runnin on empty (runnin wiiiiiiiiiiiiild)

i ran this race the weekend after easter with my friend a.s. (i contemplated posting our before picture, but it looks suspiciously like an after picture.) it's a beautiful course 'round the monuments, usually lined with cherry blossoms. but they came out the week prior and then most were knocked out by the high winds and rain we had just before the race.

here's a lil run-down.

we met at the smithsonian metro just after 7am and listed all the reasons we weren't prepared for this race (this is the part where i complain). i didn't sleep or eat much that week,* didn't drink enough water and had waffles with whipped cream for brunch the day before, which my mouth loved, but my stomach did not. and it let me know sunday morning when i could barely choke down a bite of cliff bar without it closing up slash rebelling. that's all i'll say about that. i started waking up at 3am, stopped trying to sleep around 5am and finally got up at 5:55 on race morning. also, i was wearing brand new shoes and had gotten a pedicure the night before. total amateur.

and now a list:

miles 1 and 2 - cramps in my arches - probably from not being used to actual support

mile 2.5 to 3.5 ish - cramps in arches gone, replaced by side ache

mile 4.5 - remembering that i felt GREAT at this point last year. not so much this year.

mile 5 - i'm only half way? why am i doing this again?

mile 6 - blessed water stop!

mile 7 - considering stopping at portas, just so i can rest

mile 7.5 - water stop is half mile earlier than expected, throwing off what was left of my sorry mental game

mile 8 - calves hurt a little. that's it. stop to stretch.

mile 8.75 - last water stop. only a mile and a quarter. i can do this

mile 9.5 - the finish is just over that hill. chaaaaarrrrggggge!!!

halfway up the hill - maybe i shouldn't have floored it

top of the hill - where's the damn finish?!

mile 10 - "ma'am, you have to keep moving; please collapse over there"

despite all that, it was a fun race...because i like to run. also, finally a semi-decent race picture. i think its the sunglasses. they really bring the whole ensemble together, no?

hmm...i need to work on my form.

*i can count the number of times this has happened on one hand. i like to eat. a lot. it generally doesn't even have to be good. if it's there, i'll probably eat it.

together forever

i'd like you all to know that running and i got back together. maybe you didn't know we were on a break. (i didn't want to complain.) we were pretty hot and heavy for a while, but whenever we went out, i just felt like i was gonna explode. and each new date brought some new annoyance or source of pain. some say i was too demanding, that i was pushing too hard, trying to go too fast. we tried various counselors who fit us with new shoes and adjusted our backs. we even tried massage together, but to no avail. it just wasn't fun anymore; the rough patch continued. frustrated and exhausted, i called it off to explore my options: i swam, i cycled, i danced, i slept, but i still wasn't happy. my relationships with these others felt shallow; they weren't fulfilling. they just couldn't compare to what i had with running. i realized that nothing really gets me goin, makes my heart flutter or stomach squirm (in a good way?) like running. so, last night, i asked running to take me back, left my watch at home, and ended our brief cooling-off period. we had a lovely time together.

i missed you, baby. let's never fight again.

should a made a left toin at albukoykee!!*

dear friends,

ok in the last month or so i've probably either 1 - begged you to run this race with me, 2 - bragged to you that i'm running it or 3 - made you listen to my training strategy (lots of ice cream and chocolate chips and an occasional long run). so i thought you might like to know that you're invited to a ummmm...party where 5 of the 36 legs start and/or finish and all 12 team members can be there at the same time (usually you're relegated to one van, and don't get to commingle except at major exchanges). so if you happen to find yourselves with nothing to do approximately 10pm on friday night, feel free to drive on up to boonsboro, md. it's in the middle of nowhere, between gettysburg and dc. they're calling it the "oasis," but really it's boonsboro high school. most of us will have only run 1 leg at that point, so we won't smell TOO bad...yet. if you can't (or don't want to) make that, you can watch us finish around 3pm saturday on the potomac river trail between the jefferson and FDR memorials (park at the lots under the 14th street bridge, by the jefferson).

boonsboro high school
10 campus ave
boonsboro, md 21713

ubudee ubudee...that's all folks!


