Miles for Merry Miracles

As you know dear reader, I have started this thing that many people call "running." And I have been trying my hand at the 5k circuit to try to actually make myself keep running. So when the opportunity to run again came up, I jumped at the chance. And, because the cause behind it, Miles for Merry Miracles, started as an Eagle scout project in our ward, when they announced it at church, Deg agreed to run it with me. I pulled out my phone and registered us right then and there (yep, in church - shame on me). I'll explain the cause and then the run.

I took this blip from the website: "The Miles for Merry Miracles Triple Crown of Service is a series of well coordinated events to benefit The Salvation Army Angel Tree Program and members of our community... M4MM got its start as an Eagle Scout Project organized by Nick Hebert in 2008. Nick was so motivated by the service he provided that he decided to do it again the following year, and then the following year too. Nick has been serving as a missionary since Nov 2011 but the area's youth have kept the legacy going, and Nick's dream has just begun to be realized. To date, M4MM has served over 1050 children in the local area. Now in our fifth year, our goal for 2012 is to help an additional 500 Angels."

Well, the day of reckoning was today. I was worried about how I'd do - I haven't been able to train much for the last month due to my lack of having any spare time. Deg, however, put his training into full swing by switching from 3 Mountain Dews a day to 1 Mountain Dew and 2 Diet Cokes. (Sigh). He grumbled and complained a lot on the way over, saying he never should have done this. However, I think listening to the pre-run speeches and spiritual messages (since this was started as a church-run event) snapped him out of it. We made our way to the staring line, the gun rang out, and... off we went!

It didn't take long for Deg to get ahead of me. If you think about it, my legs are about half as long as the average person's (thanks, genetics) and about 2/3 as long as Deg's, so I try not to get too worked up at people beating me. I figured I'd catch up to him once he started walking, but I got clear to mile 2 before I saw him. When I did, he was behind me. I was, obviously, confused. While still running, I asked him what the deal was. Turns out that at the u-turn at the beginning, he went straight instead of turning. Oh Deg! Anyway, he then tried to keep up with me (this he did by running to catch up with me and then walking until he was a good ways behind me). Toward the end of the run, we came across one of my favorite 8 year olds from church, and we challenged him to beat us. He sprinted off toward the finish line, and Deg decided to kick it into gear, as well. I did, too, but like I said, due to my genetically fabulous legs, my 2 steps to every other person's 1 step makes my speed interesting. Deg crossed the finish line in 34.45 and I crossed it in 34.55. He was just glad to be done and felt great about finishing (though he was threatening to never do that again). I was quite pleased to shave some time off my last race time, even though I hadn't been able to put much into training.

Next week, we will go shopping on the designated shop day to fulfill our commitment with supporting our Angel Tree kiddos, and we're excited to bring that into our holiday plans. We are grateful for what we have and are so glad to be able to be in a position to give to others, especially to kids.

And now, some pictures.

Getting ready to run

Look how excited Deg is to be running

At the finish line