Dec. 21, 2018 – Washington Co., WI – Today I completed 24 years, 355 days of not missing a day of running. That’s 9,120 days in a row and run No. 16 of the 25 Runs of Gratitude.
It’s hard to believe none of my kids have experienced a single day in their lives where I haven’t gone for a run. It doesn’t seem that long ago my wife Kelly asked me to go on a quick run when she was in labor with our oldest child Jack. Now Jack is getting married and we are welcoming our first daughter-in-law, Sarah Brumer from Iola, Wisconsin. As such, Iola now has more of a meaning to our family beyond just being the home of a very large and famous classic car show.
Sarah is an avid runner and this past year was an assistant coach for the Iola/Scandinavia track team. Since Sarah and Jack began dating, she has joined me on numerous runs. Sarah still lives in Iola and visits West Bend on weekends. This past summer Sarah went on a training run that came back to bite her in the butt… literally. While running in the Iola area, she got chomped in the keister by a German Sheppard. The dog’s owners were very sorry for what happened and even gave her a few new pairs of running tights to compensate for her new holy pants. Hard to believe in the 25 years of this running streak, I have never been bitten by a dog.
On a related topic, it makes me wonder, will the streak last long enough for me to push a grandbaby in a running stroller? Jack has shared with me the next time the streak would be special enough to do a fundraiser would be year 50. Nobody would donate to the 26 Runs of Gratitude.
Believe me I am not naïve enough to think I would make it to year 50; I would be 79 years old and could quite be a great grandfather. No doubt, 25 years has been a good run, no pun intended. However, as I said a few blogs ago, once the streak ends, I am going to Mountain Outfitters to buy a fancy bike like my friend Chevy has.
This afternoon we went on a two-mile run through a small loop of Quass Creek Park. I ran with Judge Andrew Gonring and my new friend Shane Oppermann from Alexssa. Judge Gonring was not aware of the abundance of trails at Quass Creek. I am sure he will consider those trails for future runs. It was nice getting to know Judge Gonring better. During our conversation, he found out I was indeed a “Hartford” Rettler, though I don’t know if that is good or bad. One of the best things about these 25 runs is getting to know so many wonderful people.
Today we ran for the Full Shelf Food Pantry. The Pantry serves between 450 and 525 families per month. Of those families, they believe they impact 750 adults and 450 children. Items are donated by local West Bend residents and merchants. They also provide about 130 stock boxes each month to area senior citizens.
The Full Shelf Food Pantry is proud it is completely run by volunteers; there are no paid positions. All of the money donated to the Pantry goes toward purchasing food or maintaining the assets of the pantry.
Saturday, Dec. 22 we run for United Way Emerging Leaders.
Legendary Whitetails is sponsoring and hosting the event. See you tomorrow morning at 9:00 from sunny Slinger!
