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We were right on the edge of Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, “a coastal stretch of palm-fringed beaches backed by lush mountains with ruins of a pre-Hispanic town”, as told by Google Maps. It was incredible to hear the stories of how this community, that would have daily shoot-outs, weekly car bombs, and witnessed death every single day, has flipped the table and is now one of the most beautiful sections of the city. We picked up a man along the way who was a one man show with an incredible voice and then stopped for one of the most incredible views of the city where people hopped up on the roof of the van and started dancing with the musician we picked up. We spent the day learning about the entire growing process, getting the opportunity to plant our own seeds, pick the coffee cherries, separate them, ending with a full coffee tasting.

Working from our 2 bedroom (then one bedroom) apartment in Virginia for the past 9 months made me even more of a homebody than I already am (which yes, is a weird combination – someone who is completely wanderlust yet also doesn’t want to leave home – I, of course, want to eat all of the foods but homegirl still has a budget on this extended vacation so eating breakfast and lunch at home will significantly help with that. To get home, we took an Uber (which are quite cheap and only 90% legal here) and I think we may have saved a man’s life? Our program leader told us at the end of it all, we’d look back and be like where the hell did those 4 months go

As some of you may or may not know, I am going on my second race year working as the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon Race Weekend Social Media & Marketing Director (yes, it’s a damn mouthful LOL). I immediately signed up for the 2015 Chicago Marathon, using the Chicago Spring Half Marathon in May and the Chicago Half Marathon in September as training races while also crossing the half marathon distance off my bucketlist. When we finally closed the distance in February 2019, after a nationally-televised (official) engagement during his homecoming and our New Year’s Eve wedding, running became more a part of my life than ever. A Blog for the Girl on the Run, and works as the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon Race Weekend Social Media & Marketing Director.

Then my days in Virginia Beach very quickly started disappearing and all of a sudden, it was a week before I was supposed to be moving back to Chicago yet Michael wasn’t deploying, we were homeless and scrambling, I had to buy a bunch of flights to Chicago to accommodate unchangeable plans and life was MESSY AF. Long distance, deployment schedule changes, planning a wedding in 4 months, cross-country moves, geckos in our apartment, orders curveballs, last minute honeymoon planning, more deployment schedule changes, ankles the size of softballs, just to name a few. So when I had to leave Virginia Beach to go on my own “deployment” while Michael stayed behind, it hurt, we’re talking two days of uncontrollable silent sobbing with this empty feeling in my stomach and a full week of not sleeping kind of hurt. I think that’s part of the thing with a military relationship, it sucks, like so terribly sucks you want to constantly scream and cry at times but the person you’re going through all that shit for, makes it so incredibly worth it at the end of the day.