Now that my race season is officially over, I'm settling into the offseason. My focus for the offseason this year is to finally get to the bottom of my hip and hamstring issues and build a solid foundation to move into spring and next year's training cycles. 

These hamstring and hip issues have been a bother since basically the spring. It started with my left hamstring, then that seemed to heal. But immediately after my right hip flexor flared up. By the time I ran the Rehoboth Half, I was dealing with both my right hip flexor soreness, and my left hamstring was back causing problems too. 

I'm fairly convinced these two things are linked, and I'm assuming I changed my form in the summer to address the hamstring issue and that likely caused the hip issue. 

So, the offseason is the time to fix that. Despite that fact that I've been more focused than ever on strength training to conquer muscle imbalances, I think the culprit here is still weak glutes. 

I've scheduled an appointment for next week to get both my hip and hamstring worked on. I'm hoping if I can start by releasing some of the built up tension and soreness, I can move forward with a focused regimen of targeted glute strength and hip mobility work. 

I'm also putting myself on a forced hiatus from running until after that appointment. It's been killing me inside because we've had some unseasonably warm days lately and I've really wanted to run, but I can tell these two weeks off have definitely helped my hip. So walks and strength training only for now. 

After next week's assessment, I hope to be able to focus on building a solid foundation to eventually layer running back in. My first step is finding a mobility plan that I will actually commit to doing on a daily basis. This has always been a struggle for me. I tend to be really good about it for a week and then fall off pretty quickly. 

The second element of my offseason training plan is to dedicate one of my strength training workouts to runner-specific moves that target the glutes and hips. Most of my strength workouts are full body efforts, so those muscles definitely get hit. But it's proven to not be quite enough, so I want to take a more targeted approach. 

And the last thing will just be maintaining a steady base of running -- as soon as my hamstring and hip allow. The best part about winter running is that you don't have to get up before the sun to beat the heat and humidity, so I plan to enjoy lunch time runs and later morning runs on the weekend. 

My hope is that with this focus on rehab and building this strong foundation that when it comes time to pick races for 2022 and start training, I'll be ready to go.

I feel like I didn't read all that much in November, and when I looked back at my GoodReads, I realized it was because I got stuck in two books that were kind of a slog. One had come pretty highly recommended and the other was by a favorite author. So I had two disappointments mixed in with some other fun and fast thrillers, one of my favorite genres. 

Five Stars

Survive the Night by Riley Sager
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This audio book kept me great company on my long runs. It takes place mainly in one setting -- on a car ride from a college in New Jersey to a girl's hometown in Ohio. Charlie gets a ride with Josh who she meets through the ride share board at her school. She's leaving town because her roommate was killed. We aren't sure why Josh is leaving town, but he's a questionable character, and Charlie is stuck with him for hours. I definitely didn't see the twist coming right away, and I didn't want my runs to end so I could figure out how things would end.

Four Stars

Need to Know by Karen Cleveland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I could not put this book down and flew through it in a couple of days (would have been even faster if I didn't lose a day to travel). It's a debut novel by a former CIA analyst, and this book tells the story of a CIA analyst who works on the Russia desk. She hacks into the computer of the handler of a suspected Russian sleeper cell operating in the U.S. and what she finds turns everything she knows completely upside down. Without giving away too many spoilers, the main character needs to figure out who she can trust and how to keep her family safe. Four stars instead of five because there were parts where I didn't think the book was totally believable, but if you love a fun and fast thriller, you should definitely read this book.

Managing Up: How to Move up, Win at Work, and Succeed with Any Type of Boss by Mary Abbajay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A colleague recommended this book after we had a series of new leaders start at the beginning of the year. I appreciated the concise advice on approaches for working with all different types of leadership styles.

