1/2 Marathon: Training Day 3

I am feeling pretty amazing right now. Yesterday, I completed my longest run of 6 miles in less then an hour! I am not going to lie - I was super nervous as I set out, knowing that I have never ran that far before. But I did it! No less, I did not stop once. >.<

I am excited to report that the training is going well and I am still doing yoga in my free time. I love being healthy and the high it gives you. Luke is also rocking the weights and has dropped a lot of weight as well.

More exciting news. We are excited to report that my cousins, Jon and Katie, are going to be having a little boy! He is due in March and very healthy and the parents could not be happier. Rumored names include Thomas Hunter and Hunter...something. Both of which I approve and love. So congrats to them.

Next week we have testing vacation from Wednesday to Sunday so Luke and I are going to attempt to head to Qingdao. Lili and Anna are heading to Chengdu to play with some pandas and Rani and Jennie are going to check out Shanghai. We still need to find babysitters for our little ones but we will see sooner then later if we can go.

I will update more later! More photos are also up on shutterfly so check them out.

XOXO

1/2 Marathon: Training Day 2

Well my second run happened yesterday and I feel better than ever! I ran 4 miles and was able to push myself to sprint at the end. I am still only averaging 9 minute miles - but I am not too concerned about that. My goal is to finish, so I am working on that.

Tomorrow I have my longest run ever - 6 miles! I am nervous but excited. I know that I can do this and am oober motivated.

On my days off, I am still doing yoga, which is really helping me out. I recommend it for anyone who has a lot of stress or is just tight. It is a great way to stretch and relax.

I will let you know how my run goes tomorrow.

1/2 Marathon: Training Day 1

So - as you probably all know, the goal that I have set for myself this year is to run a 1/2 marathon this summer. I am one step closer to my goal now - seeing as how I have running shoes (yes).

Today was my first run - and it wasn't too bad. I went with Rani and Jennie and we did one lap around the school and moved to the track. Total I did 3.6 miles which isn't too bad for me.

Being the computer dork that I am, I went to Nike.com and started to track my runs in order to help me train for the 1/2 marathon. I have a day off tomorrow and Monday will be a 4 mile run. I am excited to work up to my goal and will keep you posted on how I am doing.

Wish me luck!

Shutterfly is back!

Shutterfly is up and working. Here is the new link to our photo website so you can see all of our photos.

http://mrandmrsmartin.shutterfly.com

I am also posting some from this summer.

Love you all!

My poor Sooners

So sadly, yesterday, my poor Sooners lost to the dumb Longhorns. Oh well. It has not really been their year this year and I am willing to forgive them because, well, I am in China and cannot really watch the games.

However, the night was not a complete bust. We invited everyone over and had a good time talking and having a pseudo tailgater. Lili was really happy too, because it was good ole Wisconsin's homecoming.

Another happy event of the evening was when little Henry Li came down to hang out with us and surprised us with his Sooner outfit! (Of course I got him one) He looked oh so cute and here are some photos of my wonderful Sooner family.

The longest week ever!

Luke and I just want to say that we made it. After 8 straight days of teaching we have finally come to our much needed weekend. Time for some rest and relaxation.

A couple more scary photos

Here are some more Halloween shots.

Paper Crane Update

Not too long ago – I told you all about Luke’s ambition to make 1,000 paper cranes. I last left you with the number 200 and I am pleased to update you.

Luke has reached and passed 500 cranes! Sadly, he ran out of string to tie them up so the project it at a stand still. He decided to also change the style of crane to look better as a decoration.

I will let you know more as Luke continues on his crane journey.

Happy October!

If you know me - you know that I love Halloween. I love being scared and watching thriller movies and most of all - trick or treating. Recently, I have found that photo editing pictures has been my Halloween outlet this year. So here are a couple that I have worked on. I hope you a genuinely scared and proud that I got that many people to actually pose for Halloween photos. Cheers!

A 'Glee'k Moment

So - if anyone knows, Lili and I have been obsessed with this new show called 'GLEE'. I love the singing and find the humor pretty amazing. Lili was also able to tell me how amazing the cast was - being filled with Broadway stars and all... (no wonder they can sing)

Anyway - last week they had a guest star who is a pretty big deal. Rani, our resident actress freaked when she heard that she appeared. Her name is Kristin Chenoweth. I guess she is from Oklahoma (Boomer) and was in New York helping her friend move before starting college. When she heard there was an audition on Broadway - she left her friend and waited in line for 6 hours and auditioned, nailed it and has been on Broadway ever since.

I thought I would share this video with you guys so you could hear how amazing she is and how good the show is. Hope you enjoy.

My Bucket List

Over the summer - I was very lucky to travel with some of my best gal pals around China. While traveling we got to talking about any and everything and my friend Casey mentioned how she checked off a box on her 'bucket list' by coming to China.

