this may be the one we've been waiting for

I've been blessed to be able to be in Karuizawa, Japan for a week and a half right now.  It's been AMAZING.  This just happens to be not only the town I was born in, but also where I spent my first year of life and many summer days throughout the rest of my life. 

Since this is my absolute favorite place to run in the whole world, I'm using this week as a little kick-start to getting back into fighting shape.  Between chronic pain from a knee injury, adjusting to a new job and a new city, and a crazy schedule that makes me ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS choose sleep over exercise, I've been on a bit of a fitness hiatus.  The tricky bits about getting back into running are that 1. running isn't really all that fun until a couple weeks in when you no longer feel like you're about to die, 2. running with a bad knee is a delicate process, and 3. bad running form leads to further injury.  Case in point on that last one--during my run the other day, I somehow managed to kick myself in the ankle (yes, kicked myself, you read it right), causing it to bleed.  The even more embarrassing thing about this is that I saw the blood first and couldn't figure out where the cut came from until the second time I kicked myself in the same spot.  At least I wasn't running fast enough for that to cause a full-on face-plant.  And thus starts my most recent running saga.

By the way, if anyone wants to experience the carnage up close, I'm planning to run a 5K race soon, hopefully in September or October, so come run with me :)

but I'm always on the run

There's something to be said for good ol' rest.  It's pretty great to have my brain in one place for a few days, considering the last several months have been nothing but ping-ponging from New York to LA to San Francisco (oh yeah, and everywhere in between when I'm actually working).  I haven't had a proper night's sleep in weeks, thanks to Restless Legs Syndrome and trying to keep everything straight as I move my residence as well as my work base.  I've decided there are few things more anxiety-inducing than a constant feeling of I-think-I-might-be-forgetting-something-important. 

Anyhow, lessons learned in recent days:
1. RLS is a bitch when you're in Queens and you can't go running at midnight on the track at your perfectly safe, Christian college.
2. It's pretty hard to buy a car when you don't have a car.  Think about it. 
3. You can break a plastic lawn chair in two to make two plastic lawn chairs and seat two people.
4. Only one person will be comfortable.
5. Easy Mac and tortilla chips make for a perfectly acceptable dinner.
6. Three breweries and two wineries in one week does not make you an alcoholic (or that's what I keep telling myself).
7. Having a sense of direction is more like rolling your tongue than tying your shoes--you can't learn it.  You either have the ability or you don't.
8. I seem to attract people who are directionally-challenged.
9. Regressing back to childhood habits when with your family is a very real problem.  On an unrelated note, I can still sing man-opera and get stuck talking with about five different accents at once.
10. The people you make time for when you have no time are the ones who matter.

Yeah.  Not the most profound list, but it's my blog, and I can write whatever I want. 

P.S. If someone could google whether it's illegal to throw something off the balcony of the 35th floor of a hotel or not, that'd be super.