Back in the Saddle again.

The overwhelming fatigue has been hitting me around 7 or 8pm each night thus far, and waking up in the morning has been a true chore... but today I decided to bring my stuff anyway and attend Alissa's circuit training class at 3pm to get myself moving back into the daily exercise routine. The weather has been so nice that I've been spending the last two evenings out in the street (its a dead end) playing with the kids so I haven't been completely inactive... just mostly inactive. Today felt good. I was shakey and woosey a bit at the end of the class, but I sweated a LOT, fatigued my muscles and got my heart rate right up where it needed to be.

I'm really glad I wasn't completely inert in France as well. We walked a LOT, pretty much everywhere we went... and then there was the surreal morning Paris run and the gorgeous hike in the alps (altitude is an amazing thing... it wasn't a HARD walk... but it was hard to KEEP walking because of the lack of oxygen)... it almost felt like I didn't really take a vacation from exercise, and that is good (for me). It reminded me that I can run just about anywhere I go... hell why not? It's a great way to check out the place you are in a way most tourists never do, and that early morning lack of foot traffic really allows you to see things you would miss in the crowds.

I'm still working on getting the pictures up. Pope (the model) gave me his email address and phone number in Cape Town, South Africa in the hopes I would keep in touch and maybe one day bring the family to visit him there... what an adventure that would be. I'd LOVE to go to Affrica... anyone want to go to Africa? I have a picture we took on the plane to prove I was sitting next to him and conversing with him for nearly 10 hours... not that y'all wouldn't believe me... but hey... ya never know, right?

I have SO MANY blogs to catch up on... emails to respond to... and work that is biting at my ankles for attention when really all I want to do is sleep for a week... ah well, I'm STILL glad I went, and I'm thrilled my family got to be together for Bertrand's wedding.

We like to tell a story about Bert and Steph that kind of describes the depth of their relationship. They are adventurers at heart. They live in the high-alps, they take vacations to Alaska to hike for weeks in the mountains... it was on one of these vacations, during a week long hike in the Talkeetna mountain range that Stephanie got sick. Stephanie has a condition (much like fibromialgia) that causes her tendons to swell and become inflamed and painful to the point of her not being able to walk. It doesn't happen often... but on this trip it did. Bert had to leave her in the wilderness and bushwhack his way out of the woods non-stop for 18 hours until he found a cabin occupied by a bush-pilot who was alone and drunk and almost shot Bert because he thought there was a bear at his door (who else would be knocking on a remote cabin door that's only accessable by bushplane?) The pilot was too drunk to fly them out that night, but the next morning (significantly sobered up) they flew to Talkeetna, contacted the forrest rangers and got a helicopter in the air to rescue Stephanie. Stephanie spent nearly 36 hours alone in the woods unable to move and unsure when or if she would be rescued, Bert was exhausted when they found her... but he made it, and I have a feeling somthing like that can realy solidify in the hearts of a couple just how important they are to each other.

It's my fault we have a "French Brother"... when I was a sophomore in highschool I brought home information from my French class about having an exchange student. I was the one who INSISTED we get a boy (hell we already had 4 girls, who needed another girl?) and it was I who picked his profile out of the pile. There was a lot of luck involved... but I like to think there was some fate in there too. Bertrand almost instantly became one of us (despite being overwhelmed by the presence of 4 girls when he only has one blood-brother at home) and he will be our brother for life. Thru the whole wedding we were treated as Bert's second family... we were invited to all of the "family only" events... and we were honored at the reception with mentions in speeches and toasts by native French speakers who took the time to learn enough English to let us know how important it was to them that we were there and how honored they were that we would cross a continent and an ocean to be there for the wedding... it was pretty damed cool all around.

Ok... I'll stop gushing now, Thanks EVERYONE for keeping me in their thoughts, I'll write up a full trip report soon, I promise... but for now... it's back to the grindstone and at 5:45 tomorrow morning Alissa (who today during class came over and told me my upper body looks totally lean!) starts me on an INTENSE 6 week fat-burning program... wish me luck!

Posted by Lexy at March 24, 2004 04:39 PM