Just when you thought I was gone for good.....

I know that my blog has been out of commission for several months, but I am getting back into the swing of living, loving and having fun. That includes training for the Men’s Health Urbanathalon in October, reinstating my healthy eating/weight loss goals, and keeping up with my blogging starting today. So I apologize for leaving all two of you (haha) for so many months with nothing engaging and exciting to read…. I know it must have been miserable. ;)- But I’m back in black, to quote ACDC… or back in half black if we are being technical.

So when we last talked, I had just come back from Costa Rica… at least I left you on a high note. Since then I have been to the following places: Memphis, Wichita, Orlando, San Antonio, New Jersey, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Detroit, Northern Wisconsin, Omaha, middle of nowhere Illinois, Louisville, Des Moines, Children of the Corn Iowa, Columbus, Boston, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Nashville, and roll up the windows because these farm towns smell like butt Indiana. (You’re probably glad I left you at Costa Rica, huh?)

In all of these travels I have mostly been working, but I did complete my first half marathon in Oshkosh, WI with my good friend Katie!


It went really well and I felt great after- in fact so great, that I’m wondering if I couldn’t have run it a little faster .I finished in just over 2 hours, which was my goal. That same weekend, I became the proud god mother of my best friend Amanda’s daughter Allie.


But alas, when life is going great, sometimes it suddenly isn’t. Our close group of girlfriends very unexpectedly lost a member this summer. We lost Erika the same weekend we were joyously celebrating Ann’s wedding, which seems wrong and yet right at the same time, because it is an event that Erika was supposed to be at, but couldn’t because of financial reasons. Instead she took a private plane with three others to view Glacier National Park and didn’t return.


I have only lost three others of real importance to me in my life: my uncle Steve, my grandfather, and my dog Ali. I know it might seem wrong to add a dog to that list, but she ranked and still ranks above many humans in my life and I still miss her five years later. My uncle and grandfather were also very unexpected and shocking, but Erika’s death hit me very differently. Maybe it’s because she was my age (only a week older) and a peer/friend's death really puts your own life into perspective… and puts more of a value on it. To me her death said “It could happen to you” and I’ve been having a hard time dealing with that. But to end on a happier note, the loss of her has made me realize how unique of a group of friends I have and how much of a little family we are. Girls can be very catty and fake- I am so lucky to have a group of girlfriends that I’ve known for almost a decade (and a few others for half that) that is drama-free, supportive and fun-loving. So this note is dedicated to them. You know who you are. …… and if you don’t just ask yourself “Has Raine flashed me in the past year?” If the answer is yes… LOL.