Boston Strong / America Strong / Meg Strong

We are in Chicago visiting the in-laws for Father's Day. They love running 5k races so we signed up for the Run For Boston 5k for today. The run raised over 10k for the One fund which goes directly to help victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. The guy MCing the event had a prosthetic leg and was discussing how our donations would go towards helping those injured possibly run again one day. It was pretty neat that they had someone who had faced a similar set back and overcame it leading off the run!

Matt was kind enough to run/walk with me. As you may remember I have Arthritis and am definitely not a runner! You may also recall that one of my 30 before 30 goals is to Run (or jog) an entire 5k. I have walked plenty of 5ks but have always wanted to try to complete one in 45 minutes. I know this sounds super slow... Matt can easily finish one in half that. However, I am not fast! I figure 45 minutes is a good goal since it would be an average of 15 minute miles and on our normal dog walks I am closer to a 17 minute mile. Well today we finished in.... 44:15!!!!!!!! So I can officially cross a goal of my list! 1 down 29 to go! It also was raining and my socks were soaking by the end of the race so I feel like I should probably get bonus points!

Today actually marks the two month anniversary of the Boston bombing which seems crazy to me because it feels like it happened so long ago. All the runners got "Run for Boston" shirts but some people were wearing various Boston shirts they already owned. I thought it was pretty cool how people have really embraced Boston in the months following the tragedy. We actually visited Boston last fall and have friends there so the bombing really hit home for me. It is very interesting how Americans pull together in the face of catastrophes whether it be terrorism or natural disasters like the tornadoes in Oklahoma. I am not the most patriotic person but times like this make me very proud to be an American. In the wake of these patriotic feelings and the fact that 4th of July is our next holiday I made a new quote printable for my foyer and you can print it out and display it proudly too!

 

Enjoy!

Have you made any plans yet for the 4th? 

Can you believe it is coming up in less than a month?!?!?

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