Marine Corp Marathon

Since Jim served in the United States Marine Corp, it has always been talk that we would one day run the Marine Corp Marathon. And this was the year! What an amazing marathon. First of all, it is the 9th LARGEST marathon in the WORLD! So, imagine running as sardines for the whole 26 miles. There is not a moment where the pack breaks up and you have some room. But, besides that, there were so many soldiers out there running. Many in their uniforms and running with their sacks on their backs. Some with gas masks on. Then there were some wounded soldiers that RAN the marathon. It was just amazing. And the course... We ran all through DC and past all the monuments. It has got to be the prettiest marathon we have ever run.

On the flip side, Jim and I were pretty tired. We had just ran a marathon 3 weeks prior and felt like we hadn't fully healed nor put in the right amount of training runs between. Then, with putting the 12 day vacation before the marathon, we ate terrible and didn't get the right kind of sleep. With all that said, we both kind of crashed after hitting about mile 20. But we had a blast doing it together and just taking it all in.

Here we are in our shirts again. They were appropriate for the Marine Corp run, since Jim is considered a "good man"!
Our good friend, Pam Baker, also traveled to DC & ran the marathon as well. Pam and her husband have also served in the military. So it was very meaningful for her as well!

The start of the race was cool. We had 2 Bell/Boeing V-22 Osprey do a flyover. Then, there was a canon that shot for our starting pistol.

Here Jim & I are at mile 19, just seeing the kids:
Our cheer team: John, Lauryn, Sean, Zach, Carol, and Annabell