What a weekend! This past Sunday Team Dykeman entered 17 runners into the 2009 Marine Corp Marathon. All running to honor the memory of Capt. Phil. I am most please to announce that all 17 runners completed the 26.2 miles. Way to go team!
The weekend kick-off with a Pre-Marathon dinner. Runners and supports gathered for dinner, a few speeches but
Andrew finishes the marathon holding Phil's dogtags
mostly to enjoy each other’s company and prepare for the marathon. Team shirts were handed out to the runners and by 8:30 pm all had retired to their rooms to mentally prepare.
Sunday was a beautiful, temps in the low 60’s sunny with light breeze. Runners wound there way through the streets of Arlington, Georgetown, District of Columbia, back into Virginia to finish appropriately at the Iwo Jima Memorial.
By the end of the afternoon all 17 Team Dykeman runners had finished and recieved their medals. Over the next several days I hope to get pictures posted! Runners please leave comments detailing your experience!
Congratulations to all!
TeamDykeman Blog 
WE DID IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF TEAM DYKEMAN… GO TEAM!!! I am so honored to have been such a small part of this race and to have it been such a huge influence on me emotionaly as well as pyhsicaly. When i tell u that CAPT. PHIL DYKEMAN was a huge part of my drive to finish this race, you best believe it.
After the 16th mile i was falling apart, one the main forces that kept me going was that the fact of the pain I was felling was nothing in comparision to what he gave for us and from there i pushed on and completed the 34th marine corps marathon. Not to be forgotten in the mix is my loving girlfriend Tammy which just so happened, god knows how, to show up every time i felt like i was about to crumble. She must have plugged me with a know when your in need of help device or something. HEH HEH. I do love her and she went all out for this aswell.
For the rest you crazies that ran this….you all have me hands down beat and you better believe that, next year i am going to try and win that race so we can have a trophy in honor! wait for it, it will come… i’m nuts like that!
What an accomplishment!! Congrats to the 17 who completed the marathon and also to their support people. I know this required months of training and that some of you are still recovering!!
So, what’s next????
Andrew:
Congratulations to you and to all members of Team Dykeman on the successful Marathon! The Saturday night banquet and associated comments regarding Captain Dykeman were most thoughtful and greatly appreciated.
Saw this Christmas poem on a site I visit frequently, “The Bravest”. It is an FDNY (Fire Department of New York)related site. Thought those here might enjoy it. It reads like “Twas the night before Christmas”
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room
and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic
in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a
winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was
Chris tmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by
love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I
started to dream.
The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near, But I opened my eyes when
it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know, Then the sure sound of
footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just
to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood,
his face weary and tight..
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled
here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my
wife and my child.
“What are you doing?” I asked without fear, “Come in this moment, it’s
freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home
on a cold Chris tmas Eve!”
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow
blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light Then he sighed and he
said “Its really all right, I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from
the darkest of times..
No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I’m proud to stand here like my
fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘, And now it is my turn
and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me
pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and
blue… An American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my
house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a
foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my
sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that
this flag will not fall.”
“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright, Your family is waiting
and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least, “Give you money,” I
asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done, For being away from your
wife and your son.”
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, Just tell us you love us,
and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone, To stand your own
watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we
fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as
you mattered to us.”