Defending Freedom Run

I think my coping mechanism for having Ben deployed is getting myself into some large projects. The latest was a run I put on in honor of Ben. Ben told me in December that he would be running a 1/2 marathon on February 25th. I was kind of a bit envious because I had never run a 1/2 before. So, I decided to put on a run myself on the same day. I kind of have a weird habit of naming everything, so I decided to name it "Defending Freedom walk/run/bike". It was to be the 1st annual and definitely not the last! I ran into my Friend Lee Elmer, who we met at Stake Choir over a year ago. He runs the DI here and I frequent that place. Lee and I are definitely on a first name basis! I asked him if he would help me with different routes for this events. He kind of took off with it and made it really nice. It was so kind of him to do this for me.

Training was going really well for both Ben and I until about 2 weeks before the race. I got a weird bug and was sick with bronchitis for about 1 and 1/2 weeks. The race was getting close at this point and I hadn't even been able to run. I decided to go on a run a few days before and it was a little painful. This made me quite nervous!

On Friday, one day before the race, I woke up and got the idea to run the 1/2 that night. I wanted to enjoy the event and take lots of pictures and visit with everyone, and most of all, I thought it would be cool to actually run at the same time as Ben was running it. I told my good friend, Nan Horlacher my plan and she offered to ride her bike along side of me. So at about 9:30pm Vegas time and 10:00am Afghanistan time, Ben and I started to run. I ran about 8 miles in the dark by myself. I did have a head lamp on and ran in safe areas! It was so peaceful and it was so much fun imagining Ben running too. The only thing better would have been to have him running beside me like we have done so much in the past. I long for those runs again. I felt great and was so happy about my choice to run it that night. Because of some riots going on around Bagram AFB in Afghanistan the week before, Ben wasn't able to run the loop he was planning on running. He and about 10 others ran.

The race here was pretty official. It was maked off with traffic cones, flags were flown, tags were worn and we even had fresh fruit, water and chocolate milk for all of the runners. We had about 150-175 who participated in the 1/2 marathon, 5k, 10k and 25 mile bike ride. I was so pleased with the turnout. The kids LOVED it and ran the 5k easily (well, except for Kate- she rollerbladed it)! From my family, my parents, Tarah and Brooke came, and from Ben's family, Scott and Lori, Derrick, and Emily, Nate and Kim and their family came. Ben's parents and Matt and Misty walked in Beaver that day. It was so great to have family here for support.

Ben had a great experience running as well. He had medal for all who participated there and has ordered T shirts for them as well.

About a month before the race, I just happened upon a lady who was doing so screen printing in her garage. I stopped by and told her what I was thinking as far as the design of the shirts and she was able to make them. I always like a good t-shirt to wear! They turned out great!

All in all, it was a huge sucess! Ben just told me that he is now training for a full marathon in April. I think I will let him do that one himself- Been there, done that!!!