Wait... Can You Say PR? Training Pays Dividends...

The news of my daughter teaching abroad in Malaysia for a year came as a random text message, because this seems to be the perfered means of communication nowadays.  I was excited, I was shocked, I was proud and I had a lot of questions, the first of which was who was she going with and when was she leaving.

Grace-that's my daughter's name, said it won't be until September 12, 2014, I'm in Pittsburgh now and we'll be traveling to Barbados to visit Grand Daddy.  Children are notorious for sharing only snippets of story leaving you to peel back the onion to get to the heart of the matter.  

Who's we, Grace?  Chloe and Darius, oh I didn't mention that we were going?  No you didn't mention your brother and sister were traveling. Oh yeah, I think Aunt Yvonne and Harriett are going to meet us in Barbados; I already had the itinerary but it was fun just having her fill in the blanks for me.

My Dad is getting up there in age so this visit was especially meaningful for them, when I was growing up I met my mother's mother once during a visit to Barbados by that time my other Grandparents had passed away.  I wasn't able to make the trip this time around but I'm planning on going after the Marine Corps Marathon in October.

From the looks of the pictures they had a blast, spending time on the beach, around the island and laughing at home with their Grandfather-the only regrets were those pesky mosqitous bites.

Giving thought to the end of their caraibean adventure, meant that Chloe would return to work, Darius would head back to school and Grace would be going to Malaysia.  Talking about this awesome opportunity is one thing, getting in the car to head to the JFK is a different level.  I'm a Man, I'm her father, I've gotta be able to maintain my composure in public; that means no crying-which I was able to do successfully.  

But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me put it in reverse to where I'm sitting in traffic on the Merritt Parkway and I don't think I'm going to make the departure in time.  I was under the impression Grace's flight was leaving at 9pm and that would mean she would have to check in 2hrs before departure.  I was tempted to get off the highway and go home but I stayed on the highway, got on the phone with Grace and started pealing back the onion.  

What airline are you traveling with, Emirates was her responce.  I called 411 for their number, gave them a call and discovered that her flight was at 11pm instead of 9pm-this gave me a nice cushion so I didn't have to drive like a maniac.  Sure the thought of my Half Marathon in the morning crossed my mind, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from seeing Grace off.

I set my alarm for 5:30am and got up at 5:45 and was out the door to fuel up at Dunkin by 6:00am.  I made it in time to register, warm up with a lite jog and stretch.  All systems were a go, bio break, watch, foot pod, music, pace band and glasses-wait I don't need my glasses so I hightailed it back to the car to put them away.  

It was a good day for a run.  The first mile in I had to make a pit stop, being a dude at a time like this has its advantages.  I didn't loose too much time and quickly settled back into my pace.  

At the 8th mile it hit me that my little girl was on a flight around the world to a foriegn country where she didn't speak the language.  At that moment I felt a liquid discharge rolled down my face, I can neither deny or confirm if it was a tear. 

I ran my on race my own pace with the exception for a brief moment on mile 11 when I felt a little competitive and wanted to step on the gas, after all I felt strong and still had fuel in the tank.  I eased off the gas and fell back into a comfortable pace and finished the race strong.  On less than 6hrs of sleep I set a PR saving 6min off my previous time, hard work, strentgh and core training pays huge dividends.

RunR4Lyfe