Stronger Together

First, a photo montage of Michigan beauty.  I love this place.

Week of September 11, 2011:

Walk with adorable niece: Thursday

Run: Friday

Week of September 18, 2011:

Run: Sunday, with my wonderful friend JD!

Hike with big brother and adorable niece: Sunday

Hello from the Mitten State!  I am having a wonderful time here, catching up with the family and a few friends, such as my very funny friend JD and his beautiful family, including his wife, with whom I go all the way back to the very beginning of our bright-eyed college days.

JD just started a running blog, Running Thru Life, which I think is perfect for him as he is getting more serious about the sport.  JD’s been a runner for a long time, but this year he’s really hitting his stride with training and goal-setting.  Last year he ran the Detroit half-marathon in the fall, and this year I think he’s set to smash his finishing time from 2010.  Go, JD, go!  12:30 pacing group ahoy!  One of these years, I swear, I am going to run that race with him.

Before leaving Texas, I had asked him if he wanted to go running with me.  I spend so much time running and biking alone that I thought it would be terrific to have a running buddy, at least just this once.  It took a little discussion, but we found a time on Sunday morning.  JD is in much better running shape than I am, and I didn’t want him to kick my butt, so I did a “practice” run on Friday afternoon, another 20-minute run around the neighborhood where my brother and his family live.  Then JD and I tackled a 40-minute run around his neighborhood (which you can read more about here, if you like), and it was great fun.  We ran through wooded areas, up and down a hill, and ended just a few blocks from his house, keeping up conversations about work, education, liberal arts colleges versus state universities, and a general agreement that fiscal Republicans aren’t too bad (provided they believe in evolution and such things, of course).

Before Sunday, I hadn’t run 40 minutes in months, but somehow, with JD keeping our pace nice and steady, it was easy.  I felt the run in my knees and thighs, but it was a good fatigue, nothing painful or alarming.  This trip to Michigan has been a series of reminders of what I’m missing by not living in the Mitten State.  I have friends scattered around the country, but most of my family is in Michigan, as well as some of my best friends, like JD and (as he says) “the wife.”  I’m starting to wonder if it’s time for this rambling daughter to come home.