Lucerne, Switzerland

Lucerne was a location recommended to us by a friend. It is beautiful. It was a really peaceful place and reminded me of home a lot. Maybe that was just the lake but the since the mountains were hiding behind the clouds, the hills were all we could see and they reminded me of our own Bristol hills.

Kapellbrucke, the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe. 

If you look closely at the bottom of that picture ^ you can see the mountains peeking out underneath the clouds.

 This kids parents were freaking out, so funny.

 Lucerne's dying Lion. I'm standing awkwardly there for you for scale purposes.

 No picture could ever do this church justice. It was so beautiful. And pink. 

This road lead us up to the wall around the city and I'll take you with us up there tomorrow too. 

15.9

I almost made it to 16 miles today (15.9) but the milestone I did accomplish was running over 2 hours straight. 2:05:34 to be exact. I saw some beautiful scenery and met some new friends along the way. Two elderly couples actually waved to me as I passed, smiling with the runner's head nod, a bunch of cows, three horses and too many insects to count.

That tiny church was hidden in the middle of the woods. No real roads to speak of that can access it. What a beautiful place to come and talk to God. Someday I'll go there on a non-running excursion and see the inside of it. 

Have a beautiful Monday! I'm going to go pass out for awhile and try to get some calories in me.

Swiss Fireworks

Starting off the Switzerland recap with a bang (or ten) in honor of yesterday's independence celebrations!

Dublin finale

Well, this day just kinda got away from me. I blame the 25 miles in less than 18 hours. But now, Dublin finale!

I love this bridge

And finally, an 8am free sample of Irish whiskey on the way to the plane. Oh, the Irish.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, AMERICA! 

Wish we were there too

Feeling thankful

Yesterday was busy for me. Reflecting back, it's probably a normal day for people with real lives but hey, I take what I can get.

Shopping with Elena and Greta, starting her young. 

She didn't seem to notice

I have been having pain where I usually get it when my hips are misaligned and so I figured, hey, I saw my therapist fix me a hundred times before, I'll just do it. Long story short, I messed it up worse and two nights ago decided a doctor was needed. I'm very thankful that I was able to get it all done in one day, figuring out how to get help for my hip is kind of numero uno right now because I'm halfway through my training and slowing down is really not an option in my opinion. I know God had a hand in ordering my day so that every appointment was able to happen and with insurance too! So yesterday I ran around between a trip to the insurance agency, one doctor in the morning, lunch out with Elena and baby Greta, another doctor in the afternoon, major grocery shopping and finally a seven mile run to top it all off.

Found this monster on my run last night

That's not even a lot. It sure felt like a lot. Maybe it's the walking to and from all these things that make it seem like I'm really busy. Everywhere I go takes at least 15 minutes one way. I would love to be busy again but I guess this is just time for me to be quiet and still. I mean, I woke up alarm-less at noon today so there are some perks.

I have just a tiny more of Dublin to show you tomorrow and then some Switzerland! And THEN Chris's parents are here in a week and a day! YAY! Posting will be spotty through that time, apologies in advance.

Old Jameson Distillery (Guest Post from Chris)

 Today's post is brought to you by Jameson & Christopher:

Saturday afternoon, after we ran the 5k in Malahide Park, we had set aside enough time to either visit the Guiness Brewery or the Old Jameson Distillery. Obviously, if you read the title of this post, or have ever met me, you'll know I chose the Jameson distillery. 

Now, I did my research on this tour and found out it is called the Old Jameson Distillery because it is actually just a museum. Even though it's not a functioning distillery anymore, it is still very authentic, they even had one of the original stone mills. We were assured if we touched it 3 times we would have good luck for the next 10 years. 

  

One of the things I found most interesting was the aging process of the whiskey. Normal Jameson Whiskey is aged 5-7 years in oak barrels, in the aging process it absorbs the natural flavors of the wood but as time goes on the whiskey slowly evaporates. This is part of the reason that aged whiskey is so expensive. After about 30 years more than half of it has evaporated, but now the full flavor of the wood has been transferred into the whiskey. The part that evaporates is known as the "angels' share." I guess there are some happy angels in Dublin! 

Once we were told this, they obviously tried to sell us the most expensive and best reviewed whiskey that Jameson makes, Midleton Very Rare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midleton_Very_Rare. Now it was on to the whiskey tasting, 8 of us were chosen and since I read all the reviews of the tour before hand I knew right when they would ask for volunteers, so I nonchalantly positioned myself right upfront and center when the moment came.

When it was time to taste the whiskey they brought the chosen volunteers in front of the whole group and gave us 3 shots: Johnny Walker Black Label, Jameson, and Jack Daniels. It was a guided tasting, so they told us the flavors to look for as we sniffed and held the whiskey in our mouths for 5 seconds. Obviously you all know the declared winner.... Jameson! 

(But shhh the real winner was Johnny Walker Black Label. Don't tell them I said that)

Lazy.

I am one of the lazies today. I just finished 6.5 miles and in four hours I'm going to do it again. So maybe it's not laziness but exhaustion. Related, if anyone knows of a great and free physical therapist in Leuven, please send their info my way. I may have messed my hip alignment up trying to fix them myself...

Whine whine whine. I'm sorry.

Here's a happy song to fix all that: