Family Affiar

I'm off to listen to some country music. Oh yeah, and run a half-marathon at the same time.

Yup, I'm leaving in a few hours for Nashville and the Country Music Marathon. In spite not being as ready as I could be, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a family affair - the whole gang will be there except my sister and her husband. My brother, my sister's two boys, and I are all running together.

Okay, so not TOGETHER. The Speed Demon will kill us all. His brother, the Soccer Player will probably still do better than my brother and I. We've decided to just have fun and enjoy the race so we'll run an easy pace and probably still finish with a respectable, though slower, time.

It's also one of my niece's birthday celebration, nearly my brother's birthday, and soon to be mother's day so why not gather the gang up and do something as a family.

Does running "run" in families? It seems to in this family. My Grampie was a runner. My sister was a runner (can't do it so much now due to her knees). My brother and I are still running. And now the Speed Demon is carrying on the torch as a top cross-country runner at his high school.

Does that make us all crazy. My bet is yes.

But how crazy are we really? Running is good for you. Races are fun events that take you places you never thought you'd go - physically and mentally. And though road races are more popular than ever, you're still in an elite group if you can say you finished a marathon or half-marathon.

I'm 40 years old and I'm getting medals for my physical activity. Not bad in my book!

So crazy or not, this family is lacing up its shoes and hitting the road for 13.1 miles tomorrow. I can hardly think of a more satisifying family affair.