There's Always Room for Fika [Sweden 2019]

Fika [fee-ka] Swedish (n.) a moment to slow down and appreciate the good things in life.

After a brief stopover in Poland, Elizabeth and I continued our European food tour in Sweden. Don't worry, we walked almost 70 miles over the course of a week, so eating our way through Europe wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. 

Tunnbrödrulle, caramel cat candy, and semla

Before I start RAVING about the best food in Sweden, let's cover the runners up. First, tunnbrödrulle, which is pretty much a hot dog in a wrap. Ours came with mashed potatoes and mustard for a truly interesting treat. And honestly, I didn't hate it. It was an odd combination of foods and kind of tasted like a heart attack going down, but it was pretty good. And it was from a food truck on the banks of the some body of Swedish water and felt very cultural. The caramel cat candy from Vete-Katten did not feel very cultural, but it was CAT SHAPED CANDY and it was the same color as my kittens, so it was a must. And lastly was semla, which is a Lent pastry and was kind of a let down. It tasted like air. There was some tiny bit of flavored something in the middle was a pretty dang good, but the rest of it, both the filling and the bread, was kind of tasteless. Maybe we just didn't get it from the best bakery?

But now to the real winners of the culinary scene. Drum roll, please.

Kanelbulle and hot chocolate from Espresso House

So basically these are cinnamon rolls, but skinnier? And they have glaze flakes instead of liquid glaze. I don't know, man, these were amazing. Elizabeth and I also tried ones that were cardamom flavored and both became daily snacks. I will spend the rest of my life dreaming about kanelbulles. 

A sausage bun, moose lasagna, and reindeer with lingonberries

I. Did. Not. Hate. This. When creating our Scandinavian Bucket List (which clearly was all food related), Elizabeth and I knew we wanted to try reindeer. Could we BE any more Scandinavian? Anyways, we didn't find any in Oslo, expect the smoked one, so when we saw a sign for reindeer at The Hairy Pig in Gamla Stan, we knew we had to stop. As an added bonus they had moose, so all right, twist our arms. The moose lasagna was BOMB. To be fair, it was mostly cheese and how can you go wrong with cheese? But regardless, it was amazing. The reindeer was kind of a let down after all the hype, but even ground beef isn't anything to write home about when you just cook it up with little/ no seasonings. The lingonberries were actually my favorite part of the reindeer/ lingonberry mix. And they sell lingonberry jelly in Epcot, so heyyyyy.

Glögg-- aka, hot wine

After long days of freezing temperatures, we had to warm up with some hot wine. Plus we saw it advertised on one of our boat tours and then just really wanted it. We stumbled across Cafe Sten Sture, which, in retrospect, might have been my favorite restaurant we went to in the whole trip. I mean, we ended up going there two days in a row, so we must have liked it? It's this bar that's underground and in an old dungeon. So it was dark and stone, but also spacious and cozy. And the bar tenders were so nice. They had lots of recommendations for things to do and had lots to chat about. We got some glögg both nights and desserts the second night-- think apple pie that was more like a cake with ice cream.

Swedish meatballs

Maybe these were a little heavy for our last meal (literally ate these and went straight to the airport), but holy cow, they were divine. I could eat kanelbulle for breakfast and these meatballs from Meatballs for the People every day and not totally hate it. Plus, it came with mashed potatoes and lingonberries, so how could you even be mad!?

In case anyone was worried that we did nothing BUT eat, never fear. We spent an extraordinarily long time on boats for the middle of March. And regretted everything except the reindeer fur blanket, honestly.

We also spent quite some time riding the subways around. Which is a thing, okay? Because a handful of the subway stops are painted and they are ASTOUNDING. That rainbow one was all sorts of amazing.

We also rode the SkyView, which was a spherical ball that took us up and over the side of an arena in Stockholm for views of the city. It was free with our Stockholm pass, what can we say? We also visited Drottingholm Palace which is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. No royalty was seen on our trip. It was beautiful, old, and also free with our Stockholm pass.

We gave a big thumbs down to the Nordiska Museum which we thought was going to be cool Swedish outfits, but ended up being famous place settings. And other things that I honestly don't even remember, but what does it tell you when place settings are the most memorable part?

