Before Robyn and I were engaged I was living in a condo on Beaver Ave just off the main campus of Penn State University, smack in the middle of Pennsylvania – Center County in fact. Robyn was one state west living in Kent, Ohio and in her final year of grad school at Kent State University. To calm my brain and keep grad school from being the ONLY thing that occupied my life I decided to train for a marathon. Before I could even get the words out of my mouth to explain my plan to Robyn, “I wanna do it too!”.. And so the two of us, neither one a runner, set out on an ambitious running plan to build up to the November 8th, 2009 Harrisburg Marathon in Pennsylvania’s capital.
Being 3 hours apart we rarely got to run together, but when I got up at 5 am to have a snack and get in 15 miles before class at 9 am there was no other option. I knew Robyn would be doing the same. Once able to run over 10 miles with little effort, these runs became something we both looked forward to. Up before most everyone and out on the rolling trails we got to know a time of day that was calm and quiet among eternally bustling college towns.
After Robyn’s thesis defense and graduation from Kent State, we cruised down to Harrisburg, checked into a sleepless night at a hotel and found ourselves again greeting the morning, this time with 1,000 other giddy runners. The sound of 2,000 shoes slapping the concrete simultaneously was something we will not soon forget. I had a smile on my face the entire way as Robyn’s ring burned a hole in my running shorts.
Walking along the river after the race I knelt down (with great effort) and experienced the most thrilling moment of my life. This was quickly followed by the most painful moment, however, because as Robyn said yes she crumpled down on me and my wasted legs – I could barely get up afterward! It was the following day on which this blog was formed with our very first post All Things Happy.
Here we are nearly two years later, this time living with the Carter’s in a basement in Alaska. Far from where we would have imagined after our first post, and fresh off our wedding – by far the best party I have ever been to. We were absolutely amazed and touched by the number of great friends and family that travelled to get there. We could have easily spent a week with each of you alone, but it was also great to see everyone meeting each other and hitting it off so well. All the work, time and planning that goes into a wedding, even one as relatively simple as ours could not have been done without your help. The decorations, food, and good company were everything we had hoped for. Thanks to all of you for an incredible weekend!
A lot of our friends took awesome pictures, and our photographer Bill has more on the way. We will likely set up an album with them all in there at once for those who want to check them out. If you have cool pictures and you want to send them our way we will be forever grateful too!
PO BOX 2988
Valdez AK, 99686
We love all of you!!!! See you again sooner than later 🙂 🙂