Three Stars

The Love Season by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm on a quest to read all of Elin Hilderbrand's books, but sometimes it's hard to find her older ones at the library. So I did this book as an audiobook, and I really enjoyed the soothing tone of the narrator's voice. I also enjoyed the broad strokes of the story that flashes back and forth between present day and the past, but I didn't love some (or many) of the characters. I also thought there was one storyline where I wanted more from the ending, but didn't get it.

L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought this book started out a little slow, though it did eventually pick up as you got more invested in the family saga. It follows a multigenerational Mexican-American family over the course of the year as each of the family members grapples with strained relationships and major identity shifts around professional and personal goals. For a book titled for the weather, I thought the weather (wildfires specifically) would play a larger role in this book. But other than one story line, I thought the weather actually fell more into the background of the story.

Two Stars

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I usually enjoy Liane Moriarty's books, but this one was a major struggle for me. It took me nearly two whole weeks to read because I found the plot really slow and wasn't really excited to pick it up and actually read it. It started off with a really interesting premise, but it was way too long and I just didn't care enough about any of the characters to stay invested for more than 450 pages.

On Saturday, I ran my last race of the season -- the Rehoboth Beach Seashore Half Marathon. My family spends a week every summer in Rehoboth so I was really excited to race on a familiar, flat course, especially after coming off a good race on a hilly course in DC. 

The logistics for this race could not have been easier. Our hotel was right across the street from packet pick-up and the finish line and just a few blocks walk to the start line. 

We got into town Friday, grabbed my bib and shirt and swung into the Rehoboth Running Company to stock up on some Gus for race morning. Then we hit one of the local Italian places for dinner.

I slept horribly the night before the race, so I didn't really get to take advantage of the fact that I was so close to the start line that I could have slept until literally an hour before the starting gun went off. 

Instead I was up stupid early, ate my peanut butter and toast and got dressed and ready to go. Then I just hung out in my hotel room enjoying the luxury of not having to wait in a porta-potty line.

About 20 minutes before go-time, I left the hotel to walk to the start line. On the walk, I realized I had probably overdressed. I was not nearly as chilly as I expected to be based on the temperature. But oh well, not much I could do about it at that point. 

I hopped into the starting corrals near the 2 hour pace group. After the strong race I ran in DC, I wasn't totally sure what to expect. I figured it was likely that I wouldn't do quite as well in this race since it was only three weeks later, but I knew there was definitely a slim chance I could potentially run an even stronger race. 

My plan was to go out and see how I felt and adjust as necessary. 

When the gun went off, I felt meh. But I was hanging with the 2 hour pace group and their current pace didn't feel unreasonable. So I stuck with them as we wove through the neighborhood where my family rents our beach house every year, and I stuck with them as we ran down the boardwalk toward the first 5K.

And right around that point is when the pace group started to pull away from me, and I realized it was not going to be a speedy day for me. So I let them go and I dropped back to a more comfortable 9:40ish pace. I held that for a couple of miles as we ran in and out of Gordon's Pond.

But by mile 6, I was struggling. My headphones had died so I didn't have my music anymore, and I was about to head into a long out and back on a trail, which I knew would not have many spectators for motivation. 

I had also just passed several medics attending to a runner who was on the ground and appeared to be unresponsive. It was unnerving, and I spent a lot of time during the rest of the race thinking about that man and hoping he was OK. 

I passed my husband a little before mile 7. It was nice to see a friendly face right before I hit a much longer and quieter stretch of course. 

I was still holding an OK pace when I hit the trail, but I could feel my energy waining a bit. I gave myself permission to let go of any time expectations and just find a pace that worked. I kept telling myself it's just one foot in front of the other. All I needed to worry about was keeping myself moving forward. 

At the turn around point on the trail there was a decent crowd of spectators and they were playing music and calling out people's names and bib numbers. They had tons of signs to read, and it was a really helpful motivational boost. 

I passed mile 10, telling myself I only had a 5K to go, but that's where the wheels really started to fall off. 

My legs were dead, and I let myself take a short walk break. The change in motion in my legs actually felt really good, and I was able to pick it up again shortly. I took another short walk break sometime after mile 11 while I took my final Gu. 

