I know I said one and done but...

I know I said I would never run another full marathon after last year's Marine Corps Marathon.  But after thinking about it, I thought maybe I could try it one more time.  I thought why not put my name into the lottery.  I now know what to expect.  I know what 26.2 feels like.  I know what the training involves.  I also know I had a month of PR's in October because of MCM training.  I was running more weekly miles than I normally run.  I also know I was a bit disappointed in the amount of walking for the last 6 miles.  I know I can do it better than last year.  At least I hope I can do it better than last year.  You never know what race day will hold, but I would like to think I can improve a bit..or a lot.  So I thought about it.  I proved I could do it last year, now I would like to see if I can do it a bit better than last year.

I also would like a better MCM memory.  I would like the experience of a Marine putting a medal around my neck.  Not last year's memory of trying not to cry as they told me they ran out of medals and then placed a 10K medal around my neck.

I remember being so scared of running a full marathon.  Will I be able to do it?  Will my knee hold up?  Mentally can I hold up?  And I came through and finished.  So I proved I could run a full.   I don't know if I have ever felt more emotions than I did crossing that finish line.  I put my name into the lottery to see if I could come back and tackle 26.2 and see what I can do with it the second time around.  I figured if I put my name in and didn't get in, it wasn't meant to be. I would be fine with that.  But what if the universe thinks I should try it again too? 

So I know I said I was one and done, but a girl can change her mind.  I'm going back to see what I can do the second time around.  The universe thinks I should try it again.  I got in to the Marine Corps Marathon!  Who knows maybe I will fall in love with the distance or maybe I will say two and done.  We will see.  

Look what came in the mail!

So on Halloween night I got a nice treat....

My Marine Corps Medal came!  I was happy to get it so quickly.  The fact that I got it so quickly leaves me to believe that a box might have been left in someone's office..Oh well it made me happy.

 I did wear it to school on Friday.  The kids loved it.  One teacher yelled at me for distracting his kids as they were walking down the hall.  Its not my fault that the medal is so shiny and it spins!  You have to touch it!  Some kids were very impressed that I must have won first place..umm yeah we all feel like first place winners when we finish!  Who knows maybe I have inspired some student to start running.  I also had a few students who were stalking me as I ran. Funny I didn't tell them how to stalk a runner, but some figured it out.  Some might be a bit weird-ed out by that, but I thought that was so nice.  Especially since I questioned if they were listening as I was telling them about my first full marathon and how I hope I finished.  I guess some of them listened.  I also had a bunch ask me if that was the medal from my full marathon around my neck.  So I guess more listened to me than I thought.  I also had the few that asked me what I did for the medal?  Umm we talked about it last week.  Yep that kid wasn't listening and could care less about my running stories. lol

I will say that I have some very nice friends.  Megan offered to let me wear her medal on Monday since I was so bummed that I couldn't wear it to school to show off to the kids.  My friend Keith, who I joined  his fundraising team for Fisher House, offered to give me his medal since he felt so bad that I didn't get one.  Keith must not enjoy bling because honestly I don't think I would give that medal away!  And my friend Juli at school, her husband ran it and was really appalled that I didn't get a medal.  He came in on Friday with his medal and was going to give me his medal.  How nice.  But no need I now have my own.  And really people you earned your medal as much as I did!  I tell you what, runners are great people!

I took this week off from doing pretty much anything.  It has been pretty nice not having to worry about running X amount of miles.  No stress.  Today I think I will head to the gym and do the stuff around my house that has been pushed to the side since marathon training.

Enjoy your weekend!

Marine Corps Marathon: Never trust a box of Wheaties and the damnjuggler is back

So yesterday was my first full marathon.  I was a bit nervous.  You never know what is going to happen on race day.  Was my training enough?  Would I beat the bridge at 20 miles or get pulled from the course? Would I remember all of my stuff?  All of these questions and more are just circling around in my head in the morning.

I got up at 4:30 to start to get ready.  I was meeting Megan at the lot at 5:45.  I had my stuff together the night before to try and make my morning a bit more calm.  I had to get my food for the race.  I had the rest of last weeks sweedish fish from Army 10 miler  along with one shot block.  I was planning on more than one shot block but I forgot to get the package that I purchased at the expo out of my bag.  I wouldn't figure this out till I was waiting for the race to start.

I taped my one knee and headed out the door.  Megan and I headed to the metro and found we were one of maybe 4 people waiting for the metro..ummm it is race day right??  More started to show up..so I am guessing we just missed a train.

