My two tours of D.C.

 So I had the opportunity to return to Washington D.C. to run the Rock N Roll D.C. marathon.  I flew in early and was met there by my sister Skye and her two daughters Reagan and sweet baby Annabelle.  We spent Friday touring D.C. and I got to spend lots of time taking Reagan around the monuments and memorials at the national mall. 

 Reagan enjoyed her first ride on the metro, almost as much I loved getting lunch from the line of food trucks parked near the National Mall.  It was great. 

 We visited the Washington Monument first but were too late to get tickets to go to the top. 

 It was still pretty funny because when Reagan ran up to touch the monument she starting screaming "Run away!!  It's going to fall!"  It was pretty hilarious.

I walked up with Reagan to visit President Lincoln while Skye was feeding baby Annabelle. 

 One memorial that I hadn't previously was the Korean War Veterans Memorial.  Reagan and I took a few minutes to walk through it on Friday afternoon and I'm so glad I did.  It was absolutely haunting.  I was blessed to have a grandfather who flew in WWII, Korea and Vietnam and live through them all to get to become a grandfather and great grandfather. 

 Anyway, it was one that I was really touched by and I'm glad I took the time to visit this little section of the national mall. 

 My camera battery was dying the entire day, so I didn't get many pictures during the day, but we were able to visit the FDR memorial.

 And go to my new favorite monument, honoring President and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. 

We spent so much of the day walking around seeing everything cool, that I realized too late I was developing a blister on the bottom of my foot.  Not the best sign going into a marathon, but what can you do.  We met up with Shiloh and Jason and friends of theirs for our traditional pre-race Greek food.  Tried to get to bed early on Friday night, but of course I was so excited, that doesn't really lend itself to a restful night.  Still I got decent enough sleep and felt good going into the race.

 Bright eyed before 6am.  Jason an I were ready to run while Shiloh chose to cheer us on. (Something about being pregnant again so she decided to skip the race and just support us.)

 The only downside was the weather.  Although it wasn't cold necessarily (50's & 60's) it was pouring down rain by the time we started and the downpour didn't stop until around mile 20.  It never did stop raining, but it lightened up to a sprinkle. 

 Jason and I didn't really have a strategy.  Just take it easy and enjoy each other's company.  And we did.  The first 15 miles just flew by.  Even after that it never got difficult or painful.  We never hit the wall.  We didn't even really take walk breaks until the final 3 miles when we were just soaked and exhausted and hungry.

 So we finished strong and felt really good.  Although we were soaked to the bone.  I seriously don't remember ever being so wet in my entire life. 

 It was slow and steady but honestly it was the very best I ever felt after a marathon.  And even two days later I'm much less sore and swollen than I've ever been. So we must have done something right. 

The medals were great and the finisher's jackets were even better.  We finished the afternoon with hot showers and our traditional post-race burgers and fries.  Hey, we earned it.  It was a great weekend and I'm so grateful I have wonderful family to share it with.  Especially the ones who are crazy enough to run these things with me.