We got off the trail just before mile 12. I wanted to be able to run the last mile so I gave myself one more walk break until somewhere around 12.1 or maybe 12.2. My GPS wasn't exactly matching the course at that point, so I couldn't quite tell. 

But then I picked it back up and slowly plodded my way to the finish line. This last mile felt like it took forever. Once I passed the park, I didn't think it would be too long to the finish, but it felt like it took ages. Every block we passed, I was like how is this not the turn for the finish? When I finally got to that turn, I was so excited, but I didn't have an ounce of energy left to pick it up. 

So I just kept going at my super slow pace and eventually crossed the finish line while the race announcer called my name. I got my medal and my heat wrap and found myself a place to plop on the ground and stretch. 

My final time was 2:12:21 -- a 10:06 per mile pace. 

Overall, it's not a bad time and I'm super proud of myself for finishing a half marathon just three weeks out from another half marathon. Any day I can start and finish a race in one piece is a good day. 

There are definitely things that in hindsight I'd go back and do differently. I'd probably start slower and never have tried to hang with the 2 hour pace group. I should have let the DC race be my A race and run this one solely for fun with no thoughts on time goals. I also wish I would have dressed in a short sleeve top and capris instead of long sleeves and tights. Even though it was in the 40s at the start, it warmed up quickly and I struggled with how hot I got. Oh, and I wish I had taken a minute to walk and fix my headphones and music situation early on. I really think if I had something in my ears on the trail I wouldn't have struggled so much mentally. 

I would love to do this race again. I definitely think I can improve on my performance, plus it was just an overall well run race by the Seashore Striders. The after-party was great, the race shirts are awesome and the logistics could not have been any easier. Also, you get all your professional race photos for free (they're the ones in this post with the logo at the bottom. The others are ones my husband snapped while being the best cheer squad).

I have no deep parting thoughts to leave you with. I'm proud to have crossed another finish line even though it wasn't my best race.

I spent Thanksgiving this year at my in-laws, and I was excited that my mother-in-law was interested in running the local turkey trot again with me. She and I did the Give 'Em the Bird 5K for the first time back in 2019, and this year, her sister and cousin joined us on race morning. (We failed to get a group picture). 

The four of us got to the race start on a cold, but at least sunny morning. It was in the 20s when we got there, and I was very glad one of the nearby buildings let us wait inside and use their bathrooms in the heat. 

About five minutes before the race start, we headed back outside and lined up. 

My goal for this race was to use it as a solid tempo run. I was about two weeks post-DC half marathon and one week pre-Rehoboth half marathon. So I wanted to push myself but not over do it.  

The course is a big loop that starts on a bike path before veering onto some neighborhood roads that eventually drop you back onto the bike path.

There's one decent size hill around the half way point, but then you get to finish on a pretty gentle downhill for the last mile or so. 

I let myself warm up for the first minute or two and then consciously worked on picking up my pace. 

When I got to the hill, I tried to keep my effort consistent and powered up without too much of an issue. I credit my hilly neighborhood for my ability to better tackle hills in races these days. 

I made what I knew was the last turn onto the bike path and decided it was time to push the pace. Glancing at my watch, I was excited to see I was holding steady well below a nine-minute pace, and I didn't feel like I was exerting too much effort to maintain that. 

I gave a final kick as the finish line came into sight and crossed the line in 27:47, an 8:51 per mile average pace. Turns out that was good enough for 15th overall in my age group. It also happens to be about 30 seconds faster than when I ran this race two years ago. 

I was quite happy with my time, and it was really fun to have a group of family do this race to kick off the Thanksgiving festivities.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw that I had a great race at the Rock N Roll Half Marathon on Saturday. A few days later, I'm happy to say my recovery is going just as well as the race did, and I'm still just as proud of my race today as I was on Saturday. 

