22 too many…

RAO Group


In February, I had joined Team Red, White and Blue, and had been to a couple of events before seeing the Run As One get posted.  Even though I was running the Shamrock Shuffle, I wanted to run this as well.

The sad truth is that every day, 22 service members that fought so bravely and sacrificed so much lose their own fight.  The run was to get more awareness out there — the RWB link does a great job of explaining it.

It was an incredible experience, and great to see members of all the organizations there.  Please take a few minutes to read the links and do what you can to help decrease the number… hopefully one day down to zero.

Let’s Shuffle…

06 - Pre-Race


Towards the end of 2014, I decided that I wanted to run the Shamrock Shuffle this year.  So while it was still cold, I went to the gym and started pushing towards 5 miles on the treadmill.  And once it got nice outside, Terri and I went running on different paths.  By the week before the Shamrock Shuffle, we were at 71 minutes for 5 miles, which was within the time limit.

Keri Serota, who is the coordinator for athletes with disabilities (AWD) helped us to get everything in line for the race, and the start.  Terri and I first met her when we picked up all of our packets the Friday before the race.

On race day, we arrived at the tent about 20 minutes before the start time, and checked in.  We got to meet Israel (another AWD) and his guide, as well as Lisa who works with Keri.  Keri walked the 5 of us out to the start line about 10 minutes prior, and we were stationed behind the wheelchair athletes.  We started about 2 minutes before the rest of the field, but the elite runners quickly caught up to us in the dark tunnel.

While it was a challenging race, it was a great experience.  I lost count of the number of people that were encouraging us as we ran.  I wrote a longer post about the weekend for The Imperfect Journey.  You can read it here.

Welcome!

CD

As you push towards your goals in life, things won’t ever be or go perfect.  You’ll never be 100%, and the conditions won’t ever be perfect.  But you can’t let these imperfections stop you.  Instead of just taking the easy way out, say NO to your crappy excuses and just get out there and do it!

This blog will chronicle the exploits of two who have decided to just say no to crappy excuses — Terri Hayes and James Gilliard.  James is visually impaired, and Terri is his coach and guide.  The posts will include training updates, race updates and other thoughts.

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