A Second Chance

In my previous blog post, you read about the cancelled Skopje marathon. It was upsetting having the race cancelled but if you know me, I wouldn't let this hold me back from running my marathon.

The weekend after the marathon, Sunday May 17th, there was a marathon in Bulgaria. One of my fellow runner friends informed me of this race. I quickly figured out transportation plans and was ready to run in the race. It seemed perfect that I wouldn't have to travel so far for a race. As the week progressed, it became evident that I would not be allowed to go to the race.

On May 17, a massive protest was planned in Skopje and Peace Corps wanted all volunteers in their houses in case anything happened. Once again, I was really upset but I wasn't giving up. I began researching all the upcoming marathons. This wasn't easy because we are nearing the end of marathon season with summer coming and most of the other marathons in neighboring countries had already happened.

I found races in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Switzerland and Croatia. The last 3 would be pretty hard to get to since there were no direct flights and also very expensive. As a volunteer, we are only given a limited amount of vacation days and I didn't want to waste so many just to travel to a race.

A fellow volunteer told me that I could fly directly from Skopje to Malmo, Sweden and then take a 30 minute train ride to Copenhagen. I decided this was the best option and booked my plane ticket and registered for the race for May 24.

Town square

Architecture in Malmo

I was going alone and nervous about how everything would work out but God continued to bless me throughout my journey.

The most famous building in Malmo because of the architecture

I was able to spend some time exploring Malmo. I stumbled upon the international food fair when I spotted American flags in the distance and went to investigate. I also stumbled upon a feminist gathering in the park. They had free food which including a delicious pasta salad, so much hummus, homemade bread and Swedish desserts. To say I was excited was an understatement.

Free food in the park!

I took the train to Copenhagen and this city has become my second favorite city I have traveled to (after London of course). There is something about Scandinavia that is so memorizing to me. Maybe it's the untouched beauty around every corner, or how eco-friendly they are in every aspect and the food that looks and tastes so incredibly fresh, or maybe it's the people who were willing to help me when I was lost. Or maybe it's that everyone bikes everywhere; the bike lanes are unbelievable and there are even traffic signals to learn when biking. Also the architecture is unlike anything I have ever seen; with bright colors, glass windows and unique shaped buildings. It's as if this part of the world is years ahead of America in so many ways. I know this may sound silly but I walked into a park and they had a trampoline and parents were letting their kids jump on it without fear of breaking a bone! School parks had the neatest playground equipment and are lined with cedar fences with glass cutouts so you can look through at different points.

Park at a Swedish School

Trampoline in the park!

 And did I mention that almost everyone speaks English? This was such a change compared to Macedonia! One thing though is that I sure did not pack well for the chilly weather. I was freezing!

One of the highlights of my trip was meeting up with a RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) who served in Honduras. Did I mention that he is a really great cook?! It was really great getting to share our Peace Corps experiences. He is even from Philly. What a small world! He showed me around Copenhagen and even lent me his spare bike. I got my wish of getting to bike in Copenhagen!

Copenhagen Tower

Although the biking didn't turn out so well. Some lady crashed into me and I went flying off the bike. I had a really bad landing and was scrapped up pretty badly. It figures this happens the day before the race. I was pretty embarrassed, bloody and in a lot of pain! We then went and saw Carnival, yes the Brazilian carnival Copenhagen style. It was pretty interesting. I got to meet his local friends while walking around the beautiful city.

Dunkin Donuts!

biking lanes!

Sunday morning, I was up early for the race. I was still in shock that I was actually running the race. It still didn't seem real. I hopped on the metro and it was full of runners in their race gear. I could feel the energy in the air and with each stop, we picked up more and more runners. Upon arriving at the metro stop for the race, I just followed the crowd until we got to the race entrance. There were changing rooms and showers set up (yes showers in tents!), bag storage, first aid and water stations. I stretched and waited to the last minute to use the bathroom and drop of my bags. They even had ponchos to keep us warm after dropping our bags off!