*our team name. we'll be the ones decked in WB gear.

livin on a prayer

apparently bon jovi makes me run faster. he's gotten me through a half marathon, my 9-mile leg of the ragnar relay and now, the cherry blossom 10 miler.

sunday was a gorgeous day for a run around the monuments, through streets turned pink with cherry blossoms. but i was rather unprepared. i didn't drink enough water on saturday. i stopped sweating around mile 4 or 5. i didn't train and so around mile 8, i really wanted to quit. but i didn't. (bless those that cheer for runners other than their own). i am now sore. very very sore.
also, i decided that my friends need to tell me when they're running races so i can cheer for them. and then i'll tell them when i'm running and they can cheer for me. because 10 miles gets kind of lonely all alone with only the finish line to look forward to. and at about mile 8, pretending other peoples' signs and "go runner!" cheers were just for me, just didn't cut it anymore. BUT, that said, it was a great race and i had mucho funno. i even managed to scrape in just under my goal time. can i get a woot!woot!

so, anyway, when's your next race?

mine's april 24-25. we'll be comin into dc sometime the morning/afternoon of the 25th. i'll keep ya posted.

what i did at work today

NOTHING! i didn't go to work today. woo hooo!

instead i ran 8 miles because i'm running the cherry blossom 10 miler and haven't trained since the richmond half in november. it's gonna be ugly. but it was a lovely spring day (finally!), despite the light drizzle. and along my route - 4-mile run to the gw parkway trail - i saw:

a blue heron. i felt a little bad for it, standing so gracefully next to waterfall draining from the water treatment plant (or at least that's where the pipe comes from)...

a pelican. it dove straight for the water and after a splash and a short struggle, came out with a fish...

a cute couple, probably in their mid forties or so, that didn't know how to roller blade. well, the woman did, but the man looked like a six year old on skates for the first time. precious...

some fishermen. they told me they'd caught some catfish. i took my first fly-casting lessons earlier that morning so i just HAD to ask if the fishing was any good...

and then i got to the 14th street bridge, my turnaround landmark. i turned and there they were, across the potomac, explosions of pink popcorn. i couldn't resist. i ran across the bridge to join the throngs of people enjoying the budding cherry blossoms.

i tried not to stand too close.

on my way across the bridge, i saw two of my friends biking back from the rained-out kite festival in the middle of the 14th street bridge and tried not to freak out as the passing traffic made the concrete structure bounce.

across the bridge, at the jefferson i saw:

rows and rows of porta potties...

a wedding party climbing into a limo, looking rather chilly in strapless gowns...

an adorable child in a blue fuzzy sleeper, complete with hood capped with star antennae. turns out it was my friend's nephew...

one chat and a bathroom break later, i was on my way home. that was pretty uneventful. all i saw was my breath. and the blue heron.

the best holiday (pageant) ever

the fourth of july is my favorite holiday. in case you were wondering. and what better way to spend it than hangin in our nation's capitol? it started with a huge pancake breakfast at a friend's house, complete with fun run and patriotic costume contest. bonus points for wearing costume the whole 6 blocks.

quinn and adri

of course, no holiday would be complete without a trip to the container store where melanie, melinda and i found some fabulous luggage tags. my personal favorite: "i'm pretty sure this isn't your bag." and then i took a nap. but not at the container store. i went home.

now. how to watch fireworks in our nation's capitol? becuase you must watch fireworks on the fourth. it's the law. i decided. well, you could leave at 2pm and fight for a spot on the mall OR you could make a split second decision in june to go on a cruise and watch them from the potomac with the washington and lincoln memorials as a backdrop. you can also pretend like you're jack and rose on the titanic while your friends play art director and other friends and random people you don't know take pictures. yes. this is a good idea.

joe, if we're ever stranded

in the middle of a frigid ocean

(or the potomac)

i'll share my door with you.

of course, there's always an after party, where many people pile onto a couch and watch a random movie and eat ice cream. i think we watched maverick because it's clearly patriotic. i'm not sure, though. i had to go to bed because the fine holiday fun continued on the fifth, too! i know, right? it's totally blowing your mind.

