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Pease don't forget to enter my SpiBelt raffle!! The odds of winning are very good considering no one has entered yet! Every $3 donation = 1 entry. Thanks y'all!

As we celebrate another wonderful 4th of July weekend, I just want to take a moment to thank a few folks. Thank you to those that have served in the military and continue to serve for our country. I come from a family where many members have served in the military. We are extremely lucky to still have all of these family members still with us today. My grandpa served in the Korean war as an Airborne ranger (he jumped out of airplanes with parachutes in the 1950s). My dad was a marine. I have 2 cousins that are marines and another cousin that served in the army. As I believe I've mentioned before, I don't have any sisters. But I do have 2 awesome brothers. and both of them have served in the military. Artie attended the Naval Academy and Danny serves in the Air Force. They have both had their ups and downs in being a part of their respective branches and they are both almost done serving their time.

Artie is on the left and Danny is on the right

As part of the weekend celebrations, I feel it is very important to thank those that have served our country, regardless of political opinion. Thanks Artie and Danny! I couldn't be prouder of you and what you've done for our country!

And a Happy 4th of July to all of you! I am really sick of talking about how hot it is all the time, but that is pretty much all anyone can talk about. My workout on Wednesday was terrible. I'm doing another run tonight that I'm expecting to be terrible. Also, I'm expecting my long run this weekend to be terrible as well. When will this heat die down? We cannot be expected to run in 100 degree heat with 90% humidity every day. This is just so insane! What are you doing to try and beat the heat?

During marathon attempt #1 in Chicago, the plan was for my brother to meet me at mile 21-22 and run the last 3-5 miles with me. As I've mentioned a bunch of times before, I didn't make it past mile 15 so we didn't get the chance to run together. Afterwards when we were walking to the car to go home, he said that he wanted to run a half marathon race with me. Being the over planner that I am, once the dust of the marathon aftermath had settled, I immediately began focusing on my goals and fun races in 2012. I've sent my brother numerous emails with various different races ranging from a 5k to half marathon to see if he wanted to run them together. He hasn't responded to any of my emails, and I finally called him out on it yesterday. He said he does still want to run a race with me. When I started going over the various options, dates, and prices he interrupted me. "I'm not going to pay to run," was his response, as if this was obvious. I then asked "Why wouldn't you? You get a shirt, timing chip, medal... It is worth it!" He just said that he thinks its crazy to pay to run. He'll run the race with me, but he doesn't want to pay, doesn't need the medal... he just wants to run and finish a race with his sister.

My brother and I

I'm kind of torn on my thoughts. My brother is not a runner. I feel like non-runners just don't understand the lure of the race price and what you're paying for. I'm happy he wants to get out there and run a race with me, but I don't know how I feel about him not paying. I don't think it is fair to the racers that pay or for the race directors in general for people to just hop in. They get the benefit of the water stops, blocked course, bathrooms, etc. without paying those that put it together. Maybe it is just because I am a strict rule follower, but what are your thoughts on people jumping in to run an entire race without paying (this is totally different than running a few miles with your pal during a half or full marathon)? Does your opinion differ based on the size of the race? Local 5k versus giant urban race? (There are some sweet military discounts at the Fort2Base Nautical 10 Miler so it might be worth it for me to pay his way and we can finish it together...)

In other news, my work schedule has been absolutely insane this week and I haven't run a single mile since Monday. I'm going to try to squeeze in 2 on the dreadmill today during my lunch break. We'll see how that works out. I was happy to get in a lot of miles last weekend, and I'll probably do the same this weekend. Oh the joys of a full time job to keep me busy!