A friend of mine had a great idea to safety pin energy gels to the inside of your shorts so I wouldn't have to hold them while I run. This was brilliant and it worked so well. My parents sent me gels from the US since they don't exist in Macedonia.

There were water stations with gatorade all along the coarse and every other water station had oranges and bananas. This fruit was a life saver and I don't know how I would have finished the race without it.

At 9:30 am, the race began. There were runners as pace guides and they had big balloons tied to their backs with the end goal time. They made an announcement before the race started that 30% of the runners were international. I am sure most were from Finland or Sweden but I did see runners from all over the world including England, Taiwan, Canada, Italy, Spain, and the USA. I started with the 3:30 group since that was my goal. The whistle blew and we were off. The 36th annual Copenhagen Marathon had begun!!

Pre-race!

I could not believe how many fans came out to support the race. During the whole entire race, there were people everywhere, holding signs and cheering. It was so encouraging and uplifting. The weather was perfect, I was really worried about it being too cold but in the end, I couldn't have asked for better weather. It was about 55 degrees. It was a beautiful city to run in and I never got bored during the race. I think running the Skopje course twice would have been pretty tough mentally.

I started way out too slow in fear of using all my energy and just before the half way point, the 3:40 group passed me at a water station. I was upset but this only motivated me more. I kicked it up into high gear and raced my heart out. The second half of the race was better then the first. I felt so incredibly great, never hitting "the wall" that many marathoners hit once reaching mile 20. My body felt great although at around the 38 kilometer mark, my hips were killing me.

The last 2 kilometers, I ran with everything I had in me. Joy, excitement, relief to name a few of the emotions that came with crossing that finish line with a time of 3:38:40!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I was 24th in my age group out of 250 runners!!

Marathon complete!

Splits 

Once crossing the finish line, they had people putting ponchos on everyone to keep us warm and they gave us water bottles. There were plenty of snacks to refuel on like yogurt, cinnamon buns, hot chocolate and even beer! My stomach was too upset to try the beer but I thought it was pretty hilarious to have that after the race!

Care for a post marathon beer 

Although I didn't get my goal time, I was still really pleased. I think if I ran the race in Macedonia, I may have gotten a better time since I didn't need to fly, I could eat my typical foods and sleep in my own bed but I will never know. I dedicated each of the 26 miles to a special person who supported me. Looking back at my training, I think of all challenges I faced: having the Skopje marathon cancelled 4 hours before it started, running in a country where running is not typical which came with unending starting, cat calls and comments, there is a lack of food options for a vegetarian (they barely exist here, now imagine being a vegetarian and runner!), getting bit by a dog, getting my running shoes stolen and crazy blood blisters on my toes. These are just a few of the challenges but they helped make me not only a better runner but a stronger person.


I can now officially say I am a marathoner!!

A Cancelled Marathon

The first street of the race, empty because of the cancelled race

Picture this: It's the Skopje marathon weekend. The weekend I have been anticipating for 9 months and the goal that helped get me through my long grueling runs of 16, 18 and 21 miles. And of course it was on my bucket list to run a marathon!

Many volunteers gathered in Skopje on Saturday to help with the Regional Spelling Bee and the constant theme of conversations was the marathon the next day. You would see volunteers with carbs in hand while judging in the classrooms. It was the day before the race and we were all counting the hours.

I was both mentally and physically ready, the weather forecast seemed perfect for a Saturday in May and I had done the carb-loading. I couldn't sleep well the night before the race, with race day jitters in my stomach. I reached over and grabbed my iPad and my heart sank when I saw a message flash on the screen. It was from a fellow volunteer stating that the race was canceled because of the shootings that happened the previous day.

A rush of emotions filled my mind: I was angry with the government, disappointed in myself for all of the time and energy during training and I was sad for the race I felt like I was robbed of. I couldn't quite process everything.

The next day (race day), a fellow volunteer and I went to the starting line and met up with a another friend who was running the race. I hoped to run through the finish line but security wouldn't let me. The sun was shining and my body felt great. This added to my frustration and I still couldn't understand why they cancelled it. It took time to process it and I did begin to understand and respect the decision.

