The Return

I’m back! I’ve taken a summer hiatus, only because I’ve been too busy to update. No excuse, I know. Many apologies. Here was my summer in a nutshell:
• Marathon
• Annual Training, The Wisconsin Tour
• London
• Vacation in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois
• Running for a month straight
• Joanne visiting me on the East Coast
• Munich
• Moving

You can see, I haven’t been shloffing off, but rather have been running all over the place.

So to get this ever-growing ball rolling, I’ll tell you about the Marathon first. As you know, I trained for over six months for my first marathon, The Madcity Marathon in Madison, WI.

With the help of many wonderful friends, I ran my last big run for 20 miles in PA three weeks before race day. I know, I know, that was my last entry and that was over 4 months ago.

Heading to Madison, prior to the race, I was a basket full of jitters and was happy to have my friend, Duff, a coworker from the East Coast, come to visit and cheer me on. He distracted me by touring Madison on Saturday, and we met up with Becca and Shanna, fellow racers, for carbolicious pre-race dinner.

I woke up on race day to go for a walk on my old running route. The special thing about this route is that it’s my very first running route, from before I could even run half a mile, let alone 26.2; it was good for perspective.

RACE DAY.

Happy to have Becca, Shanna, and Megan to begin the race with, I am in a weird happy place as we sidle up to the starting line. My mentality is that I have already done all of the hard work and race day is for me to enjoy. I love to run.

The first miles are a blur; we are separating ourselves from the crowd, getting use to the race energy, and finding our pace.

Miles 10-18, I hit a groove. Running feels as natural as if I have only been running for a few minutes. I feel good; I feel strong. I love to run.

Then I hit the hills of Maple Bluff. Not to be ruined, I power through them, drawing from the cheers of all my supporters. Mom, Leigh Ann, Lance, Dad, Val, Duff, Joanne. I love to run.

One of my running inspirations, my wonderful brother, Lance joins me at mile 20. At this point, I’m getting tired. I know I’m going to finish, but it’s getting hard. Mile 22, I hit a wall. I stop to stretch, use the bathroom, get some food, water, anything that will make my body finish this race. I love to run.

Mile 23, just before the John Nolen Dr. path I see someone holding a sign that says, ‘Chuck Norris wouldn’t give up.’ This makes me laugh and realize: I only have 3 miles left, I’ve done this route 100 times, I’m going to finish my marathon. I love to run.

Mile 25, Lance darts off the course. I can’t think of anything except “I love to run” and the juxtaposition of my body’s opinion on the matter. I’m winding on a trial somewhere behind the Alliant Center in the woods. Then I’m going up a hill. Why the hell am I going up a hill on the last mile of this stupid race?! I come to the top of the hill and I turn a sharp left.

Then BOOM 26 mile marker. Thousands of people. Downhill for a quarter of a mile to the finish line in front of me.

I crossed the finish line, bawling my pride out, at 4 hours and 53 minutes.

26.2 miles. I love to run.


June

This year my two-week annual training (AT) was mostly spent touring the south eastern part of WI. We toured fun towns like Milwaukee, West Bend, Kenosha and many more. There were several highlights along the journey.

For starters, we played for a Nascar race! After pre-music, we got tickets to watch the race and some of the best people I’ve seen in my people watching history. Also, Kyle saved us about $150 in alcohol that night!

Dick arranged a Blackhawk flight for anyone that wanted to spend a few minutes flying to Holy Hill and back while the pilots tested their maneuvers and logged necessary hours. I don’t think I could turn this down. The doors were open, I was sitting on the edge, and if I braved, I could dangle my legs off to the side. Talk about a bird’s eye view!

Of course while we do our annual training stint, we have to do some work. In fact, we do a lot of work. I’m always impressed and proud of the work that my unit does for WI and her constituents. What do we do on tour? Well, we play for communities in community concerts or parades. Sometimes we’re fortunate to do a joint concert with the local band. There is usually a patriotic opener involving flags and a history of the branches of the military. This ceremony gives community members the opportunity to be recognized for their service. I’m always humbled by such moments.

I have to admit, normally I’m full of pep and energy throughout annual training, but this year was a tiring year for me. I was in charge of the loading/unloading of a large truck, affectionately known as Big Bird for it’s brightness of yellow hue. She was a big bird and also a big responsibility to take care. I enjoy this kind of challenge; you see what better puzzle than making 100 instruments fit perfectly in the allotted space every day?

A few other fun things worth mentioning. We did a parade that had 2 other bands besides ours, and we were all within two parade units of each other, AND the parade intersected itself at a terrible intersection on the windiest of parade roads I’ve ever marched on. Good planning committee all the way around. Literally. All the way around.

