I didn't even know that there was a committee designated to determine which Marathon Finisher metal is the coolest, but apparently there is. And they chose... drumroll please... The Marine Corps Marathon finisher metal!!
http://www.marinemarathon.com/Assets/Press+Releases/MCM+MEDAL+RANKS+BEST+IN+US.pdf
How cool is that? Mike and I actually each OWN one of those. In the interest of full disclosure, though, I thought it was pretty wonky-looking.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Team Hoyt
I just came across this story in an article about Father's Day (Happy Dad's Day on Sunday, to all you fathers out there!) and I thought it was so completely inspiring:
Have you guys ever heard of Team Hoyt? It's a father-son team who participate in marathons, triathlons, and the like. Only here's the thing... the father is pushing the son in his wheelchair. He is pretty severely disabled, but running is their thing.
Here's their website:
http://www.teamhoyt.com/
How cool is that?
I wouldn't necessarily say that it's easier to run with a purpose, but it does give you a little more incentive to keep going. I'm sure Dick Hoyt feels a little more emotion behind his training, because since I too am running for a purpose this year, I feel like it's really important to keep that in the back of my mind whenever I train... this marathon isn't just for me. It's for Jonny. When it's more than just personal pride, or being able to keep wearing my skinny jeans, or adding another medal to my collection, it means a lot more. So for everybody out there who is training for something bigger than yourself, kudos and good luck!
Have you guys ever heard of Team Hoyt? It's a father-son team who participate in marathons, triathlons, and the like. Only here's the thing... the father is pushing the son in his wheelchair. He is pretty severely disabled, but running is their thing.
Here's their website:
http://www.teamhoyt.com/
How cool is that?
I wouldn't necessarily say that it's easier to run with a purpose, but it does give you a little more incentive to keep going. I'm sure Dick Hoyt feels a little more emotion behind his training, because since I too am running for a purpose this year, I feel like it's really important to keep that in the back of my mind whenever I train... this marathon isn't just for me. It's for Jonny. When it's more than just personal pride, or being able to keep wearing my skinny jeans, or adding another medal to my collection, it means a lot more. So for everybody out there who is training for something bigger than yourself, kudos and good luck!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Since I'm awake so early...
I figured I'd write an update. This week I realized that marathon training starts on July 3, not July 10 as I had previously thought...Whoops! We're doing an 18 week intermediate training program, with middle-length runs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, a short run Friday, and a long run Saturday. Depending on the week, the length of each of these runs will vary. I won't bore you with all the details just yet.
But, since I realized I have one less week to prepare to completely alter my life, I figured I'd better really be sure I am ready. Since the first run is ten miles, and I want to make sure that that doesn't absolutely destroy the rest of my day (because I'll be getting fitted for a wedding gown and then heading to my parents for a week the afternoon of July 3!), I ran 12 miles yesterday. It went really well and I felt pretty good after it. And then I went over to my brother's new house (they closed the deal on Friday) and helped his wife Katie move in. (Tony was conveniently stuck taking an exam for his MBA program, lucky guy.) Since it's a 4 story row home in Baltimore, there are LOTS of stairs. And broken air conditioning on the top two floors... so I was pretty sapped by the end of the day. But I'm starting to feel good about the first few weeks of marathon training, because I was obviously more than merely functional following such a long run.
I remember last year, during the first 12 mile run I was just a mess for the rest of the day, but by the 16 mile run I was fine. Even for the 21 mile run I managed to walk over to a Navy football game, and cheer my heart out (Okay, I didn't cheer my heart out. I don't care about football.) and then go out for a late dinner. So I'm hoping that this year, none of the runs make me feel like the rest of the day is a complete waste of life.
In other news, Mike is in San Diego and says its beautiful and he loves it and I'm really jealous because here in Maryland it is 90 degrees and steamy humid. Also, he got to see the pandas at the zoo yesterday, and they are my favorite favorite animal and I'm SO jealous. I told him not to return to Maryland unless he's bringing me a real panda as a birthday gift (6 days until I'm 24!). No stuffed animals because I have about 14 stuffed pandas in my parents' attic.
My friend Christina (I've mentioned her here before; she's awesome) and I have been chatting about the NAG message boards. A girl on there recently asked for advice for coping with the distance between herself and her boyfriend. We were both a little amused that we didn't really have anything to add to the discussion because we just kind of don't care when Mike and Solomon are not around! Maybe we're used to not spending time with them. Or maybe we've finally come to the realization that they'll return eventually, so in the meantime we do our own thing. I don't know. I guess since this is a way of life for us, it's good that we don't really care that they're gone. But let me tell you, I sure do wish Christina were around more often! She was telling me how when Mike and Sol were in "Plebe summer," which is the 6 week intense military indoctrination at the Naval Academy, she would tell her friends that she was in a fight with Solomon. (I did the same thing!) It's astounding, because for those six weeks, our only method of communication was snail mail... how can you really be in a fight with someone you haven't spoken to in a month?! It's phenomenal how much drama we were able to create in our heads back then. We're grown-ups with jobs now, so I guess we just don't have time for that, and therefore do not miss our fiances. Maybe we've just come to terms with the fact that sometimes, all you're going to get that day is a 2 minute phone call saying the pandas were cute and he's on the hunt for margaritas and spectacular Mexican food and so he can't really talk today (poor guy, out there serving his country!) and you just have to be okay with the fact that you're going to be a Navy wife and these are the decisions you have collectively made. Okay, so I'd be a LITTLE more sympathetic to the limited talk time if he were, say, in the Gulf of Aden monitoring pirate activity... then I'd be like, "Hang up the phone! Go protect your ship!" than I am when he's just touring one of America's sweetest cities, but to be fair, I was pretty busy yesterday too, and I ignored a couple of his phone calls while I was helping assemble tables. And that's kind of the way I like it-- I am used to seeing him on the weekends because we're lucky enough to live near one another for the time being, but when I can't, I really like having lots of other plans to keep me entertained.
