Still in Shock!

So I am still stunned by what happened this evening.  I keep looking to see if I really picked up my kid to bring home for the night.  Let me provide a little background.

Peter is at Military school for the second year.  He has not been real happy about it especially about the fact that I have him board there when we live two miles away from the school.  I was advised that he would receive more discipline training by boarding.  I had said that being a day student was a future option but I did not promise it for this year like Peter claims I had.  Thus he was pretty rude during the first month and half of weekends home. Over the past month I have seen his attitude improving.  He has engaged more in conversations and been more responsive to spending time with his grandparents. (It helps a lot that they have cable TV for football game viewing and they provide him with food of his choice.) 

This weekend was homecoming weekend at the school. I was able to meet with some teachers yesterday and was told that he is a good kid. In general the teachers see Peter making real efforts at his work. Unlike last year he has been passing all his classes every week.  He seems motivated by the desire to come home for the weekend which requires him to be passing all his classes. When he was begging me to pick him up today before the mandatory homecoming dance, I asked him if he didn't like girls.  He quickly replied, "I like girls. I just have other priorities right now like my grades."  I then replied with "so you are planning to study Saturday night?"  I got one of those rare but beautiful grins as he said "no!" I had offered earlier to find him a date and he quickly declined. Often girls are "bused" in from an all girls school but when I picked him up this evening  he said the bus of girls didn't come.

Before I get to the shocker thing let me say I was already feeling proud and impressed with my son. Today I went to the Military Parade.  Okay so that you don't make the same mistake I did when I first heard about the Parade let me clarify this event.  Remove from your mind pictures of floats, clowns, candy, or anything that involves people walking down the street. The Military Parade does include the Military School Band and the boys marching. However it is primarily conducted on the football field (or indoor field in cold weather).  There is systematic movement, marching, and standing in formation as well as some shouting. Today's parade was longer than usual because of special recognition for Homecoming. Essentially those young men stood out on the field for close to an hour with very little movement.  For those of you who remember Peter, that is impressive.  Doing such takes patience and discipline.  I know I was getting antsy just watching it. This wasn't my first parade but once again I found myself really impressed with his ability to do that.

Count in 5 from the left to find Peter. Marching to the Field.

This shows 4 of the 9 companies on the field before the crowd.

Delta Company.  Peter is somewhere in the back.

Peter is in the Middle. Leaving after standing in the field an hour.

Impressive, right?

Okay so this is what happened.  Peter and I were driving home from the school this evening in the dark.  He was very anxious to get home to his couch and game system.  He even declined a stop for food or a Redbox movie.  We came down the hill rounding the corner just before our house.  Just as I realized something was in the road Peter shouted out for me to stop.  He saw before I did that there were 4 large folding tables in the middle of the road.  It was a close call as I swerved to miss them.  As I was rounding them he told me to stop as he prepared to get out of the car.  I said "what are you doing?"  He said "I am going to move them before somebody hits them."  He picked each one up moving them off the street up onto the grass.  He couldn't figure out why someone would put them there.  (I suggested that they fell off a truck).  He didn't understand why they were there but he knew that they shouldn't stay and took action to move them.  Now that may seem like common sense to you. You may be wondering why I considered it such a big deal.  Peter rarely thinks beyond his personal interest and to take the time and initiative to move something that did not immediately effect him was a big deal.  He was thinking beyond himself.  Thank God for Military School!

My first Half Marathon, In Pictures

It was my first (and possibly only) half marathon yet I was rather strategic in my planning.

First of all I chose a location that would be pretty to look at while running and fun to re-cooperate at following the race.

Running the first Mile as the sun rose up over the Ocean!

 

Many of the 13.1 miles involve running under moss covered Oaks.

Next I invited a buddy who likes to take pictures so I could have documentation of the event. It also helped that she loves the beach making it easier to endure all my talk about racing and crazy pre-race preparation.  

Tammy, my travel buddy and a fabulous photographer

I spent the past three months training. I found a training buddy, actually she found me when she startled me on one of my runs.  Haley helped me push myself to go faster and longer when I didn't want to.  After some of our runs, I decreased my original target time. Therefore I set my I pod for a 2 hour and 30 minute run. I wore my running hat (John Deere because nothing runs like a deer) and followed the crowd.

And then I just ran and ran and ran and ran.  I had fun the first few miles and spent the last 10 swearing I would never do such a run again.  Truthfully all of my strategically planned music and the scenery didn't mean quite as much as I thought it would. I was just trying to get to the finish line without dying! And 13.1 miles later, I did!

Grateful for Tammy who captured my success for all to see.

Then I begged for water and a place to sit swearing this was my one and only half marathon. Pretty soon, the reward of it all began to kick in!   I got my finisher medal.  I realized that I had basically met my goal having run it in 2 hours 30 minutes and 55 seconds (gun time). Chip time was only 13 seconds! I was tenth out of 17 in the 45-49 age female category.  I was the 208 finisher out of 296. All what I consider respectable.  My college roommate's husband and  neighbor ran the half marathon as well.  Their families ran the 5K. It was Melissa (the roommate's) first 5K.  She was at the 13 mile mark of my race waiting for me.  I had not seen her in years and it was really sweet to have her take my hand and run the last .1 with me.  It was fun to visit with her and her family for a while after the race.

David(the neighbor), Me and Billy (Melissa's husband)

It was pointed out at some point that I was telling anybody who would listen that I was running a half marathon.  It is true.  I did want people to know.  I realized that this run was very significant for me. See most of my life I have considered myself a NON-athlete and a "quit when it gets hard" kind of gal.  Running consistently  for two and a half hours  covering 13.1 miles pretty much proves both of those beliefs as being false. And I wanted everyone to know.  However I did NOT wear my medal to the beach, dinner or even breakfast the next day as I witnessed other participants to do.

Exhausted put very proud of me!

I planned this half marathon to be my one and only.  That thought was confirmed adamantly during the last 10 miles of the race and the two days following.  But I confess that there are now thoughts of attempting another one (in another fun and flat location) floating around in my head!