When my friend Emily texted me over the summer and asked if I wanted to run this race with her, I was honestly a bit on the fence. I was still having a bunch of my hamstring issues, and I wasn't sure it was the best idea to commit to the race.

But registration was a super cheap price, and I was excited to run a race in-person again and I figured it was still far enough away that I'd have plenty of time to fix my hamstring and still train. 

Twelve weeks out from the race, my hamstring was feeling good, and I was really excited to try a new training plan that focused on training by heart rate. 

I 100% credit this plan for my strong performance on race morning. I finally did my easy runs easy and let myself properly recover and avoid overtraining. 

Going into race morning though, I was still really nervous because I had been dealing with a super tight hip flexor. My PT told me it was purely muscular and running wouldn't damage it further, but by the end of my training cycle it was not feeling the best. 

My plan was mainly just to see how things went during the race. I've run this race before and I'm really familiar with the course since I live in DC and run certain parts regularly. 

I hoped to ease into things the first few miles and see how I felt. My goal was to get through the first six miles at a comfortable pace, and then reassess from there how I was doing. 

I picked mile 6 because that is where the steepest and most miserable hill on the whole course is. I figured if I was feeling good through the early parts, and the hill wiped me out, I'd find a new strategy for the rest of the course. 

The first several miles flew by. I was so excited to be running a race again. I was soaking in every sign and every spectator and just really happy to be out running on such a gorgeous morning.

I saw Emily on the course somewhere between mile 3 and 4, which was fun. 

The spectators definitely thinned out between miles 4 and 6, and I was really glad I had my music at this point. We were running along Rock Creek Parkway, and the road just started to feel really long. I think I was also anticipating the stupid big hill because it's what you take from Rock Creek Parkway to the rest of the course. 

But despite the anticipation, I was still feeling good. Even when I got to the hill, mentally I'd been preparing myself to need to walk part of it. But I just slowed down a bit and kept running. It was a slow and brutal climb, but I eventually got to the top took the turn and looked forward to the course flattening for a bit. 

And when I say a bit, it was a pretty short bit. For the next several miles the course rolled. Lots of up and down through neighborhoods where there were a good amount of spectators. Miles 6-8ish are definitely some of the most fun on the course. 

I passed my best friend Emily around mile 7. She had come out to cheer for me and made me a sign! It was so great to see her and she definitely gave me a little extra burst of energy. 

When I hit mile 9, I could feel my energy fading a bit. I'd been doing a pretty good job with fuel throughout the race, but I could tell the miles were catching up to me. I knew I had a decent downhill stretch of course ahead of me, so I backed off a tiny bit and sort of let gravity do some of the work for me here. 

I kept this cruising pace through mile 10 and when I turned onto K St. I had to really start the motivational self talk. 

I took my final Gu a bit earlier than planned, hoping the extra calories would hit my bloodstream quickly. And then I basically just tried to hang on. 

H St. had some great crowd support, so I kept putting one foot in front of the other, trying to mentally count down the time until the next mile marker. Despite how tired I was, I passed the mile 11 marker a bit sooner than I expected to. The climb up to mile 12 though really killed me. It wasn't a steep climb, it was just a gentle long hill, but I was struggling. 

At some point, we made the final turn of the race with right around a mile to go, and it was a long and blissful downhill. Usually that's not the way I feel about downhills at the end of the race, but it was just what I needed on Saturday. I just let myself cruise, and it turned out the last mile was my fastest mile of the whole race. 

I passed my husband right at mile 13 and with my last bit of energy gave a final kick toward the finish line. 

My final time was 2:08:36. Definitely not a PR, but a time I am so happy with because of the strong race I ran.

October started off as a slow reading month, but I picked up some really great books in the middle and definitely ended on a high note. Lots of thrillers and mysteries, which seemed appropriate for October. 

