For many months now, I have been waiting, sometimes impatiently for the beautiful, sunny, and clear weather to magically appear in Vilnius. There were a few teaser couple of days in April when the sun was shining down brilliantly and I was wearing flip flops consistently but since then, no such luck! However, fear not, my flip flop wearing habit was not deterred :). Luckily, as I like to keep myself busy with as many things as possible, several things happened over the last two months to keep me out of the house, but with umbrella in tow!
Although the weather outside was a little chilly, it was not cold enough to keep me in the gym running on the treadmill in order to train for the half-marathon I had signed up for in May. In any case, I needed to actually start practicing running outside and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the chilly weather was ideal for outdoor running. There is a lovely park less than 2 miles away from our apartment that has great flat trails with a large amphitheater nestled in the middle (where Lady Gaga will be performing this summer!!!). I quickly came to realize that long distance outdoor running is no joke and significantly different than treadmill running! I will say that although I ran Track & Field in high school, I never truly ran longer than about 4 miles on any one occasion. In late April, I finished a 10km race in Vilnius to get me on track toward the half-marathon in May in Riga, Latvia. The training schedule that I attempted to abide by was Hal Higdon's half-marathon for novices online training. It was easy to follow but I just couldn't get a run in during some weeks! Anywho, I traveled up to Riga in late May with several friends to compete in the half-marathon. Hearing horror stories from other runners, I decided to stick to pasta and carbs for the night-before dinner to keep my internal movements in order during the actual race. At the start of the race, the weather was perfect, just slightly cool with a light breeze although as the race progressed, it became incessantly hot running on the highway path as I was sweating profusely. Nevertheless, I completed my first half-marathon (with a few walking breaks) and I couldn't be happier! Now, I'm even thinking of signing up for the Vilnius half-marathon in September, if not at least the 10km race.
Vilnius 10km Race...slowly but surely!
Hundreds of motorcycles riding by on one of my practice runs
Victorious after the Riga half-marathon!
In between the Vilnius 10km race in April and the Riga half-marathon in May, I volunteered on the organizing committee of the International Women's Association of Vilnius' annual charity gala event. The breast cancer charity event raised nearly $25,000 from in-kind donations as well as proceeds from live and silent auctions. As I couldn't just attend the event without purchasing something, Damian and I walked away with a few art/photographic pieces, a bracelet, and some wine. It was for charity so the purchases were justified, right?
Damian & I at the charity gala
A few weeks ago, I had the unique opportunity to attend two very different back-to-back day trips with a local organization. During the first trip, we visited the Vilnius University botanical garden located about 30 minutes outside Vilnius. I was coming straight from work so I was still wearing my high heeled shoes. What a big mistake that was! I don't know what I was thinking, perhaps the local women's mantra of 'high heels all the time' got to me, but my non-tactical footwear selection was a costly mistake. I kept digging my heals into the soft earth and grass, all the while wanting to go native and take my shoes off. Ah well, valuable lesson learned - wear comfortable and flat shoes the next time. The next day after the botanical garden visit, our little group headed out to Ignalina to tour the power plant by the same name located there. The power plant, built during the 1970's and 1980's and closed as a pre-condition of Lithuania's admission admission into the European Union, at one time supplied 70% of Lithuania's energy demand. Throughout our tour, we had to wear these funny looking white garments and white shoes in order to not contaminate the various areas. Although we were prohibited from taking pictures inside the facility, I tried to snap a few from the outside!
Vilnius University Botanical Garden
Ignalina Power Plant
And to end, three fun final stories. Before coming to Lithuania, truly, I had not heard of the Eurovision song contest. Apparently, it has been on air for over 50 years with many European countries, and strangely enough a few non-European countries, participating in the yearly competition. A friend of ours hosted a party a few weeks ago for the Eurvision finals where we had to dress up and bring food from a country that was in the finals. My first obvious choice was Romania.....duh. Sadly, as much as I love the "untz" and "doosh" music, the heavily sexified Romanian song & performance was no match to Sweden's dark and ominous appeal. Ah well, there's always next year! About a week ago, we went to watch the Lithuanian premier of "Act of Valor," a movie about the lives of some US Navy SEALs. A few members of the Lithuanian Special Forces participated in the premier by displaying a show of force with real-life soldiers and two armored vehicles. It was pretty cool! Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to drive the vehicles. Lastly, Damian and I and a few friends went to the annual medieval fair in Trakai, a city located about 20 minutes from Vilnius. As I am constantly surprised with what Damian has the ability to do, he showed off his archery skills by accurately shooting arrows onto a target! I decided to save my skills for next year.
"Traditional" shirt & fasole....yum!
Nothing like hanging out with Lithuanian Special Forces on an idle Thursday
Nice form!
Daisy dukes at a medieval festival? Yes, please.