We gave a big thumbs up to the Vasa Museum, though. So the Vasa was this giant ship, supposed to be a big freakin' deal, and it sunk like 15 minutes into its maiden voyage. Yeah, bummer. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. This giant wooden ship sinks and is at the bottom of this lake/ ocean/ sea for THREE HUNDRED YEARS. And when they found it, IT WAS FULLY INTACT. Like, straight up, you can go to see this museum to see the original ropes and sails and everything that was on the ship. Apparently they also founds bones from people who had died on the ship, which really makes me wonder how poor of swimmers they were honestly. We kind of figured that the Vasa Museum would be as thrilling as the Nordiska Museum (read: not), but it was way more fascinating that we could have predicted.

We packed a lot into seven short days. A lot of pastries, a lot of hot chocolate, a lot of delicious food, a lot of laughing, and a lot of walking. When it was all said and done, we begrudgingly headed to the airport. We were leaving behind so much good food and had so many things that we still wanted to see.

Scandinavia-- you were something else.  

Pinching the Cheeks of Poland and Gaining 20 Pounds in 20 Hours [Poland 2019]

Elizabeth and I had one goal in Poland-- eat as much as we possibly can. We only had about 20 hours there and, as our hotel didn't pick us up from the airport like we thought they were going to, we ended up with 18 hours from start to finish. There was a lot of food to cram into 18 hours, but we were up for the challenge.  

It's SO cute! How can you not want to pinch it's cheeks?!

We dropped our bags off at the hotel and immediately went to Pierogarnia Mandu for pierogis. Because if you went to Poland and didn't get pierogis, did you even go to Poland? We got the traditional pierogis as well as the fried (tasted like little pizzas) and dessert (chocolate with raspberry) ones. As much as I love chicken and tacos, I mighttttt be able to eat traditional pierogis forever. Plus, I think that Elizabeth and I paid $20 for all of those pierogis (plus drinks) which absolutely made them that much more enjoyable. 

After polishing off the pierogis, we walked around Gdansk and proceeded to indulge in some apple pie, a strawberry milkshake parfait thing, and assorted mixed drinks. And seriously, I think we paid maaaybe $20 for all of that. Gdansk was SO cheap and the food was SO delicious which was a dangerous combination.

Delicious food continued the following day (are you seeding a trend here?), when we had the best breakfast of the trip. It had broccoli fritters, COME ON. And that breakfast sausage was what dreams are made of.

After a bomb breakfast, we had about four hours until we had to leave for the airport, so we used that time to walk around Gdansk, buy (and break) some souvenirs, and eat some more. Gdansk is as adorable as it's food is delicious. If Elizabeth and I had a dollar for each time we said "It's SO cute!", we could have funded our entire trip.

And not just one little part that you see on Pinterest is cute, but the entire Old Town area is precious as heck. Each road we turned down was more adorable than the last. Which made it really difficult for us to remember where we had seen the bakery that smelled so amazing, it stopped both of us in our tracks. "I don't know, it was on that cute street with the colorful buildings? Maybe some cobblestone roads?"

It quickly became time to head off to Stockholm, and our one real regret in Gdansk is that we didn't have time to go to the World War 2 Museum while we were there. Other than that, Gdansk far exceeded any and all expectations that we had for our 20 short hours in Poland.

No Way, We Went To Norway! [Norway 2019]

When Elizabeth and I booked our Spring Break trip to Scandinavia, we had a certain picture of Norway in our minds. We pictured fjords and Northern Lights and snow and reindeer. None of these things exist in Oslo, at least not in the way that we had imagined them. So we felt kind of down about Norway, solely due to our lack of planning. Oslo was beautiful and when we sat down to talk about it, Oslo was actually an amazing city. 

We arrived at our hotel in Oslo around 2pm on Monday and left for the airport around 11am on Wednesday, so we didn't have a ton of time in Oslo. We spent our first evening walking around the city which was incredibly safe, even for two female travelers and even when we were wheeling around our luggage. We spent some time walking on the Opera House-- it's totally allowed, we weren't trespassing on night one. Later that night, we got hot chocolate at what would become our favorite coffee shop, Espresso House, and waffles with cheese and jam at what would become our favorite waffle shop, Harald's Vaffel. 

The Opera House, which was designed for people to walk all over it, and the view from the Opera House.

