Adventures with Brittany

Interesting things seem to happen when Brittany and I get together.

At the Light the Night walk in 2008, we were going to walk together and right before the walk, we got separated and we were never able to find each other.

I had planned a bon-voyage party for her last year before she left for Florida. I reserved a large room at CB&Potts. I sent out an Evite and had about 10 confirmed people and no one showed up other than my family, Laura's boyfriend and his cousin.

We sat there for 3 hours waiting. I thought she would never speak to me again after that.

At this years Light the Night walk, we started off walking together and then got separated when I tried to go back and get Sue and Keegan. Sue had bought a stroller that didn't have front wheels and that turned out to be quite the adventure. We tried to catch up and then Sue told me to go on ahead and see if I could find her. I never did. I finally saw Brittany again about 1/4 mile short of the end of the walk. She had managed to have a good time walking with some of my colleagues at work and had also talked one of my co-workers into doing the Lake Tahoe Century ride with Team in Training next June. Brittany is relentless for a cure!

Last night, Brittany and I went to see Wicked at the Denver Center for performing arts. It was a totally amazing experience. The show is so powerful and moving. WOW!

We walked back to my car, got turned around a couple of times finally making back to the parking garage only to discover in horror that the garage was closed for the night.

I couldn't believe it. She just laughed about it. She told me "it is always an adventure when we get together".

Brittany seems to love me in spite of these misadventures. Brittany is another person that appreciates the gifts in life, even the unplanned ones.

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52 weeks + one day

A year has come and gone since I last ran a marathon.

Last year, I ran the Denver marathon with a heavy heart. It was my first marathon I had run since Kelly died.

This year I had to drop back to the 1/2 marathon distance. The injury that began over a year ago still hasn't healed completely.

I am not sure if my heart has completely healed, but the experience this year was very different.

I had no sorrow in my heart this year. I still miss Kelly very much. She will always be my hero.

I had done very little training for the 1/2 marathon. A year ago, it seemed like I ran six days a week. Now it seems like I run one day a week. I wasn't overtrained for this event.

The neat part for me this year was being able to run with Laura. Laura ran her first half marathon on Sunday. Well, I lined up at the start line with her and she disappeared in the sea of runners during the first ten seconds of the race. Still, it was neat to know she was running ahead of me. I wondered how she was doing, mentally guessing how far ahead of me she was. What would her experience be like.

Another blessing, Kelly brought to me. My daughter the swimmer, now a distance runner :)

One of Laura' friends from high school, Vicki talked Laura into running the 1/2 marathon. I think Vicki totally rocks!

Laura and I did a couple of training runs together. The runs didn't feel very good, but how I loved being able to spend time with Laura this way.

I had run a grand total of 18 miles during the month of October. Interestingly I added 18 minutes from the last time I ran a half marathon. Good thing, I didn't train any more than that... Who knows how much time I might have added.

I saw one of the Rocky Mountain Chapter's team heroes(Sharon) early in the run. I ran over and gave her a hug, thanked her for providing inspiration to us in her journey. I had hugged Sharon last year at the finish line. It was neat to see her out there, living full out.

It was kind of sad running by Coors Field seeing the Rocktoboer 09 sign. The playoffs ended so soon last year. In 2007, running past Coors field was magical.

The miles passed by fairly quickly. I was wearing my TNT purple singlet. I had pictures of Kelly and Laiken on the back of my singlet. Running for and with my angels.

Surprisingly, the miles passed fairly quickly. My pace was consistent. I tried to put on a burst of slow the last two miles.

No tears this year as I crossed the finish line.

Laura did great on her first 1/2 marathon. I was so proud of her for taking on something she didn't think she could do.

Next year, the Denver marathon will become a Rock and Roll marathon. I wonder what that will do to the growth of this event.

I hope next year, I get to find out. Maybe next year, Vicki will talk Laura into running the marathon. How cool would that be?

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