A Father's Grief: Moving Forward

2010 has been my worst year ever, but in some ways my best. I am looking forward to starting anew, but its not like the movie Groundhog Day where I can start all over and change what happened. 2010 happened and it has changed me. But I am moving forward -- and that's not the same as moving on. The holidays have been so bittersweet. I can't help but think of what we would be doing with Everett right now, and thinking about what we would be doing as we go from winter into spring. It saddens me (and there is still some anger over it too). In that mix is our beautiful daughter Lilli - whose eyes twinkle looking at Christmas lights, new fallen snow and colorfully wrapped presents. That look in her eyes -- youthful innocence -- warms my heart and allows me to enjoy a bit of Christmas this year. We are so lucky to have her.

I'll go into the new year inspired to run and to help plan out a race in Everett's name. I am hoping to run a couple of half marathons and at least one full marathon in 2011 as well. Of course, I have projects to do - some are holdovers from this year, but 2011 will be a year of positive changes in all aspects. I am coming out of 2010 with the philosophy of "take nothing for granted" and it's great to say those words, but to truly live by them is another.

The days are getting longer...

With the holiday season in full force, time is a precious commodity. So running has been difficult to say the least. I've managed a couple of runs last week and two so far this week. The goal is to get a couple of more -- maybe even a Christmas day run.

And with Christmas almost hear, that means our deadline to determine 3 things for the Race 4 Everett: When, Where and What. So, I think we've determined that it will be on Saturday, August, 20, 2011 at Fort Harrison State Park. What the race will be is still a little up in the air... For sure it will be a 5k and 1 mile family walk, but we are toying with idea of a 10k and 15k (basically a 5k loop course). The details are still not ironed out - and I never thought it would be so difficult to make decisions on something, but we do want it to be successful. So we will update the Race 4 Everett site once we lock it all in, so stay tuned...

Thankfully we've passed the shortest day of daylight for the year and it is all longer days from here on out. Now hopefully that translates into getting more done (wishful thinking).

Baby It's Freakin' Cold Outside

Just over a week ago, I was running in 80 degree weather while in Florida. Granted, it was not a great run, but it was nice to not be burdened by a bunch of gear. This morning is a polar opposite - figurative and literally.

I began my run with the mercury dipping down to 9 degrees. I didn't confirm anything else - cold it cold, right?

Wrong.

In the short time I was out, it dropped another 2 degrees and I found out the windchill was minus 9 degrees. No wonder my fingers went numb in the 3 seconds that I exposed them to fumble with my ipod.

The good news is I made it through. Now let's try for some consistency in running - I've just proven weather is not a factor.

A Whole Lot of Miles

After much discussion, this year for Thanksgiving we decided to go to my older sister's house in Florida. My parents and younger sister and her 3 daughters were already going, so we thought it would be a nice way to spend Thanksgiving. My schedule was not as cooperative as I had hoped, but we did manage to leave "somewhat" early on Tuesday morning. Oh how I wish we would have left Monday - any time, even late, but I didn't get a chance to pack or get anything ready, plus I had obligations pretty much all day Monday.

So, 4:30 am on Tuesday I am up and getting ready, getting the car packed, basically running around in no orderly fashion. By 6:00 am we are on the road. By 6:15am I am putting on a movie for a little girl who will not go back to sleep. The drive down went fairly well for most of it, though there seemed to be a perpetual cloud overhead the entire way down. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Kentucky just to walk around, then back on the road. In Chattanooga, we ran into some traffic, but nothing terrible. It really wasn't until we hit Atlanta around 4:00pm that we hit any major traffic, and by that time it was raining and getting dark and people were driving extra crazy.

Once we got through Atlanta, it was smooth sailing, but still rainy and dark. We arrived in Warner Robins, Georgia and met my sister so we could get on base (her husband is in the Air Force). We finally arrived at our destination, just an hour later than expected.

The next day, we headed for Florida, but we didn't get on the road until close to 10am. It was only a 6 - 7 hour drive, so we thought it would be okay.

Nope.

It started out okay, but by the time we hit Ocala, Florida on 75, it was a traffic nightmare. After several miles of backup and stop and go, we decided to jump off and follow a route parallel - at least we were moving. We eventually jumped back onto 75, but probably later than we should. We eventually arrived, but once again, later than anticipated - by about 2 hours this time.

I actually packed running clothes and got out for a run Wednesday morning on base. Then had plans for a nice long run on Thursday before dinner, but I was exhausted. Friday though, I got out and ran in the humidity - ugh. It was not a good run by any means. After that it was more driving (and more of the same traffic) back to Georgia, then back to Indiana from there. Traffic was actually at its worst on Sunday night and we did not arrive home until 10:30pm. 1300+ miles of driving and about 7-8 miles running...

But we had a great time at the beaches.