Five Stars

The Push by Ashley Audrain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book definitely lived up to the hype. It was a page-turning thriller where the whole time you have to figure out what is going on with the relationship between a mother and her first-born child. Is the child really as nefarious as the mother perceives her to be? Or is it all in the mom's head like her husband seems to think? This is the central question of the book as mysterious things keep happening and as the reader, you don't know if the narrator is reliable. Super fast and good read.

Four Stars

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't love scary books, but I love Tiffany D. Jackson, so I picked this one up anyway. And yea, it was scary. I couldn't read it night in bed in the dark because every time I heard a noise, I jumped a bit. The book follows a family that moves to the middle of nowhere when the mom is awarded an art fellowship. But there are some weird things going on in the neighborhood and depending who you talk to you get a different story about why things are so desolate in town. This book is good. It's worth reading even if scary things aren't your thing.

The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those books that you finish and ask yourself how in the world can this be a true story. Elizabeth Packard was sent to an insane asylum by her husband in the 1860s. He had no real proof that she had any sort of mental illness, but at the time all a husband needed to do was claim a wife was "insane" and she could be sent away. But Elizabeth didn't go quietly. She stirred up trouble in the asylum, continuously pleading her case for her release, and when it was finally granted after three years, she worked tirelessly to advocate for the women still locked up. It's a result of her lobbying that led to several laws that protected women from this kind of treatment by the men in their lives. The story was really good though I felt at times there were parts that were a bit slow. But still a great read to understand just how nonexistent women's rights used to be.

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love a good celebrity memoir audiobook and McConaughey's didn't disappoint. Before listening to this book, I didn't know much about his life before acting, so I enjoyed listening to him talk about his rough upbringing, how he eventually made his way into show biz, and the ups and downs of his career.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fun suspenseful mystery. Nora receives an invite to Clare's bachelorette party -- even though Nora hasn't seen or spoken to Claire in 10 years. But out of morbid curiosity, Nora and another friend decide to go. It's a strange cast of characters that arrive at the house deep in the woods, and when someone winds up dead, basically anyone could be guilty. I had a strong suspicion about who had committed the crime, and I couldn't wait to finish the book to see if I was right.

Two Stars

Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The description of this book is super deceptive. I went in thinking I was going to be reading a fast-paced thriller about a husband who goes missing. But instead, I suffered through a slog of a story that didn't get much into trying to find the husband, but focused on the family dynamic without him. It was slow, the characters were largely meh and it was way too long. Only finished it because it was a book club book. Wouldn't recommend.

View all my reviews

On Sunday morning, my mom and I ran the 2021 Bay Bridge Run 10K. It was our first in-person race since the pandemic started, and I was so excited to be racing again.

I had done this same run back in 2015, when it was called the Across the Bay 10K and was managed by a different race company. I had a great time in that race and was excited to run across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge again. 

The morning started early with a drive out to Navy's football stadium where we would board shuttles to the start line at the base of the east-bound span of the bridge. This is where things started to go wrong when it came to race logistics.

We got into the parking lot around 7 a.m. about 30 minutes before our instructions said we needed to be on a shuttle. We used the porta-potties, and then got in the back of the massive line of people also waiting to board shuttles. 

We waited in line for a while to go through security that ensured we had a race bib and a mask. We were finally settled on our bus at 7:36 a.m. and started the drive to the start line. 

Our wave wasn't scheduled to start until 8:30, so I wasn't too worried that we were running a bit behind schedule. Our shuttle dropped us off at the starting area around 8, which still left of us plenty of time for one more bathroom run and to make our way to the start line. 

And this is where things got really bad. There was an incredibly long line of people waiting to get into the corrals. So we got into the back of it, figuring it was all the people in the 8:15 wave waiting to start. Because the bridge is only so wide, this race is really strict about leaving 15 minutes in between waves. 

Eventually race organizers sent tons more people over and the whole concept of waiting in a line was thrown out and it was sort of a mad surge to get into the starting area. We heard the 8:15 wave go off, and we were still no where near the start line. 

