Malaysian Women's Marathon.

In the fall, my friend Amy asked me to run a 1/2 marathon with her.  Her first.   I have adjusted well to the heat of SE Asia and decided to give running a shot again.  We recruited a couple other friends from BKK to join and Team Sparkle Skirt was created.  

KL Towers.

The start of my training started off well.  I was hitting the miles on my plan and feeling good about it all.  Until...a month before the race I became cursed.   I first decided to have hand surgery (timing way off).  I thought it would be a simple procedure and a maybe a couple days of no running.  Nope, it was two weeks.  The taking of bone from my elbow was an unexpected setback that made running a little painful.  I was also pumped full of anesthesia that took weeks to wear off.  Then...a week before the race...I was hit with 5 days of stomach flu.  There is not running with that.  That left me with one week to run, before I ran 13.1 miles.  

Team before the race.

The race was the Malaysia Women't Marathon in Kuala Lumpur.   Friday night we all flew in and headed to Amy's.  We spent Saturday touring around KL and resting up for the race EARLY Sunday morning (beat the heat).

Start in the dark.

The only expectation I had for the race was to finish.  This meant walking or crawling over the finish line.  I knew I could do at least that.  It also allowed me to not have high expectations of myself by taking it too seriously and just have fun being with friends.

Male pacers in skirts.  Balloons attached. 

The race was a women's only event..in a Muslim country.  When we were signing up, there was an option of getting a male pacer...because women are unable to pace themselves.  At the race, the male pacers wore skirts to "show their belief that a women can find the strength to run that far and finish. (or something worse then that!)." With Team Sparkle Skirt being made of Western women, we stood dumbfounded about the words the speakers preached.  It was at that point I decided to run and make my motto "Pace this!".

I started the first 5k with some my friends (Caroline took off early).  The race was so quiet that I had to put on my headphones.  Girl Talk pumped into my head and I had to break ahead.  I picked up my pace and was able to finish by running the whole time.  It wasn't a PR (everyone else on my team PR'd), but I did finish well at 2:04hrs and placed 59/7??.  It was under 10 min splits (9:30 min), so I was happy.  

Way to finish Team Sparkle Skirt!

  

Darcy at the finish line.  PR 2:15

Amy and Colby at finish line. Colby PR 2:15.  Amy's first race

Caroline and me at end.  Her PR at 1:43 (WOW!)

Sweaty Team Sparkly Skirt.

Colby found this pic of me on the FB page.  After the race. 

Gili Islands

We first learned about the Gili Islands in one of those travel magazines that sits in the pockets of the seat in front of you on an airplane. "Come to this one of a kind Indonesian Island. Away from the hustle and bustle of Bali!" It called to us.  Ever since that flight, years ago, it has been on both Wade's and my list of places we wanted to experience.

The Gilis from the plane

Moving to Singapore made the trip even easier and more on our radar due to proximity.  When we learned that Chinese New Year was a national holiday that meant some days off work, the timing became possible.   I quickly got online and booked our "second" honeymoon. That's right...the kids were left at home.

How they roll. 

In August, we had somewhat celebrated tens years of wedded bliss.  We were waiting for this trip to do the real celebrating.  Just us and a tropical island.

Sunset Beach.

It all started easy, but then the AirAsia flight went down in Indonesia and our flight got canceled.   I spent weeks calling, emailing, and fighting with AirAsia about rescheduling the flight.   I was determined to make it happen.  In the end our flight schedule sucked, but we got to Gili and a bonus night with dear friends in KL.

Gili is definitely in a transition faze of going more upscale from the backpacker paradise it is now.  We stayed in one of the small handful of resorts located there.  Our days included walking around the island (we think about 6 miles with zero motorized transportation.  Just horses and buggies.), stopping for drink specials with the view, lounging on the beach, a water activity, happy hours, late BBQ seafood dinners, and ending with a nightcap on the beach or by the pool.   Heaven.

Hippy bar. 

Who knew that 10+ years ago, when we were a young, stupid early 20 something year olds, who had BIG plans to follow a logical sequential path, that we would be where we are now.   It has not always been easy, with lots of lessons learned, but in hindsight, I am proud of where we are.  We are living/experiencing life....and have yet killed each other while doing it. 

Wade helping rescue a boat from drifting.  They thought he was Hulk.  

A windstorm came in one night.

Wade jumping off a boat.

Happy 10 years.

Not as easy as it looks with wind and current

Notice the plastic around my hand?  I had hand surgery and was supposed to keep it dry.  Oops.