We ended up arriving at the Pentagon after switching and squeezing into a new train.  The line to exit the metro was crazy long.  We head out and trekked the 2 miles to the start.  Our friend Brad is there with his friend from out of town.  He is not running it but wants to wish us good luck.  We head over to the bag check.  No problems here.  Nice and easy no lines..

While we were headed to the portapotties we saw some Marines parachute out of a plane and show the American Flag.

We checked our bag and headed to a portapotty.

What you can't see is how nice my throw away jacket is.  Lovely velour with rhinestones around the pocket. Yeah I always go fancy before a race! Somebody is so lucky to get that jacket.  On a side note I was standing beside a man who was wearing a little girl's robe with pink duckies on it..Loved it!  

While were were standing in line one group of guys had their own roll of tp.  They were passing it around.  I of course had to comment that I would like some please.  They were very kind and spared some squares to Megan and myself.  Genius!  But considering that I couldn't remember shot blocks I am not sure if I could remember to bring a roll of  tp to a race.  

We headed over to our corrals and quickly found Brad.  As we we were standing around who should find us??  That's right Gary!  It is amazing the crowds that we stand in and Gary always is able to find us.  We had marathonfoto take our pic along with Brad.

Amazing that you are in a crowd of 30,000 plus and you can run into people you know.  We also ran into Matt from run club as we were heading to our corrals.  We haven't seen him in ages, so it was nice wishing him good luck.  Megan and I wished each other luck and went to our corrals.  I really had no idea what I was going to run this full in.  I just wanted to beat the bridge and finish.  So I lined up with the 5:30 crowd.  It took us thirty minutes and we were crossing the start line.  

I was feeling pretty good for the first half of the race.  I found a group of guys with a sign that they were offering free advice.  The advice they were giving when I ran by was to always tip your waitress.  Sound advice guys.  They were also handing out some candy.  Since I figured out that I didn't really have more than some sweedish fish I figured I should turn and head the few steps back to pick up a mini snickers bar.  Ah it was yummy.  Just an FYI - if you are handing out snickers and it is in the 40's no need to freeze them.  It makes it a bit hard to chomp on them as you run.  I thought I was going to choke to death because I was trying to chew a frozen snickers and breath out of my mouth (I can't breath out of my nose when I run..not enough air.)  I could see the headlines girl dies from choking on a snickers at her first marathon.  

After the snickers was all eaten and I was sure that I wasn't going to die in a tragic snickers death, I got myself behind the 5:30 pace group.  They ended up being the Galloway run walk pace group.  So all of sudden some woman would throw her hands in the air and about 40 people would just stop and start walking.  It was so annoying.  I am fine with the run/walkers if you only take up half of the road.  When you are taking up the entire road and not letting anyone else pass..you are annoying.  I almost got tripped up by a girl that was darting in and out of people trying to escape the run/walkers too.  

I finally escaped the madness  of 5:30 and was much happier.  We headed up Rock Creek Park and we started to see other runners coming down Rock Creek.  I was on the lookout for Megan.  That kept me busy for a few miles.  I did see her smiling face as I shouted out and we exchanged waves.  She was looking pretty good and I thought I was feeling pretty good so all was well.  Then as I was coming down Rock Creek I saw him.  The damn juggler!  This time he was dressed as RGIII from the Redskins, he even wore a mask to look like RGII!  Instead of juggling regular balls he was juggling footballs! Such a show off!

Curses juggler!  My first marathon and you are there too.  I think he might be following me!  I think it took him to mile 20 to pass me.  So that made me feel sort of good. :)

We were at mile 9 and I was feeling pretty good.  I loved seeing all of the Marines out supporting the MCM.  It was so wonderful!  Mile 9 I ate my smashed blueberry jelly half sandwich.  It was so yummy.  

As we headed down Haines Point I saw the Run to Remember people.  Haines Point is a rather lonely stretch of land that not many people trek out to cheer.  Since it is rather lonely you start to read signs.  

It was a line of pictures of fallen soldiers.  Brought some tears to my eyes.  At the end volunteers were lining the road holding American flags.

