Getting to the Start Line

To tell my adventure of the marathon I have to back up to the day before.  I had planned for weeks and it was finally time to head out the door and go to the hotel.  Once I arrived I laid out my gear for the race and sat down to relax.

It had been cold all day and the weather man said it was going to snow.  As I looked at the George Washington Masonic Monument out my window trying to think of something besides the race it began to snow. 

Luckily it never snowed enough to accumulate, but it definitely was pretty to watch.  I went to the Susan G Komen Marathon for the Cure pasta dinner and met some wonderful people.  Each had a story for why they chose Susan G Komen to raise money for.  So far the team has raised $97,464.03 and we still have 30 days to collect donations:

I surprising got a great night sleep and woke up at 4:50AM ready to go.  I stuck to my plan and was at the metro by 6:00AM heading to the start.  At each metro stop more and more runners got on and the excitement grew.  When I arrived at the Runners Village I dropped my bag at a UPS truck with what I would need after the race.  I then had time to walk around a bit before heading to the start.  I lined up near the sign that had my goal finish time listed:

At the starting ceremony there were parachuters from the Army Rangers and Navy Seals as well as was an awesome fly over:

As we waiting for the race to begin I took a quick picture of all the people in front of me...if you notice you cannot see the start line:

I was one of 20,895 marathoners from across the country and all over the world.  It was so inspiring and a bit overwhelming.  As the start grew closer people started taking off their 'throw away clothes' (sweatpants and sweatshirts) and started tossing them to the side of the road.  These clothes are later picked up and donated to charity.

Finally there was a countdown from 10 to start the race and then...we stood still.  It was a bit anti-climatic, then the music started and everyone around me started dancing and signing.  I became energized ready to go.  It took about 6 minutes for us to start walking forward and another 5 minutes to get to the start line...To Be Continued (tomorrow)