{"id":4996,"date":"2017-10-19T14:27:34","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T19:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=4996"},"modified":"2017-10-19T14:46:31","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T19:46:31","slug":"its-the-people-you-meet-that-make-it-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=4996","title":{"rendered":"It’s The People You Meet That Make It Special"},"content":{"rendered":"

It genuinely is!<\/p>\n

You know I kid around about how much I talk on the course and making new friends while racing but it really IS the absolutely amazing people you meet at events\/races that make all the hours of training worthwhile!<\/p>\n

\"20994225_1424340477686084_1435137596213256114_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the short 6 years I’ve been running, I’ve found a great deal of joy and sense of accomplishment.\u00a0 I’ve learned that this short, middle aged housewife body is capable of so much more than I ever imagined!!!<\/p>\n

I’ve also met some amazing people along the way who have been a HUGE encouragement to me.\u00a0 In this blog, I’d like to introduce you to some of the people I was blessed to meet and chat with while at the Chicago Marathon.\u00a0 Buckle up~it was an incredible weekend!<\/p>\n

The first person I met, we carpooled from Mississippi up to Chicago together.\u00a0 We’ve chatted online but had never met IRL until we hopped in my car and headed north.<\/p>\n

\"22281621_1466078303512301_1453171597712246439_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bear in mind, I warned her my mouth does not have an “Off” button and she might want to consider packing earplugs.\u00a0 She was a brave soul and listened to me chatter 12 hours driving up to Chicago and another 12 hours driving home.\u00a0 We also took a few train rides into and out of the City.\u00a0 She’s very patient and a great listener and now a good friend!\u00a0 What a great travel buddy!!!\u00a0 *Demetria, we got the AC in the car fixed yesterday.\u00a0 They fixed the slow leak in the tire, too!\u00a0 You up for another trip?<\/p>\n

You met the two women who generously opened their home to me in my last blog.\u00a0 They were amazing and I’ll never be able to thank them enough!<\/p>\n

\"22308577_1465846050202193_8499501074481996102_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When we got to the Expo, Holy COW!!!\u00a0 It was terrific to bump into so many friends!\u00a0 Some people I had met in Germany at the Berlin Marathon and others I had met in London at the London Marathon but it was terrific to get to see them again!<\/p>\n

\"22221949_1463207053799426_8880772198840310808_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"22228454_1463484143771717_9117770848141693478_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Denise I had been blessed to meet last fall in Berlin and Michael I met in London this past spring.\u00a0 *Michael set a Guinness World Record at London AND received his finishers medal from the Duchess Kate Middleton~not that I’m jealous about that or anything.*\u00a0 Congratulations, Michael!!!<\/p>\n

We had a Twitter meet up!\u00a0 How much fun to finally meet so many Twitter peeps!!!<\/p>\n

\"22279469_10214750764226587_1933570134094840198_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"22282000_10214750763346565_1518189848338707476_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I bumped into a guy I knew from the church I attended as a little kid!\u00a0 I think the last time I saw you, Troy, you were 5 years old?\u00a0 Man, I feel old!\u00a0 LOL!!!<\/p>\n

\"22228227_10159440290890506_3792420997491173723_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And we can’t forget the Happy Panda or the Yeti!<\/p>\n

\"22366447_1469461626507302_44067839866917412_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"22310198_1464398487013616_5424632788860530974_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I don’t know who the poor soul was in that Yeti suit but they were melting!\u00a0 Poor guy!!!\u00a0 I hope they paid him extra for wearing that thing!<\/p>\n

It’s always awesome to bump into people from your home town!\u00a0 Awesome running, Bonnie!!!<\/p>\n

\"22196166_1463341533785978_2017473678606121462_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This man, I’ve been wanting to meet him for 2 years!!!\u00a0 I thought for sure I’d get to finally bump into him in London this past April but it didn’t work out.\u00a0 I was sooooo excited to finally meet him!!!\u00a0 It was a pleasure Iain!<\/p>\n

\"22308635_1464289437024521_5253419913360057714_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What can I say about FINALLY getting to meet THE Bart Yasso IRL!?!\u00a0 We’ve chatted enough on Twitter so I was beyond excited to get to meet him!!!\u00a0 *and no, Bart.\u00a0 I do not Tweet 24\/7.\u00a0 Funny guy!!!<\/p>\n

\"22221956_1463336617119803_1352195941823651058_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We were getting ready to leave the Expo on day #1 (I went to the Expo two days) when a woman grabbed my arm and asked, “What’s your name?”\u00a0 I’m thinking to myself, “I don’t know you.\u00a0 Why do you want to know?”\u00a0 I told her my name and she shouted, “Hey, Glenn!\u00a0 Is the the lady you were looking for?”<\/p>\n

Hahaha!!!\u00a0 I’d spent the better part of that day looking for Glenn and had pretty much given up.\u00a0 I’m so glad that woman grabbed my arm!!!\u00a0 Congrats on a terrific race, Glenn!<\/p>\n

\"22279549_1463297740457024_4785690035649501675_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a wonderful weekend!!!<\/p>\n

No matter how much fun I have and all the incredibly awesome and inspiring people I meet, still~every race, every training run, every step I take is for Aiden.<\/p>\n

#IRun4Aiden<\/p>\n

\"21430617_1442082785911853_615362789609893065_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It genuinely is! You know I kid around about how much I talk on the course and making new friends while racing but it really IS the absolutely amazing people you meet at events\/races that make all the hours of training worthwhile!   In the short 6 years I’ve been running, I’ve found a great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,6,8,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4996"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5012,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996\/revisions\/5012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}