I admit it, I’ve been slacking a bit here on AM.com, but have no fear – I’m back!  And here’s what I’ve been up to:

Traveling

Kayaking around the Sucia Islands in WA

Not just a little bit of traveling, traveling like whoa.  Like New York for TBEX at the beginning of July, the Dominican Republic with the D.R. Ministry of Tourism in the middle, and rounding out the month with a trip to Washington state courtesy of the Whatcom County Tourism Board.  All awesome, more to come on the trips later.

Training

My marathon training started this month, technically while I was in the D.R.  I decided to take out one of the two 20 milers later on in the training to do week 1′s workouts twice.  I think it was a good move.  I’ve also been using CEP compression socks after my runs and they seem to be working- my legs feel pretty fresh the next day.

Hanging out with my Mom

me & my mom down in Coronado

My mom has come out every summer since I moved to California and this was the week she came out this time.  We had dinner at my favorite restaurant, Ti Amo, went and saw Eclipse (yes, I have read all of the books), and spent the day in San Diego.  There was also a pedicure thrown in there for good measure.

Writing

I’ve also miraculously found some time to write a couple articles during all of this -

http://matadorchange.com/tribe-wanted-building-sustainable-communities

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/10-07/travel-marathon.html

http://planeteyetraveler.com/2010/07/24/traveling-to-british-columbia-check-out-these-deals/

What’s next?

• School starts back up next week so I have to move the giant pile of stuff from my living room to my new classroom, and then unpack everything that has been delivered over the past few weeks.
• Relaxing.  If I have time.
• Continuing the marathon training and staying healthy.  I have the hell month of training coming up in September, so I want to stay strong and healthy throughout August.
• Planning my next trip… Mexico in December for a volunteer trip and Europe in the spring.  Unless someone wants to send me to Sierra Leone so I can volunteer with Tribe Wanted.
• Look for my travel blog to be re-launched soon!!!