My birthday week culminated in a trip to Fargo, which most
of my friends found hilarious. But we had decided months ago to participate in
the Fargo Marathon festivities with Seth’s parents, and getting to see and his
Mom do the 5k together was totally worth the trip.
Although it was quite a trip! Someone who shall remain
nameless had waited until the last minute to make travel arrangements, so we
wound up flying into Minneapolis and driving the 3.5+ hours to Fargo, making it
to the start line in time to meet Jayne literally by the skin of our teeth.
Always an adventure...
For my 30th birthday I did my first 50 miler, at
Bear Mountain. For my 31st I ran 31 miles (with a relay of Soldiers)
in Afghanistan. For my 32nd, I did another ultra. And I’ve kind of
slacked off since then. I met Seth on my
33rd after a long day on the drop zone (but no run), and last year
we made a whirlwind trip to Fayetteville (and had a terrific night at the
Pinehurst) but Seth’s ex fix broke and we landed right back at Walter Reed. I
may have gone for a jog in there, but it wasn’t anything to write home about.
This
year I was determined to resume my tradition, at least within the limits of a
still-healing ankle and being knocked up. I ran a beautiful 10k through Fargo
(which had awesome spectators and great music for the big event) the morning of
my 35th, and although the distance didn’t wow, it felt right.
Birthday runs were back on, after a couple crazy hiatus years.
I met Seth and his parents for brunch at a diner afterwards, and we
stuffed ourselves with pancakes. That afternoon, I stole their dog and dragged
her for a walk along the Buffalo River, where I had camped on my epic road trip
adventure almost two years before.
I’ll spare the details of the rest of my birthday. Let’s just say that 1) the honest to God only bad part of pregnancy so far is being the tired, sober one while everyone around you drinks and has a good time, and 2) it’s a good thing Seth had gone all out for my birthday week prior. I toasted my 35th alone with mediocre cheesecake and a tall glass of water that night, but all in all felt pretty good about where this milestone birthday found me. It was hard to believe I had met Seth two years ago, in a Fayetteville bar. You just really never know where life is going to take you. I’m lucky that mine never stops being an adventure.
I’ll spare the details of the rest of my birthday. Let’s just say that 1) the honest to God only bad part of pregnancy so far is being the tired, sober one while everyone around you drinks and has a good time, and 2) it’s a good thing Seth had gone all out for my birthday week prior. I toasted my 35th alone with mediocre cheesecake and a tall glass of water that night, but all in all felt pretty good about where this milestone birthday found me. It was hard to believe I had met Seth two years ago, in a Fayetteville bar. You just really never know where life is going to take you. I’m lucky that mine never stops being an adventure.
At any rate, it was a nice weekend and getting to be in ND
for the 5k and Mother’s Day was really special. The trip back, however, saw awful
weather in Chicago (as usual) which caused us to spend all night waiting on
delayed flights and resulted in two hours of sleep for me before work Monday. It
was going to be quite a week, and we scrambled to get work and laundry and
packing for another weekend away done. May really is nuts!Photo of the week is here, from a story that just came out about Seth’s work at the Mission Command Conference a couple weeks ago.
http://www.army.mil/article/125657/Mission_Command_Conference_seeks_to_inspire___/
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