We happened to have a physical fitness test smack dab in the middle of annual training. Not the best timing for some of us. This girl decided to take the PT test on no sleep and pure adrenaline. Guess what? I beat the Sir. It’s about damn time, he’d probably say. In two weeks, we’re taking another test. He’ll probably kick my butt all the way down the two-mile stretch. We’ll see. I’m Army Strong. Hooah.


You already know, I don’t stop. Constant motion should have been my name. Motion Maerz for short. The last day of AT, I flew to London. That’s right, I left the armory and got on a plane to cross the ocean.

My friend, Erica, I met in college. Joanne, Erica and I all met in the same English class (that we hated every minute of). I’m sure we all became fast friends, not only because the three of us took the professor head-on every day, but because we were all very focused, goal-driven individuals. Case in point, Erica is currently finishing her Masters at the London School of Economics.

I happened to be able to get off work the week between the end of AT and the 4th of July, and as luck would have it, this was the perfect week for Erica to have a visitor. Boy oh boy did we make the most of my trip out there. Adjust to time difference?! Who does that. Not this girl. We hit the ground touring as soon as I got off the plane. Did I mention that Erica knows me really well and knew that I would want to take in as much as I could in my brief but wonderful stay.

We walked over the entire city…and that was just the first day! We spent all day walking the city, seeing the sites from the outside, and spending some good quality time catching up.
During the week, I drank tea at the Orangery, beer at the House of Parliament (yes the HOP, Erica has awesome connections), and wine at the theater where we had top-notch seats to see Les Miserables. A lover of the arts, and theater particularly, I can’t believe I hadn’t seen Les Mis before this trip. The London cast was spectacular.

We did all kinds of touring, from Buckingham to the Tower of London, to Big Ben, House of Parliament, and the Royal Mews, we saw a lot. We also listened a lot. Erica got us tickets to see a jazz performance in this beautiful cathedral centrally located. During intermission, we sampled some scrumptious cupcakes freshly made with all kinds of goodness.

I’m a Foodie as proclaimed by Erica, so it was her rightful duty to take me to the best food London had to offer. We enjoyed a 7 course Middle-Eastern dinner that took 5 hours! GREAT meal. At another restaurant, I got served an entire fish, head, tail, eyes, fins and all. Speaking of eyes, you should have seen mine bug out of my head when it was put in front of me. Beyond the exterior, it was a good fish. Last, I had the best vegetable risotto I’ve ever had at one of Erica’s favorite restaurants.

As a tourist and more importantly, a dork, I made jokes about the London Bridge and purposely confused it with Tower Bridge my entire stay. When it came time to actually cross THE London Bridge, I couldn’t help but sing some Fergie and wonder why every time I come round, the London Bridge wanna come down. By the way, you know I was dancing the whole way across too. That’s right, folks, Lauren Maerz; International Dork.

Between AT and London, when I got home on Friday July 3rd, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything all weekend but sleep. Yes, I gave up fireworks, but 3.5 weeks of constant fun was enough to make up for it. Sleep was what the body needed, and sleep is what it did.


August

Lucky as this girl is, I was able to take yet another week of vacation at the beginning of August. So I headed back to my roots.

While home, I enjoyed every shade of fun. Dad, Lance and I toured Wollersheim Winery. Of course, I bought a case, and I’m looking forward to my Tawny Port, being specially saved for Christmas.

Mom , family and I went to Olive Garden and enjoyed a car show later in the week. My affection for Corvettes grows stronger with every one I see up close.

With being on the east coast, I’m not always able to make my guard weekends. However, I was able to make up some time during my visit, and it’s always peachy when the one you have to make up time with happens to be one of your best friends. Val and I enjoyed some quality time in the comforts of camouflage. When I make up time, I’m able to use some time for working out. I happened to be out jogging one day and almost ran clear into my aunt Mary! The next day, I was able to walk with both my aunts Mary and Shirley. It was a pleasant surprise to be able to catch up with them.

Not only did I visit Wisconsin family and friends, but I made it across several states to visit with my loved ones. I first made my way up to Minnesota to vist with Brad and Vanessa, and of course, the love of my life, Stan the Man. That dog is still a puppy, he cuddles like one, and his eyes still twinkle with the slightest thought of a run. Not to mention, when you actually tell him you’re going for a run, he goes bizerk. Love that dog.

After Minnesota, I made my way down to Illinois where I first met with Ali for breakfast and girl chat. Then deeper into the city I ventured to meet up with my battle, Becca. Becca lives just down from President Barack Obama, and it was fun to see his residence and all the ramped up security in the area.

At the beginning of August, Becca announced that she was going to attempt to run every single day of the month of August. I decided to join her on her self-challenge. Naturally, when I went to meet her in Chicago, we simply HAD to run together. We ran on the beautiful Lake Shore path and we took turns pushing her doll of a son, Finnegan. The run was good because, of course, any run that ends with ice cream can only be a good one.

