My Brother's a Rock Star

I've mentioned before that while I only started running in the past 4 years, I come from a family of athletes. My Dad has a storied athletic history from triathlons, to bike racing, to running marathons, to cross country skiing marathons. My Mom plays tennis, golf and is now starting to run. And my little brother, Garrett, is a rock-solid Marine (really, I wouldn't punch him, you might hurt your hand) who was a competitive pole vaulter. In fact, he was the best high (AA) school pole vaulter in the state of Illinois in 1999. He won state!

A few weeks ago Garrett was inducted into the Guilford (H.S.) Hall of Fame as recognition of his winning state and his overall high school athletic career. There was a big celebration which my parents attended. It's all very exciting and a nice reminder of that awesome day when he vaulted the winning height of 15'6". It was fun (and super stressful!) to watch him compete all through high school and then college (at U of I). I was a very proud big sister that day and at all of his track meets.

I'm 3 years older than Garrett and the year he won state I was in college at U of Illinois. My family probably doesn't know this (now they will), but the day Garrett won state was very special for another reason as well. It was the first date Adam and I ever had! After Garrett won, Adam drove to Eastern Illinois University (location of the state meet) and drove me back to U of I for a night on the town. This was the first time my family had ever seen Adam (we were just friends at the time), and my Mom thought he looked like John Denver from far away, which is hilarious. Adam and I had a great time, but remained "just friends" until our next date 2 years later:)

Garrett continues to be very physically fit and an excellent example of healthy eating and a healthy active lifestyle. He's become an excellent cook and along with his beautiful wife, Jill, concocted an incredible Thanksgiving feast last November. He works his butt off as a Marine fighter pilot (Prowlers) and is getting ready to leave for his 2nd tour of duty in the next few months.

I'm lucky to have such a great brother. I joke that mine is the only family where I can spend years training to become the first doctor ever in the family but still somehow be completely outshone professionally by my younger brother, the fighter pilot. But in reality, I'm super proud of him and especially the fact that he pursued his childhood dream of flying fast jets. Not every sister can say their brother is a champion pole vaulter, a Marine fighter pilot, and an overall great guy. :)