Gregg

I got to spend time with my nephew and his family (among others) last night. It was so good to see them again. He had gotten back from a year in Iraq - his second year away from his young family - in May. I admire him so much, not only for his service to our country, but for the man he is in general. We are very close in age, only 5 years apart. I have very fond memories of our childhood together, playing and having so much fun.

While he was in Iraq, he ran a marathon. His first ever. In fact, he had never run more than 6 miles at once when he decided to do it. And only trained for 10 weeks. This is absolutely amazing to me. So I talked to him a little bit about it last night. Of course, I'm always ready and willing to talk to anyone about their fitness endeavors. For him, it wasn't any sort of life long dream to run a marathon. He was sort of talked into it. When I asked him if he liked to run, he said "No" flatly. Why on earth would you put your body through that when you don't even like it?? But you know men, always up for a dare from a fellow man ;)

At mile 11, he thought "Why am I doing this?" but at mile 14 or 15 he thought "I can do this". And he walked about a third of the last half. Apparently, walking hurt more than running. And he lost toenails on the middle toe of each foot. Yikes. I asked him if it was something he would do again. He wasn't sure. Maybe a half? But he has subscribed to Runner's World. Haha....the one who doesn't like to run.

I remember when my oldest was a baby, almost 15 years ago (wow!), he came out to my parents cabin one weekend. He must have just done basic training or just signed up for the National Guard or something to that effect, and decided to go for a run through the secluded wooded dirt road winding around the lake. I thought, hey, I want to come to! So I joined him. And I don't think I even made it to the mailboxes at the end of our drive. It was horribly embarrassing! I was so out of shape and I didn't even realize it! It was a wake up call for sure. I've come a LONG way since then! Now, even though I rarely run, I can easily do it, when I chose to. Just knowing that I can now, when I couldn't in my 20's, is really satisfying. I love being fit!