Changes in Latitudes

April 26th was my third half-marathon. It was intended to be my marathon debut, but some injuries to my heels set me back two weeks on training, so I had to postpone. I couldn't get a refund, so I went for the half-marathon anyways. [Eve of the race] Bergen is the best in the spring. The morning started out with overcast, but the clouds quickly dispersed just before I had to be at the start line. There was a "felles oppvarming" (group warm up) 15 minutes before the race. I found a friend (Knut's sister) who was also running and we started out together. It was her first race, and when the gun went off, she too took off. I think she forgot that we had a good climb ahead of us. The loop began at historic Bryggen and continued along the side of the mountains, including at 4km climb. There were a couple of inclines along the route, so I was glad I did not do that marathon since it was the half-marathon loop twice around.  [Course map and elevati...

First:: If you are curious, see my updated previous post. Marius got a picture of the tiny clip used for the commercial.  [Gorgeous sky] That time of year has come around again, and of course we are at the cabin in Synnfjell for some mountain life. Grandma was with us this time, but Katrine (Marius' sister) is in southeast Asia for a class trip/mini vacation. I've only gone skiing twice this week because my half-marathon in Bergen is on Saturday the 26th, and I want to make sure I'm in running form. Every day Rigmor and Tron ask Grandma (87 years old and previously broken hip) if she would like to go skiing with us. I'm glad to say that she hasn't put on the skis. Marius and I drove up on Monday evening - and I did the driving! I need to get the feel back for driving a manual. I'm included on Marius' car insurance now that I am 25. Tuesday we went on the usual loop called "Seterrunden" - or "summer farm loop". A seter is a farm ...

Back in February I was contacted by Cheil Worldwide, an advertising agency, about using a clip from one of the videos I made from my underwater adventures for a bottled water commercial in South Korea. We weren't sure whether this was a scam or the real deal. Mom was convinced it must be a scam, and Marius was also skeptical. For a couple valid reasons: How would they find my video among the thousands of others on the internet? They couldn't send a check and Pay-Pal was "unstable" in Korea, so they would have to do a bank transfer...a little strange for Americans since we live in the 1950s and still use checks when the rest of the developed world doesn't. I felt confident after a series of email exchanges that this was the real deal. I was offered $300 for 2 seconds of footage that I took while snorkeling in Mexico. The footage will be aired for 6 months. And ta da! Here you have it. The commercial for jeju samdasoo bottled water in Korea. I tried to s...