We waited some more and then eventually another wave went off at 8:30. That was supposed to be our wave, and we were supposedly the "last" wave according to the website. But there were still tons of people waiting to start. 

We eventually made our way to the start line and were able to start with a group at 8:45. My friend's mom who was supposed to start at 7:45 wasn't able to start until 8:15. So I don't know what went on at the race start but it was so horribly unorganized. I was annoyed we had to wait an extra 15 minutes, but I would have been especially pissed if I got there super early and then had to wait an extra half hour just to start. 

Once we were actually able to start, the race was about as great as I remembered it. It was so fun to be running across the bridge. The views were spectacular, though I didn't stop to take any pictures because I was feeling pretty good about my pace. 

The only thing that wasn't great was that the waves weren't organized by pace, so I kept running into packs of walkers four or five across, which made it kind of hard to maneuver. 

Other than having to bob and weave a bunch, I felt really good about this run. I started out pushing the pace a little bit, and was happy that I was able to run pretty consistently for the first two miles, which are a slow and steady uphill climb. I was actually really impressed by how easy the big hill felt. Must be because of all the training I've been doing on the hills in my neighborhood. 

Once I crested the top of the bridge, I just let gravity carry me the down the other side. I was moving pretty fast, checking my watch sometimes seeing 8-minute mile paces. I didn't feel like I was working too hard though, so I just went with it, banking lots of time in those two miles.

When you finally get off the bridge, there's still about 1.5 miles of running left. The course pretty quickly veers off Rte. 50 dumping you into a back road or parking lot. The finish line was in a different place compared to the last time I ran, and this time we had a bit more climbing to do to get up to an overpass that would take us across the highway. 

The course got super narrow here because the overpass was still open to traffic, and several runners had a hard time getting past the walkers walking four across. Runners were shouting on your left and excuse me, trying to get by. I hopped into the grass a few times to trying to get around people. 

We eventually made it to the final turn on the course, and I was able to pick up a little more speed to get myself across the finish line. 

My official time was 57:39, only about a minute and a half off my 10K PR. 

I was super happy with how I ran this race. I felt strong the whole time and had a little left in the tank for a small surge at the end. This race gave me a lot of confidence that my half marathon in two weeks will go well too and that all these weeks of training based on heart rate are really paying off. 

Before I left for Iceland, I had a million questions about what the process would be like with all the protocols in place because of Covid-19. Luckily I knew a few people who had traveled and kindly shared what their experience was. But since regulations are changing constantly, and I've gotten questions from people too, I thought it might be helpful to explain a bit about what the process was like. 

One important thing to note: Because the guidelines are continuing to evolve and change, you should definitely check with the Icelandic authorities about the latest requirements if you are planning your own trip. I can only document what we experienced at one point in time. But if you're the average adult, traveling to Iceland for tourism purposes, you'll likely experience a similar process. 

Iceland has been really good at handling covid-19. A large portion of their population is vaccinated and case counts were low enough when we traveled that a lot of the masking requirements were gone. 

In order to keep the case counts low, Iceland had pretty strict protocols to be able to enter their country. 

Prior to Departure

Almost everyone traveling to Iceland, regardless of vaccination status, had to have a negative covid (PCR or antigen) test within 72 hours of your departure. 

You also were required to fill out a health declaration pre-registration form online 72 hours before departure. After you submitted the form, you received a barcode over email or text that would need to be scanned at the airport. 

We were able to easily make an appointment for a rapid test at local CVS for the day before our travel. We had our results emailed to us with 25 minutes, and we had to show the certificate to the gate agent when we checked in at the airport. 

At the Airport

When we got to the airport, we had to go the ticket counter to complete the check-in process. In addition to our passports, we had to show the proof of our negative covid test, the barcode from the pre-registration form and our vaccination cards. 

It was a lot to keep track of especially because the vaccination card and passport where physical forms and the test results and barcode were stored digitally on our phones. 

