Partying with the Morans at the Marathon

John and I like a bunch of things, but we love just a few.  The best thing is when a couple of those things that we love combine to make an unforgettable experience.  This past weekend, the planets aligned, and the Morans (our best friends) showed up to run the Air Force Marathon!

I have said this before, but I'm going to say this again.  The best part about having great friends is that no matter how long you've been apart, when you get back together, it's like you've never been apart.  This makes me incredibly happy!  No sooner had they stepped foot in our house, than I fed them some banana bread, and we were off playing games.  In fact, I know that running the marathon was the excuse for them to come, but the weekend really felt more like a game weekend with a short break for a marathon ;-)  John and I couldn't have been happier.  In fact, I'm grinning ear-to-ear as I write this, but there's just no way to convey how great everything was.

They showed up on Thursday, but John was busy until Friday at noon with work.  We picked him up in Altoona (on the way to Dayton).  The Morans wanted to buy him a birthday gift at Barnes & Noble, so we just met in the parking lot.

Okay, the ride to Dayton is about six and a half hours.  Normally, this would be social torture for me, but did I mention we were with the Morans???  Oh my goodness, that trip flew by--we were laughing and sharing stories and catching up on our families.  It was a pure delight.

By the time we got to Dayton, it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning.  In fact, the 5K that was scheduled to take place that night was cancelled, and the participants just stood in line to collect their medals.  Thankfully, our hotel was directly across the street from the Nutter Center, and more thankfully, I had instructed Jared to grab an umbrella from the back of my car before we left home (to his credit, he grabbed BOTH).  I know this sounds stupid, but it's been a long, long time since I walked under an umbrella in the rain with my honey--it was actually fun.  

This is where it gets even crazier.  The kids and I always roll our eyes when John runs into someone he knows, because IT HAPPENS EVERYWHERE!  Seriously, we can't take John anywhere, because there's always someone who finds him and who ends up talking to him for (what feels like) an hour.  Crazy thing?  Jared and John are cut from the same cloth, and it's no different for him.

We walked into that arena, and within minutes, we were waiting for John and Jared to finish up their conversations with random people.  

Okay, not quite true.  I actually knew the people John knew, and Sarah knew the people that Jared knew, but it makes for a better story the other way ;-)

Who would have thought?  We drove almost seven hours (and the Morans were an overseas flight from Germany away from home), and we are in a giant arena, full of thousands of people.  We still find someone!

So, John invited our friends, the Scattergoods, to dinner with us.  We headed back across the street to Texas Roadhouse and had the dinner of champions.  John and I went driving, trying to find a back route to the start line of the race.  Everybody then got ready for the race the next day and headed to bed.

The best part about having a hotel that is close to the start of a race is that the hotel makes special accommodations for the runners.  Like opening the breakfast at 5 a.m.  Winner!

John and I should seriously sell tickets for rides to the start line.  While others were stranded along the interstate, waiting almost two hours to park, it took us no longer than 15 minutes to drive from our hotel to the outside of the Air Force Museum (where the race begins).  In fact, we got there so fast and early that the Morans and John just sat in the car for a while (before heading out into the rain).

Okay, momentary pity party.  Up to this point, I had been pretty much okay, being the only person not running, but I can't tell you how I felt like a loser, being just the "driver" for the runners.  As they headed off into the dark, nervous about the race, I watched them go and then continued back to the hotel.  It was pretty hard on my psyche.

I knew their approximate finishing times, and I left the hotel with plenty of time to see Sarah cross the finish line.  However, I make no pretense about understanding the geography around the air force base. When we lived in Dayton, I knew how to get to the hospital and the commissary (both at the same exit), but that was it.  Leaving our exit from the hotel, and trying to get to the exit for the air force museum?  Yeah, I went 15 minutes in the wrong direction.  Saddest part of the weekend was that I missed Sarah by 10 minutes.

I parked as close as possible, walked the 1/2 mile to the finish line, set up my chair and my camera and began watching.

It's kind of tricky, watching for three different people.  Because there are so many people running at the same time, I usually focus on the color shirt that John is wearing (and I can recognize his running gait anywhere).  However, I was also looking for Sarah in her hot pink shirt, and Jared....and I didn't know the color of his shirt because he had been wearing a long-sleeve shirt over his actual running shirt earlier in the morning.

John came in around 4:30, and because of all the injuries he has suffered over the past year, this was a TOTAL victory!  Too, he looked coming in--he didn't look too tired, or in too much pain (he was hiding it all well).  John came back and found me, and a couple of minutes later, Sarah did too!  Turns out, the race hadn't even been DIFFICULT for her!  She felt great, she ran the entire way, and she was a total champ!  I told her that she either needs to run faster or run longer, because no self-respecting athlete should look and feel as great as she did after a race ;-)  Jared, when he saw us, kicked his running into high gear.  It makes me appreciate how long distance athletes always have a "team" helping them.  How great would it be to have people who love you running alongside you in a race, cheering you on?  He looked fabulous too.

This is the last 0.2 of the 26.2 miles (that's John in the white shirt).
The runners hang a right and run in between the parked jets.  Very cool.

Jared (people running the full marathon have blue tags, half marathoners have red).
Don't want you to think Jared was beaten by a WOMAN ;-)

Man, I was proud of those three.  I had to be, because if I'd thought about myself, I would have broken down and cried.

The sun was REALLY bright!

We headed back and they showered.  It was good to hear the different recaps of the race.  Sarah, John and I headed to one of my favorite restaurants on the planet, First Watch, and then it was time for naps.

A couple of hours later, the real reason for being in Dayton began.  GAMES!!  Yeah, baby, it was games for the next five hours.  In fact, we basically took over the entire breakfast area at the hotel.  We didn't even stop to eat out--we just ordered pizza in, and when it hadn't been delivered an hour later, John got the pizzas for free.  I mean seriously, people--games, pizza, and best friends?  Oh my goodness, we laughed a lot.  It just felt so good to be so happy!

Ah, Staedte und Ritter--how we have MISSED you!

This is my "game playing" hair.  Jared's too ;-)

John attempted to use the "panoramic" feature on his iPhone.  Pretty good, eh?

The next morning, we headed to church at our old ward building.  I have such happy memories of that place.  It's where both Johannah and Glo were blessed as babies, and it's where I was Primary President for almost four years.  I had the most wonderfully supportive bishops at that time, and a really supportive ward (seeing as John was a resident and not home much of the time).  One of my former bishops is now the stake president, and after 17 years, he still remembered me and the primary sacrament meeting programs that I had coordinated.  Such a salve to my tortured Pennsylvania-living soul.

We left right after that and headed home.  John didn't want to sit by me in the car which hurt my feelings.  We got in a fight, and I joked with the Morans that we were just keeping it real for them.  Just making sure that things weren't too perfect.  We stopped at the most ghetto Dairy Queen on the planet and finally arrived back home.  I don't think we'd been home very long before we dragged out the games again.

For the record, for the weekend, it was Kennedys 5, Morans 1.  Of course, we have to couple this with Ethan's losing streak when he stayed with them which brings us to Kennedys 5, Morans 4 (that's right--Ethan lost EVERY game).

We wished they could have stayed longer, and I don't write that about anyone else.  It was over too quickly.  However, it brings comfort to the soul that there will always be more marathons, and more games, and more pizza, and more laughing.  All things that we LOVE.

I love this picture.  You can see Sarah's cutie pajama pants, Jared has struck his tradition stoic face, and John has a REAL smile on his face.  Good times.