(Ryan Shay Run banner)
(Me and bro Nate, who gave me courage to not worry about Lupus marks in photos anymore!)
It's ridiculously late, but felt like writing a little before I finally close my eyes. I arrived in Chicago yesterday and spent the night at my brother's house. It was a great night of catching up and finally seeing him again after so long. What I love about my siblings is that we can go several months, maybe even a year or more without seeing each other, but it's always like old times. Last night was one of those special times when we bonded after Max finally crashed for the night, discussing, who would have guessed, relationships! It was pretty good chat and kept us up a couple of hours, which allowed for a late start up to Northern Michigan. But without an agenda, Max and I got up here at a decent time and enjoyed an awesome dinner at the Blue Pelican, a local place in Central Lake ,with my parents.
Before the dinner, I put my running shoes on and hit the country roads for an amazing 5 mile run. It's soooooo cold up here compared to Austin right now that I am in running heaven! The tempo run felt great and there weren't any strong UV rays tearing into my face. One thing about this trip is that I hope to calm the Lupus flare up a little and enjoy the pleasant weather before heading back to Austin.
On the way into town I saw the Ryan Shay race banner for the first time, and it took my breath away. Sadness, mixed with inspiration, as I cannot help but feel him everywhere I turn while I am at home right now. I kept picturing him running toward me on my run, as I know he pounded the same pavement hundreds of times while visiting my parents over the past few years before he passed away.
As I was helping my mom prepare a little for the race this evening, she told me she had an amazing dream about Ryan a few days ago, dressed in fatigues and an absolute positive vibe came between her and him in the dream. My mom didn't get why he was dressed in camouflage, but, I will take it as a sign to keep on trucking with this challenge and get the monetary goal met for our wounded soldiers.
It's almost 4th of July, and while it seems many are frustrated with America lately, let's never forget how much more difficult our severely wounded veterans have if there were no funded organizations, like the Wounded Warrior Project to help meet some or several of their needs.
Please continue to spread the word to family and friends and businesses. Thanks!
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