American Odyssey (AOR) - Chapter 5 - Epilogue

It's entirely possible that I've spent more time writing my little AOR report than I did in the actual running. It's just that there is so very much to say and I promise to wrap it up in this last post.

Once we finished the run, we were off to the hotel for showers and then dinner. We had a fabulous dinner at Lebanese Taverna in DC. It was an amazing meal in an unusual place. We arrived and it was amazing how much better we all felt once showered and in a more relaxed atmosphere. Deb joined us, but Ann Marie couldn't.

After dinner, it was finally off to sleep. Dan and Matt drove back to NJ, Deb and I back home, Juliet and Jaqualin back to Virginia. Sleep never felt so good.

On Sunday, most of the group met at my house for brunch. Deb put on an incredible spread and NO ONE was counting calories! We cleaned up the vans and everyone was off to home, where ever that was.

And that was that.

It's hard to put into words how incredible this weekend was. We had so much fun and we learned a lot about ourselves and each other.

• We had no expectations. The fact that we had to skip a couple of legs was not a big deal. We really had no choice. You'd never consider that with an individual race. You keep going and you're racing yourself. Dan said it best, this was one of the most fun things I've ever done, except for the running. The running part really was secondary. I looked forward to getting back into the van.
• It's all about camaraderie. With a group like ours, were so few people had more than one or two known connections, anything could happen. Here it did -- we had a blast.
• A hot shower cures all ills. No doubt, as the race was coming to an end, we were all suffering from our last legs and the heat was brutal. Tensions were high as Saturday wore on, but everyone was in great spirits by dinner. By Monday, we were all looking to do it again.
• Speed doesn't matter, but. . . we should have had a couple of ringers. If we had two or three seven to eight minute per mile runners, we'd have made the finish line on time with all the legs completed and time to spare.
• We couldn't go it alone. There's no way most of us could do something like this without the support of family and friends. For most of the team, this was a four or five day event. We relied on spouses, parents, in-laws and friends for child support and encouragement. (Not to mention awesome chocolate chip and peanut butter oatmeal cookies provided by Deb.) It would be almost impossible to take the time away without them.
• Finally. . .

Beware of other teams being a bit too competitive! Enough said.

THE END.

L'Chaim!