I ran in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. It went alright, but I had really wanted to know how long it would take me to run 3.1 miles (or whatever 5 K is) and they didn’t have a official time at the finish run. Since I was expecting an official clock, I didn’t even look at my watch, not that it would have given me a very exact time. Well, either way, at least I can say I did it which is what I was really after. I definitely didn’t care about placing or anything like that since I’m not very fast. Still, I’ve been reading Runner’s World since getting to Iraq so I kind of want to start challenging myself more. I’ve been slacking on my cardio lately but I should be picking it up again now. I’m getting tired of running on the treadmill and would like to run outside, but I am not allowed to use headphones on the base so that makes it less enticing (I couldn’t even use them on the Turkey Trot – I couldn’t even imagine running in a marathon – not that I would - without music, and there’s going to be one in the spring – that’s four hours or five hours of just listening to your feet hit the ground). At least it’s cooled off now so if I wanted to I could run during the day on my own; I don’t like the idea of running alone in the dark out here and the guy I work out with is too fast to be a running partner.
We had a 9-Mil competition about a week ago. Five of us went but only two of us participated in the actual competition. We all shot horribly on the familiarization so when the commander chose our team, the best shooters had hit the paper all of 3 or 4 times out of 30 (that’s pretty much how it went for all the companies). The only other time I’ve shot a 9-Mil, the targets were closer and larger. Plus, I could see where I was hitting and adjust based on that, while with this, we just shot 30 rounds and then checked where they went. The commander, for example, had forgotten that his 9-Mil shoots high and since he had no way to check where he was hitting while firing, he didn't remember until he got his paper off the target. I hit the paper once.
I also got promoted last week. I invited the Battalion Commander at the commander’s recommendation, and the Brigade Commander came as well. I had the XO and another platoon leader/workout partner pin me, though apparently I messed up a bit with that one – I should have included the commander in there somewhere but I just wasn’t thinking. At least he prevented me from making another breach in etiquette with the BC. Also, during my speech, I think I forgot to thank the commander. I guess that’s why Oscar winners always get to talk again at the press conferences for when they forget their spouses/parents/bosses. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a second shot to make up for that oversight.
Other than that, I’m almost done with my Christmas shopping. I used Amazon for most things, and of the things I ordered to have shipped to Iraq, there was only one thing that couldn’t be sent to an APO so I got lucky.* Apparently, a friend of mine is having some problems because everything he tries to order for me won’t ship to an APO (I guess one of the items was too big, but other than that, I have no clue what he’s been trying to buy).
*Or at least I thought I did until about ten minutes ago when I got an email from my mom asking me why she had received a package with certain items in it. At least it's all little stuff so it shouldn't be too big of an issue to find room for it in a package.
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