T-14 weeks: "Base 2 Recovery Week - Off to New York City"

Dear Papa,

This week was a recovery week, and that was actually great timing for multiple reasons. Firstly, I had two moles removed during a skin screening appointment, which left two small but open wounds on my skin that needed me to stay out of the pool for at least a few days. So yes, this is the first week without a single swim – I swapped those with runs and bike rides and will make them up in the coming weeks.

Second, we had a family emergency from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday evening that left us with two of Jim's grandkids in our care - Anna's newborn Baby Blair and her 15-months-old sister Vera. It was so precious to have this intimate time with them, but it also took it out of me. All is good and well now with everybody, but I will tell you that getting long runs or rides in during those days would have been close to impossible. I was glad that I at least got a run and a strength workout in. Jim is always so sweet, always making sure that I have what I need to continue preparing for the race.

I will tell you, I have a newfound admiration for working parents, especially single parents. When I talked to my mom about this, she reminded me that I myself was 16 months old when Steffen was born, and that you were working in the UK during the week at that time for a few months. She was all alone with me and him during the week, although I’m sure Oma was there two quite a bit to help out. I found this picture of you and us that was taken only 2 weeks after Steffen was born. It is amazing to think that you guys went on to have two more kids every two years, but I guess that experience taught you to at least leave 24 months between us, not just 16.

Thirdly, we are in New York City! We arrived here yesterday to spend time with my dear friend Floor and her family, who are moving here this summer. Almost exactly one year ago, we were here with them as well, as they had flown in for job interviews. At that time, we still had hope that you would maybe be making it, and I remember talking to Floor about that back then. It was about a week before we flew back to Germany to be with you. Anyways, we are having such a blast with them, and as an extra special treat, she joined me for a run along the Hudson today! It's been years since we went running together, and with her being extremely busy with family and job, it is hard to get that kind of time to work out together. But today, it happened, and we enjoyed every minute of it!

Quick summary of my workouts this week: No swimming due to my skin treatment, but 3 rides totaling 75 miles in 4:00h, 3 runs totaling 18 miles in 3:00h, and 2 strength workouts totaling 2:00h. Longest bike ride and longest run were 1:30h each.

I’ve been dreaming a lot of you this week, Papa! Nothing sad or funky, just you showing up in lots of situations, as if nothing ever happened. It felt totally normal for you to be there in my dreams, and even upon waking up, I didn’t feel the sting I usually do. Every once in a while, I still tear up. Sometimes, an email comes in for you, and I always feel my heart missing a beat when I read “Lieber Jörn.” Most of them are just newsletters or ads, but still, somehow this suggests that for some institutions, even if just in a machine, you’re still registered as a living potential customer. In a weird way, that’s always both sad and beautiful to see. I’ve unsubscribed from a lot of your newsletters to not get flooded with unnecessary stuff, but some I want to keep going. The ones that remind me of your charitable giving, or your interest in sports and nature. That keeps you alive in my inbox as well.

Anyways, I'll go take a warm shower now after my last run this week, and then we'll head out for dinner in the Big Apple! Only 14 more weeks till the race, Papa, can you believe it? Get your heavenly gear ready - we're about to do this!

Kathrin

P.S. Dear Reader, if you have comments, questions, memories, or thoughts to share, please leave a comment (and leave your name in the comment so I know who it's from). I would love to hear from you!

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