Race #90
On November 16, 2023 I completed a virtual half marathon at Memorial Park in Houston. It was in honor of the Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, which provides college scholarships and educational counseling to military children who have lost a parent in the line of duty. What a wonderful cause that would have been very close to Mikie’s heart!
I had decided that since it was a week before Thanksgiving, I would spend the race thinking about all of the things that I was thankful for related to Mikie and the 25 years we had together. So many wonderful thoughts and memories flooded my mind during the 2 hours, 25 minutes and 9 seconds that it took me to complete that race. And then after the race, I decided to write down some of the many beautiful memories and thought I would share some of them, so here goes…
Mile 1: Meeting in Arkansas in the computer lab and doing donuts in the parking lot, eating late night Cheetos and accidentally driving to Oklahoma and starting a 25 year relationship
Mile 2: Getting to work with Mikie for a year, opening the Core Knowledge office in Colorado and having a blast together
Mile 3: We started out early on getting to eat at some fabulous restaurants in different cities—and always ordering two desserts, that became a tradition for us—one of our favorites was the Penrose Room at the Broadmoor and their table side Ceasar salad
Mile 4: Many camping trips in Colorado—our favorite place to go was Chalk Creek near the Collegiate Peaks, and especially going with our sweet Bella
Mile 5: Geocaching all over Colorado and in other states when we would travel—it was always an adventure and took us to some places that we would have never ventured to otherwise (you will find geocaches that each one of us placed up near St. Mary’s Glacier)
Mile 6: Getting Bella and watching Mikie turn into a dog person and love our girlie little pup more than he loved most people (even though he would always laugh about her little pony tail), and then getting Bailey and Gracie, and he loved them fiercely
Mile 7: Getting to travel for work together and go to the Core Knowledge National Conference for many years and get to go places like Orlando, FL, Boston, MA, Washington, DC, Anaheim, CA, Nashville, TN (and getting to go to Disney World and Disneyland together)
Mile 8: Taking a two week road trip one summer and going to Colorado (3 National Parks), New Mexico, Arizona (Grand Canyon North Rim) and Utah (4 National Parks)—one of our favorite trips
Mile 9: Going to baseball games together—we got to go to quite a few different ballparks, but our favorite was always Coors Field to watch the Rockies
Mile 10: Working out and running together, especially at Washington Park in Denver and Memorial Park in Houston and getting to run several half marathons together
Mile 11: Many, many trips to the beach together in the last five years—even though it wasn’t Mikie’s beloved Pacific Ocean, he still enjoyed his salt water therapy and we loved going to the beach and enjoying it with our girls
Mile 12: So many amazing trips and vacations together, here are some of the highlights—Philadelphia, Minneapolis, London, Mount Rushmore, Sedona, Santa Fe (many times), many whitewater rafting trips, Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, New York City, Grand Canyon South Rim, Biloxi with the Shihloxi Squad, all over California (with several special trips to San Francisco), Hawaii, road trip from Houston to California, many trips to see the Joseph clan in California, Moab, Chicago, a cruise to Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Haiti, and many more
Mile 13: Getting married and becoming one in one of the most beautiful places in the world, Fiji—it was definitely a dream trip for us ♥️
We had so many plans for more memories and more trips, but these will have to sustain me for a lifetime…I loved making every memory with my sweet husband!
Next race is December 3rd, the San Antonio Rock n Roll Half Marathon, until then I will keep Marathoning for Mikie!
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