Trick or Treat

St. Wenceslas and St. Margaret of Scotland

Our Lady of Guadelupe and St. Juan Diego

St. John the Baptist and St. Longinus

St. George

St. Wenceslas' beard

Army 10 miler

I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! 


Or in the words of St. Paul:  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Here is a picture of Christie, Michelle, and me (freshly showered) about to go to the Metro for a 7:00 am train.  Hmmmm, somehow we forgot to take a picture of that.

Ok, here we are about drop off our stuff and head to the start line.  Notice how brightly the moon is shining over the Pentagon.  Oh, yeah, it's illegal to take pictures at the Pentagon.

Well, here is a picture of me on the race route smiling for the camera because every time I thought, "Why did I think this was fun?"  I would see a photographer and smile, and then the smile would grow because I realized that I was really doing this.  Ooops, race pictures won't be available until Wednesday.  

So here are the memories I'll keep and share with you and hope you can see what I see:

Michelle in a pink shirt and black pants with zippy pink stripes ahead of me with a determined look on her face moving through gaps in the runners.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep up with her.

Christie in her red hat and green shirt calmly jogging up from nowhere to run beside me, looking like this whole thing was so not a big deal.

The fall leaves on the trees around the Kennedy Center which was the last DC sight I remember seeing along the race route.

21000 backsides

Being in a river of people streaming downhill which made my stomach drop when I realized I'd be in the river coming back up at mile 7.

Someone sitting on the side of a bridge offering shots of beer at mile 8.  The smell was nauseating.

The kind face of the grandfather who talked me through when I was at my weariest and then told me to go ahead because I could run faster.  Thank you.

The last steep uphill at mile 9 (an on-ramp?) and how far away the paratrooper balloon at the Pentagon looked and the solid wall of people between me and the finish line.

The excited sound of Bill's voice saying, "Wow, you did it!  I'm so proud of you!  Great job!" when I called him right after I finished.

The happy and tired looks on the faces of my friends when we realized that we had done it.

Official race times here.

Names of Mary Quilt

I started this quilt because I was inspired by the panel of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It grew from a vague piece of an idea; there wasn't a lot of planning involved.  But each fabric ended up with special meaning and suggesting a name of Mary to be embroidered on it.

Maria says it looks like Our Lady standing in a rose garden on an island in the middle of the sea with the stars shining all around.

From the center the names are Our Lady of Guadalupe (not embroidered), Mystical Rose, Rose of Sharon, Star of the Sea, and Queen of Heaven.  This weekend I'll be giving it to our newest goddaughter--Abigail Sharon.

Pictures speak louder than words

Does anyone else think it looks like the guardian angel is going to push him into the river?

Overheard

"...As long as we don't get sent to Ft. Belvoir.  They have all those homeschoolers with, like, 20 kids and those big vans...."