Day 113

Normal time wake-up today so I could get into the office, get what I needed to get done, and get out. Many of my friends were heading into the night on their 100-mile trail race back home, too, so I was searching for updates constantly. Once I finished what I needed to today, I headed over to another part of the base for a going-away cookout for a fellow sailor of mine who is from my reserve unit back in "Kansas." She just found out she was picked for Chief Petty Officer which is a HUGE deal for enlisted folks in the Navy. Once I go home and start drilling again, we'll both be in the same unit again. So, it was certainly a priority for me to head over and send her off. They had quite the setup, too. They were roasting potatoes on the grill, had AWESOME barbecued chicken, and the Afghans who work there made Afghan bread (naan), homemade curry (they were cooking it over a fire right there) and homemade salsa. Both that salsa and curry sure did have some heat! A little much for me so thank goodness I had some naan to take the heat away. The whole cookout was a huge mental load lifted for me. Being around a bunch of sailors certainly has its perks when I'm never around them. It was great, too, just to get out of the office and relax.

After the cookout, I headed back to my room where I was glued to the refresh button on my computer as I anxiously waited for my good friends back home to finish their 100 miles. The race back home has a 30 hour time limit and dawn was breaking around this time back there so they were starting to come in. Once dinner time rolled around, I went and made up a to-go box and brought it back and put it in the fridge. This was much easier to do rather than get cleaned up after my run to go eat. So once most of my friends had finished, I laced up my absolutely destroyed shoes and hit the road for 10 miles around the base...stopping 4 miles in to call Dorothy who was en route back from the beaches of North Carolina...her yearly trip with her best friends from that area.

Back in my room, I continued on my monitoring of my friends back home and ate my dinner. One thing I thought as soon as I returned from my run tonight was that I really didn't remember much of it at all. I was mentally not there...my mind was consumed by everything back home...not just my friends and the race but Dorothy and the girls, too. I also ran all 10 miles tonight to a collage of Casting Crowns songs from 3 different albums. It was great to run to them, exclusively. I'll have to do that again sometime.

Well, I am pooped and ready to hit the sack. If you are reader of this blog and were involved in the race this weekend either by running it or volunteering, I hope it was all I remember it to be. It is an amazing event and life-changing to those who immerse themselves in it. I will be there next year, either running or volunteering from beginning to end.

Goodnight, everyone.