With this challenge spanning the month of August, starting with my first day of vacation in WI, I was able to run in 5 states in 6 days. How many times will I be able to say anything like that ever again? I ran with Stan in Minnesota, Lance in WI, Becca in IL, Steve in NJ, and myself in PA. And that was just the first week of the challenge.

I’m not going to lie, this challenge was HARD. As much as I love to run, it took a lot some days to make myself get out there and run. The stipulations for the challenge were that we had to go out every day for at least 30 minutes. We could go far, we could go slow, as long as we at least did 30 minutes.

Some days were no problem, and I felt as if I could run forever (and some days I did just that). Other days, it felt like my legs were cement blocks and the only thing that kept me going was the thought that Becca was going through the same things.

All in all, it was a great challenge, and I ended up running 136 miles in 31 days. On day 32 I rested, but you know what? It felt weird not to run. My day felt in complete. Addiction? Absolutely.

Another great thing happened in August; Joanne visited! She came out to visit her honey while he was working in New York for a couple weeks, and I was fortunate to benefit from her company! I dragged her along on one of my daily runs, and she studied in the beautiful libraries of Princeton while I worked. At night, we had dinner in some of Princeton’s good restaurants. I miss her (and other friends) a lot and it was nice to have some “home” come to the east coast!

September

The beauty of working for an international company is sometimes there are opportunities to go overseas. As a trainee, every year, Munich hosts the trainees from our branches around the world, and this year, my group was invited. Nikki, Wilnex, Josh, and I went to Munich for just over 2.5 weeks!

Munich is a wonderful city, to say the least. On one hand, it’s as traditional as Germany gets with sausage and dirndls, and beer, and thick guttural accents, on the other hand, it’s an up and coming city with a University separating it’s downtown scene from the area they call “ the chic correa,” these are the white collared, Ferrari driving, designer purse sporting, rich and famous of Munich. The beating heart of Munich is simply the English Gardens. This expansive garden spans vastly through the artsy area of Munich, and at any given time you can see nude sunbathers, horses trotting, and dogs running free from their owners.

Besides visiting the Royal Residence, the Deutches Museum, going on a Brewery Tour, Schloss Nymphenburg, the Chinese Tower, and generally enjoying the city of Munich, one of the greatest life-experiences I had while in Munich was being there for the opening festivities of Oktoberfest 2009!

My group got up uber early, and went to stand in line, more like a mob, outside of the Spaten Schottenhamel tent. This is the tent where the Head of the State of Bavaria and the Bergermeister drink the first beer of Oktoberfest and kick-off the festivities. To get into the tent, we had to wait about 2 hours outside one of the entrances, and when they opened the doors, it was a mad dash to the front. We had to push and shove and fight to get in. Once we got through security, we got a table and proceeded to wait approximately 3.5 hours for our first beer. The plus side was that we got served food and witnessed the opening festivities…well worth the wait and hassle.

Once everyone had their beers, fun was well on its way. Our group sat right below the polka band. This was especially awesome once everyone jumped up on the tables and started singing and dancing their favorite um-pa songs. Unless you’re there, in the thick of it, one really can’t explain what it’s like to be sloshing a beer around, singing and dancing with thousands of people. And that’s just one tent.

The week I got back from Munich surely didn’t slow down any. I moved just a few days later! I’m now living in a nice-sized 1 bedroom apartment in the same town as before. I’m very close to a running path, and I have an office! Well, it’s a den, but it fits my awkward sized desk and bookshelf. Therefore, an office. Aside from the ugliest kitchen imaginable, straight from 1964, I love the apartment. Don’t worry about the kitchen, it’s closed in from the rest of the space. Now I just need to decorate!

October

Look at that, I’ve just about got you caught up to the present day. The weekend after I moved, I met my good friend, Bryce Storm, in Washington D.C. He came to support me while I ran the Army Ten Miler. I had no idea what this race had in store for me.

My coworker friend, Steve Wilson (he helped me train for my marathon by running part of my 20 miler), and his family decided to sign up for the race over 8 months ago. After the marathon, I needed a new running goal. What better goal than the Army Ten Miler in D.C.? The race starts at the Pentagon and runs in and around the monuments.

What didn’t know was how it felt to run with 30,000 other people, let alone, what it felt like to have 30,000 people’s spectators cheering. Unbelievable. I ran it in 95:53, my fastest long run yet!

As a soldier, it was moving. As a runner, it was motivating. As Lauren, it was just plain fun.

Baleep Balleeeep Balleeeep, that's all folks! It won't be 4 months until my next post...promise.