This year has been a crazy year. While I’m not going to finish the year with the 10 road races I did last year (currently I’ve only raced 2), this is simply because I’ve expanded the level of my goals. With the Hartford Marathon in October, and Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge in January, I’ve definitely got my plate full.

Unfortunately during my training back in late April I hit a bad snag. While experimenting with some new running shoes, I developed Achilles Tendonitis, and was unable to run for about 3 weeks, and then only cross train after that. Needless to say, I was deathly afraid of not being able to run in the Run to Home Base. You see I’ve ran this race the last 2 years in the loving memory of my friend (Sgt) Mark, who served proudly and bravely, losing both his legs in Iraq. Even still, it never stopped him from wanting to run again, and he did. Tragically, we lost Mark in July 2009 in a car accident due to mechanical failure. So running in this race means a lot to me.

I went to the doctor and physical therapy. My therapist was hopeful, but unsure if I’d be able to compete in the race or not. The Friday before the race, I was allowed to do a test run of 2-3 miles to see how my ankle felt. While not 100%, I deemed it was good enough. I was racing.

Race day, May 22nd was a beautiful day. One could not ask for better race weather. I was under strict orders to not push too hard, and was given a regiment of run for 5 minutes, then walk for 1. My sister, who was also participating in the race, started with me, but we parted ways at my first walk break (which was really at 10 minutes, oops). While running, I’m much quicker than my sister, so I decided I’d catch up and run with her some more, and in the end, while not as good as my usual pace, I decided to cross the finish line with my sister, one of the people who had inspired me to run, and who had helped me finish races before which I’d had difficulty with when I first started running.