This Blog Post is in honor of my brothers.
Had it not been for them while I was growing up I know I would not have made it this far in my life. We come from a broken, split up home.
(Who doesn't these days I know.)
My brothers were always there to protect and guide me. For that I love them with a love that cannot be described in words.
So today my husband opens my e-mail and as we sit drinking our coffee we come across an e-mail from my brother Nic.
What a great e-mail.
Reading it and seeing the pictures of my brothers being so close pulled great emotions up through my chest to my throat.
I wanted to cry as I explained to my husband how pleased and happy I was to see my two brothers bonded so well. Two people who were brought together by my screwed up parents. yeah, my parents might have split and messed things up....but had it not been for them coming together Nic and Derek would never be together in this day in this "time" enjoying each others company as best friends.
I love them so much.
Such bittersweetness...wishing to be there with them, but also so very pleased to see their connection is strong. And no one will ever break that!
You are my Heros!
Fear Factor Training
First, I want to thank all of the spectators and RACE WORKERS for braving the weather! They've GOT MOXIE!!!
My brother Derek and I are trying to get on Siblings Fear Factor and run as part of our training regimen. I think Fear Factor would be a piece of cake compared to this past weekend and the 2005 Columbus half marathon!
On Friday afternoon, I accidentally ran a red light near Cleveland. I ran into the side of a loaded cement truck with my Jeep Wrangler. It wrecked my front end and cracked my frame in two places so my car was totaled. Luckily no one got hurt. I got a rental car and made it to my brother's house in Columbus.
On Saturday, when I saw the freezing rain/snow mix I was even more depressed since I knew how awesome the weather was last year. I didn't want to drive my rental car in this weather, let alone run 13.1 miles in it.
Running the first mile wasn't so bad. Then it seemed like the wind started to slap you in the face. With the wet snow constantly blowing in my face I had to take off my glasses. I put them in my jacket pocket where the left lens got ruined from rubbing on the zipper for 2 hours. It wasn't long until we were soaking wet and running through the slush. The 20 degree wind chill factor felt even worse then. By OSU campus area Derek and I yelled out some of his Army cadences, "When my granny was 92 — 'when my granny was 92', She did PT better than youuuu — 'she did PT better than yooouuuu'"... That kept us motivated and I think everyone got a laugh. Going around the stadium was tough since our leg muscles started cramping and Derek had to pitch his wet gloves and his hands were numb.
Just finishing this race was sweet and it gave us some great memories together. We surprised ourselves by doing it in 2 hours 7 minutes and by beating our last year's time (in nice weather) by 6 minutes. It made my whole weekend worth it and now I KNOW we're crazy enough to do Fear Factor. - Nic