Espresso House: like Starbucks, but Scandinavian, so cooler. 

Walking (more like huffing and puffing, if we're honest) over the Opera House and watching people sit in saunas then jump into the harbor took up a large part of our time in Oslo. Since we had loved it so much the night before, we did it again on Tuesday morning in hopes of the sun being behind us and being able to see more of the city. We mostly just saw giant pigeon birds. 

After our morning walk around downtown Oslo, we took the subway up to Holmenkollen. It's a ski jump tower that was built in the late 1800's and was even used in the 1952 Winter Olympics. There's a museum under the tower that chronicles a bit of Norwegian history as well as the history of ski jumping. The view of Oslo from the top was breathtaking, as was the fact that the jump tower is almost vertical and Elizabeth and I were both certain that we were going to take a tumble.

The best part of Holmenkollen, though, was that as we were leaving, a bunch of skiers were preparing to do some practice ski jumps. So we ended up sitting at the top of the ski jump for about 30 minutes watching them practice over and over. It's amazing-- it's so fast and so high. I feel like I'm a pretty brave person, but I definitely draw the line at ski jumping.

After getting our blood pumping by walking down the stairs at Holmenkollen, we decided to go for some tamer entertainment. We headed to Vigeland Sculpture Park which was tamer in the fact that we didn't have to climb stairs or hold onto railings for dear life, but ended up being an entire park of nake sculptures and I thiiiiink Elizabeth and I laughed the entire time. We tried to be mature about it, but we just couldn't. Especially when other adults were there actually appreciating the sculptures.
Whenever you Google Vigeland Sculpture Park, you see pictures of the angry baby statue, so we HAD to find in. In our minds, this statue was going to be like 10 feet tall. There was going to be no way that we'd miss it. In reality, it was approximately 2 feet tall and situated on a bridge with at least 50 other little statues. The eye rolls were real. In the end, it was decided that Elizabeth and I just don't appreciate art.

Photos like these are what make people think this statue is huge. 

We'd worked up an appetite, so we walked to Mathallen Food Hall. As like most food halls, there were many different food stands, so Elizabeth and I just went crazy. We got pasta, we got paninis, we got three different desserts. And we enjoyed every single bite. WE also tried moose, reindeer, and whale sausage. Which tasted like smoked meat and was nothing to write home about, in my opinion.

Chocolate cupcakes and Passionfruit Pie at Mathallen.

Dinner was another stop at the real star of Oslo-- waffles from Harald's. The cheese, called brunost or brown cheese, is a combination of goat milk and cow milk and sugar. It looked sketchy and tasted delicious. I would have never put jam and cheese together on a waffle, but clearly the Norwegians know better than me. It was amazing. I would go back to Norway solely for more Harald's Vaffels.

Tuesday morning, we packed up, checked out, and did a little last minute shopping. Obviously we couldn't leave Norway without any troll memorabilia-- spoiler alert, I bought two. We took one last stroll at the Opera House and one hot chocolate at Espresso House before waving bye to Oslo and boarding the train to our next stop-- Poland! 

You've Un-Loched My Heart [Scotland 2017]

We'd originally added Scotland to our itinerary to check another country off our list and to unwind after days galavanting through England and France.  A couple of laid back days in Europe before heading back to our real lives in the States. Scotland ended up surprising the heck out of us.

We signed up for a day tour to the Scottish highlands. Holy. Freakin'. Cow. It was gorgeous. It was a little bit foggy and a little bit rainy the entire time, which just screamed Scotland. I even listened to Scotland The Brave (aka, the one bagpipe song that everyone would recognize multiple times. 

Everything was so GREEN. I felt like it was perpetually St. Patricks Day.

The whole point of the Scottish Highlands tour was actually to go to Loch Ness and do a tour in hopes of seeing Nessie. We stopped in the town of Fort Augustus, where we boarded a boat that took us out onto the lake. A little piece of trivia-- 'loch' actually means lake, so it's literally called Lake Ness.

The tour was incredibly informative and the tour guide was very entertaining. We looked at sonar to see the differences in depths of the lake, learned fun facts about the surrounding villages, and kept our eyes peeled for Nessie. Another piece of trivia-- Loch Ness is actually very, very deep. There's more water in Loch Ness than in all of the lakes and rivers in both England and Wales combined. It's also very dark with low visibility due to a high concentration of peat in the water. 