Runners organized a 10k race on their own 

I was happy to see so many runners along the river, sporting their marathon shirts. You just had to look at the other person's eyes and instantly there was an emotional connection. You could understand the disappointment without even speaking. It also made me proud though that despite of everything, there were so many runners coming together for group runs.

The runners even organized a moment of silence in respect for those who passed away the day before and then ran a 10k together.

Moment of silence 

For me, this was a lesson that we can't always control what happens in life but that you can't let it bring you down. It will slowly destroy your happiness if you do.

Macedonian Birthday

Birthdays are a big deal in Macedonia. My host family had been anticipating my birthday for weeks. They knew I had made plans for my actually birthday but were excited to celebrate on another day. May 1st or први Мај as it's called in Macedonia, is a national holiday and is the equivalent of our labor day in the states. I was very excited to learn that I will never have to work on my birthday while here in Macedonia!

Macedonians spend this day at picnics, making barbecues and enjoying time with friends or family.

My friend Susie planned a nice weekend for my birthday but we had to change our plans when 2 friends couldn't make it in the end to Skopje. We decided on Friday to go to the Matka Canyon for a picnic. This in it's self was an adventure. It seems like every Macedonian had this idea in mind and all the buses to the canyon with extremely full.

We managed to ask a few college students for help and they were also going to Matka and said they would show us where to get another bus. When the bus came, we managed to squeeze on it but it did not take us all the way to the canyon. Along with the group of 4 college students, Susie and I squeezed into a taxi. It took some serious bribing to convince the taxi driver to take us there since the road is very narrow and would be very crowded with cars. I have no idea how we all fit in the taxi but it was nice getting to know the Macedonians for the ride to the canyon.

Once arriving, we got some ice cream, and found a nice place to sit near the water. We hiked the whole trail after lunch and decided we better get back to relax before dinner. Getting back to Skopje was even harder then getting to Matka. We waited for 30 minutes for the bus that never came. 2 small conveys came and it was a mass herding to get one of the 20 seats in the convey. They were so tiny and there was no way we were fitting in there. We felt we had no choice but to walk 3-4 miles to the next town to try and get a taxi. It doesn't sound so bad but I had my luggage for the weekend with me, it's a very hilly road and we were tired from hiking all day.

God answered my prayers and just when I wanted to give up after making it to the town without a taxi in sight, one drove by and Susie flagged it down. We made it back to the hotel and collapsed on the beds.

Later that night, we went to my favorite restaurant, Pelister, and had an absolutely delicious meal!

 Crepes!

yum!

The next day, we planned on going to Kumanovo to the observatory there but we weren't sure if it was open. The receptionist at the hotel mentioned a monastery we could hike to that was built in the 11th century and we thought this sounded fun. It was a beautiful hike there and hardly any people. I saved a little puppy from getting run over by a car (It was hiding underneath the car and they were about to back up). I just wanted to take him home with me.

The church with the man that was "the bachelor"

The Church of St. Panteleimon in Gorno Nerezi, Republic of Macedonia, is a small 12th-century Byzantine church located in a monastery complex. The church and monastery are dedicated to St. Panteleimon, the patron saint of physicians. 

The cute puppy I saved

Log cabin house?!

We hiked to the other church in this town where we were met by a Macedonian who was very eager to tell me he was a bachelor who really liked Americans and even wanted my phone number. Susie quickly made up an excuse that we had to go and saved me from that marriage proposal!

Later that night, we went to the Mexican restaurant for one last birthday dinner and it was pretty good. I even got tofu for the first time since I have been in Macedonia!

My host mom's birthday is May 5 so we celebrated our birthdays together on this day by going out to a nice restaurant. I was thankful to have a family that wanted to celebrate my birthday, even if I couldn't be with my own family. They ordered a big cake and sang to both of us!

The cake!

It was definitely a memorable birthday and I am so thankful for the people who helped make it so special.

April Happenings

Well April came and went and it was an extremely busy month for me. The month was full of ups and downs and exciting adventures.

