Army Ten Miler

Last weekend I traveled to Washington D.C. to run the Army Ten Miler. On Sunday morning, I gathered with 29,999 other people to run ten miles through the city. The course was absolutely beautiful, passing by the monuments, Smithsonian museums, and most impressive the Capitol building. Five ladies from the 173rd traveled across the ocean to do this race together. We figured since our husbands were deployed, it would give us something to work toward. We had a fantastic time together. The ladies I were with were so great and made the trip even more enjoyable. Some of the things we did...

FRIDAY: Tour the White House.... very cool to see..... the sad part was I compared it to the castles over here and it hardly stands up to them!! Went to Arlington National Cemetary. We visited the graves of all our 173rd fallen sky soldiers from the past three deployments. Unfortunately we have a few there from this deployment, so it was quite a tug on the heart. The best part of that visit...

This is my great uncle's site. He was quite a military man. My dad went out to his funeral early in the year, but never got to see the stone. I'm glad I was able to stop, sit, and take it all in.

SATURDAY: In the morning, we went to pick up our race packets. There were thousands of people in line, so thankfully we were early. There was also an expo there, so we walked through the hundreds of vendors and bought some fun things. The rest of the day we decided we needed to relax.... so that meant shopping!

SUNDAY: We were up and out before the sun was up. The excitement was just brewing in the air. We found our spots in the back of the crowd, about a mile behind the start line. It took us about 25 minutes after the canon went off before we reached the start line. Then we were off. Two hours later I finally finished. By the end, I was not doing too hot. I was barely standing and throwing up. Not really from running, but because I had some sort of a bug. It started on Thursday as I was flying, and still wasn't feeling well yet. On Sunday afternoon, we all got pedicures and relaxed the rest of the day. Our legs couldn't handle much more than that!

Before the race, excited to be there...

After the race, barely standing...

MONDAY: The 173rd commander's wife and I went to Walter Reed Hospital to visit our 173rd wounded soldiers. There were three guys there from Jay's old troop, so I really wanted to visit them. I think they were happy to see us. Any company is good company for them. We also went to donate blood. But unfortunately, I was denied, like usual. Not enough iron! Bummer!

TUESDAY: I flew out early Tuesday morning to head to Illinois. Details on that trip will be in the next post!

Overall this was a fantastic trip! I'm so glad I went, even if running isn't my favorite thing.