now that was the fun family affair. Everyone was there. But I found that Canadians and Australians have a similar sort of attitude towards life. They are more relaxed and more humble than Americans. They also treat me more like an adult, than a child. Are also very warm and friendly, making everything a lot easier for me.

The next day was the big family reunion. I of course was a little worried about going, cause i'm not obviously related to anyone there and everyone else is. But it turned out to be ok. It was held on a farm (not so fun). But everyone was really welcoming and friendly. I even met some people who had been to Tasmania before, I thought what are the odds of that (not very high). I was asked many questions about Australia, more specifically about the wildlife. I'm not sure why everyone has this perception that in Australian we basically co-exist peacefully with snakes and reptiles. It's like they think that to everyone person in the population, that there is also a creature, and they roam the streets freely with is. I have a felling that Steve Irwin may have had something to do with that. My other favorite thing is when people start to try and guess where i'm from. Most of the time I get British first, then they arrive at Australian. But a couple of times I go from being British, to New Zealand, to South African, and then we eventually arrive at Australian. It was one of those family reunions where you play the old games like three legged race, sack race, shoe kick, tug of water, and water balloon toss. For us it was all whilst in the rain. It was defiantly an interesting afternoon, but it was nice to finally meet Paul's family and see where he grew up. 

Preston in the sack race

Preston on the ground

Fun on the farm. AKA Whoop Whoop

Sunday rolled around and we geared up for the long drive home. We drove to Niagara Falls this time to cross the boarder there. Niagara Falls was incredible. It's certainly breathtaking. It was one to tick of the bucket list. We then crossed the boarder and were on our way home. It was a quick but fun trip and i'm glad I got to see another part of the world.

USA side of the falls

Famous Horse Shoe

Me and Morgan

From the boarder bridge