Unfortunately, Nessie was ever elusive and we were unable to catch a glimpse of her this time. We boarded the bus back to Edinburgh where we wandered around the cobblestone streets, grabbed some dinner, and did a little shopping. Including a super soft Scottish blanket and Scottish gloves that I'm obsessed with.

We didn't have any plans for the follow day except "see Edinburgh". We bought tickets to tour Edinburgh Castle and, as most historical tours, some parts were amazing and informative and I could have stayed all day and others parts were a bit forgettable. The views though? They were definitely NOT forgettable. 

The view of the city from Edinburgh Castle

After touring the castle, we continued our self-led walking tour. Mostly to shops where I could buy pictures of the Scottish Highland cows (they're just SO adorable!), to somewhere we were could eat, and to The Elephant House which is where JK Rowling wrote sat to write some of the Harry Potter books. There wasn't any Harry Potter memorabilia or anything, we'd seen all that in London, but it was still a quirky little stop. 

We rounded out our Edinburgh tour by talking the long, windy walk up to Calton Hill for some more castle views. We got in a bit of exercise before our long flights home and had more amazing views of the city-- a city that I never expected to love.

You're What The French Call Les Incompetents [France 2017]

Paris has always been one of those cities that I knew I would go to, but didn't know when. And honestly, since I knew that I would end up there eventually, I never really actively planned a trip there. Thank goodness for Caitlin, because she loves Paris and insisted that we stop there. And it was awesome. 

We still had some time for sightseeing when we arrived in Paris, so after checking in to our hotel, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel freakin' Tower, folks. It was as breathtaking and as high and as windy as I imagined. We arrived in the late afternoon and were at the top level of the Eiffel Tower to watch the sun set over Paris. And it was in that moment that I fell in love with Paris.

Or maybe I fell in love with seeing cities from above because I also love Rio from the top of the Sugarloaf and London from the London Eye. Honestly, it might be that.

Once the sun had set, we took an incredibly expensive bike ride to the Arc de Triomphe where I stood (almost) in traffic for the perfect Instagram pic. Basic girls gotta be basic, even in Paris. And continuing on our quest to be basic, we meandered down Champs Élysées and didn't buy anything because, even in Paris, we're still poor teachers. 

The following day we headed back to the Eiffel Tower, so that I could get my daytime Tower pics before taking the train to Versailles, which was the royal French residence in the 1600's. I had never been there, so I toured the inside of the palace while Caitlin walked around the garden. Holy freakin' cow, I have never seen a place as ornate and intricate as the Palace of Versailles. I think I walked around the entire time with my eyes as wide as saucers. As amazed as I was by the palace, I was more excited to see the gardens. Apparently old, expensive stuff isn't my jam, but flowers are?

The gardens were also HUGE. We're talking 800 acres, 50 fountains huge. After walking across, what felt like, all 800 acres, we ate ice cream and macarons. Again, carrying on with our basic-ness.

Our last full day in Paris was spent sightseeing all of the famous Parisian locations-- the Louvre, Notre Dame, love lock bridge, and lots of little cafes. Macarons were eaten in abundance and hot chocolate from Angelina's was drank. Although I could have done with exponentially more macarons and less hot chocolate. 

After only two and a half days in Paris, we were off to Edinburgh, our last stop in our Eurotrip. We bid au revior to France with once last trip at Laduree for some more macarons at the airport for jetting off to Scotland. 

Second Star To The Right And Straight On Till Morning [England 2017]

Caitlin and I were both bit by the travel bug when we were in college, hence both of us doing our student teaching in Rio de Janeiro, albeit different years. She traveled throughout Europe in the summer of 2016 while I was galavanting through Central America, but by the time Thanksgiving rolled around, we were both ready to book another trip. Next thing we knew flights were booked and Eurotrip 2017 was in the works. 

We started planning the trip the way any 20 something does these days-- pins the heck out their travel destination, starts to narrow down what is actually feasible, finds some AirBnBs, and then figures out what food must be consumed. We narrowed it down to London, Paris, and Edinburgh over the course of 8 days, so to say that it was going to be a whirlwind would be a serious understatement. 

