People can be amazing! The President of the Carroll Creek Rotary Club, John Capoccia, showed up at the exchange just north of Rockville, Maryland this morning at 7:30am. He came to deliver a case of GU energy gel for the runners, courtesy of the Frederick Marathon. Green Team was covering the Silver Team's fourth leg so Emmanuel could run into Washington, D.C. during our shift. From there the Green Team van included Taeko from Blue Team and Shiri and Emmanuel from Silver making for a morning of hilarious craziness and fun. A guest runner appeared at the 10:30 exchange to run into D.C. with Shiri and Emmanuel. Emmanuel ran into the D.C. exchange site near the National Mall where he was greeted by the Kenyan Ambassador, the equivalent of our U.S. President. Emmanuel's excitement was contagious. After the event, he was invited to a private reception with the Ambassador.

GPS Betty acted up all day. In addition, the D.C. exchange point had been changed making Emmanuel's leg three miles longer than the usual 10. The new spot was not routed on the GPS so we were lost for quite awhile trying to locate it. In the meantime there was a last minute call asking me to run out of D.C. as Simon was going to lead a fun run around the mall. I got dropped off to high tail it to the exchange around traffic but lost my way again. Ten minutes late I found the exchange. Laura surmised that I might have been kidnapped. All worked out as Emmanuel and I recited the message and I took off with guest runner Navid. We went off route a few times running out of the City. I was thrilled to run for over a mile on Vermont Avenue. Eventually we turned onto Rhode Island Avenue and continued out of the City to a place the name of which I have already forgotten, but arriving just slightly behind schedule.

Guest runners are great. They make a $100 contribution to BPR to run a leg with us. Unfortunately sometimes their pace does not match ours. We try and stay with the guest runners but have had to drop some because their pace has been too slow and we are behind schedule. When this happens we feel really bad, but our pilot crew and other staff makes sure they are okay and finish their run. Navid and I were well matched today and chatted throughout our run. He is a budding ultrarunner. We talked some about training but mostly about keeping on course through D.C. and logistics.

After our shift, we made our way to Wilmington, Delaware, where we are spending the night. It was a long drive with the bumpy highways and heavy traffic. Laura, our wonderful driver Kevin, and I treated ourselves to a delicious seafood dinner at Harry's along the downtown river. Great food and a great venue. Tomorrow we hit Philadelphia. Then we will spend the night in Toms River, New Jersey, where I went to high school and where one of my brothers still lives. It is feeling closer and closer to home.

Water is life. Pass it on!