My new hobby

In my efforts to blog more often, I am going to talk today about my new hobby. I have taken up running. Yes, me running. I hate running. When I was on the track team in 8th grade, I was happy that I broke my foot. I was able to quit the track team. I joined the army, I had to run everyday, and I hated it. It was one of the reasons I used to get out of the army. I would go to the YMCA and walk on the treadmill. I couldn't break a sweat while working out; that would be wrong. Then it happened.

Eric was home on R&R and my friend started a running group. She started it to remember her husband John Hallett. He was killed in Afghanistan on August 25, 2009. He had a wife and 3 children. The group is called "Run to Remember". I was unable to make to the first meeting of this group. Eric and I were in Seattle for the weekend. The next week, I was there with my buffalo blue shirt on. We meet every Saturday, and I had no problem taking the kids. It was our chance to get out of the house, remember our fallen, socialize and support each other. During this time, I remembered being in Hawaii and running the great aloha run. I got a t-shirt the 2 times I ran. Those t-shirts are long gone. I then looked on the JBLMMRW website to see if they had any runs that I could run to get a free t-shirt. Sure enough, there was a 5k on March 13, the St. Patty's day run.

I called my My Ms. Margrit, and asked if she could watch my older 4 children, and Willow and I went up and ran the 5k. I ran a 34:37 for my first 5k, with a stroller.

That was the start of my hobby. I signed up for more races. I figured I could run 1 race a month until Eric came home from Afghanistan. During this time, our running group was getting ready for the Rock n' Roll marathon in Seattle. I was asked if I was going to run. I said "NO.WAY!! I don't run, I'm just here for the social." Then another member of the group said they were just going to walk the 1/2 marathon. I thought, sure, no problem, I can walk 13.1 miles. I signed up. I had to support my peeps. Then I realized I needed a baby sitter for that weekend. I had some strange delusion that Eric could have been home by June 26. So I called my mom. I asked her if she would want to come down and watch the kids while I did this race. She initially said no, because it was the day of the Iditarod picnic. No problem, I didn't think she would come. Then a couple hours later she called me back and informed me that she had a ticket into Portland.

Now I was thinking, great if my mom is coming down from Alaska to watch the kids, I should make an effort to run this 1/2 marathon. So the training started...erm, continued. I did what the leader of the group told me to do. I came, I ran, I went home, and I ran some more. June 26 rolls around and I ran a 13.1 miles in 2:26.08...wow. I did it!!! I did it for the social aspect :)

Eric came home safely from Afghanistan July 15, 2010. However, there were several soldiers, that did not. So our group, Run to Remember, still meets every Saturday. We run and we remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. We run and support the families who have lost their soldier. We run and we WILL NOT FORGET!!

I am still running, I ran a 1/2 marathon just this past Sunday. I improved my time by 3 minutes. 2:23.01. It was the Eugene women's half marathon in Eugene, OR. I am running the Warrior Dash on Sunday with Eric. I am signed up to do another 1/2 on September 18, on JBLM. Get this, I am signed up for a full marathon in November. I am not sure if I will run the full or knock down to the 1/2, but I will be there and I will run. Cause it's all about the social time :)