We flew into London and hit the ground running. Literally, we changed in the hotel bathroom and ran out the door, so that we could find the ice cream macaroon sandwiches before our tour of the Globe Theater. From there we traveled to Buckingham Palace, where we didn't see the Queen, but we did see the changing of the guards. And honestly, it was a heck of a lot less exciting than I had imagined. Unfortunately, since the Queen wasn't home to invite us in for tea, we had to settle for getting as far as the Buckingham Palace gift shop. Honestly, I didn't hate it. 

I was SO STOKED for Day Two in London. STOKED. Because we had tickets to Warner Brother Studios to see where the Harry Potter movies were filmed. I geeked out HARD. There might have been squealing involved, honestly. We got to see SO. MANY. props and outfits as well as sets that were used in the films, and we got to drink authentic butter beer. 

Day Three was devoted entirely to embracing our inner tourist. The tackier, the better. We took pictures with double decker buses, we stared wide-eyed at Parliament and Big Ben, we waved at Westminster Abbey from the top of a double decker bus, we rode the London Eye, and we moseyed across the London Bridge. Sometimes tourist things are tacky, but sometimes tourist things are awesome. Day Three was filled with tourist things that were awesome. 

It also rained which made me feel like I was actually in London. I loved every second of it. And was also incredibly thankful for both my rain jacket and my umbrella. 

Totes glam in London, obvs.

After three quick days in London, we princess waved goodbye to the Queen and boarded the train to PARIS. I'd insert the dancing girl Emoji right here, if I could.

On a Scale of 1-10, I'm a 13.1

Holy Moses.

This past Sunday, June 4, 2017, I ran my first half marathon.

I'll let that sink in.

I RAN MY FIRST HALF MARATHON.

Remember how I decided to take up running because I was bored? (Seriously, why? Why didn't I take up sun bathing? Or gelato tasting? Or kitten cuddler? Why running?) In Decemeber-ish, maybe even January, I signed up for a couple of 5Ks, almost fell down the rabbit hole of ordering WAY too many virtual run medals, and then challenged myself to run one race each month. #12monthsofraces My intention was to stick to 5ks. Only 5Ks. Quick, easy, fun, done. 5Ks.

So how did I go from a lover of 5Ks to half marathoner in just six months? (Seriously, I don't even believe it when I say that out loud. Or in my head.) Honestly? Mostly stubbornness, pride, and the fact that I didn't want to lose the money I had already paid.

Despite constant searching, there were no 5Ks to be found in/ around Rio de Janeiro during the month of June. (Even though June/ July have the mildest weather here in Rio, so it seems like the perfect time for some races. But what do I know?) It would be hard to complete #12monthsofraces without a June race. So I looked around and somehow stumbled across the 10th Meia Maratona das Cataratas in Foz do Iguaçu. They were offering an 8K and a 21K race and while I would have been happier with the 8K race, I figured that if I was going to pay the money to fly out to Foz do Iguaçu, I was going to do the whole thing. All 21 stinkin' kilometers of it.

Unfortunately, I paid for the race, but then flights and hotel prices kept creepin' up and up. Upwards of $600 for both for the weekend. Which is a lot of money to pay for a race that I wasn't even sure I was going to like. So I kind of figured that was that. No half marathon, no June race, no #12monthsofraces. But then about two weeks before the race, I checked flight prices and hotel prices on a whim. It was about $200 for both, for the whole weekend. Sigh, fiiiiiiine. For $200, I could do it.

The next thing I knew, I had booked a hotel, a flight, and was officially 13 days away from completing my first half marathon.

At which point I had started to panic because I hadn't really been training due to injury, travels, and friends visiting me in Rio. I spent a couple of days running around the Lagoa and a couple more days running at the gym and the whole two weeks panicking.

Next thing I knew, May was over, June was here, and it was race freakin' weekend. On Saturday, I went to Marco das Três Fronteras, which is where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina all come together, to pick up my race kit. Unfortunately, I had a taxi driver waiting for me and the meter runs quickly in Iguaçu, so I didn't get to stay long. So that makes two trips to Marco das Três Fronteras and two times without actually seeing the monument.

My Saturday plan mostly included laying around in my hotel room and reading a book/ watching TV, but the TV was only in Portuguese, it was nice weather, and part of the race kit included free admission to Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, so I decided to leave my hotel room and head to the park. As always, it was so worth it.

