Being Me, Utterly and Completely: My Journey to 26.2

Ok, don't think this is the last blog...because it isn't.

Before I stop writing on this blog I thought I would talk a bit about how my training for running the Hartford Marathon is going, since I decided to run it while I was in Europe, I think that it deserves a mention on this blog!

One of the best things for me in Europe was being able to run without pain again.  I basically hadn't had that since the pre-season time trial my second year of high school, only a couple of days before I injured my foot and the day I made varsity.  I had always had that one regret, that after having made varsity I was never able to really be a great high school cross country runner, especially after having come so close.  I know I made numerous mistakes, like trying to run the day after I injured myself, and on into the season and still running even though doctors told me not to exert myself as much.  I just always needed to run.

One thing I really learned while I was in Europe was how to take life a little slower.  I think that when we do that it becomes a little easier to catch our second chances.

I say this because two weeks ago I injured the same foot, the exact same way during my marathon training.  This time, I took it slow, and I recovered and I'm back out there.


This really in a way does feel like a second chance for me.  I suppose its up to us to decide how to react differently the second (or third, or fourth,....) time around.

I think I love running because it is romantic and in a way heroic.  A runner is above all things a master of perseverance.  Even when you have run two miles and you feel like your shoes are full of cement, your legs ache and you are grasping for air, you dig in and you run another 1.2 miles with all you know you have left.  Your heart.

Running really is life.  

I have a feeling what happens on October 15th in the Hartford Marathon is going to be really special.  I can thank a lot of this to my experiences in Europe.    

I'm going to end this post with a quote that I've been keeping in my shoe during training:

"The music of a marathon is a powerful strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one's own person, utterly and completely." -George Sheehan

Out there, I am utterly and completely my own person, I have a renewed faith and somehow I have found that courage I used to have out there, that would fuel the unbelievable sprints I used to have at the end of a 5K race and everything else.   It is back and it feels amazing. 

I really feel like a runner again.

I'm so happy I went to Europe and I'm also so happy I'm back and doing this.

Love, SP

Back when I was too fast for cameras and wore short shorts.  Hopefully those days are here again. 

Being home just gives you a new place to travel from

I know I owe you all a blog.  I've been back for almost a month now (whoa).  I've been trying to decide what I want to write for the last blog and I think I'm finally ready to write it, probably because I've actually finally accepted I'm home. 

Honestly, I'm happier, more confident and more excited about life than I have ever been.  Not that its been easy being back, but seriously, I just spent six months gallivanting around Europe.  I did that!   

I still am stuck in travel mode...I've been to Pearl Lake in New Hampshire, Narragansett and Providence in Rhode Island, Stamford multiple times to visit my friends, out to Chicago to visit my family that I hadn't seen for six years and this afternoon I'm leaving for Portland, Maine to visit a friend of mine there and I'm planning to go climb a mountain with my friends in August as well as go to NYC, and I'm going up to Boston to spend Saturday and Sunday with my cousins!  I've also been spending lots of time with my friends who I missed while I was gone!  

Buckingham Fountain in Chicago...love the London reference

When I'm back, I'm going to write that last blog, and finally move on to my life post Europe. 
Not that I'm starting a new chapter or anything....its just another day in my life!

In the mean time if you see me around town, stop me and say hi. 

Anyways, get ready for the last blog.  I'll write it when I'm back.   

Love, SP 

WOW! VLOG! THIS IS CRAZY! 4!

Two words is all Stephen Pelletier needs in his last contracted perfomance in the VLOG series.  Pelletier returns to the screen one last time in this award winning post, with a special guest star.  Some really famous movie critic guy stated, "Its just so moving, so emotional, never before have I ever felt so inspired." 

The Places I've Been and the Little Laughs I have ahead.

I guess its pretty natural when you come to the end of something you start to think back to the very beginning.  For me, I've had that day that I arrived at JFK stuck in my head.  Its hard to believe that was nearly six months ago, but at the same time it feels like six years.  Well, now, I'm at Heathrow Airport, about to board my flight to New York City. 

The last couple days I had in London were perfect.  I spent time walking along the river, eating ice cream, and just seeing all the sights.  The best part was the last night when I was invited back to Crawford House for a party with the Summer program students.  It was really great to spend my last night of my amazing time in London in the place where I lived.  Leaving was hard, but I was ready. 

So, this is the last blog from Europe.  Its crazy to think of all the things I've done here and all the places I've been.  Honsetly, I'm going to miss traveling, I've never felt so free.  I was talking to Josephine Page (Rosalind's Mum) about her travels and she said something that really struck me as I came to the end of this amazing couple of months.  She said, that although she couldn't travel as much anymore, the best feeling is being able to look back and "have a little laugh at all of the times you had in all of the different places you have been."  I doubt I will ever do anything like this again in my life, but the fact that I have done it is such a great feeling and I can travel to any of the places I've been in my mind anytime I want and have one of those little laughs. 

