Looking back on it, every time I visited my daughter and son-in-law this year, I went running. So, when my daughter asked me to join her in running the Charlotte half marathon, I had to say yes.

This means I began training again with Tri-State Running and working on their fall half marathon plan. I had previously just signed up for the spring running group. The fall group trains in the summer months and it was hot on several runs.

When we visited our daughter and son-in-law after our anniversary trip to Florida, I was training to run the Flying Pig half marathon in May and wanted to go for a run or two during our visit. My daughter was just getting into running and since she had a running buddy, we went for a run together. I guess that was the seed that germinated into her wanting to run the Charlotte half marathon.

Fast forward to the fall, and we got together a month prior to the half marathon. We did a run on the Charlotte greenway. And, because I wanted to see the course that we would be running in November, off we went later in our visit to downtown Charlotte. Together, we ran the virtual Army ten miler. It was a good experience, and we learned a lot about the course.

My daughter and I did a warmup run prior to the half marathon–a fun trail run in Shelby. I liked the suspension bridge. It was a good day, and we felt ready to run the half marathon.

Like all good events, we enjoyed the expo the day prior to running. It was a beautiful day in downtown Charlotte, and the city was full of runners excited for the event. My wife enjoyed making a sign so she could cheer us on as we ran by. We saw some fun events and sampled some good products for runners.

My wife and son-in-law cheered us on from the road. It was great to be at an event where I knew the person cheering. At least my other events have had people cheering. Thank you if you are someone who cheers for people they do not know, it makes a difference.

Both my oldest son and my daughter ran the half marathon. We all ran separately as my oldest finished an hour prior to my finish. It was a perfect day for a run. Although I was not too fast on the course, I felt good about the effort.

Other Fun:

Road sign at a West Virginia rest stop.

The day after our ten mile run, we went to Chimney Rock and climbed to the top, and beyond. I was last up here in 2017, and it recently re-opened after all of the flooding in the area.

We went to the nearby town for lunch and toured some of the devastation that is still in the area. Our drive to and from Charlotte was impacted by the on-going road work. There is still a lot of work to accomplish.

We visited Cherryville, and of course we had ice cream downtown. We also ate dinner downtown and discovered a Halloween-themed party that had part of the downtown streets closed. It was fun.

I was able to get in all kinds of practice running. Summer is hot; I learned how to better run in the heat. I was not yet ready for the quickly changing temperatures in October and November. We had snow and then heat. The leaves have now come down, but I ran in a wide variety of conditions getting ready for the Charlotte half marathon.

Just prior to the Charlotte half marathon, I ran the Honor Run 10K. It was a fun event for me and a worthy cause to support.

Other runs in the area included the 10K run at the 29^th annual Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio.

No biking on this adventure. See you on the road.