Running Army Wife

Check out the awesome socks too.  Trying on all his gear before the deployment. Hard to believe this was over 6 months ago now! He said he would use me to practice carrying a rucksack with all his armor on. :)

Oh man. It was a good weekend. We celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our Anniversary all in a few days. We visited Bainbridge Island, ran a Turkey Trot, made Thanksgiving Dinner, exchanged presents, and then ran the Seattle Half Marathon. Whew! I didn't take any pictures at the Oly Trot because it was rainy and we were both racing, but we did get these fun arm warmers instead of a shirt. I have plenty of race shirts, so it's kinda fun to have something different.  We then made Thanksgiving dinner together. The hubby made soft pretzels instead of dinner rolls. They were amazing.  I also made roasted green beans with cranberries. And a little sweet potato casserole, made with two potatoes.  And here's our complete little dinner for two!  We then exchanged presents. We then finished up the weekend with the Seattle Half Marathon. Hubby was my photographer and sherpa. :) So thankful to have a hubby that loves me so much....

We attended the brigade's deployment ceremony this week (these are normally held about a couple weeks before deployments). It was held outside, and the weather was absolutely miserable. James's Aunt and Uncle attended with us. I was proud that we were one of the few that braved the weather. They had a small number of soldiers stand in formation to represent each battalion within the brigade. Then the brigade commander and the commander of the base gave some really inspiring speeches. It made me so proud of my solider. Later, there were a lot more family that made it to the battalion farewell ceremony, which was indoor.  Of course, James looked absolutely dashing in his multicam uniform. I saw that one of the ladies was wearing a little lapel pin with the brigade's crest. I asked her where she got it and she told me to go talk to the commander's wife, who was also wearing one. I did, and she gave me the one she was wearing! I guess she has a bunch of them so she didn...

The weather outside is frightful.  Well, maybe not  frightful , but certainly gray and rainy. But the fire is so delightful.  Oh yes. I'm loving my electric insta-fireplace.  I was going through some things today and I found these Christmas CDs. No, I don't actually still use a CD player, but I saw them and thought "Okay.. maybe I will just jump on the bandwagon." But, "What is this mysterious blank CD? Maybe it's a Christmas Mix I forgot about." So I popped it into my laptop and low and behold it is my wedding recording that has been misplaced forever. Okay, not forever. But I cried a little bit when I found it (I've been a bit of a basketcase lately, don't judge). For some reason I never put it on my itunes. Or even labeled the CD for the matter, apparently. I knew it was somewhere but I was beginning to worry about it. So I listened to my half-hour long wedding this mornin...

Well, hubby's vacation is over and he went back to work this morning. After a long week of sight-seeing and non-stop touring with family, we decided to take his last day off and have a lazy day together. It was wonderful. We visited Mount Rainier and it was snowing on the top. It was my first bit of real winter this year. Here is a falls that we hiked to. Be-a-utiful. On our drive down, we saw a fox on the side of the road. He was gorgeous. I think he must have thought we were going to give him food, because he stopped and didn't mind when we took pictures of him. Or maybe he just knew he is that good-looking. "Make sure you get my good side" - Mr. Fox We also tried out a few new coffee places. We recently earned enough stars for our Starbucks gold card (should I be proud or ashamed of this?), so we didn't feel obligated to go there when we wanted coffee.  This was my favorite cappuccino.  It was fro...

Holy cow, it's been a busy week! We've had family in town so we've done a lot of sight-seeing. I feel like I've hardly been at home. My poor cat is probably really lonely (or really happy to have the apartment to herself, who knows?). My favorite was Kalaloch Beach. I think it's probably the most beautiful beach I've ever been to. My dad flew in yesterday, and we all went to see Lincoln Brewster in concert. He's is definitely the most amazing guitar player I have ever heard live. My favorite song of the night was "Today is the Day." Even though I've heard the song a million times, it didn't really mean that much to me until last night. Funny, how that happens sometimes, isn't it?  Today is the day you have made I will rejoice and be glad in it And I won't worry about tomorrow I'm trusting in what you say Today is the day Maybe that can be a mantra for when James is gone. Today is the day you have made, I...

