Running Army Wife

Hooray! Another Wednesday is here! And the deployment has passed the 75% mark! So this one time, James and I found a shop called "Amy James" so obviously we had to stop and take a picture. The end. <3 Amy

I jumped into a half marathon on Sunday. Kind of literally. My friend Allyse was running her very first half marathon. She tweeted something about it, and I realized less than a week before the race that I had 13-mile long run on my training plan that day. I asked her what she thought about me jumping in and running with her and maybe helping her pace (not that she really needed me to). She seemed excited to have someone to run with. But I didn't really want to pay $80 to run a race that I wasn't actually going to "race." So I figured I would just be Allyse's pacer. So.. there's my confession. I bandited a race (for those of you unfamiliar with the term, "bandit racing" means to run a race without registering). I did bring my own water and gel, haha. I also took an old bib number and folded it over so you couldn't tell it was actually from a Turkey Trot several years ago. It ended up being a disaster though. I started off the race and felt...

James graduated Ranger School exactly one year ago today! Hands-down, one of the best days of my life. Couldn't be more proud to pin that tab on him.  So proud of my Airborne Ranger! Ah.. Fort Benning, Georgia. He was down there for about 7 months (IBOLC then Ranger School) and during IBOLC, I visited him about once a month. Every time I got to visit him, it was like a mini vacation and a weekend affair with my hubby. So I can't help but feel a bit of fondness for that base.  Ranger School was the end of that separation, and I feel a bit jealous of my one-year-ago self. It was kind of a homecoming in itself. It makes me really anxious for this deployment to be over.  *sigh* Just a few more months to go. We can do it.  

This is my first (and probably last) one of these. It was fun, but probably still just a one-time thing. Dear Bonnie over at Makin' Plans tagged me in this "Liebster Blog Award " (or Lovester in English) so I thought I'd give it a go.  Rules: Post 11 Random Facts About Yourself Choose 11 deserving bloggers and tag them in the post Answer 11 questions the tagger has asked you and give 11 questions to the people you've tagged. No tag-backs.  Alright so here I go: 11 Random Facts About Me: I've been married 32 months, I've lived with my husband for 16 of those months. Yikes, so by the end of the deployment, I will have lived with my husband for less time than I haven't while we've been married. Looking forward to bring that ratio back up.  When I was 12, I programmed a text-based virtual Hogwarts that you could "move" around in for a 4H computer project. It was pretty cool.  I like working with high school youth ...

I don't have to go back to school. Why?  Because I'm graduated! This was May 2010, but I've been especially happy about being done with school this week while all the kids are going back. And I got to walk with my husband at graduation! Because at that point, we were married. So glad I got to walk with my favorite person in the world instead of next to a couple strangers. <3 Amy

I relaxed this past weekend. Yep, the whole weekend. I did not run at all. I lounged in a hammock, hung out with one of my best friends and my family. And I read my Bible and journaled. "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him." Psalm 62:5 These past couple weeks have been the most stressful weeks of the whole deployment for me. I've had more anxiety issues than I've ever had before. In the beginning of the deployment, I was sad and lonely because of the separation. Now, I can usually cope with the separation issue, but the danger factor is downright terrifying. I can't really tell you exactly why it's been more stressful lately ( OPSEC ) but my husband is in the infantry.. it goes without saying that it's a very dangerous job. I think that running has helped with the anxiety, but the anxiety has not helped my running performance. It's definitely not a mutually beneficial relationship. There's been a couple times tha...

Honeymoon in Santa Monica

I ran 17 miles yesterday. Took me 3 hours and 18 minutes. Yes.. it was crazy. Besides being super long, my stomach also got pretty screwed up. So I think it's safe to say that it was my most unpleasant run to date. I took an extended release iron supplement the night before and I think that might have had something to do with it. Proof Also, is it normal to get kind of emotional toward the end of really long runs? Because that kind of happened. I didn't all out cry or anything. But I'm not even sure why. Because it was hard? Because I was happy to be almost done? Because I miss my husband? Probably a combination of all three. Rain.  It's rainy today. I love it. But it makes me miss Seattle-area. Which makes me miss James. And I happen to not have work today too. Ahh, beauty of a part-time job. So I put on my New Balance compression sleeves (which are hopefully speeding recovery) and my comfy college track sweatpants and I've been wearing my Army blanket a...

Hi Blogger Friends! This is a slightly edited version of a letter that I sent out to friends and family. I figured that since this is a military wife/running blog, some of my readers may interested as well. If not, no worries! But I am very excited to run for this cause.  As most of you know, my husband James is currently serving as a platoon leader in Afghanistan. It's been a challenging year, but we're about 2/3 of the way through and I'm incredibly proud of him. We've been very blessed to have so much prayer and support from family, friends, and our churches (both in Illinois and Washington). One of the things I've been doing to keep myself busy (and sane so I can be a supportive wife!) is to really pour myself into running. I've made some pretty lofty goals, one of which is to run my first full marathon this year – the Chicago Marathon on October 7th.  Me and James after the Chicago Half Marathon in 2010 Quite...

I know that last week I was late, but these Happy Picture Wednesdays are starting to come a bit faster. That's good. I know that all the kids in school are dreading summer being over, but I'm totally ready for the fall. Cross country season and hoodie weather. Mmm. I can't wait. I've had enough of this heat. The one thing I do love about summer though is the sailing. I finally got to go sailing last weekend. This pic is actually a little old, but that is me! My mom sailed on that boat when she was in high school and I started learning when I was about 12. Sadly it got really old and my parents had to replace it recently.. so I didn't sail on the one in the picture this past weekend but it's about the same size. The best sailing is when you try to get it to lean as much as possible without actually capsizing it, which has happened more times than I can count but is still fun!

I ran my 15 miles (actually 15.1!) on Sunday. Holy cow, that was hard. I woke up at 5:30am, drove to a 10 mile trail near me, ran 15 miles, and then scrambled to get ready for church. I was only a couple min late. All before noon. Thankfully, I had pretty good weather. It had just stormed like crazy the night before and I chose a trail with shade this time, so it was kind of like running in a green house for the early part of the morning. My average was 11:15 per mile.. I ran for 2 hours and 50 minutes. I'm not sure if it's just the heat and humidity that is getting to me or if I might be getting anemic again (I had lots of trouble with this in college). Or maybe I just have higher expectation for myself than I should. But my half marathon time says that I *should* be able to run faster and that bugs me. These were all thoughts that I actually had during my run: (I usually wave or nod to fellow runners) I can't believe he didn't just wave back. That's kind of ru...

Dang! I almost forgot for the week! This week actually went by really fast so that's good! :) Another IBOLC Graduation pic! Happy day.