Ashley Chiavola

I can’t believe it’s here! Our half marathon is on Sunday! Thanks to everyone who donated! Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition is a really great organization that J and I are really excited to support! I started grad school in early September and it’s been a little hard to update here… but thanks for following my training/traveling adventures!

This is the spitting image of my grocery store this morning. Except, perhaps, they are all running toward a 24 bottle case of Dasani. And maybe a few less zombies and a few more old ladies. You get the picture.

There really weren’t too many people at the supermarket this morning, but those that were there were desperate. There were lots of little old ladies asking me if distilled water was healthy to drink, if they could have milk without cereal, if they could make coffee without filters. When I finally got to the water aisle, it was wiped clean, of course. There was a lone employee wheeling a cart of Dasani over to the empty shelves. He was maybe 20 years old. The women descended upon him like vultures. It was fascinating. Really I shouldn’t be judging because I left the store with $50 worth of useless supplies. What can I say? Survival is not my forte.

The internet was so sketchy…. I made it all the way home and didn’t even get to say hello again! We made it to the Italian Riviera, the French Riviera and Spain! Not too many runs, it was so hot out! I had THE BEST MEAL OF MY TRIP on the Italian Riviera.

Seafood with Spaghetti! It didn’t last long… ooops.

We did a lot of laying around those last few days… we burnt ourselves out and were happy to see lots of beach! Here’s my preggers tour director on our last night in Spain!

It was an awesome trip! I can’t believe it’s over! It feels really good to be home though. I haven’t been reunited with J just yet, but boyfriend and I went for a very quick run this morning. I am falling behind because of my injury, but I’m ready to pick back up. It felt good to get back out this morning. Don’t forget to donate to our great cause if you haven’t already! Especially if you live on Long Island, the BBCC is such an important organization in the lives of cancer patients! All you have to do is click the DONATE NOW button on this website. And don’t forget to put the correct contact information so that they can follow up with you to find out you are supporting J and I!

Boyfriend and I are preparing to camp for a week in Canada! We leave on Friday. Unfortunately, I cannot locate my hiking boots… so, off I go to dig through the basement!

It’s been so long without WiFi! In just a few days I’ve been to Paris, Switzerland, and now I’m in Italy!! Here’s what you missed:

A really disgusting run in our yucky yucky neighborhood in a suburb of Paris. Not notable! But what is very notable is the amount of crepes Puj and I ate as well as the lovely waffle we had in Belgium:

Then we moved onto Paris where we spent four lovely days that included going to the Eiffel Tower! Here’s all the girls standing under the Tower before we went up…

And then me on the second level… but we went all the way to the top!

Then we went to Switzerland and our hotel was an old converted jail. We had cell doors and bars on our windows and everything! It was creepy. We went for a really great run around Lake Lucerne. Switzerland has definitely been my favorite so far! We did a short hike at the top of Mt. Pilatus. We went to the highest point, 7,000 ft! Here we are at the top!

Not much of a view, very foggy! And finally, here we are yesterday, at the leaning tower of Pisa! We are spending the day in Florence today, and hopefully eating lots of pasta

Hey Hey! I finally got my laptop back! Yay! We took the night ferry from London and got to Amsterdam yesterday. We went straight to the Anne Frank house. We stood outside in the freezing cold and pouring rain for an hour to get in. My tour director did not let us forget that it was a small price to pay to remember Anne. The lovely members of my tour group were not too keen on that explanation. We couldn’t take any pictures inside.

Then we meandered off to the Heineken brewery which kicked the Guinness brewery’s butt. It had an interactive ride and everything. Today we caught up on some rest and headed off to tour the ever disturbing red light district.

Here are some pictures from London that I didn’t get to post… Puj and I in front of the phone booth!

… And because I know you all miss my incessant food chatter, I need to share this AMAZING lunch I had at this really sweet market in London. It was vegan and full of all sorts of grains and whatnot. So good.

FYI, I am pretty much wearing the same outfit in every picture because it is FREEZING in every city we’ve gone to. Unlike you sweaty NYers, we have been having rainy, blustery days, the kind where your breath turns into smoke. So we are all stuck in the one pair of jeans we’ve brought and praying for the day that we can take out our sundresses! I’ve cultivated a small group of girls from my tour who seem to be slightly inspired, if not perplexed, by the idea of training for a half marathon. So they are going to run with Puj and I tomorrow. There will be four of us altogether hitting the streets of Paris at night for an introductory 3 miler. I’m pretty excited! Off to Brussels in the morning and then Paris at night, for four days… There are sure to be pictures of waffles, many of them, the next time I have internet

We arrived in England yesterday! Our hotel is right in the middle of everything and we are getting to see some really great things! Unfortunately Puja and I were not quite prepared as our converter does not work in this country So I will be updating again on Sunday when my laptop is back in business and I don’t have to use these silly internet cafes. I did just want to pop in and say that I went for my FIRST INTERNATIONAL RUN today!!! It was so wonderful! 3.1 miles through Hyde Park. We passed Kensington Palace and the Princess Diana memorial… it was a really great run. And it felt great to be out and about again.  My hip felt fine except for a little stiffness. Hopefully we will go out again on Saturday.  I’ll be back with pictures and all on Sunday from our next stop: Amsterdam! Yay!

Already!? Our first country down! It’s 6AM here in Ireland, and we are packing up to take the ferry to Wales this morning. We are watching P.S. I Love You on the bus ride from the ferry… we saw lots of the countryside where it was filmed yesterday. We went to County Wicklow and Glendalough, but sadly we slept through breakfast and missed our chance to see the Leprechaun museum! Puj and I in Powercourt Estates, County Wicklow. Here’s Pepperpot Tower, in the estates.

And the Glendalough Monastery!

Ignore my fellow tour group-ers in the shot. Dublin was fun, but the countryside was the best! There were so many little shops and cottages… so beautiful!!