I am more excited, cookie fail, and land of the leprechauns!

I can't believe that tomorrow will be my 1-year blog anniversary. It doesn't seem like a whole year ago that I first amped up my miles and began training for my first half-marathon! So much has happened since then - so many races, new accomplishments, study abroad adventures, new friends, and more. I've been grateful to have this blog as a way to track my progress and changes in different parts of my life. 

One thing I was most excited for when I returned from Italy on Monday was to settle down and watch the Boston Marathon. I always find it so inspiring to watch races (which is why I've watched Spirit of the Marathon 9384792 times). It's just something that really helps motivate me. Watching races isn't for everyone but for me it's something that just gets me going :)

That being said, how AMAZING is it that Meb WON??? To me, he represents the epitome of America. He comes from a family of 10, and his parents moved them here and highly stressed education and taking advantage of the opportunities here in America. All of his siblings (and him!) have attended college, and all are either still studying or are PhDs, doctors, or lawyers. Or professional athletes (just him). Plus, he is about to turn 39 years old. THIRTY-NINE! 

It was very inspiring to watch the elites run, but it was most motivating to track my friends and classmates through their own races. I can't wait to be cheering Alex and his buddies on (from afar!) next April :)

All of this has only added to my excitement that I will be running the Chicago Marathon in October. I feel so, so incredibly lucky to have been chosen for that opportunity and I cannot WAIT to run that race. I am lucky to be able to run. On my run this morning, I was having one of those "Ouch, running" moments and wasn't being grateful, and then I ran past a police woman who was using crutches to walk. Any of those ungrateful thoughts were immediately banished! My perspective on my run immediately changed. Alex sent me "The Ultimate Marathon Guide" and I already know the day that my training will start (June 23) and I'm incredibly excited. I'm ready to work hard and learn about the marathon. For me, I know that one of the most challenging parts of training will be getting the proper nutrition and hydration, both everyday and during my long training runs. For me, I think this is the most likely thing to make or break me in training and I plan to talk a lot about it on here once I start training and learning more things about it!

Also I saw this snail on the trail.

Before my run this morning I tried to bake cookies. I tried this before with the best European  cookie ingredients I could find, but it didn't work out. So this was my second attempt, and I decided to use a boxed mix but deviate from the recipe on the back of the box. It did NOT work! I ended up more with chocolate chip mini-pancakes. For something that's so easy to make at home, it sure is a challenge here. I'm not sure quite what it is that makes it so difficult! Fortunately I think I can wait a few more weeks to have some...

I was sure to add some almond milk...

...and extra chocolate chips

The results:

They were very bland and just puffy! Not gooey like I would've wanted! 

This weekend Alex and I are headed off on our final solo trip (before joining his parents for one last weekend of traveling before things wrap up for the semester). This weekend is IRELAND! We will leave in the middle of the night on Thursday to get to the airport and fly on over to Dublin. We have day tours booked on Friday and Saturday, and between the two of those we will be seeing Wicklow, Kilkenny, Glendalough, and the Cliffs of Moher. Sunday will be a partial day before we hit the airport again, and we will just spend the day in and around the Dublin area! I hope to go to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells (but I know Alex is a little less interested in that so we'll have to see!).