We headed out of Haines Point and I believe it was mile 14.  My half time was pretty consistent with my normal half marathon time.  I was a bit worried that maybe I went out a bit too fast.  Well I guess I will be finding out shortly.  :)

As I was running I had this girl and her boyfriend or husband beside me. I am guessing he was a Marine because he would randomly yell out someones name to the Marines on the side like he knew them and then head over to shake there hands.  He obviously was not running his first full marathon.  He was a really nice guy and obviously there to support the girlfriend because the entire time he was skipping around her and running ahead to chat with someone and then skipping back to her.  If he didn't offer me a small bottle of water earlier in the run I would  have been giving him the evil eye at some point for being so happy and bouncy.  But I didn't because he offered me a bottle of water and I thought that was nice of him.  I will say I wish I had just a bit of his energy at the end of the race.  It was funny because the girl would just keep on pushing ahead and the boy was just all over the place.  

Around mile 17 I ran into the box of Wheaties, the carton of Milk and a Banana.  I have seen the guy in the Wheaties box before.  I could not imagine running 26.2 miles in a costume.  Anywhoo  I was running and listening to the breakfast people talking and realized that they were talking about beating the bridge.  Now I will tell you all that I didn't look at the cutoff time for the bridge.  I figured I either beat the bridge or get kicked off the course.  I just was hoping that I was maintaining the 14 min. mile pace.  Considering the start I was in 11 min/mile I figured I had some cushioning so I should make it.  Then the Wheaties box and his friend start talking about how they need to get to the bridge in the next 20 or else they won't beat the bridge.  What?!  I don't think I could do 3 miles in 20 mins!  Great I just purchased over 100 dollars of MCM merchandise that I will never be able to wear!  So I was trying to kick it up a bit...not sure it was working, but I tried.  

Mile 18 there were Marine's handing out sports beans.  Since I had my name on my shirt I got lots of Go Pam's!  Looking strong Pam!  during the race and I was loving it.  So as I ran past, not stopping for sports beans, I hear one Marine start yelling at me to dig deeper Pam..Push it Pam..Go faster Pam.  He must think I am in bootcamp!?  Well I wasn't going to make him mad so I did what he said to do..then a few guys down, a different Marine decided to take over the yelling at Pam moment.  Was pretty fun.  I think I would have done well at boot camp.  I was pretty good at following orders. :P

I head over to mile 19 and I see some friends.  Amazing how seeing someone you know just puts a little bit more pep in your step.  I ran over to say hi and offer up sweaty hugs.

Ah to be this happy at mile 19 and not knowing what lies ahead.  The fact that in two miles I will be miserable is unknown to me.  Jen assured me that I had time for the bridge and I was not endanger of getting kicked off the course.  Ah Wheaties Box..you lied to me!  Well maybe I shouldn't listen in on people's conversations..because technically they didn't say anything to me..but still.  You don't say 20 mins left until people are done and not allowed to finish.  That is just mean!

I said my byes and was off to beat the bridge.   I made it to the bridge.  My goal was to beat the bridge and I completed that goal.  I saw the 20 mile marker and then I just broke down.  It is almost like I hit my goal and I was done.  I called my mom told her my legs were so sore and I was going to walk the last 6.  That is pretty much what I did too.  I just couldn't lift my leg and foot off of the ground to run forward.  I knew it was going to be along 6.2 miles.  If I didn't fall apart after 20 I could have finished just under 6.  But I had to walk..oh well I am happy I finished.  Crystal City was torture.  I just wanted to be done.  I tried running..what I thought was running but I am sure it looked nothing like running.  I started to ignore anyone saying my name.  At mile 24 my friends were back.  I heard my name a few times and looked up and they were there.  How nice.  Unfortunately I could barely lift my hand to wave.  Ugh...

As I am running mile 25 I see Eileen from run club riding her bike.  How great to see her.  She gave me a big hug and told me I was doing great.  Gary had finished a bit ahead of me.  A nice little boost when I needed it.  It didn't make me run, but it did put a smile on my face :)  

As I crossed the finish line I tried to run across.  Not sure that is what it looked like.  I was feeling so proud!  I can't believe I finished a marathon!  As I head over to the Marines for my medal I hear the one Marine explaining that they ran out of medals and would send me my medal if I emailed the Marines.  I guess they didn't anticipate as many people running and finishing today.  All of sudden I felt tears welling in my eyes.  I was trying not to cry.  I knew it wasn't the Marine in front of me's fault.  They were offering the 10K medal.  The man beside me was super excited that we got extra medals today.  I didn't really want a 10K medal since I didn't run a 10K, I ran a full.  The other Marine just looked at me, I think he could tell I was close to crying, and asked me "Yes? to the 10K?"  I just shook my head.  He saluted me and congratulated me.  I didn't really hear what he said because I was so sad about no medal.  I got my medal and called my mom to tell her I finished and started to cry about my lack of medal.  She told me it is fine they will send me one, I will still get a medal.  I told her I was planning on wearing it to school and I earned it today.  All afternoon I would tear up when I told someone they ran out of medals.  I know they will send me one, but for my first full it was just such a let down.  I felt really proud of what I did and really wanted me medal.  

