Life after our wedding went through an exciting phase through the summer following our honeymoon and then continued much the same as we had known it before. The seasons change and the daily rhythm of work, running, and dinner repeats in the circle of married life.

We have made it a priority to plan activities together on the weekend as our “date time” to have something to look forward to. This forces us to get out of the house and participate in the community, meet up with friends, or just enjoy the weather while it lasts. Recently, we had the ultimate Saturday of weekend events.

With just one week to go before our Fort 4 Fitness Half Marathon, we began the morning with a 10 mile run with our friend Ed Frutig at 4:00 am. While an early wake up is always alarming, it was a beautiful time of day to run with a cool breeze and still, calm streets. We enjoyed Ed’s company from his home to business on the Maple Heart trail using the Galloway method of running for 4 minutes and walking for 1 minute. Runs like this just make my soul feel satisfied like nothing could ever go wrong. Ed is in marathon training so he repeated the route and then some for a total distance of 26.2 miles.

In the meantime, the Jagers fueled with a Panera breakfast and dog-proofed the car for Ed’s Brittney’s, to run a 5K at Paws for a Cause. This was our chance to pretend to be dog owners with the generosity of Ed and Dawn Frutig and Chem-Dry of Michiana’s sponsorship of the event.  Kaylynn and LaDora are well-trained dogs but they were anxious in the car ride to OxBow Park and put both heads out the window of the backseat.

 

When we arrived they were more than ready to run and whimpered at the sight of the other dogs warming up for the race. After a couple of bathroom breaks, we lined up with over 60 dogs and 100 runners for the 5K start.

Racing with a dog proved its challenges with runners, strollers, and dogs of different paces funneling into a narrow trail. Even though some dogs would lurch out at Kaylynn and LaDora they were not bothered now that we were running. LaDora was full steam ahead with Derek and Kaylynn not far behind in the first mile as we navigated the passing lane sprinting through the trees. We were pleasantly surprised when approaching the first water stop to find large water bowls for the dogs to lap up. Ed’s dogs had never run farther than 1.7 miles so the pace slowed as they eased up the for the remainder of the course on trails and boardwalks.  Both dogs were able to run the full 3.1 miles with a strong finish in 28:44 minutes.

Kaylynn and LaDora bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after the race.

Lunchtime was game day football at Buffalo Wild Wings for the Michigan State Spartans before we checked in with our bike club, Three Oaks Spokes, to volunteer for the Apple Cider Century Ride. Since 1974, this annual event hosts over 5,000 cyclists for distances of 15, 25, 37, 50, 62, 75, and 100-mile bicycle tours through the orchards, forests, and hills of Three Oaks, Michigan.

Derek and I were tasked with managing the sales and distribution of event merchandise including T-Shirts, cycling jerseys, bicycle caps, and Apple Cider Century jersey patches.

The Apple Cider Century has perfected their organizational packet pick-up process and it was a smooth sailing evening with thousands of excited participants preparing for their Sunday morning ride. While not every weekend is as eventful as this one was, it gave us pleasure to be involved in a whirl of activity for the day. The weekend always seems too short for the Jagers, but it just makes the next one even sweeter to appreciate our time together in this beautiful season.