Well, it's been pretty busy. After a little over a week of the Army getting our hopes up that the deployment might be delayed and shortened, we found out that it wouldn't be. He won't be home for Christmas, and he'll most likely be gone 12 months. Dangit. At least I can say that training went well this week. (btw that 22 is a bike ride , not a run.. just fyi) My in-laws are in town and will be for the rest of the week. It's been pretty crazy and we've been doing lots of stuff with family (hubby's aunts and uncles are all local here near fort lewis). I love family, but I'm so glad that I signed up for this half marathon so I have an excuse to have a few minutes to myself in the morning. A little part of me wishes that I could just have my husband to myself these last couple weeks.. but I have to remind myself that it's their son, nephew, and grandson leaving for Afghanistan, not just my husband. I kind of feel like we're standing on a divi...

On Saturday morning , James and I went to the Wear Blue: Run to Remember running club. I had actually first heard of this club in an article in Runner's World , back in February. It started off as a club for Army wives and widows and now has expanded to anyone that wants to be a part of their mission to run to remember soldiers that have fallen for our country.  Photo by Ingrid Barrentine, source We gathered together and were each given a slip of paper with name of a soldier that had died on the dates of this week over the last couple years. We each said the name of our soldier and then were invited to call out the name of any other solider that you were running to remember. We ended with a prayer of protection for the soldiers and their families that are currently deployed and for those preparing for deployment. I found a friend to run 9 miles with me and we got a really great run in. There were several water and Gatorade stops that someone in the group had set ...

Join a running club once I move back to IL Finish Chicago Marathon (my first!) Finish at least 6 Half Marathons  1:50 Half Marathon PR Train Mocha to run with me Moka as a puppy.  What's that? You thought I had a cat? Well, that's correct. I have a cat. Mocha is actually my parent's dog. But since I'll be living with my parents while James is deployed, I decided I would try to train her to run with me. She is about three years old now, so now is a good time to train her (according to Runner's World anyway).  Perhaps it's a little soon to be thinking about New Year's resolutions, but since I know I'll be on my own, I figure it would be a good time to start thinking about what I would be doing with my time that year.   I'm thinking about an Olympic-distance triathlon too.. which is about twice the distance of a sprint. But training for a triathlon is a lot trickier since you have to fit in good swimming workouts and biking as wel...

Well, I've got some good news and some bad.. Bad news first? Okay. Well, hubby's battalion is going over for a 12-month deployment, starting in December. You may have heard in the news that they are starting to switch over to 9-month deployments. Well they are.. in January. So another battalion in James's unit is leaving in January and they will be there 9 months. James is leaving a month earlier and he will be there for 12. Dang it. I really hope something changes while they are over there. The good news? James almost got sent over mid-November to go with a team that goes over before everyone else. The only reason why he didn't is because his vaccines weren't ready yet. He's in the middle of the small pox vaccine (which takes 30 days) and he has to wait to get the TB test until the 30 days is over. So that's the only reason why he's not going sooner. Also, if he had left sooner, he wouldn't have gotten back sooner. It would have been a 12 1/2 mont...

I haven't wanted to think about it, much less prepare for it. But it's happening. Sometime in December (we think). The Deployment Ceremony, which is an official "goodbye" to the unit that normally happens a few weeks before the first plane, is toward the end of November. I got the email from his unit telling me that it was strongly advised that I attend workshops in preparation for deployment. One of the workshops will cover "Red Cross, Casualty Notification Process, and Operational Security." My stomach kind of dropped at that one. Casualty Notification Process . Of course, I need to know how that works, but it just makes the danger all the more real, when I think I've been conveniently trying to forget about that part. We still haven't received the orders in our hands that he is leaving. Because he is still so new to the unit, I don't think they know exactly what they are going to do with him. But he's not gone yet, and so I refuse to let m...

Next week, I'm leaving this: The beautiful, calm flatness of Illinois, for the more adventurous mountains of Ft Lewis, WA. I took this picture of a bike ride. It's going to definitely be different running and biking in higher altitude with with actual hills. We're moving. Next week. And James is getting deployed in December for a year. Ick. Much sooner that we thought it would be. But I'm glad it's before kids are in the picture. After talking it over with James and some close friends and family, I think I'm going to go ahead and move out to Washington with James, be with him out there for a little less than 3 months, cook him good food, be an awesome homemaker wife, but them move back to live with my family in Illinois for the year once he deploys to Afghanistan. I feel kind of weird moving back in with my family after being married almost 2 years, but they want to be there for me and it gives us that wonderful opportunity to save a lot of money by not paying r...