We got to the ticket desk about an hour before boarding started and we were the only people in line, so that part went incredibly smooth.

Security also went super fast because the airport wasn't crowded and because we both have TSA precheck.

Other than needing to wear a mask the whole time and having some additional paperwork to show at check-in, the airport wasn't too different from normal times. 

Arrival in Iceland

Once we arrived in Iceland, the process was also really smooth. A few friends had warned me that they had to wait in some really long lines, but they traveled earlier than I did and by the time I got there, the Icelandic authorities really kept everything moving. 

We cleared customs in about five minutes. This part was exactly the same as previous times I've been to Iceland where you get a nice stamp in your passport. The only documentation we had to show at this stop was our passport. 

After making it to baggage claim, there was one more stop where you had to show the barcode on your phone to prove that you'd filled out the preregistration form. There was no line here either. We just showed our phones and we were allowed to pass through. 

The final point for document check was right by the airport exit where you can get your transportation. Here we had to show all of our documentation -- passport, vaccine card, negative covid test and barcode. Other than the fact that we had to juggle lots of different documents, this couldn't have been easier. 

We were through and on our way in no time. 

Traveling Back to the U.S. from Iceland

The last part of our trip that required extra logistics because of covid-19 was getting back home. Almost all travelers coming into the U.S. must have a negative covid-19 test within 3 days of travel, regardless of vaccination status. (Note: I know this is could be changing for some people as of Nov. 8 based on a new policy on travel into the U.S, but when we traveled the negative test was the only policy, so that's all I'm covering here).

Iceland makes it super easy to find a free covid test. There are multiple locations in Reykjavik and also a location really close to the airport. Since the U.S. accepted rapid tests when we traveled, we made an appointment for the day before we were supposed to leave at a testing site about a 20-minute walk from our hotel. 

Because our plans changed last minute once we were in Iceland, I had to call to cancel that appointment from our hotel and rebook us the next day -- Tuesday, the day of our departure. 

We checked in to the testing site easily enough, got our noses swabbed. The tests in Iceland definitely probe deeper than the ones in the U.S., but it's only done in one nostril, so there's that at least. 

The only tricky part was finding WiFi in the city without going back to our hotel to get our results. We stopped at a cafe for some caffeine, logged on and had negative tests were waiting in my inbox. 

Armed with all our documentation, we headed to the airport check-in counter. We showed our passports and negative tests. No need to show our vaccination cards this time around. The gate agent also had to sign an attestation form for us confirming our negative tests. But that was it. She printed us our tickets and we were on our way. 

Customs in the U.S. were exactly the same as pre-covid except there was no line. I got my picture taken by the machine, handed my print out to the CBP agent and was on my way.

So overall, yes there are definitely some extra steps and some extra documentation you need to travel to and from Iceland because of covid, but it's all manageable, and it shouldn't be the thing that stops you from booking a trip!

Monday was the day I was most stressed out about before we left for Iceland. We had planned to hike one of the volcanos that had just erupted to see the freshly cooling lava fields. But every time I checked the weather it just kept getting worse and worse. From light rain, to steady rain, to rain, snow, hail. 

I packed accordingly, digging out all my waterproof/water resistant gear and planned for multiple layers for warmth. I wasn't excited for the weather, but I was excited for the hike. 

But our hike was not meant to be because Sunday night we found out our guide canceled the trip because the weather conditions made it unsafe. 

That left us scrambling to find something else to do on Monday. We'd heard that many things had gotten canceled Sunday into Monday because the weather was bad and guides couldn't have people out in terrible conditions, but we didn't want to spend our last full day in Iceland stuck in our hotel.

So after researching some options, we booked a super last-minute trip to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. The peninsula is about a two-hour drive from Reykjavik, and would give us the opportunity to hike a dormant volcano, see mountains, waterfalls, black sand beaches and lava fields. 

