Posts
This past weekend, I flew up to DC for the Marine Corps Marathon! All the months of training and mental preparation had finally culminated in this big day! I flew up Friday, having delivered Anna to school, Jared to the bus stop (in the rain), Tad to my friend's house, our new pet mice to another friend's house, Anna's bike to yet another house, and, finally, the kids weekend bags to the house where Jared spent the whole weekend and where Anna spent Friday night before staying with another family--with girls!--for the rest of the weekend. Whew! Oh, and then I delivered myself to the airport on time.
Tom and his parents met me at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC--Tom having spent the week prior at a conference in Leesburg--and we enjoyed a dinner of Spanish tapas in Old Town Alexandria. Then they delivered us to the Platts house in Alexandria, where we spent the weekend along with Chaplain (Chappy) Ken Reyes and his 20-year-old son, Brett, who was also competing in the marathon. It was so good to see friends from Turkey!
Saturday, our main task was to pick up our race packets, so after a quick cup of coffee we headed out to the metro to get to the DC Stadium/Armory, and spent some time perusing the myriad of running gear available for a price at the expo. Here is aphoto of Brett and me with our Marine Corps Marathon participant shirts we picked up that day. We then got Chappy and Brett on their way to Baltimore for a project, and Tom and I met up with his parents at Pentagon City Mall to browse and visit. We ate lunch at a French creperie (yumm!) and then they got on their way back to New Jersey in the rain.
Saturday evening, Auline had invited many folks from our days at Incirlik (and a few that came after our days at Incirlik) for a "carbo loading" dinner at their place--baked ziti and sausage and peppers! Yum! It was so much for to catch up with friends, eat great food in preparatino for the race, and relax (and not dwell too much on the task at hand the next morning!)
Brett and I finally got our gear assembled that night and headed to bed. I could not fall asleep. Once I did, I kept waking up. Finally, my alarm went off at 4:30am so we could get to the metro when it opened at 5am (we didn't want to take any chances on being late for the start, and had heard rumors that the metro filled up). We arrived in plenty of time for the start! In fact, we arrived at the start festival area just in time for an ecumenical prayer service, which was a bonus! It was chilly as we waited...and waited...and waited...
Finally, it was time to proceed to our start corrals. I lined up in the corral for the pace I felt that I could maintain, and in the midst of the thousands of people, looked up as I was stretching and saw right next to me my friend Heather from Florida who also had come to run! I was so happy to see her--and surprised that in the crowd we had actually seen one another!
At 8am, the race started. Took me 7 minutes to get to the actual start line from my start corral since there were so many people. The race was SO MUCH FUN! My pace started out nice and slow to get warmed up. The first 5 miles or so were mostly uphill, which I knew they would be, so I dind't worry about my pace and just relaxed and had fun. It was really crowded for the first 8 miles or so and it was difficult to speed up to the pace that I had wanted to hold. But that was a good thing for me, as it allowed me to get warmed up really well.
Making what could be a really long story shorter, the race felt great. I had some stabbing pain in my ankle,but ran through it. Other than that, I felt great the whole way and managed to pick up my pace gradually as the race proceeded. By the halfway point I could tell this marathon was going to be WAY better than the first one I ran at Disney in January! I saw Tom and Chappy, as well as Katie and Jason Roberson (friends from Turkey who have also run this race several times) cheering for me at various points along the way, which always helped me feel energized! I think I ran the whole thing with a smile on my face! I finished in 4:11:58, over 40 minutes faster than I ran the course at Disneyworld! Yay!
At the finish, my parents and Justin and Lita and their gang met up with us in Rosslyn and came back to the Platts for some time to visit and eat more ziti. It was so good to see them all and have a little time to catch up! After they got on their way back to Baltimore and PIttsburgh (and I took a much-needed shower!) Tom and I walked to Starbucks (yes, we walked another 3 miles round trip) to talk and relax!
Monday morning, we hopped on a plane home to reunite as a family (pets and all!) and now are getting back into the swing of things at home.
I am so thankful for those of you who donated to Love Without Boundaries in my name! Because of your support,I was able to raise over $1500! That is so exciting. It was fun to see the other LWB runners on the course. As I ran, I was praying for the Chinese orphans that my run would benefit, and thanking God for those who supported me.
No word on our adoption yet...I am hopeful we might hear something soon, as we are nearly 10 months out from the submission of our medical conditions checklist. The average wait time for a referral is 10-12 months from the time they have this document, so it could be soon. I will surely keep you all posted. Until then, thank God with me for a successful fun, for supportive family and friends, and for safe travels.
