20th Air Force Marathon

The second weekend in September Jared and I traveled to Dayton, Ohio to run the 20th Air Force Half Marathon! It's a long drive to Dayton from our home in Maryland but there's nothing more fun than a road trip, right? We made it to Dayton for bib and packet pick up at the Nutter Center with just thirty minutes to spare.


Once we had our bibs and race shirts (which were done in a very in your face 'Merica design) we went to meet our old friends the Brants for dinner. I know I've written this before, but one of the best things about moving all over is the people you get to meet. As you move and they move you end up with friends everywhere and there is something so sweet about reconnecting and picking up right where you left off.

The next morning was race day and it was a rough run for both of us. Our final time was 2 hours 52 minutes which is the slowest half marathon either of us had ever run.  Jared had been sick for about a week with a pretty bad cold so he wasn't feeling one hundred percent ready to run and I'd been so busy with work and seminary that I just hadn't done the training that I needed to. Still, we knew that race day adrenaline and sheer force of will would keep us moving forward.  This was the first race we actually ran together; in the past, we've run the same race but not side by side the whole way. Training all summer and then running together was definitely special and something I'd be happy to do again. No one can encourage and lift me the way Jared can!


We rushed through the post race stuff only taking the time to grab our medals and snacks before booking it back to our hotel. We had to get showers taken care of before check-out time rolled around and luckily we made it, closing the door of our room and getting in the car with minutes to spare. Instead of driving directly back to Maryland we took a little detour and spent a night in Pennsylvania with the Kennedy family who graciously let us crash John's birthday weekend festivities. We were lucky enough to be there on the Sunday of the Philadelphia Temple dedication and were able to participate in that beautiful event as well. It was a busy, tiring, exhilarating, fun-filled weekend!

Comments

  1. DebbyOctober 30, 2016 at 4:18 PM

    Such great memories. So fun to do something special with your love and have that support and encouragement there for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GrandmomOctober 30, 2016 at 5:25 PM

    As always your blogs I love

    ReplyDelete
  3. John KennedyOctober 30, 2016 at 9:11 PM

    Thanks for coming for my birthday celebration!!

    ReplyDelete

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