Hi readers! Did you have a happy weekend? 🙂
New kicks for me and the Viper Pilot:
Yesterday was Veterans Day and we celebrated by running a half-marathon (you read that right) in honor of our friends’ brother-in-law, Chase, who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country last summer.
Since it is chilly here, we ran the 13.1 miles on treadmills at the base fitness center but there were groups running for Chase all over the world (Virginia, Las Vegas, in the desert, two locations in Germany…) and it was very well coordinated by Chase’s wife so that everyone started at the exact same time. We had buttons with Chase’s picture and American flags taped to our treadmills.
Team Chase |
It was so incredible to be a part of this! The run was tough, but it was nice running with friends because they were my motivation. Chase was also my motivation and I was determined to finish the run for him even if I had to crawl.
I made the mistake of not training for this. The last time I ran was three miles was back in July. Three miles is also the farthest I think I’ve ever run at one time. I am still very proud of myself — this was on my bucket list! I walked about 2-3 miles of it and ran the rest, and today my body is reminding me why training is so important. My feet are protesting. I’ve got some bruising and they’re swollen — I’m staying off my feet and keeping them elevated. We’re hoping they aren’t both stress fractured, yikes!
Other bloggers will write about half-marathons and tell you that anyone can do it — all you have to do is sign up. While this is really true, I’d like to add a clause stating the importance of training!! Don’t just sign up and run if you haven’t clocked a few miles a few weeks prior to the run. It puts your body at risk for stress fractures, knee problems, joint issues, etc. Working out five days a week was definitely to my benefit because my heart was well conditioned and I had the required strength, but I needed to be running.
The point is, I ran for a very good reason and I set my personal record for a half-marathon (the one and only…). Now I have a time to beat! I only finished 20 minutes behind the Viper Pilot — which is really good considering he’s been running for the past two weeks and has an uncanny ability to bust out a wicked run anytime, any place.
Post run. In case you are wondering what I look like after running 13.1 miles, this is it. |
After the race, we went over to our friends house for amazing pasta and homemade sauce to get our carb fix and to give our favorite 1-year-old her birthday present.
Our favorite 1-year-old also happened to love the pasta! Look at that face!!
All in all, it was an incredibly special day for us and for our friends. Make sure you take the time to thank a Veteran today. I thanked the Viper Pilot, but I keep all of those who don the uniform (and their families, too!) in your thoughts and prayers. Maybe next Veterans Day, you can also run a half-marathon for your hero. I think it’s a great cause to run for and who needs a medal at the end, anyway?
The Viper Pilot and I both have the day off today, thankfully, so we can rest up. We started the morning with tea, toast, and sitting by the fire reading our Kindles. I put a bottle of GlĂĽhwein (hot wine) warming in the crock pot to enjoy this evening. I’ll write a post on this later so you can try some at home! We’re going to get some paperwork done this afternoon because that allows us to remain in the seated position and doesn’t require the use of our legs (or feet in my case).
It’s going to be a lazy AND a productive day! <–I love when that happens.