ROTB - Fail. Dress Purchase - Success.

Despite our best efforts, the Minstermaids did not find a dress at Running of the Brides. We had a fabulous time and were completely EXHAUSTED by the end (11:30 am). Mama still looks fresh because she had just arrived.

AK took the 5:35 am metro from DC to Rockville to hold our place in line. Morgan, Robin, Joey and I had stayed in Warrenton the night before so we traveled separately. We got up early - Morgan had bagels for us, we each had 10 cups of coffee and we were on our way. Before we were even out of the neighborhood, we realized we forgot AK's team shirt and had to turn around. Naturally I had to call and wake up my mother so she could unlock the door for us - oops. Then we had to get gas. Then we got stuck in major traffic. We pulled into Filene's at 7:45 on the dot and the sale started at 8. AK was really close to the front of the line and had a bedazzled hat for me that read BRIDE. They opened the doors and let us start up the stairs, closer to the racks.

I have never seen anything like this. EVER. When that man said go and people started running it was insanity. They had a course roped off with caution tape through the store to where the racks were. Cameramen were everywhere and store employees were holding up the racks. I almost went down but because of my running pants (thank you, Mo) and my hurdling prowess - I skipped over a fallen soldier and got to the dresses.

They were SO HEAVY. To hold 5 bridal gowns was a complete chore. I should have trained better for the event. So I grabbed a bunch and started looking for the rest of the girls - we needed a spot to gather and start trying. Thank God I had my bedazzled safety whistle (thank you, Robo) and I started blowing on it in short, sharp tweets. I ended up on some newscast because I came around the corner tweeting, all bug-eyed, dragging gowns. Finally I spotted AK and together we tried to pull the dresses but apparently we had them at the top and people were stepping on the backs - so we had to quickly pause and regroup. That's when we saw Robin and Joey and found Morgan jumping up and down in the shoe area with her pile.

We dumped all the gowns and everyone was completely out of breath and sweating. Time check - 8:02 am. The racks were empty and people were already beginning to barter dresses. I had to continuously try on because we could use the rejects to trade for something I may have wanted. Especially when we found a Lazaro - that puppy was worth big bucks.

While AK helped me dress, Morgan, Joey and Robin went out trading. Morgan's back is featured on "ROTB Raw" - Fox 5 DC - I think it's the 4th video down. Robin made WTOP as pictured below.

Photo from wtop

We traded, I tried, the girls traded more, I tried on more. Half naked girls were all over the store. One girl wanted a dress I was hording and she camped out in the lingere section of the store for hours until my mom got there. Finally I gave it to her, she hugged me, said she loved me, ran into another room screaming "I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" and the room erupted in cheers.

My girls were amazing. They worked so hard and everyone was absolutely exhausted by the end. Unfortunately, we didn't find a dress there despite the piles and piles we went through. Julie, Sadie and Mom got there around 11:30 and that's when we gave up and went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. I was disappointed but just exhausted more than anything. We decided to stop at a bridal Salon in Gainsville on the way back to Julies and ended up finding a few fabulous dresses; one of which I purchased earlier today - WOOHOO! :-D More on that later. So overall, amazing and exhausting weekend. I wouldn't trade those first 120 seconds of the run for anything though - we had a blast.