Life is a Project

Today I finished the Stuttgart Half Marathon within four minutes of my goal time.  I am very happy that I kept a solid pace and met a wonderful person along the way.  When I first saw the balloon, I thought it was a pace runner, but I learned that she was actually just a runner with a balloon.  She was on Team Sanwald and we ran almost 20 kilometers together.  It was a great experience and I enjoyed the views along the route. After the race, we enjoyed a post run beer , as advised by German researchers.  I felt really good after the race and even after a few hours, I'm not as fatigued as I have been after previous half marathons.  I really attribute my success for both my run time and my recovery to proper training.  All of the time that I put in prior to this day was really worth it. I am a big fan of  Hal Higdon  and his great training plans.  Whenever I have followed a plan, especially the long runs, I have better race times and ...

My friend and coworker at the US European Command in Stuttgart Germany is retiring from the military after 22 years.  Fortunately, life in the Air Force as a cyber warrior has trained him to be prepared to deal with the unexpected.  Until an ill fated call over Memorial Day weekend, the very organized Lt Col Wood was on track to return to the United States and transition to life as a civilian.   Lt Col Mark Wood - Cyber Warrior He, his wife and two daughters decided to take one last trip, before retiring in Seattle to spend more time with his extended family. Immediately after checking into their hotel in London, Mark received the devastating news that his Mother had unexpectedly had a stroke. Before he could arrange transportation back to the United States, she had passed away.  The final mini-break to London had went from excitement over tickets to Harry Potter World, to the realization of how fragile life is and how important it is to expect the unexpected. Re...