Going the distance

NOTE: We were so busy that I didn't get a chance to post this blog entry before we left for Russia...so now we've been in Moscow since Saturday and this entry is a wee bit dated...but just pretend it's last week and I promise we'll have a fresh-from-Russia post tomorrow for sure....

This past Saturday, Kevin and I ran the Baltimore 1/2 marathon. We paused to celebrate this accomplishment just long enough to grab a drink (a few bottles of water and a margarita, actually) before heading back to Cielo to continue the other race we've been running for the past few months--the one to get Cielo back in shape and back in the water so we can start moving south again. As I type this entry, the sun is setting and Kevin is still at the boat working away.

Over the past few weeks we've polished, varnished, sanded and/or painted just about every surface inside and out of our boat--and our project list seems only to grow longer. I am bruised and blistered and more often than not in desperate need of a shower. But of course, I know what you're thinking...that we did this to ourselves...and that even on our busiest days, what we're doing sure beats a desk job...and pretty much, you're right.

Though we're going crazy at the moment, the pay-off of getting to spend another winter traveling the Caribbean will be wonderful...and before that, we'll be lucky enough to spend the last two weeks of October visiting friends in Russia. Of course way back in June when we booked this trip, it seemed absolutely possible that we'd be able to focus on our respective jobs, see all of our friends, get the boat in order and train for a 1/2 marathon between June and October, but I guess I should have figured out by now that nothing ever goes "according to schedule" and that anything worth doing takes time....so, we've been officially racing the clock for over a month now so that we can have the amazing experience of visiting Moscow with hosts who offer a free place to stay and a promise to show us the city from the perspective of locals. A pretty incredible offer.

Once we get back from Russia, we'll hopefully quickly get back in the water and once again start moving south before the weather on the east coast gets too cold. For Cielo's second winter in the Caribbean, we're hoping to spend time in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and wherever ends up being interesting…meanwhile, we'll keep working to close the distance between where we are and where we want to be.