Bit by Bit

Ahhhh, sweaters. Cardigans.

Just a pile of knitted panels that you have to sweat, cry, and agonize over sew together to make a lovely sweater.

I'd hoped the side panels would match just a little ...

I blocked it pretty tightly, hoping to make it light and airy as opposed to super-warm, since I'll be wearing it over something.

Anyway, I've started on the first sleeve. Then another sleeve, then the collar. I am knitting quickly, because it's getting chilly! 

In other news, I ran the Navy 5-Miler in DC on the 14th, and had a great time. 

Up at 0415, to catch the 0600 Orange Line train a half-hour's drive from my house. 

Missed the train, of course, but luckily there's a new Silver Line on the DC Metro, so I wasn't inconvenienced at all. I arrived at the National Mall with other runners at about 0630. 

The Washington Monument, finally free of the scaffolding from the 2011 earthquake damage (or was it 2010?) 

Last summer, I read that the head of the Parks Department doesn't like that tourists can go right up to and into the monuments; this jackass thinks that tourists should only be allowed to view OUR national monuments from a distant bus window. Just thinking of that makes me mad. These are OUR monuments. What the hell is wrong with him? These aren't just marble and concrete structures, these monuments represent the heart of our country. You take away the DC politics (and the bloody politicians) and these monuments represent Americans and the ideals that built this country.









 I can't imagine not being able to walk into the Lincoln Memorial and gaze up at Abe, or read the etchings in the walls. I can't believe that any of our Founding Fathers would have wanted to see us restricted in such a way.

From the Wiki page for the Lincoln Memorial

People like that should never be given positions of power. They just want to control and restrict, and they think people are just so many pests to be controlled.



The Monument under Scaffolding, from Last year's 5-Miler

Back to the 5-Miler.

Despite the agonized look on my face, rest assured I am not in pain (it's the asthma that makes me keep my mouth open, so I can take deep breaths fast enough to get enough oxygen). I am actually having a great time! This was the Air Force Half-Marathon (which I will run next year) and Navy 5-miler, and there were wounded veterans in wheelchairs and on crutches participating. One young woman with a prosthetic leg walked one of the races on crutches, with her mom pushing her wheelchair in case she needed to sit (I don't know if she did the 5 or the half). Other wounded warriors zoomed past me in hand-bikes (hand-chairs?).

I always get so choked up seeing people, veteran or not, determinedly pushing themselves that hard to do something that a lot of able-bodied people don't do.

And then there's this guy, running the half and occasionally slowing down to juggle.

Afterward, I went and stood at the 13 mile flag marker and hollered encouragement to the half-marathoners finishing up. They found "The end is near!" particularly funny. 

Molly wants you to know that this blog post could not have been written without her assistance.