Witness to oddity

I was reminded recently of a bizarre incident during my first (and only) marathon, the Marine Corp Marathon in 1999.

The Marine Corp Marathon is a good first-timer course because it is fairly flat and loaded with spectators who stand shoulder to shoulder throughout almost all of the race. Part of the course takes you out to Haines Point which is in close proxemity to the Jefferson Memorial. It is a long, lonely stretch on the course with few spectators. When I ran the race, I was grateful that a friend rode her bike along side of me--she ran the race the year before and knew that it was mentally the toughest part of the course. As we were coming out of Haines Point and winding our way toward the Jefferson Memorial, this woman in her 70's who was competing in the marathon pulled out a pack of cigarettes and started smoking while running (albeit I note she had trouble lighting her cigarette). The next day, I asked my friend if that was a hallucination. She confirmed that my recollection was correct.

Almost a year later, I was doing Get-Out-The-Vote work for the Democratic Party in Philadelphia with a bunch of volunteers from the DC area. There she was, the smoking marathoner, in the van. I don't remember her name but I remember asking her about the race during a conversation at a rest stop. She confirmed her identity as she lit a cigarette but this time she was in uniform--the smoking marathoner by profession was a nun.