So after I returned from Paris, I made a mad dash to homework-ville, which is why I have been MIA for a while. Now I have a little time to reflect on our trip.
First off, a round of applause to our runners! Despite some inappropriate grabs and lack of H2O, they made it out alive and EVEN managed to put on some smiles before dinner that evening.
Second, who knew you could get sore muscles from chasing marathoners! My legs were hurting!-although my pain was not nearly as abad as Toots, Sally and Lumpy’s! After Old Uncle Brad and I heard Lumpy’s plea for water, we ran to the apartment, then to the metro stop, then through several blocks (uphill) and finally made it to a spot to pass out water. Fortunately, they had been able to get some before they saw us. In any case, cheering is hard work! Well worth the time though!
Anyway, morale was a little low after the marathon and hopefully spirits were lifted (I don’t mean the beverage kind, although I’m sure those were lifted too) on the second leg of the trip sans Banana. 
The important thing is that everyone finished and grew from the experience. So here are a few words of reflection:
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters to what lies within us. –Oliver Wendell Holmes
The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. –Moliere
A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it; bearing with him the image of a cathedral. –Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts. –Winston Churchill
Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly. –Robert H. Schuller
There is more to life than increasing its speed. –Ghandi
Our real blessings ofen appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience, and we soon shall see them in their proper figures. –Joseph Addison
The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them. –Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Keep on running!!!
