Greece in 5 Days!!

Busy, busy weekend ahead: my last day of work, seeing a show with a good friend, caroling rehearsal, flying up to see the family for a few days, taking the GMAT and two quartet caroling rehearsals. Not to mention all the little business things that have to get taken care of before I leave for Greece. Wait, what? Greece?!!? That’s right baby!! I’m going to GREECE!!

I have never waited this long for anything. Have been paying for this trip in monthly installments for over a year. Have been putting money away, making lists, researching places to eat and what to buy, and just generally getting my head wrapped around the awesomness that is this trip! So in five days I will board a plane to Greece and be there for 10 days. 10 friggin’ DAYS!! Alone. Well, I’m with a group of fellow runners, but I don’t know any of them and I have a room to myself so for all intents and purposes I’m travelling alone. Also something I haven’t done in a really long time.

My first marathon ever was in a foreign country. That’s when I fell in love with them. I crossed the finish line in Paris and decided this was what I wanted to do. 8 years and 15 full marathons later I am heading out to run in the footsteps of legends. I am running the same path the Olympians ran in 2004. I’m running the mythological path of the original marathon Philippedies ran 2500 years ago. It blows my mind. I have a feeling I will spend the entire run with my jaw dropped, taking in all the sights and thinking about the people who have run the race before me.

When I signed up for this race last September I booked it for two people. I wanted to bring someone with me on this adventure. I’m tired of traveling alone, tired of running races alone, tired of bringing back pictures of places I went alone, with most of them being one armed pics of me standing in front of something really cool. I asked a few people but most couldn’t afford the time off or the trip itself. And I can’t blame them. You have to really be devoted to make this part of your calendar for a year and sacrifice the money. And I have made this a priority. There are shows I didn’t audition for because I knew I would be gone. My quartet has done extra rehearsals because they are losing me for a block of time. I have to continue to scrimp after I get back because I just don’t have the vacation time to fill an entire paycheck. But it’s worth it.

I guess that’s all people who are passionate about something say “It’s worth it”. This silly hobby of mine that leaves me sore, bruised, tired, poor, hungry and weathered also leaves me filled with a kind of drive I don’t have in many aspects of my life. It makes me feel powerful, energized, accomplished, well travelled, excited and looking at life with a smile. This is a passion. In 5 days I get to fulfill a dream and live out a passion. This is what life is about. This is what life is for.

Well, that and a good piece of chocolate!