Megan let me pose with her medal as she photo-bombed me!

I am very proud of my full marathon.  I wish I didn't fall apart the last 6 miles, but I finished, so I didn't completely fall apart :)  I am a marathoner!  And this marathoner is officially a retired marathoner.  The training was tough.  The race tough.  I think half marathons are more of my thing.  I guess I could try another marathon later..who knows but as of right now I am a retired marathoner :)  

Twas the night before MCM...

So today I ran over to the MCM first thing in the morning to avoid lines.  Ok, I didn't really run..I drove, but you get the picture.  Megan came with me to shop since she had already picked up her bib earlier in the week.

When we got there we were a bit early.  No problem lets hang out in line with the other runners.  When we got in I headed over to get me bib.  I was so excited to have my MCM bib that I guess I wasn't listening to the volunteer.  I was paying attention to Megan as she took my picture.  The volunteer was not as excited about my MCM bib as I was...oh well.  

Then we headed over to Fisher House to pick up some swag.  I also had to exchange my shirt..how I wish I didn't have boobs some days.  

We headed into the expo and found some motivational signs.  Lets hope they come true for me :)  

Here are some of my stuff from the expo.  I got a lovely berry wind jacket and a short sleeved oorah shirt.  I better finish this full or I will not be able to wear my new stuff.  Or worse, I guess I would have to try again next year so I can wear my stuff.  I also got the lovely hot as hell tech mock (which is what they give you as your shirt)..which will probably never see the light of day unless I get stuck in a serious blizzard and lose heat because of the power outage across the region.

We finished our shopping and headed back to the car.  The line for picking up your bib wrapped around the block.  So glad we got there as soon as they opened.  No bad lines for us!  I dropped Megan off at her car and headed towards home.  I was planning on heading to target and the thrift store to pick up something to wear before the race that I could throw away.  A half mile before my exit to head home and 95 is stopped.  Next up a Firetruck and police car come flying up the side of the road.  I can see the lights as they stop in front of us.  Great.  Hope we don't have to wait too long and they let us go by on one side of the road.  Well it wasn't long before I realized we were not going anywhere.  When truck drivers are getting out of their trucks on 95 you know that is not a good sign.  People were making friends along the roadside too.

I saw one woman who was very good at multitasking.  She had some Windex and paper towels and cleaned her windows as she waited.  I wanted to run back and ask her if I could borrow some towels and her Windex.  Luckily I had a book with me so I got some reading done.  Over 1 and 1/2 hours later we were able to start to move.  A tractor trailer knocked down some overhead power lines.  Ugh..  Well that was a great use of my day.  I ended up heading to Panera to get some lunch and then complete my errands.

I have my bag packed, my clothes laid out, my shirt has my name on the front to encourage cheers to help me keep going (I hope the M stays on..it is a bit iffy..I guess I will get cheers for Pam or PA)..I'm now just relaxing and getting nervous..

Next up MCM..

a bit crazy and the Marine Corps Marathon

I think I must have fallen and bumped my head last week.  Or maybe I have gone a bit crazy.. I have signed up for my first full marathon!  

Yep I will be running the Marine Corps Marathon as my first full marathon.  I have been trying to decide if this is a good thing or if I might be just a bit nuts.  I have said that I would never run a full.  I have said that there is no way I would go from 13.1 to 26.2.  But I guess something has been slowly changing.  A few months ago I would still say hell no! to 26.2..but in the back of my mind a little voice would say "don't say never.."  then it would start to say "maybe you should see if you can do a full".  "How will you know that you can or can't run it until you try"... I may have to strangle that voice after October 27th!

I have been following all of the excitement with registration.  I have a few friends that were going to try and register.  So I saw everyone's posts about the horrible problems with registration.  And then I thought..next year I'm going to try and run a full.  Next year I will see if I can get into MCM.  Then I got a facebook post from my friend Keith asking if I am running it.  Umm..no I don't think so. I  will be there with pb cups for you though.  He said ok, but he could hook me up with a charity bib.  That was it.  The end of the conversation.  Normally that would be it, I move on and look forward to cheering everyone on.

But that wasn't it.  It just stuck in the back of my mind.  Maybe I should just try to run it this year.  I could raise some money for Fisher House, which is a great charity that supports our troops and their family during a difficulty time.

