Darn you Achilles!

It irks me to no end that I am still suffering the after effects of my short tour of duty in the Army - two busted knees from too much running and road marching which has led to ankle sprains, hip pain, and now a strained Achilles tendon. The worst part isn't the pain, I can handle pain; the worst part is that I know that even though I can handle the pain, I should let it heal - which translates into no running.

On the bright side, in a moment of weakness my wonderful husband agreed to run October 9th 2011's Army Ten Miler with me in D.C.! Hurray! October 9th happens to be my birthday so we're making the race and trip to D.C. my birthday present. Of course now he is trying to recant his decision because running is not his "thing", but I'm not letting him out of it. I don't think he understands that it's not just a race - it's the Army Ten Miler. There is nothing like the feeling of running through D.C. with 25,000 other people - most of them vets - passing runners with full size American flags, amputated legs, signs and shirts dedicated to the fallen and those still serving. Most everyone running the Army Ten Miler runs it for a purpose, and that purpose isn't to make a PR. The last time I ran I talked to several other runners about why I was running and why they were running and each person had an amazing story of love and patriotism. I remember crying while running past a double leg amputee soldier who was clearly in pain and everyone that ran past him said thank you, clapped and shouted words of encouragement. There's just no other experience like the Army Ten Miler - from the Vietnam Vet that was running his tenth Army Ten Miler that I met at the starting line to the service member I paced for two miles that was running in memory of the buddies he lost on his last deployment (3 months earlier). There's just nothing like it.

Hopefully I'm smart enough to let my Achilles heal.

The buzzer on the dryer just went off and it's back to reality - sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by running mags and photography gear while the Lion King plays on the TV. I've still got a lot of photos to edit and I need to take some new ones of my own kids. Need to finish cleaning the house before Christmas so I can actually relax for a few days.

It's really amazing to me sometimes how much my thoughts bounce around sometimes. One of my major goals for the Christmas break is to finish my photo book of our time in Korea. Here's a little sample of what I'm putting in it:

I have really enjoyed my time here in Korea and will continue to photograph what I experience over the next 6 to 7 months that I am still here. We are headed home in July/August so Johnny can start Kindergarten and I can also start school, Randy will probably be just a few weeks behind us. I'm really going to use the rest of my time here wisely - lots of photos with my new Canon camera!