The Point Is.......I'm Thankful

Since it's almost Thanksgiving, I've been thinking about things that I'm thankful for--good health, loving family, relative prosperity and job security. Although there's always room for improvement among each, those are the biggies. But, it also occurred to me that there's been a lot of other more modest experiences to be thankful for. Moments of less scale that happen every now-and-then that are remarkable at the time but all too often are forgotten in the day-to-day turbulence of life. I had one of those experiences Monday last week.

To start off with, Columbus Day and Veteran's Day are two of my favorite holidays. These are the two days out of the year when Jane and I have the day off, they being government holidays, but Elroy and Judy still have school---and last Monday was Veteran's Day. So Jane and I were 'home alone' and had made hot plans to do a 15 mile point-to-point (PTP) training run into DC. Training for what.....I don't know yet, but it sounded like a good idea at the time. I hadn't done a PTP in 5 years, not since I was part of the MCRRC First Time Marathon program in 2001. The idea is to run from a nearby metro stop into DC, have breakfast, then take the metro back to the car. It's a fun way to get a not always so-much-fun long training run into your schedule. So, after the kids were off to school we outfitted ourselves for the run into the city.

It's critical on PTP runs to dress appropriately with comfortable run-tested clothes, lubricate key areas to prevent chafing and pack necessary supplies: water, aspirin, candy, some paper towels (for the occasional emergency pit stop) and some extra clothes (kept dry in a zip-lock baggie) and stuff all these in a fanny pack. The extra clothes are to change into for the metro trip back to the car.

The weather was borderline chilly around the low 40s when we left the Forest Glen metro parking lot. From there we weaved our way along Rock Creek Park, skirting some dirt trails, and once past the National Zoo, pavement the rest of the way. It was a beautiful day, high blue skies and we had a very peaceful, relaxing run into the city. We came upon the C&O canal probably after about 12 miles. At this point even if you're tired you start to get excited because your getting close to the National Mall and the end of the run. We passed the Watergate Hotel (see picture at left), the Kennedy Center, a few hobos just waking up, and made a quick jaunt over to the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall.

Usually, by the time you arrive on the National Mall the tourists crowds are starting to get heavy. I remember when I was with the First Time Marathon group back in 2001, we would attract a lot of attention when we arrived on the Mall. Of course, those training runs were in August and early September and the temperatures were brutally hot and humidity was near saturating---the sight of about 150 heavily sweating, scantily clad runners of all shapes and sizes running by I'm sure was quite a sight.

Anyway, on our run, Jane and I didn't attract any attention. We took it easy the final mile or two past the World War II Memorial, which looked fabulous (see picture a right), to our destination the Old Post Office and a hearty breakfast. After a quick wash-up and change in the public restroom we chowed down on eggs, sausage and hash browns. It was good. I'm thankful for that.