While on my way home to Pennsylvania I talked myself into running my first full this year.  I thought about how it would fit into my schedule.  I have two half marathons in Aug and Sept. so it is not like I am just being lazy during the summer..sure I've never ran 26.2 miles but I didn't think I could run a 5k, or a half marathon either.  I will never know if I can run 26.2 until I try.  I may not be very fast but I can put the work in and train over the hot hot summer months.  Ugh...  Then I thought how excited Megan was to run her first MCM.   She was glowing at mile 23 (is that possible??)  I don't think I will be glowing, but I might be able to step up to the challenge..(well I guess I better be willing to step up to the challenge because I have signed up.)  I also thought I have just finished my 10th half marathon..how many half marathon does it take to run before your first full?  I have friends that would say zero..since they didn't run a half before their first full. (That really sounds nuts to me!)  I feel like I know a lot more about my body now than I did a few years ago when it comes to running and I am guessing I will know a bit more about myself after October 27th.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am actually going to run a full...

I called Keith and got the info for the charity bib.  It seems that our team will have five of us from my high school.  We will be representing class of 1993-1996 (yeah I will be the old lady of the group lol)  He told me that if I sign up he will change the team name to the Lil' Indians (our high school was Indiana High School, home of the Lil' Indians..)  Well I don't want to be the one that prohibits the name change!  Great I'm in..yikes!  So looks like I will be running 26.2 in the fall....wish me luck!

My friend Shawn sent me this text


















So here's to feeling like a bad-ass!




If you would like to donate some money to the cause you can click here..

Never heard of Fisher House..well here is a bit about Fisher House..

Next up:  Cherry Blossom 10 miler!

Cheering on the Marine Corps Marathon Runners!

Yesterday Becky and I met to drive over to cheer on all of the marathoners running the Marine Corps Marathon yesterday.  It was also Megan's first marathon, so of course we are cheering extra loud for her :)  I know some people running it, so it should be lots of fun..who I am I kidding it WILL be lots of fun, I love cheering at MCM!  We arrived pretty early at Crystal City.  I knew we were going to see lots of the really fast runners.  We parked and unloaded our car.  We were unloading so much stuff that I thought we were moving into Crystal City.  Chair...check, tons of candy ...check, umbrella...check...signs...check..backpack...check.  Who knew that a bunch of candy could be so heavy.  We ended up meeting some random stranger who was headed to the grocery store.  He was looking to add some more running to his morning so offered to take two of our bags of candy and "run" with us to our spot near Army Navy Drive.  It was very nice of him.  We ended up being the first to set up on the street (other than the three Marines with their bullhorn announcing Dunkin' Donut holes and water around the corner). 

 

We decided to start off with our signs...

 

Those fast runners wouldn't want to stop for some of our candy, so we held some signs and cheered really loud.  It was a really nice day for a run.  Overcast, upper 50's, the only issue was wind.  Man hurricane Sandy was throwin' around some wind.  At one point we had to chase down our sign.  We knew once we started handing out candy the signs would go away.  We did figure out how to have one sign on our chairs without it blowing away, but you couldn't really read it..oh well. 

As we started seeing a little bit more runners, we started passing out some of our candy.  We had lots of bags with us.  Last year Megan ran for a bunch of bags of pb cups since we ran out so early..this year I didn't see that as a problem.  We had lots. 

Becky and myself were yelling out our goodies to all of the runners.  At times I felt like I was working at a carnival trying to get people to throw a dart at the balloon.  It was lots of fun.  I was tracking some runners and was also on the lookout for them as I was yelling about my swedish fish and sour patch kids.  At one point someone ran past yelling my name.  I couldn't place who it was and then he yells his name.  It was Mark who Megan and I met at the Marine Corps Historic Half in June.  We had dinner with him and his wife.  It was great yelling to him "Good Luck"

Next up I saw my friend Keith from high school.  He was doing a great job and knocked off an hour from his previous time.  Way to go Keith!  Becky and I  continued to hand out our goodies.  People really loved candy at mile 23/24.  We got a lot of thank you's and you're the best! 

Soon we see Megan.  She is looking great.  I start yelling for her and waving her sign as she entered Crystal City.  She looked so much better than I would at mile 22. 

Someone looks happy to see us!