And as the old saying goes, "Everything happens for a reason." This ended up being my favorite day of the entire trip, even though the weather was complete garbage. I ended up not caring that we didn't hike the original volcano. 

The Snaefellsnes Peninsula is just absolutely stunning. It embodies all the raw beauty and the unique topographies of Iceland. Every time I turned my head there was something new and beautiful to see. 

Our morning on the peninsula started at a decently high altitude. The rain that we'd gotten in Reykjavik overnight must have all been snow here because the ground was covered and we had a bit to trek through. 

We started at Mt. Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellfoss. This mountain is supposedly the most photographed mountain in all of Iceland, and it also made some appearances in Game of Thrones. 

It was so overcast the day we were there that we weren't even able to see the peak through the clouds. But even from our snowy pictures, you can see that this mountain is pretty uniquely shaped. 

Ben climbed all the way to the bottom of the waterfall and stuck his hand in the water. He confirmed it was quite cold. 

When we departed Mt. Kirkjufell, we set off to climb a now dormant volcano. At some point, someone had installed metal stairs, which would have made for an easy climb to the top except for the crazy wind gusts. We were hugging the inside of the steps, but I got blown to the far side more than once and Ben had to grab my back to steady me. 

When we made it to the top, it was honestly kind of hard to even enjoy the view with the wind. No one in our group could figure out where to stand to be blocked from it and even trying to turn sideways so the wind didn't have as much of you to clobber didn't really prove to help. 

Looking into the old volcano crater was cool, but I really wish it had been less windy so that we could have enjoyed this part of the day a little more. 

Luckily our next stop was to one of Iceland's famous black sand beaches within Snaefellsnes National Park. The wind was less insane at the lower altitude and even the rain seemed to let up slightly for a bit. 

This might have been my favorite stop of the day. It was so cool to see all the lava fields leading down to the beach and then the beach just covered in lava rock. 

The Atlantic Ocean was also the very embodiment of ice blue. The waves were rough as they crashed to the shore and the tide started coming in quickly while we were there. 

The coolest part for sure was seeing a seal swim right off shore. It popped its head up and the water was clear enough that you could see its body swimming along underwater. 

Walking away from the ocean, we saw the remains of an old ship wreck. It's kind of amazing the ruins were still just laying there on the beach and we could so freely walk around them.

As we continued through the park, we stopped at the base of the Snæfellsjökull Volcano. It is massive and the top is covered with a glacier, but cloud coverage made it hard to see all the way to the top. 

This part of the national park also had a cute lighthouse and some really funky lava rock formations. 

After leaving the national park, we stopped in the small fishing town of Arnarstapi for a beautiful hike along the coastline. 

We played around at this funky stone archway.

And we admired the cliffs.

On our way off the peninsula, we made a quick stop at this church that is famous because it is painted black. 

Our final stop for the day was at a beach where seals are known to sun themselves on the rocks during low tide. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the tide was decently far in, so we didn't see any seals sunbathing. We did see a few playing in the water though that would pop their heads up now and then. 

We also saw a massive whale carcass that had washed ashore. Here's its spine.

And sheep! On the beach! I don't know why I was so amused by the sheep on the beach, but it just cracked me up. 

By the time we finished the day, we were completely soaked -- our socks, our shoes, hats, gloves, everything. But I loved every minute (except maybe worrying the wind would blow me off the volcano) seeing so many things that I would never be able to see anywhere else in the world. 

When we got back to Reykjavik, our Northern Lights tour had been canceled yet again because of the weather. We weren't surprised though. This was clearly not the trip for us to see the Northern Lights.

We ended the day with a hearty and deliciously warm bowl of lamb soup in a bread bowl. I couldn't have thought of a more fitting way to wrap up our last full day in Iceland. 

On Tuesday morning, we got our covid tests, wandered around the shops and then flew back home, where we were treated to some really stunning views of the mountains of Greenland from plane. 

This trip to Iceland was short, but it felt like such a treat after not being able to travel for so long.