How many old friends and familiar faces can you see in one weekend? Tons--if you play your cards right. I tried to do just that with my visit to Maryland. Mark and I hit the road on Friday night and arrived at University Towers around 1:30 a.m. The next morning, while Mark went to visit his 'rents, Erin, and Mike, I stuck around Wheaton before heading up to Thurmont for the day. From there, I shot up to the Mount where the NEC Conference was taking place at the track, and where many of my old friends had gathered to watch. This included Ashley, who is 5 months pregnant!, and Devon, who had her adorable 19-month-old, Ryan, doing somersaults at her feet. There were many other "Mounties" there, and it was so great to see all of the friendly faces and catch up with people I haven't talked to in up to five years!
After getting my fill of the meet, I went back to the farm and proceeded to play with adorable Ella (that's her in the pic--my camera is still out of service, so I stole this from Karl's blog) for the rest of the day. She has grown so much and is saying things like "woah" and "cool" and "wow." I think "Sarah" was a little bit of a mouthful for her (hey, even I couldn't say my own name properly until I was about 8!), but she does seem to recognize and call people by their names, like "IRF" and "WIZ." No doubt that she will be a genius, just like her dad (and as pretty/smart as her mom, too!).
Later that night, Mark and I went back up to the Mount for Deegan's retirement party. After 50 years of coaching, he is leaving his post as the head coach, but I have a feeling he's not really going anywhere. At 72, he shows no sign of slowing down and is still as crazy and funny as ever. The night featured many guest speakers, including another former coach (and 1988 Olympic Gold medalist) Peter Rono and famed basketball coach Jim "Bowtie" Phelan. (Here is a story my friend and former teammate of mine wrote for the Frederick Post about the night.) Again, it was wonderful to be able to see so many people from my four years at the Mount--and reminded me of how special of a place it truly is.
The next morning, Mark and I got up bright and early for our race in Wheaton Regional Park. Karl joined us at the starting line, and we took off for our 3.1 (felt more like 3.5, though) miles in the woods. We did it as a fun training run, but I was not very happy at the way my legs responded to the hilly course. It helped that we had extra support there with my mom, Jeanie, and Ella cheering us on as we cruised into the finish line. Karl and I managed to go 2-3 and I took home a basketful of vegan goodies. Mark did great, too! Afterwards, we played for an hour or so with Ella, who loved the playground, train, and watching the merry-go-round! We also introduced her to the sport of running--which she took to very well. She'll be outrunning us, I'm sure, in no time!
The fun didn't end there, though. We went back to University Towers, tuned into Bec's race online, and then went out to Rockville to check out a high school lacrosse game (Mrs. Foley's grandson--and Alison's younger son--Michael was playing) so we got to see the Foley/Brunner/Barberi clan, which is always so nice. Corinne joined us there, too, so I got to chat with her for an hour or so. Not enough time, of course, but I'll take what I can get...
When it was ready to head back up to NYC, we picked up Lonnie, who had to "business" in the city. We got to do some much-needed catching up throughout the five-hour, traffic-plagued drive.
All in all, this was probably one of the best weekends I've had all year! Of course, it made for a rough Monday morning, but I'm already looking forward to next weekend, when we'll be back in MD/VA for Mother's Day!
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