Team RWB

The weekend was definitely dedicated to running (and a trip out of town which is always a good thing).  I woke up Saturday morning to run the 34th annual Diamond Brigade Run on Ft Sill.  Let me just say that I HATE the half marathon distance.  I have yet to run one that I have trained for and I think that I've done 5 or 6.  Its just short enough that I think I can run it without training with no problems.  When I was training for the marathon last summer I was running a sub 2 hour half marathon (which is very fast for me) and the 10-14 mile range felt like an easy short run.  Right now that is definitely NOT the case.  When I run these races untrained I am hovering between a 2:20 and 2:30 time.  Anyways...I ran the race and it sucked.  It was a lot of uphill on the way out and was incredibly windy and hot on the way back (which wouldn't have been the case if I was faster).  But, whatever, I finished it and I actually felt pretty good after the race.  I wasn't sore and didn't feel like sleeping all day, the biggest problem was that my stomach issues seemed to return, so I will have to deal with that again.

Saturday also kicked off my marathon training for Marine Corps Marathon in October.  I was supposed to do a 3 mile long run, so I think exceeding that by 10 miles isn't too shabby.

After the race we headed home so that I could shower and we could get the car loaded to head down to Dallas.  Team RWB DFW was hosting an event and we decided to participate.  I also wanted to get some ideas of what to do with my chapter.  We arrived in Dallas just in time to have dinner with the other Team RWB members.  Once dinner was over we headed over to a PBR event where we joined a guy in the final few steps of a 1,000 mile run to support building homes for disabled veterans.  We got to go back where all the bulls and riders were, it was so much fun!  Then, after the first round of riding, we ran out into the bull ring with Wendell and lined up as he explained to the crowd what he was doing and who we were.  They had chosen 5 disabled veterans to receive homes (the vets didn't know it) and introduced them to the crowd as well as explaining all the injuries they had endured.  After they were all introduced they were told they were receiving new homes, I'm not sure there was a dry eye.  It was so touching.

After we exited the bullring they continued with the bull riding and we watched for a bit.  Mikey had not napped and it was about 2 hours past his bedtime, so I took him to the car to hopefully sleep while we waited for the rodeo to end.  We were staying with the Chapter Captain of DFW so Brian got his address and we took off.  We got to his house around midnight and crashed hard.  I didn't sleep well because I was worried about waking up for the Half Marathon in the morning.  We ended up all waking up around 5:15 to get ready and that's when Mikey ran out into the kitchen/living room.  He saw the cat and got really excited and rushed towards it.  Well, the living room is dropped a step from the rest of the house and the fireplace is right at the entrance to the living room.  Mikey didn't see the step and tripped into the fireplace.  It could have been a lot worse, he just caught his ear on it and sliced it open.  We made the decision to go to the emergency room instead of the race (it was super hot and humid anyways...and I was kind of sore from the day before).  We spend about 2.5 hours in the ER and he got 2 stitches in his ear.  They had to wrap him in a bedsheet and hold him down...I have never heard my child make noises like he did, it absolutely broke my heart.  I was able to hold it together until the dr and nurse left, but I started crying after they left.  I hate seeing my baby boy like that.

After we left the hospital we headed over to the race to see if we could catch any team members finishing.  We saw few and were able to say some goodbyes.  We then spent a little time in Dallas before heading home.  Mikey and I crashed hard in the car and Brian drove us.  When we got home Brian crashed hard and Mikey and I were not too far behind him.  It was a fun, eventful, and exhausting weekend!

He loves to "drive"

Mikey found a girlfriend

or two girlfriends...he wanted to hold both of their hands...sigh