Naperville Trails Half Marathon and Other Stuff

Hi there. I feel like I haven't been writing much here lately. Maybe that's just me, since I usually update only twice a week or so anyway, but it feels like I haven't been writing too much.

But first, the race. MUCH better than that disaster a couple weeks ago. I ran a 1:59:50. My 5th race of 2012 and of this deployment! Not a PR but only a few minutes off of it. AND it was actually a pretty hilly course. After weeks of being totally stressed out, running slow, thinking I might even be anemic (I wasn't.. it was "just" stress), I finally had a really good race.

Then afterwards, my parents took me out to my favorite breakfast place. And James called and told me good job on my race.. AND that he might be coming home sooner than we thought. Of course, the Army could change it on us again. BUT it's still exciting. Having a good race and then that call from him definitely made for a good day. We are in the home stretch of this deployment!

The youth group I help out with is also about to start. We had a leaders retreat this weekend. I actually had to bail out early because of my race on Sunday, but not before the tubing and wake boarding.

Me tubing. Unfortunately no photos of my wake boarding. 

So here's the deal.. I hadn't had the opportunity to get pulled behind a fast boat since high school. Unless you are tight with someone that has a nice boat like that, the opportunities can be few and far between. I couldn't pass this up. And I did get up on the wake board! And it was my first time! Even though I knew it would make me sore for my race the next day. And yes, I definitely felt it in my back especially (and still do- I'm actually sitting against a heating pad as I type this). I went to get stretched-out after the race, and I had tears in my eyes from the lady trying to help my back loosen up. But I still don't regret trying wake boarding. It was kind of a YOLO moment.

Also, at our retreat, there were a couple of stray kitties. One was black and one was gray. I named them Batman and Robin.

Me and Batman- wish I could have taken him home! 

So overall, really good weekend. Wake boarding, tubing, great race, great news from James, and even kittens! Now I'm hunting for a job out in Fort Lewis/Seattle area and starting to try to get ready to head back that way! 

<3 Amy