10/30:

Washington traffic was a mess Saturday with the coincidence of Howard University Homecoming, the Rally to Restore Sanity, and the Marine Corps Marathon Expo scheduled for Saturday. We passed Howard University just as the streets were closing for the parade. Not knowing the area well, it would have taken us hours to detour around the festivities. We made it down to central Washington only to find long lines for parking. The crowds were an interesting mix of Jon Stewart party-goers and endurance athletes.

The MCM Expo at the Washington Convention Center was the biggest ever. We spent at least 3 hours winding our way through the booths. I was disappointed not to encounter Kathrine Switzer this year. A chat with her and Roger Robinson had become annual events.

The focus this year was on Denise and her first marathon. To this end, we did not linger at the expo, tiring her legs. Instead, we strolled the three blocks over to the Wok and Roll for a Chinese and sushi lunch. In the quest to increase her carbohydrate intake for she had a noodle bowl; I indulged my sushi desires.

The Stewart/Colbert "Rally to Restore Sanity" increased the crowds to the point where DC was very congested. The dissenting party-goers and endurance athletes contrasted strangely, one group focused on the present merriment, the other one tomorrow's challenge. Roughly a third of the MCM competitors are first time marathoners. Their presence is the culmination of months of training in the heat, the dark, in all kinds of weather. Fate can peevishly upend their efforts in a single stroke with a twisted ankle, a cold, or a spot of particularly bad fall weather. Yet they come to test themselves against an unforgiving distance and an uncompromising measuring standard.They eschew the mediocrity of self-indulgent sloth for the uncertainty achieving a public goal and the certainty of the personal transformation in the that occurs in its pursuit.