Seriously, the falls are flippin' awesome. I would spend all day, every day at the falls, if I didn't have to have a job and such. It was also a little bit sunny and a lot a bit misty, which made for some killer rainbows all. freakin'. day.

Before, during, and after. 

All weekend, the weather was predicting 100% chance of thunderstorms for the entirety of the race. It was freakin' me out. I felt like I wasn't prepared, clothes wise, which was causing me far more anxiety than necessary. And despite telling myself to have little to no expectations, 3 hours of running through a thunderstorm was NOT how I envisioned my first half.

Luckily, it was all for naught, as it didn't even rain once single drop. Not once during the race, and only for about 3.5 seconds after I crossed the finish line. Thank goodness, too, because I had enough to deal with without the rain.

13.1 miles is NO JOKE. It's far as heck.

Foolishly, I'd only been training around the Lagoa or on a treadmill and not including any sort of hill workouts. Dumbbbbb because so much of this course was hills. Not major hills, I think there was only a 750 feet elevation gain throughout the entire course, but goodness gracious, we were going up and down those 750 feet the entire time.

It's just so beautiful.

The first 13K were completed outside of the park, and then, at the 8K mark, we entered the park and ran to the falls. I'll admit, it was gorgeous. And I definitely kept reminding myself to enjoy my surroundings, to look around, to soak it all in. I was doing my first half marathon in FOZ DO FREAKIN' IGUAÇU for cryin' out loud. I thought I was dying, but it was pretty amazing.

My goal was to run a sub-2:45 half and I DID. Which is something that I still cannot believe. This half marathon represents so much-- working hard(-ish) for something that I didn't think I would ever be capable of (or even want to do), pushing myself when I wanted to stop, traveling somewhere alone without meeting anyone on the other side.

I don't think that half marathons are going to become my distance of choice (have I mentioned how FAR 13.1 miles is?!), but I did it. And now I know that I can. And on a scale of 1-10, I can now say that I'm a 13.1.

Cardio Is Hard-io: Part 2

Not only did I decide it was a good idea to start killin' it at the box three days a week, I decided that I was going to start running on the reg. New year, new me-- or something like that, amiright?

It started out innocently enough. It was November and I was feeling pretty homesick. I wanted something that was from the States. I needed something that was from the States. It might have been a randomly placed Facebook ad, it might have been a spam email, I don't know how the thought of the Cleveland Turkey Trot crossed my mind, but the fact is that it did. 

I looked at the website, figuring that was as far as this thought was going to go. I mean, I live in Brazil. It's pretty difficult to do a 5K in Cleveland from 5,000+ miles away, right? Wrong. The Cleveland Turkey Trot was also being offered virtually which essentially means that you pay the money and run the distance wherever you are around the world. 

So I paid the money, completed the distance, got the medal and the shirt, and haven't stopped signing up for races since.

"Cleveland" Turkey Trot 2016

After the Turkey Trot, I quickly found myself running in the Circuito das Estações: Verão, which was my first live race besides the Color Run I ran in San Pedro Sula, Honduras a few years back. It wasn't as easy as I would have liked, but I also didn't die. Which might not be the best criteria when talking about how much you like a hobby, but haters gonna hate. I do it for the medals anyways.

Circuito das Estações: Verão 2016

And since it's approximately ten thousand degrees with about 3429% humidity all day, every day in Hell de Janeiro, I joined the gym down the street so that I can run on the treadmill instead of outside.

Since then, I've completed a handful of other races. Which are really nothing to brag about, but yeah, I'm going to do it anyways. Waking up early on a Sunday morning is already a feat in itself.

February: Circuito do Sol- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

March: Circuito das Estações (Outono)- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

March: Athenas 6K- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

April: Serie Delta (Etapa EUA)- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

 I had poured water on myself, I wasn't that sweaty, okay?

April: Color Run- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

April: WRun 4K, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In following the example of my one my friends, I thought it would be a good idea to do "12 Months of Races". AKA, complete a 5K or higher each month for the year of 2017. I've done live races for the months of February, March, and April, and a virtual New Years run for the month of January. I don't know if a virtual run counts, but it's my challenge, so yeah, it counts.

....It's crazy the things that you get yourself into because you are bored and need something to do.