It got me thinking about all of the things that I would like to accomplish before I go - and inspired me to start a 'list' of my own.

I will add as I go, but here is the beginning.

Cary Stussi Martin's Bucket List


1. Backpack Europe
2. Run a marathon
3. Skydive
4. Finish a novel (of course it does not have to be published)
5. Get my MAT
6. Get my PhD
7. Travel all over the world (this part of the list would be too long to break down)
8. Go to a World Cup football match
9. Go to every state in the USA
10. Inspire someone to do something great


This is my brief preliminary list - but I will let you know what I get done.

Team Laowai

Sports day is a pretty big deal here at Zhengzhou Foreign Language School. All of the classes from 5 grades get together and compete in track and field events to see which class will come out on top. This year was more interesting than the last and great fun to watch.

Although the students participate for most of it, at the end the teachers are expected to do a race as well. This year, Luke, Erick, Anna and I stepped up to the plate and participated in the 100 something relay. As you can tell – I may like to run and am training for a half marathon, but I have never done a track thing in my life. So, it was safe to say that I was ‘pee my pants’ nervous.

Last year the foreign relay team came in dead last and I was not eager to have my students watch me fail. So being brave (or chicken) I asked to go first.




We faired really well. We made it in second place and had a great time. My students were very encouraging and cheering very loudly for me. I had no idea how short the run would be – thank goodness for soccer sprint drills. We did very well and I am happy to share some photos from our awesome sport photographer Lili Prahl.

A 20k hike and 32 hours on a train = an awesome holiday

Another holiday and another Martin adventure. After finding out that we only had a week to travel for the National Holiday in China – Luke and I decided to head to Huangshan (or Mount Huang) in eastern China. On all of the China lists, it is one of the top 10 things to do and constantly referred to as the most beautiful mountain in China. Seeing as how we had seen Hueshan and Emeishan – it only made sense to add another one under our belt.

We were pleasantly surprised when we learned that more people than just us wanted to go on this little adventure and soon found ourselves joined by Lili, Jennie, Rani, Anna and Fallon. So our small group of two jumped to seven. We didn’t mind though – the more people the better.

Because we did not find out the dates of our holiday until very late – we were left to buy hard seat tickets. Which are as cheap as they come, but not the best investment. What we anticipated being a 10 hour train ride, soon transformed into a 17 hour death train ride to eastern China with smoke filled cabins and little space to move let alone sleep. We found reasons to laugh and about 8 hours in most of the people got off and we were all able to stretch out and rest.

We arrived at the mountain later then we anticipated so we quickly hopped on a bus to Huangshan and took the gondola up. Lili, being the bright cookie she is, flashed her student ID and was able to get a huge discount on the park admission and we all soon followed suite. Thank goodness not everyone can read expiration dates. However, the gondola was nice and fast and we were able to get up to the top right around sunset.

We hiked about 10 minutes to our hotel and were pleasantly surprised to see how nice it was. We booked a 9 bedroom dorm at the Shilin hotel and discovered that the rooms and outward appearance were not the same as our cheap booked option. The woman had us follow a man to our room which was literally a bunk room like at camp. We didn’t mind until we found out that Luke would have to stay by himself a floor down and that in order to get into our room – we needed to call the front desk and they would send someone down. Again, we laughed at our adventure and rested well before waking up very early to watch the sunrise from the top of the mountain.

The sunrise was just as to be expected – overcrowded and lovely. We grabbed our bags and then proceeded to hike around the top of the mountain and then down the west side. At the top, it was jam packed with people, but as soon as we reached the west trail, we were one group of maybe ten that we saw. It was so beautiful – clear blue skies and breathable air. The hike took most of the day and was full of downward steps but worth every sore muscle the next day. It was great to hike through the mountains and to see all of the cliff faces and even some clean water.

The next day, our group split into two and Luke, Rani, Jennie and Fallon went ‘rafting’ and then to where they filmed Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (a fantastic film if anyone is interested) and Lili, Anna and I took the high road and went to the local hot springs. We like to say we had the better day, relaxing in springs that included the coffee spring, wine spring, alcohol spring and so on. We meant to only spend the first have of the day there – but did not return until after dinner.

When we got back to our hostel – we started talking to other travelers and ended the evening with a large group with people from Ireland, Germany, England, Canada, France and Holland. We did plenty of networking and are excited to meet up with these people later. Most, strangely, are students in Shanghai. Safe to say – we had an amazing time.

Returning was pretty much the same as getting there. Another 17 hours on a lovely hard seat. We survived and have returned. Here are a few photos in case you want to see and I will post more to Shutterfly when I get the chance.

Also - this month is breast cancer awareness - I hope everyone is doing their checks and taking care of themselves and the ones they love.

Miss and love you all!