2013 Marine Corps Marathon Spectathlete Report

I have zero clue where this last week went. I blinked and suddenly the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon was well back in the rearview mirror. Cheering at the Marine Corps Marathon is basically about a billion times better than running it. This is especially true if your cheer partner is dressed as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and you are dressed as the Christmas Story Leg Lamp (I know, re-used costume, will have to think of something more original for next year).

At Mile 16. We take our mission to make runners smile very seriously

Beth's costume pretty much took the cake - I did get some cheers and "Fra-Gee-Lay" yells from the runners, but Beth was mobbed by runners that looked like they walked straight out of Duck Dynasty, children were scared of her, and a number of runners thought she was the Pillsbury Dough Boy, judging by how many poked her in the abdomen region and squealed "hee-hee" as they ran off down the course. It was awesome. The best part was that her costume could inflate and deflate on command so we were able to ride our bikes around with my friend Jason and cheer on our favorite runners in Rosslyn, Georgetown (this was particularly fun because we staked out a spot by the Paul bakery and ate obscene amounts of French pastries and cheered on the runners while covered in powdered sugar), Mile 16 near the Lincoln Memorial, then we biked over to Mile 21 at the end of the 14th Street Bridge, and then booked it over to Mile 25 on Route 110. Our favorite runners - Dawn, Julie, and Nick - were so kind as to time their running so it was perfectly in synch with our cheering pace and we were able to catch all three of them in almost every spot. It was a perfect day for a marathon in every way - perfect temps, happy runners, I ran into lots of friends who were spectating or running the race, it was like a giant party in a little-big town where it seems like everybody knows your name. Washington, DC may be a large city, but the running/triathlon community seems close-knit and small in every good way possible. Congrats to ALL of my friends who had simply amazing days out there! I will say, even though I stated that cheering for the MCM is a billion times better than running it, I think I may need to trade my costume for running shoes sometime in the next few years.

Sadly, by the time we pulled back up into Rosslyn on our bikes, my leg lamp costume was on its last legs, fringe coming un-superglued, wiring becoming sharp and pointy and sticking to my fishnet stockings. I said a fond farewell to the lamp as I stuffed it into a garbage can a few blocks north of Rosslyn. It served me well. Time to find an even better costume for next year. 

Luckily, even though the race was over, the fun was not. Beth and Nick stayed with us for a night before heading back home to Florida. I've been reading Beth's blog for ages and it was so nice to have a chance to sit down, catch up, and even go for a run. She was also super sweet with Miles and I think if he were small enough to fit in a carryon, he'd be living in Florida with her right now, heehee!