Not to say of course that my traveling days are anywhere near to over!  Its only just the beginning. I'll be back to London, and I'm really excited for that day!

But now I can say, I'm coming  home. 

I'll blog when I'm back in the USA. 

Thanks for reading, and thanks for doing what you all do
-SP

I got my bags back!!!!!! (Dorset Part II)

The past week, I left London, after staying with Jill and Nick for two days and headed to Dorset.  I first arrived at Ringwood where I met up with Sarah Osborn and eventually went back to their house and saw the whole family!  They are such amazing people!  Although all the kids where in the midst of exams, we had a great time!

The next day I headed to Brian and June's house, where all of my bags I had left behind in late April were.  It was such a great feeling to have all of my clothes and stuff back, although I was getting really used to living out of a backpack.  It sort of hit me for the first time at that point that...whoa...I'm coming home really soon.

The week with Brian and June was great.  Brian and I went golfing twice, and we also went on a five mile walk on the Coastal Path near Swanage.  Of course Auntie June cooked enough food to have fed me for the two months I was backpacking.  I also had a great afternoon with Josephine and Norman Page, where they had plenty of chocolate cake waiting for me!  As the weekend progressed I was amazed at how quickly I had suddenly acquired the lifestyle of an eighty year old, after having lived in a house with two of them.  I woke up early every morning, went down stairs had breakfast, walked into the living room and read the paper, then went and played golf, then came back ate lunch, went back to the living room and read, did some gardening, have tea, go back to the living room and read/watch cricket (I'm not going to lie but I think I actually understand it now), five o'clock (on the dot) have gin and tonic (maybe 2), have dinner, go into the living room, watch tennis or posh murder mysteries on BBC, go to bed by 9:30, 10:00.  It was a great way to slow down after two months of going all out. 

Brian and I walked to "Old Harry" it was really beautiful!

Well, I'm back in London, I'll make sure to blog at least once more before I head home.  I just wanted to check in with you all.

-SP

"We Got Him."

Well, it is 1:15 AM in London, but I've been trying to fill out some job applications, and now I can't sleep, so I thought that I would blog!
So, I went to Canterbury for a couple of days.  I didn't really know what I wanted to do there, but why now.  I've read the Canterbury Tales, or at least part of it, so that is a good enough reason.
When I arrived in Canterbury, I met two locals, Reese and Cathy (although when she said her name I thought she said Cafe, which I thought was unique and I was a little disappointed that she corrected me.)  With in a few seconds of our meeting, which was initiated by me saying, "excuse me" because they were blocking the sidewalk to my hostel, and then them saying, "Are you headed to Kipps?" I stopped and said yes!  Then Reese said, "You are an American! We love America!"  I said that is great.  Then Cathy, who by this point I realized was swaying uncontrollably back and forth and would fall into the hedge about every five seconds, said, "can we ask you some questions." So I said, "shoot." Then they asked me about what it was like in America, so I tried to describe it.  Although what they were really interested in was CSI, which I don't watch so I wasn't much of a help.  Then when they asked me what I thought about someone named "Cheyrl Cole" or something like that from the X Factor and I said, "I have no idea who that is." Then they both did that thing that british people do when they are amazed at something, where they puff out their cheeks and go "pppwew. You haven't heard of Cheyrl Cole."  She is all over the news.  This effectively ended our conversation. I learned two things from Reese and Cathy, 1) that Canterburians like drinking early in the morning and 2) love the X Factor.

Canterbury was nice.  The Cathedral was big.  Here are some pictures!

sunset from the hostel window

My second day I decided to go on a walk from Canterbury to Shepardswell, about an 11 mile hike.  So, I went and had a huge English breakfest and set off with a lunch.  It was exactly what I needed, it was so relaxing and great to get out of the city and into the beautiful countryside.  Here are some pictures:

Which way?  By the way, guess how many times I got lost!  Only twice, once at the beginning and once I missed a turn and ended up in some crop, once I realized I was just wading through the tallest grass I'd ever seen and some weird prickly things I turned around.

three wheeled car!

made it to the train station!

For those of you who know me, a walk like this really wouldn't be surprising to you, because basically what I do is walk.  This was nice though, because I didn't feel like I was trying to clear my head or anything, I was just walking and really enjoying it.

