The Zurich Marathon

Here we are with some of the group after we had eaten a carb-filled pre-race dinner at an Italian restaurant called, "Commi Halle." It was the only place we could find in Zurich that would seat all 33 of us together!

Well, the London Marathon never worked out because none of us got chosen in the marathon registration lottery, so we decided to head to Zurich, Switzerland, for marathon number 2. After Paris, I thought we would be D-O-N-E marathoning, but I was wrong.

For the Zurich Marathon, the squadron decided to run for a cause, and the cause that we chose, Multiple Sclerosis, was close to home. Lenora's (our squadron commander's wife) mom, Terry, was diagnosed almost 20 years ago with MS and has slowly progressed from healthy to wheelchair-dependant. Instead of hating life, Terry has chosen to help raise money for MS research in hopes that someday scientists will find a cure. Both of Lenora's parents are active with the MS Society in California and have a team, "Terry's Tigers" that raise money each year for the MS Walk in Lancaster. The Zurich Marathon happened to take place the same day as the MS Walk, so we couldn't think of a better cause to run 26.2 miles for than MS. Our squadron ended up raising around $2,300 for Terry's Tigers, which we were and still are proud of...so for those of you who donated money on our behalf, thank you for all your generosity in helping us reach this goal.

Zurich is a beautiful city, although it's somewhat tainted in my mind from the marathon! The Friday all 26 of us adults and 7 kiddos arrived and then on Saturday, the weather was sunny and beautiful...but it didn't last long. From sunrise on Sunday to sunset, the skies did nothing but POUR! I was only planning on running a half-marathon because I had hurt my knees training but ended up chugging along and finishing the full. Matt on the other hand was running for time and did an amazing job. He reached his goal of running the marathon in 3:30. He trained really hard and I was so proud of him. Since he finished the marathon about an hour and 20 minutes ahead of me (yeah, i know-I'm slow!), he was standing at the finish line in the rain on the verge of going hypothermic (he was seriously blue) waiting for me. He knew that if he didn't see me waiting for him when he finished that I was being stubborn and out on the course somewhere still running. Well, running I was and the only things that kept me moving were the thought of getting to see Matt at the finish line, the act of receiving my finishers t-shirt and medal, and the idea of a new purse (after Paris, I bought myself a 'congratulations for finishing' present--a new purse, so while running in Zurich I decided to make that present a new marathon tradition--Matt wasn't as excited about it as I was!).

All decked out in our dripping wet Hawk flair (orange running shirts and blue running shorts), 11 of us crossed the finish line and 6 ran the half. Three of the eleven (all members of A-flight... myself included) were only planning on running the half but ended up going the distance and finishing the full. Every inch of the 26.2 miles was filled with wet, agonizing rain and many blistered feet. Without umbrellas, the 8 marathon supporters did a fantastic job cheering us on and it was great to see their faces throughout the course.

Sunday night after the run, we all managed to muster up the energy to go out in Zurich and try to enjoy the city for our last night there. We indulged and bought some Swiss chocolates, found an Irish Pub (weird, we seem to 'find' them in every city we visit), and ate some cheese (the Swiss don't call it 'Swiss cheese'--it's just 'cheese' to them).

The best story from the weekend involved Chewie Murray, one of the three who kept running to finish the full marathon. Since he was only planning on running half, the night before the race he went out with some of the 'marathon supporters' to some clubs and pubs and didn't get back to the hotel until the wee hours of Sunday morning. Still half intoxicated, he managed to get a few hours of sleep and was up with everyone else to catch the tram over to the race starting line. With nothing in his stomach except for the previous night's mai-tais, club sandwich, and pub smoke, Chewie finished the race strong. So our running joke is that if he can run a marathon under those circumstances...anyone can!

Viva Las Vegas

In January 2006, Matt and the squadron flew to Las Vegas, Nevada for Red Flag and WIC Support. Red Flag is a big exercise at Nellis AFB that simulates a war environment for the guys to practice in. There are hundreds of airplanes and several foreign countries that participate in the month long exercise, so the guys love getting to fly with and against all of the other jets. After Red Flag, the guys stayed in Vegas to help the Weapons School by providing air support. Red Flag and WIC Support is a fun TDY for the guys, especially since it's in Vegas. Matt (Goat) has been out to Nellis several times now, but this trip was one of the most fun since my brother, Matt lives there.

Since both of my Matt's were there, I hopped on a plane and flew out to join in on the fun. Goat had just moved into a great house in North Las Vegas in the early fall, so I volunteered my services as lunch maker, dinner preparer, and house keeper so that I could stay at his house. While there, my mom jumped on a Southwest flight and joined us all for a few days--so it was a full house. Matt was able to sneak away from his hotel room for a night or two and carpool into work with Goat, so it was a great time for all of us to catch up and spend some time together (not to mention, get to spend Matt's birthday with him).

Andorra...and no, it's not a type of sweater

(Left to Right: "Crash" Lande, "Yeti" Perkins, Matt, "Chewie" Murray, & "Boose" Kellam) There are more guys in A-Flight--they were just 'lost' on the slopes!

Two weekends after we returned from our New Year's celebration in Finland, Matt and I re-packed our snow clothes and headed for Andorra. Matt really wanted to go on a "Martin Luther The King A-Flight ski trip" somewhere, so we decided to chart new grounds and go somewhere different. And different we found...Andorra. The principality of Andorra is tucked between the borders of Spain and France and is only less than 30 miles in diameter. Since Andorra is so small and there isn't really an airport there, our group of 12 (plus a pregnant wife and a 2-yr old)flew into Barcelona (Spain), rented cars, and drove 2.5 hours north.

We had such an amazing time in Andorra. The weather was perfect (in the 50s and sunny), the slopes we covered in powder, and since only us Americans celebrate MLtheK (no, it's not a typo--it is 'the King!') day--there was virtually no one on the mountains. Other than a few crazy Brits, we never had to share the lifts with anyone else. At lunch, everyone took off their coats, gloves, and hats and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.

Given that our group was adventurous, we decided to take it upon ourselves to snowboard from border to border, meaning from France to Spain. It was a blast. The ski runs in Andorra allow people to do this, so it was a cool feeling to know that we had been to both borders.

After our first day out on the slopes, we ventured out into the various towns and found some fun markets and wine shops. We purchased 6 to 9 bottles of wine and brought them back to the hotel to conduct an A-flight Spanish wine tasting. The bottles ranged from .99 euro cents up to 20 euro and the tasting/testing was completely blind so no-one knew which bottle was which. It ends up, the .99 euro cent Don Simon BOXED wine won for the best wine. Who would have thought?

Matt and I have decided that Andorra has offered the BEST snowboarding in Europe. It beats the Swiss Alps, the Austrian Alps, the French Alps, and all the various mountains in between. We had a great time hanging out with friends and making fun memories that will last for years to come. We still joke about the Don Simon and A-flight has added it as its secondary mascot!