I thought that I would find more time to blog but it there is always something getting in the way. In this post I am going to try and recap some of the things that happened. Of course it was busy with both Easters but there was also more exciting events that happened. 

One of my favorite April memories is my trip to Matka, which is a canyon on the outskirts of Skopje. At the last minute I decided to go. Two fellow volunteers had planned the trip and invited me along. We caught the bus and headed to the canyon. I met some fellow Americans on the bus that were spending 2 years backpacking through Europe. 

When we arrived at the canyon, we weren't sure if we were at the right place. There was no hotel or restaurant in site, only a steep hill and the side of a mountain. We continued walking for about 20 minutes, up the hill, around many bends on a cobblestone path with the exposed canyon on our right and the river on our left. We finally saw the hotel and were welcomed with cool fresh air. I think it was about 10 degrees cooler there. 

One of the monasteries at Matka where Orthodox sisters live 

It was absolutely stunning and I really felt like I was on vacation, in an oasis away from all of my worries. We hiked half of the trail (it's pretty long) but didn't hike the whole thing. I guess this just means I will have to go back again! I discovered that the weekend before there was a kayak race in the river! It was so beautiful running in the canyon (no slacking on my marathon training!) 

 care of some kayaking?

There was the Regional Spelling Bee in Veles (my old training community). This is the largest project run by Peace Corps in Macedonia and many volunteers help coordinate and plan for this event. There are local bees throughout all of Macedonia and in 8 towns there are regional bees. Five students from each grade level from regional bee get to move onto the final bee in Skopje on May 10. Sadly none of the students from my school made it to the final.

Then there was IST (In-Service Technical Training). This was a much anticipated event because it had been 5 months (I still can’t believe it had been that long) since I saw some of my fellow volunteers at the Swearing-In Ceremony back in November. We spent the week in cultural, medical and TEFL specific sessions. Our training manager had recently been to the USA for a training and asked what we wanted her to bring back to share. I suggested cookie butter and my jaw dropped when I went out during the coffee break and there were 2 jars of Trader Joes cookie butter, with biscuits for spreading, reeses cups and cookies & cream eggs. Everyone was so excited for these special treats.

Ping Pong during IST

We stayed at a beautiful hotel with a sauna and pool. I actually got to swim some laps! My favorite part was catching up with fellow volunteers who I don’t get to see often. The vibe was so different from our HUB days back during training. HUB days are when we would all come together for a day of training in the capital every week. Now we were all waist deep in projects and adapting to our communities. We had so many stories and experiences to share, both positive and negative. It was a week full of many emotions but my favorite were all the laughs we shared.

On Friday night after the training, a group of us went out to dinner at an Arabian restaurant to celebrate my birthday and 2 other volunteers’ birthdays. We ended the night with dessert at an American bakery.

yum! 

The next day we got up early to hike up Vodno mountain. At the top of this mountain is the Millennium Cross, which can be seen throughout all of Skopje. We decided to take the bus half way up the mountain. At this point on the mountain, you can ride the cable cars to the top but we wanted to hike to the top. We decided to take a path up the mountain instead of the main road and it was more like a cliff. I was very sore when we got to the top, after battling thorn bushes, rocks all along the way and then the incline. The view made everything worth it. We didn’t take the same path down but it was still a pretty steep path down the mountain.

My girl Susie, I am beyond impressed she hiked up the cliff

The hiking crew

Some random things that happened in April:

-Found an awesome smoothie place in Skopje with raw cookies made from died fruits and nuts

-Made homemade Mac & Cheese for the first time with Velveeta that my mom sent me from America and it was heavenly

-Received an amazing care package from Holland which had peanut butter AND cookie butter and another one from my friend’s mother (I have the most amazing people supporting me)

How sweet are these care packages?

-Spring arrived and everything is starting to bloom

A street in Skopje 

-It was my Mom’s birthday

-Oh and I completed my longest run, 21 miles and am feeling ready for the Skopje marathon

May will be another busy month but I have so much to look forward to!