When I got back to town, I was a little tired as you can imagine.  So, I decided, "I WANT ICE CREAM!"  So, I sped walk down the city center to a McDonalds where I planned on getting some ice cream.  When I walked in I went up to a cashier and started to order, at this point a guy came up right next to me at about the point I started ordering, and I thought I had taken his spot in line so I sort of stepped aside, but when I stepped aside I stepped into another guy who was dressed very similarly to him.  So I stepped back again to let these guys order, but then they stepped back as well, and all of a sudden one of them grabbed my arm and said, "You need to come with us."  At this point the other one pulled out a walkie talkie and said, "We got him."

Ok, freeze for a second.

I just wanted Ice Cream...I went on a long walk and all I wanted was Ice Cream, and now two guys had grabbed me out of line and said, "We got him."

I wouldn't say I was angry though, I was just sort of confused.  They took me outside and said, "Where you just in the Marks and Spencers?" and so I said, "No, I was just out walking on the trails, I never went to Marks and Spencers."  So then they talked into their walkie talkies and I could hear them say something like, "I guess we got the wrong guy with the black bag."  Then two things went into my head, "Did they stop me because I had a black bag, because almost every European has a black bag?
 The second thing was, "well since every european has a black bag, they must have been looking for the craziest, most bad ass person in Canterbury...I think I fit the profile, especially after meeting Reese and Cathy.  So after allowing them to check my black bag, they let me go with a small apology and I strolled back into McDonalds and ordered a McFlurry, as planned.

After this long day of walking and being a fugitive if only for a short while I was very tired.  I met two Aussies (everyone over here is Australian by the way) and I hung out with them for a while, then I headed to sleep.  I woke up after a crazy dream of me moving into my room at UConn and couldn't remember where I was, and then thought, OH! Canterbury.  So, I got up and left...for Dover.

Dover was nice, although I didn't stay long because they wouldn't let me leave my bag locked anywhere because of "High Security Alerts."  Based on my past successes with the M and S security and my close call with UK Boarder patrol after I forgot my return info, I decided that anything that had to do with security was worth avoiding any confrontation with.  So, I walked to the shore, because I wanted to see the White Cliffs of Dover, which I did.  I'll post pictures later.


Then, I hoped a train back to London, arrived, and walked out of the train.  I went for a walk along the Thames and watched as two women cops tackled some huge drunk guy! It was awesome!

Jill and Nick Fenton invited me to stay with them Tuesday and Wednesday night.  Thursday Night I'm headed to Dorset to stay with the Osborn family and then Friday through Wednesday I'll be with Brian and June!  Then Thursday morning I'll head to London for the last two nights, and then Saturday night I'll be in Mansfield, CT staying with...WAIT....I'm coming home really soon.  

My life is pretty awesome right now, you all only make it better...trust me. 
Thanks for reading guys!
-SP

Woke up in London yesterday...

When the plane landed in London yesterday I was so excited to be back.  I knew that everything would start slowing down finally and I would be able to really enjoy the end of my backpacking adventure in my favorite European country.


Things just kept getting better and better.  I found an oyster card on the ground with some money on it.  I found a great hostel right near where I used to live, I walked to Rosebery to top up my phone and the Rosebery guys still remembered me (they even had Kit Kat Caramels again!).  I knew for sure I was back in London when I still saw of the Kate and William merchandise in windows (this time the same flags, plates, underwear (pants), shirts or whatever with there faces on it, but with pictures from the wedding.  Also I loved the fact that the headline in the papers was how Pippa Middleton lost "Rear of the Year" after her appearance at the wedding to Carol Vorderman.  Oh man, I missed London.   I went to FSU and met up with Konstantin who took me back to the flat and made me dinner!  The next morning I met up with Jill and Konstantin and then left FSU and adventured around London.

I even went on a walk along the Thames yesterday night and walking back I thought about how great it was to be back, and how although I was afraid it would be too nostalgic, it really wasn't.  I would walk by places and laugh or think about things, but overall, I am just really happy to be back!  It is a good feeling!




As I walked back I walked over Millennium Bridge and down Farrington.  At some point I realized I was heading back to Crawford Passage, laughed at myself and then changed direction back to the hostel. 


Today I spent the day in Richmond.

These deer were not afraid of humans at all, it was crazy how close you could get to them.

This cow was protecting this gate or something, I made it past, barely.

In the meantime, you should listen to this song, I heard it for the first time after I left London, but I like it even more now that I'm back and it makes me happy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhQOvvV45w


Talk to you all soon!  I'm not going to start a countdown for my arrival home, but, I think we all know that that is coming up very soon.


AH!  It feels so good to be back here.
I miss you all!  Thanks for reading!
-SP