Monday, October 27, 2008

Pre Marine Corps Marathon Weekend

I know that I already posted my time last night, but I figured I would fill you all in what my family did the weekend before the race.
Thursday, October 23, 2008:
My family drove down to Rockville, MD Thursday night (October 23) after work. We got to Rockville around 11:00 p.m. settled in and went to sleep.
Friday, October 24, 2008:
We planned out our day so we could get some sightseeing in and hit the expo. My daughter really wanted to see the White House but tours are only available for groups of 10 or more. So we decided to get tickets for the public tour of the Capitol. We had some time to kill before our tour so we went across the street to see the U.S. Botanic Gardens. We saw plants and flowers from different climates including tropical rain forests and deserts. There was also an interesting exhibit about medicinal plants. After the gardens, we headed over to the expo to pick up my race stuff. Even though it was around lunch time when we got to the armory, there were few lines at the bib pick up tent. After picking up my bib we headed into the armory to pick up my t-shirt, goody bag, and to check out the expo. Sadly, I didn't win one of the super-sized goody being advertised. After I got my t-shirt and goody bag we walked around the expo for a bit. I bought 3 things:

I didn't have any throw away pants for the start so I bought a pair of Sport Shell pants for $8,
a stick of bodyglide for $6, and a MCM Brooks Running shirt for $34. .



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Official Shirt


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Brooks Shirt

We hopped back on the Metro for our 2:30 tour of the Capitol. The public tour features the Rotunda, National Statuary Hall, and the Crypt. Had I known ahead of time, I would have contacted my representative and requested tickets for the gallery tour. After the tour, we hopped back on the Metro to Rockville and got ready for Shabbat.
Saturday (Shabbat), October 25, 2008:
We woke up Shabbat morning to dark skies and lots of wind. As the day went on the rains came and throughout the rest of the day I kept saying "I hope it's not like this tomorrow." Our friends kept reassuring me that it will pass and that race day will be great. I tried to focus on eating and relaxing. towards the end of the day, around 5:30 I was going out of my mind so I went downstairs to the basement where we were sleeping and started to get my race day stuff together. I pinned my bib to my shirt, attached my "D" chip, packed my clear plastic bag with my post race stuff. After the kids were asleep around 8:00 p.m., my wife said "I don't think you've eaten enough today!" I said "OK" and prepared another hearty plate of pasta with marinara. I topped it off with a bowl of cookie dough ice cream with chocolate sauce. Around 10:00 I set my alarm for 4:20 a.m. and went to bed.


The Capitol




The Rotunda



View of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Capitol


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Picking up my race packet


To be contiued........

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