We Survived!!

Well Dave and I survived!

The above statement could be used to describe a number of events -
1) A weekend away from both children.  (Dave's parents also survived staying with both children!)
2) I survived running 26.2 miles and bettered my time by 34 minutes, having me finish at 3:46:26.
3) Dave survived running 13.1 miles and bettered his average pace by 22 seconds a mile, finishing at 2:41:01.

Don't get me wrong, I was confident about our family surviving the dynamics and big events of this weekend.  However, there were some bumps in the road leading up to the weekend that left me slightly nervous.

I had strained a muscle and come to realize that my hips were misaligned, leaving me to only run 18 miles for my longest training run and to need physical therapy 2 times a week for the four weeks leading up to our race weekend.

David had been consumed with work, school, and looking towards the future for his half Ironman event in June, so hadn't been consistent with his week day runs.

The forecasted weather for the weekend was in our favor for driving up to DC on Friday and returning home on Sunday, but sandwiched in the two days were some nasty storms.

Carly had developed a stuffy nose on Thursday afternoon and slept very little the night before our departure.  This left us worried about how she would behave and feel while we were away, and gave a pretty sleepless night before getting in the car to drive 6 hours.

David Jr. has only recently (as in over the past 4 weeks) began taking some milk from a bottle; however, had never been away from me for more than 1 feeding.  His food challenges also make his desire to eat table food some what of a challenge at times.

There were also about 5 different "childcare" plans throughout the course of the week leading up to this weekend, which had my anxiety level quite high.

Oh, and David's car had begun acting up and was occasionally locking the key in the ignition when you tried to turn the car off.  

With all of the bumps I was scared I was missing a big sign that this trip was a mistake and we shouldn't go.  But, on Friday morning my alarm went off at 5am and things began moving into motion. By 7:00am we were loaded up, had bought gas, gone through the ATM, and were on I-77N.  We only had traffic in Richmond due to a stalled truck in the center lane and arrived in Washington DC is great time.  After checking into our hotel we headed out to the Armory to pick up our race packets and make sure we had a clear understanding of the Metro system before needing it to return back to the hotel the next afternoon following the race.  We walked around DC some and ate dinner before heading back to the room for an early night.  Saturday morning, I awoke again at 5am and had the most pleasant surprise - a dry forecast!  The system that was supposed to hit the DC area that morning had shifted south and DC was spared.  We would have a dry run!!  We arrived at the starting area, turned our items into the gear check bus, and ventured around.  Eventually we made it to our separate corals and waited for the race to begin.  I know Dave complained later about a slow first mile due to a slow pace by others around him, but overall he had a fabulous run.  I made great time with my first 20 miles and then slowed down considerably for the last 6.  Not only was the race dry, it was also sunny for the final moments of Dave's and the last quarter of mine.  Following the race Dave was able to spot me in a sea of people and we slowly made our way back to the Metro.  After arriving at the hotel, getting cleaned up, and a quick nap for Dave we ventured downstairs for lunch in the restaurant that was next to our hotel.  After ordering a hamburger the waitress mentioned that the burger was huge and question if it was really what I wanted, I promptly explained that I had just finished running and finishing it would NOT be a problem.  I polished it clean, along with my fruit cup.  (The slaw was left on the plate only due to David's allergies, not because I was full.)  The remainder of our trip was peacefully.  Lots of sleeping and eating!  Our kids did great for their grandparents and even felt obligated to share their colds with them.  (Sorry)

I am very thankful that I didn't just throw my hands up in the air and cancel our trip after the many bumps that presented themselves the weeks leading up to the race and I can now say that I ran a marathon when my son was just 10 months old!  I've got my eyes currently on a half Ironman event in September (can't let Dave be the only one knocking one of those out this summer) and maybe a marathon in November/December - but I will have to see how our calendar is looking.  All of these long distance events take a chunk of time out of our weekends, and Dave only has a few quarters left of school...