Luv Alisa: Unexpected Surprises for Inspiration in DC

Here's some inspiration for your day. This is a long one but worth the read I promise. This visit has been one of my better ones in a while. Lately in my travels I've been spending time with friends and co-workers and though I enjoy doing that, I'm finding that sometimes I just miss my alone time. It's when I can just spend time reflecting and traveling at my own pace. Not having to worry about keeping up with someone else. It's when I feel like I take my best photos as well because I can take time to stop, focus and just breathe. It's also in those moments I tend to notice the little details about life and I get to thank God for allowing me to live this life he has blessed me with.

Anyway DC was full of unexpected surprises. I made it my mission this time to get out of Alexandria and make my way to the National Mall. I've never been there, so I knew I was in for a treat even if the weather was forecast to rain. I never realized it until I got to the train station but in my 39 years I have NEVER ridden a metro train system alone. As a teen I did it in Chicago and most recently in Calgary but each time I was with someone who knew what they were doing. I gotta say DC metro wasn't exactly easy to figure out so I count my blessings that a random guy decided to give me a pass to load instead of purchasing a new one so I saved a few dollars. The train ran as scheduled and when I exited the train station and got up to the top of the escalators into the National Mall the biggest surprise of my day was waiting for me. I found myself stuck smack dab in the middle of a MARATHON!!!! Yes a marathon. I didn't have any clue this was even happening. At first I thought it may have been a 5k or something small but as more and more runners came I realized it wasn't ending anytime soon. Started asking questions and learned that it was the Marine Corp Marathon (MCM) and it was a big deal. No qualifier to enter and entries were done on a lottery system so if you were selected you ran. It's more of a privilege to do. Anyway it has to be the journalist in me because when I'm out on my own I seem to always want to find the unexpected or very real and raw to photograph. So I start looking at the world differently. As each runner passed they all started to look the same. But the ones that really stood out were the ones that were unable to run and were either being pushed or were biking their way though it. Then there was this runner that came staggering along. He wasn’t easily overlooked. He had no feet but he was upright and running a 26 mile marathon. How's that for putting things into perspective? I was curious to know how he did on time since when I saw him he wasn't with the masses that came later so I looked it up. He finished the marathon in a little over 4 hours and if I’m reading the stats right he placed overall #4155. There were close to 30,000 participants in this marathon. Turns out his name is Rob Jones and he's a retired Marine who was wounded when serving overseas. He's attempting to compete in the 2016 Paralympics in the sport of triathlon according to his website. I can't help but be inspired. I got caught up in the marathon for a little longer than planned so I didn't see as much of the National Mall as I hoped. More for the next time I guess.

The marathon carried over to my flight that night. There were quite a few runners on that flight. One of the gals I met was Angela Tortorice. In conversation she told me she had run over 500 marathons with the MCM included. Then I later found out she at one time held the Guinness Book of World records for the most marathons run in a year and told me she had run 129 marathons that year to get the title. I told her she was crazy. Anyway after this trip I know I need to stop saying things like ‘I can never run a marathon’ but rather tell myself ‘I can do anything I put my mind to. If I want to run a marathon (no desire to just yet, though inspired) I can.’