Although I do really think that if Mike were here right now, he'd probably make me some breakfast. So I miss that.
But, since I realized I have one less week to prepare to completely alter my life, I figured I'd better really be sure I am ready. Since the first run is ten miles, and I want to make sure that that doesn't absolutely destroy the rest of my day (because I'll be getting fitted for a wedding gown and then heading to my parents for a week the afternoon of July 3!), I ran 12 miles yesterday. It went really well and I felt pretty good after it. And then I went over to my brother's new house (they closed the deal on Friday) and helped his wife Katie move in. (Tony was conveniently stuck taking an exam for his MBA program, lucky guy.) Since it's a 4 story row home in Baltimore, there are LOTS of stairs. And broken air conditioning on the top two floors... so I was pretty sapped by the end of the day. But I'm starting to feel good about the first few weeks of marathon training, because I was obviously more than merely functional following such a long run.
I remember last year, during the first 12 mile run I was just a mess for the rest of the day, but by the 16 mile run I was fine. Even for the 21 mile run I managed to walk over to a Navy football game, and cheer my heart out (Okay, I didn't cheer my heart out. I don't care about football.) and then go out for a late dinner. So I'm hoping that this year, none of the runs make me feel like the rest of the day is a complete waste of life.
In other news, Mike is in San Diego and says its beautiful and he loves it and I'm really jealous because here in Maryland it is 90 degrees and steamy humid. Also, he got to see the pandas at the zoo yesterday, and they are my favorite favorite animal and I'm SO jealous. I told him not to return to Maryland unless he's bringing me a real panda as a birthday gift (6 days until I'm 24!). No stuffed animals because I have about 14 stuffed pandas in my parents' attic.
My friend Christina (I've mentioned her here before; she's awesome) and I have been chatting about the NAG message boards. A girl on there recently asked for advice for coping with the distance between herself and her boyfriend. We were both a little amused that we didn't really have anything to add to the discussion because we just kind of don't care when Mike and Solomon are not around! Maybe we're used to not spending time with them. Or maybe we've finally come to the realization that they'll return eventually, so in the meantime we do our own thing. I don't know. I guess since this is a way of life for us, it's good that we don't really care that they're gone. But let me tell you, I sure do wish Christina were around more often! She was telling me how when Mike and Sol were in "Plebe summer," which is the 6 week intense military indoctrination at the Naval Academy, she would tell her friends that she was in a fight with Solomon. (I did the same thing!) It's astounding, because for those six weeks, our only method of communication was snail mail... how can you really be in a fight with someone you haven't spoken to in a month?! It's phenomenal how much drama we were able to create in our heads back then. We're grown-ups with jobs now, so I guess we just don't have time for that, and therefore do not miss our fiances. Maybe we've just come to terms with the fact that sometimes, all you're going to get that day is a 2 minute phone call saying the pandas were cute and he's on the hunt for margaritas and spectacular Mexican food and so he can't really talk today (poor guy, out there serving his country!) and you just have to be okay with the fact that you're going to be a Navy wife and these are the decisions you have collectively made. Okay, so I'd be a LITTLE more sympathetic to the limited talk time if he were, say, in the Gulf of Aden monitoring pirate activity... then I'd be like, "Hang up the phone! Go protect your ship!" than I am when he's just touring one of America's sweetest cities, but to be fair, I was pretty busy yesterday too, and I ignored a couple of his phone calls while I was helping assemble tables. And that's kind of the way I like it-- I am used to seeing him on the weekends because we're lucky enough to live near one another for the time being, but when I can't, I really like having lots of other plans to keep me entertained.
Although I do really think that if Mike were here right now, he'd probably make me some breakfast. So I miss that.
Monday, June 7, 2010
A wee update
This has been a busy week! My roommate got engaged (congratulations, Melissa and Brian!!) I had a little pity party/girls night out on Saturday (completely unrelated to my roommate getting engaged), I went to the beach, I went to lunch with my friend Stephanie (what up!) and I also sent Mike off on a west coast surface training cruise. I've heard from him a little bit and it sounds like he's having a blast. He was in Portland for the Rose Festival, which I guess is just like a big party in honor of the Navy. And now he's on his way to San Diego, which will be probably a four day trip during which I expect to hear from him not at all, so we'll have a lot to fill each other in on when we do touch base again. I'm curious to see how he's maintaining cardiovascular fitness on a teeny tiny ship-- he said that he's been PTing, but I don't know specifically what he means by that. I, however, took a good eight mile run this morning, and it was wonderful because it was in the 50s this morning. The past couple of days have been absolutely miserable and humid and nasty out, so I'm so excited for this weather shift! I know that summer is here and this little cool spell is a fluke, but I'm really enjoying it!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Navy Life Lessons; ed. 1
Never wash a pen in the same load of laundry as your summer whites. Bleach can only do so much to repair the damage.
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