Tom the Army guy

Even though I didn't get a three day weekend, I was relieved to get out of work on Friday evening. George and I had date night at the Pizza Palace. It probably wasn't the best dinner to have the night before a run, but I'm still working on transitioning my diet (No fast food starting August 1st!)

Saturday morning, I was pretty tired when the alarm went off at 6:30. In addition to not being a runner, I'm also not a morning person. I actually get up earlier on Saturdays now for the group runs than I do for work during the week. Giving up precious weekend sleep was a big deal for me. But giving up sleeping in does give me the chance to take advantage of another favorite pastime: afternoon naps!

Once I got up and moving, I felt better. I hoped in my car and made the quick drive over to the Riverside YMCA. It wasn't too hot yet, but super sticky.

Since it was the 4th of July (yay America!) we didn't have a speaker before we set off for our 45 minute run/walk along the St. Johns River, which runs right through the middle of Jacksonville.

The first part of the run, I mostly kept to myself because I was still waking up. As I ran along the Riverwalk, I was thankful that the training program introduced me to that course. I've lived in Jacksonville almost two years and didn't even know it was there! You get such a great view of the river and the areas along it. All our trainings are on it for the Getting Started program so I have a few more group runs to enjoy along it and no doubt some solo runs in the future.

I made a training buddy previously, Erin. But she was running with the fastest group and I was feeling not quite up for that so I went with a slightly slower group. Halfway through the run, I got the chance to speak with a man named Tom.

As we chatted about our motivations for doing the marathon, Tom commented that he was retired. If I had guessed what Tom did before I told me, my guess would have been some sort of voice work because he has one of those booming, articulate voices that sounds like it belongs on a commercial or movie trailer.

But Tom is retired from the Army after more than 30 years. He's been stationed all over the world but is now enjoying retirement in Florida. We ended up chatting about his daughter for awhile. She's my age and experiencing some of the same mid-20's issues I am going through. She's a hairdresser but has moved around so much that she hasn't been able to build a clientele list. Her boyfriend is unemployed so they're both living with his parents.

I explained to Tom that I could completely relate to what his daughter was going through. At the end of the run, as we said our goodbyes, I told him to tell his daughter that Cindy in Jacksonville said it'll all get better eventually, we 20-something's just have to be patient!