It’s been a while since I’ve done this blogging thing, but not that long since I’ve typed a lot.  Plenty going on for work and personal time, which limits the activity of posting on here, but you have to take advantage of the nice days you get in Minnesota, because they don’t stay for long.  Especially with the days we’ve had.  Going from 90 degrees and a heat index of 110 to 58 degrees and a very cool north breeze making it feel like a chilly Saturday morning in the fall. 
That is what we had this past Saturday morning when I ventured up to my home town for the 5K/10K walk and run put on by the Red Lake Falls Lions Club, which I am a member of.  The race’s proceeds are going to the organization my team is aligned with, Project New Hope.  Information about their program is located on the homepage here by clicking on their logo.
I was actually planning on being down south in Hastings, MN for what’s called the Warrior Dash.  From what I’ve heard and been told by other people who have run in it, it was a muddy good time!  I will do one of those sometime in the future, but I felt it would be good to get back home where my motivation factor is resting at just a mile north east of town.  Another factor for this weekend was my 10-year reunion for my high school class of 2001.  Some guys I hadn’t seen in a long time had told me they were coming back and asked if I could come join them.  I’m glad I was able to find a replacement to take my place at the Warrior Dash so I could make the trip back home for a couple of days.
I headed out that morning to attend the race.  Thinking I’d get up at 5:15am, I was woken up by Mother Nature instead around 4am with a loud crack of thunder which sounded like lightning had hit right outside my window.  Usually I can get right back to sleep, even in a storm like that, but not this time.  Laying in bed tossing and turning, staring at the clock just thinking I’m not supposed to get out of bed until it says 5:15 and the radio starts blaring with whatever’s on at that time.  I let it all happen to make my wake up official.  That really doesn’t make any sense at all, but it did happen that way.  Gearing up didn’t take long and I had my bag packed for the weekend from the night before so I was pretty much set.  The only thing left to do was slap on the decals and post up the American flag on one side along with the MN Patriot Guard flag on the other back window, then it was off to the race. 
In a way it’s nice to get up early and take off that morning for a run.  It helps you to wake up a little more and gives you the chance to think on the way down.  The downfall is I’m not really a morning person.  I’m just a crazy person, or so I’ve been told.  I usually stay up until at least eleven or midnight each night and if I could would sleep in until noon each day.  It doesn’t work like that obviously, but it’s a great thought.  The longest I’ve slept in a row is sixteen hours.  I know that sounds like a lot but…yeah, I guess it is a lot.  It’s actually backwards of what normal humans are supposed to get.  The best part was, after that long sleep, I woke up for an hour and went back to sleep for another nine.  This was at a point when I was so exhausted, about four years ago, I had to take two sick days and in that forty-eight hour period, slept forty hours.  You have no idea how good that felt, unless you’ve done it before.  So to sum it up, I’m not a morning person and I like my sleep, case closed. 
The cool air this past Saturday helped to wake me up when I got to town.  I always get to a race early.  Smaller races like this about 45 minutes before start; medium sized races of a couple hundred to a thousand about an hour before the start and a big race of a thousand or more at least ninety minutes before the race if possible, unless someone else is escorting me there.  Arriving to Voyageur’s View where it started and finished, around 7:10am I surprised some of the workers there who are fellow Lions club members, especially Lisa.  She was the one who was mainly in charge of the race. 
Seeing the route for this race I knew it would be a challenge.  It was hilly, we were on grass for a while (wet grass I might add, going up hill) to concrete, to gravel, to dirt (which turned into mud due to the rain the night before) to gravel, to concrete, to tar, to wood (bridge), to tar, to gravel, to tar, to grass (still wet) to gravel and finishing right by a big puddle.  No, I was not in Hastings, remember this was the 5K/10K in Red Lake Falls.  Yes, not the Warrior Dash, but maybe close, at times?
Despite the challenging course I was able to not only carry the flag with me which I wouldn’t have been able to in Hastings…but I finished in a decent time too.  24:20 I think or somewhere around that.  A race I had to go up and down hills, winding roads and face the wind a couple times, that wasn’t all that bad.  I think the biggest challenge for me personally with the Vibrams on, was concentrating on the gravel roads every single step making sure I didn’t step on a big or sharp rock.  If either of those hit the nerves on the feet, oh man, they hurt for a while!  I’ve had it happen once but nothing so bad that it kept me out of action.  Lucky for me the treads on the Vibrams are holding up well.  Best shoes I’ve ever owned. 

Following the race we got the awards (1^st in my age group, 2^nd overall in the 5K) and Lisa gave me the chance to talk a little bit following the run.  I got a chance to speak of why I run and the significance of each one.  I talked about the symbolization of the medals I’m awarded and how the majority of them don’t stay with me, they go to their rightful owner.  That medal I received that morning along with one I had planned on bringing (and I did) from the 4^th of July run in Moorhead, MN – I placed on Corey’s tombstone.  There are currently four on there right now, held close by a big rock off to the right of his name.  A Patriot Guard member and good friend of mine Jim told me a few days prior to that he’d seen them on Corey’s gravestone and told me that was so awesome I do that.  He understands why but just wanted to reassure me of his approval. 
The placement of these two new medals (along side a medal received in Hillsboro, ND where I achieved my best 5K time of 22:59 & the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon medal from Duluth, MN where I achieved my best half marathon time of 1:56:36) was done after the race in RLF.  I invited anyone that wanted to from the race to come out and view them all, one did.  Lisa came out there with me.  She served this country too, just like she serves now with the Lions club and part of the Legion as well.  I didn’t have to say much while out there, just placing the medals next to the name and clicking a quick picture that was posted on Twitter (http://twitter.com/freedom_team) mentioning to Corey that we did it again, this time 1^st place. 

First place, last place, 20^th place, it really doesn’t matter to me.  Accomplishing something you set out to do – to finish the race, have fun doing it and promote the people who make it possible for us to have the freedom to run, walk, bike, swim and do any type of recreational activity we’d like; that’s what it’s all about to me.  Being thankful for what we’ve got.  Appreciating the little things in life, like spending a weekend with family and friends you hadn’t seen in a long time, some of which it had been the entire ten years!   Food and conversation.  Talking about “back in the day” and sharing stories.  One of my classmates brought up the story about a game our teacher always made us play in kindergarten where anytime I got picked, I would start crying instead of getting up and doing what I was supposed to do.  Another classmate was able to laugh about the fact that he used to wet his pants whenever he got nervous.  Yeah, that’s kind of strange, and weird in a way, but still funny when you look back on it.  If I wet my pants every time I got nervous, it would look like I spilled a whole bottle of water on my shorts before every run.  I’d probably switch from spandex shorts underneath my regular shorts, to diapers. 

Anywhere I went this past weekend, my classmate Matt would ask “I suppose you ran here?  How far are you going to run tonight?  Do you even have a car anymore since you run everywhere you go?”  I loved it.  The sarcasm and joking around.  He did it pretty much all night Saturday, but it didn’t get old.  The best part is, I can handle taking it…but I can also dish it right back out too. 

Enjoy your time running, training and strengthening yourself mentally and physically.  A workout to get you in shape will always lead you to a happier lifestyle no matter what anyone else tells you.  I could have a brand new car, great job that pays me six figures and dress up in straight Puma gear but could be miserable inside and down grade everyone I see while “thinking” I’m happy.  Or I could have a great support system like I do, enjoy my work like I do, value time with family and friends like I do regardless of the situation I’m put in.  That’s what life is all about.