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December 29, 2006
Utter Exhaustion
Aren't you supposed to return from a beach vacation feeling relaxed and rejuvenated? I don't quite feel like that. Mostly, I feel exhausted. What a week.
Before I go on, I want to say thank you for the outpouring of kind comments on my last blog entry. This ended up being a very challenging week in many respects, and I could feel all of your positive energy. So, thank you!
My vacation got off to a rough start with my flights to Mexico being cancelled as a result of the monster snowstorm that pummeled Denver before Christmas. It took me 2 days, an overnight in Seattle, and an extra $300 or so to get to Mexico. I feel fortunate, though, that I didn't get trapped in the Denver airport, and that I eventually did make it to my vacation destination.
We stayed here. It's so freaking posh I didn't even know what to do with myself. It was really, really nice. I got 2 massages in 5 days! How spoiled am I? It was a great place to spend a few days (Or longer, preferably.). Despite this place's luxury, running was really limited. There was no beach; the shoreline was an unrunable rocky reef-type thing (The hotel built a fake beach along their part of the seashore.). Everything on the property was paved with either concrete or asphalt. Then, there was a gym with treadmills. I mostly ran on the dreadmills, wanting throw myself off the machines each time! Running on pavement hurt so-danged bad, I couldn't do it! Despite being hung up in airports with bad weather and the mental toils of dreadmill running, I only fell short of last week's 11:30 of running goal by 30 minutes (I'll post the details to last week's training entry.). I was proud of this! It took a toll on my body, being travel weary and pounding on pavement and treadmill, so I'm taking a major rest week this week to try and recover. I've got painful spots in my legs that need some down time!
It was an emotional rollercoaster, Christmas week. We spent some time talking a lot about my dad, talking about our old traditions, and remembering other life experiences that included him. We also spent some time trying not to talk about him, to save our emotions. To say the least, it was very, very difficult, I think second only to the month or so of pain after he died. However, I do think we found some respite as a family and Mexico: we remembered old memories, and we also made some new family stories.
Trying to get home from Mexico proved to be almost as difficult as getting to Mexico through Denver's winter storm of last week. The newest storm to hit Denver caused me quite the issue tonight. I was stuck this evening in Denver while flights were being cancelled all around me. By the time I made it out of the airport, probably 3/4 of all the flights had been cancelled. I was simultaneously booked on one flight and on standby on another, trying to get out the airport. Both flights were being delayed later, and later, and later. I was preparing for the worst. Having heard about the nightmare that was last week in the airport, I was trying without success to call the few people that I know in the Denver area to rescue me! Then I was preparing to weather the storm in the airport. Then, miraculously, one of the flights I was counting on came through and I flew out of the Denver airport at around 11 pm. I'm not too sure how many more people were going to get out of there in the near future. There was a lot of snow out there!
And so now I've returned, to home, to work. I'm actually glad to be home, though. Perhaps I could stand a vacation to recover from my vacation! I won't complain much because about 36 hours ago I was laying on a Mexican beach, sipping a tiki drink, and letting my worries float away on a humid Carribean Sea breeze. Life is still so-danged good.
Posted by Meghan at December 29, 2006 3:16 AM
Comments
hey meghan. welcome back. i'm glad you guys did okay in mexico. now rest your leg up!
Posted by: Audrey at December 29, 2006 7:25 AM