Megan sat down to enjoy a pb cup and a quarter of a pb sandwich that I made for her.  She caught us up on her race and then she was off!  It was great cheering her on, but really we had a job to do..we had candy to hand out and a few more people to look out for.  :) 

 

Now we started to learn something about marathon runners and candy.  Some candy I was doubtful would go.  Really who would want a Kit Kat while running??  Well turns out runners love Kit Kats, Snickers, Hershey bars along with the normal PB cups (a true favorite), Swedish Fish, and Sour Patch Kids.

As we are handing things out..Becky sees him..The Juggler...ugh..I think he follows me.  Not only does he mock the half marathoners with his "this is so easy I can juggle while running 13.1" he also mocks the marathoners.."and this is pretty easy so I think I will juggle while running 26.2"  "Oh you juggler!" *shaking fist*

After seeing Megan, Ryan from run club ran over got a pb cup and gave us kisses and was off to finish up his first marathon.  He was looking great for his first marathon too! 

We were starting to run out of some of our candy.  Becky was down to a few pb cups and Almond Joys.  Now really, you can't give Almond Joys to runners!  Well once again, I was wrong.  She offers up Almond Joys and next thing you know a runner is hugging her telling her she is the best and takes the Almond Joy.  I just didn't realize the love for Almond Joys!  The smiles that we saw on faces because of on little Almond Joy was amazing! 

We then saw Jen from runclub and gave out some Swedish Fish.  It was her first marathon and I thought she was looking great too.  It was amazing how great those first time 26.2 people looked! 

Next up was Gary. 

Gary took  a pb cup and was off.  I ran a little bit with Gary until he hit the water stop.  He was looking great while running too.  I loved seeing all of my friends running!  I would never run 26.2 but I really do love cheering on those who are running that crazy distance! :) 

 

Becky and I stuck around till almost the end.  We ran out of everything but whoppers.  Some of my walking friends enjoyed the whoppers we had left and our cheers while they were heading to the finish.  Some of those back of the pack people I think really enjoyed our cheers and our sign (once we ran out of candy the signs came out).  Even though most of the people left our street we stayed to cheer extra loud.  If people had their name on their shirt/arm we made sure to include their name in our cheering too! 

 

Great job to all of the Marine Corps Marathon Finishers!!  Oorah!

Trick or Treating at the Marine Corps Marathon

So Megan is running her first marathon.  Becky and I will head over to cheer her on.  I think Marine Corps Marathon could be my favorite race to cheer.  Now how do you cheer on runners at mile 23ish? 

Why with candy and signs of course!  I have lots of pb cups, Swedish fish (my favorite) and sour patch kids to hand out to all of those runners who pass mile 23.  Last year Megan thought I was nuts to take candy.  Those runners loved the candy!!  They crossed the street when they heard my loud voice yelling "peanut butter cups!"  Yeah it was a good call to take candy. 

This year candy will be provided too.  I have more candy for runners than trick or treaters at my house!  Not sure how the little kids feel about that, but I won't tell them if you don't tell them.  I may have a small stash for all of the people I know running MCM.  If I run out of candy, don't worry free high fives will still be offered too.  I don't normally run out of high fives, so if you are a slower runner worrying that I won't have anything left for you, I will still be able to offer some high fives and loud cheers! 

Hopefully the weather stays rain free and wind free on Sunday for all the runners.  Sandy is supposed to bring some rain late Sunday and into Monday.  Lets hope the rain stays away.  Megan and all of the runners would rather run in dry clothes than in wet ones. So please Sandy..stay away until Monday and then I would like a day off b/c of all of your rain potential. :) 

Good Luck to all of the MCM runners!! 

Cheering on the runners at the Marine Corps Marathon!!

What a great day to cheer the runners who were running the Marine Corps Marathon.  Our friend Whiticar was also one of the runners.  We set ourselves up at mile 22/23.  Looked like we got there just before our friend was hitting mile 22.  Perfect timing.  We came prepared with signs and candy.  I didn't realize how excited people would be to get some candy.  We ended up running out rather quickly so Megan high tailed it to a Rite Aid for some back up supplies.  I believe we went through 10 to 11 bags of candy.  Crazy.  It was a great day to cheer on everyone!  We started cheering at 11 and stayed  until after 2 to cheer on the last few runners.  I always hated when I was towards the back, people were leaving and nobody was really cheering, well not this time.  We made sure to cheer extra loud for those back of the packers!!  Way to go.  I now leave you with pictures of our day.

Handing out candy made runners smile :)

We found Whiticar!  Great job!

He was super excited to see us and his sign too :)

free high fives

Santa was gettin' his run on!

We owned Mile 22 cheer section!