from the left: sam, kim, annie, cool girl, jim, kyle, chareese, tim

so. i'm a pretty lucky girl. or as manda used to say, i'm a yucky girl. speaking of manda, i had to catch my bus early early in the morning to meet said sister and friends in nyc. this was a delightful extension of her and her friend abby's trip to see me in dc. first stop was mcdonalds. i needed some o' that sweet sweet nectar of the gods, which is really the only acceptable reason to go to micky-d's. that and to use the restroom. diet coke in hand and properly relieved, we went to see grease. one of manda's friend's sisters played cha-cha (the best dancer at st. bernadette...with the worst reputation) so that made the production even more enjoyable. i parted with manda and co for a few short hours to meet up with my friend mary, who'd come up from dc the night before with her mom, niece and cousin. we went to a touristy pizza place just off times square and my lovely roommate from undergrad met us there. i hadn't seen jessamine in FIVE YEARS. that's a lot.

while in new york, one must visit the hard rock cafe. i think it might be a law. actually, the law is to go to serendipity, but i'd already missed that momentous event, so manda, et. al., jess and i rocked hard and annoyed the waitress. actually she annoyed us. she wasn't very good and messed up everyone's orders. and she was slow. but we gave her a good tip anyway.

from the left: jess, lauren, hannah, tatem, abby, amanda, annie

jess' ride back to brooklyn overlapped with ours back to the girls' hotel, so we got to hang out a little longer. i chilled with the girls for a few minutes and then manda hailed me a cab to penn station. my cabbie wasn't too pleased to find that he only had 20 minutes to get me across town and that i still had to buy a ticket. mary called wanting to know if i was going to make it. i had about 7 minutes. the cabbie's update: we're about 2 minutes out. mary offered to buy my ticket and hold it for me on the train so i'd just have to find her. unfortunately, the cabbie dropped me at the WRONG STATION. officially late and certain the train had already left, i sprinted the couple of blocks to penn station anyway. i jumped onto the train, praying it was the right one, just as the doors shut behind me and it started chugging away from the platform. but i couldn't find mary. she wasn't in the car i'd jumped on. but the conductor was. and he was punching tickets. crap. while he was on the upper floor, i walked through the lower floor, hoping to spot mary. my cell didn't get service. curse T-mobile! so i waited in the hallway, hands shaking and heart fluttering, hoping the conductor wouldn't a) throw me off the train, b) give me a citation for not having a ticket or c) all of the above. i didn't have to wait long; the next stop was only a few minutes away. and i had service! (oh blessed bars!) i called mary and we both ran out on the platform. she was in the next car over. i sat down, exhausted and shaking with adrenaline. we stayed that night at a friend's house in jersey and drove home to dc the next morning. i was supposed to prep my sunday school lesson in the car...but i slept instead.

the end.

ps. why the fourth of july post in the middle of october? it came from this list and was renamed by sherry carpet. now vote!

indecision 2008

ok this has nothing to do with politics. sorry.*

i have done so much recently (seriously, i'm so blessed), and am so far behind on blogging i don't know where to start. so pick a post below and i'll start there.

memorial day duck
my heart will go on (the best holiday ever)
i'm an artist. no, really.
suckfest 2008
bleeding love. keep keep bleeding love.
run. drive. sleep? repeat.
dc spy hunt
dutch bike dutch
early birds in NYC
don't stop believing

ok readyyyyyyyyy....GO!


*but really i'm not

yesterday...

i bought more running clothes.

my must-haves

i started to write a comment on miss kitti's post, but it outgrew the comment section, so i decided to make it my own. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?  so here are my weaknesses. i will also steal everyone else's comments, especially the electrolysis. never shave again? sign me up.  i also wish i didn't have to sleep or eat. except i really like food (lately in strange combinations) so that one would never work. 

but really, aside from diet coke (totally a headache cure, kitti, i'm with you all the way) i have a major weakness for sports equipment and art supplies.  i love love love buying running clothes and shoes, backpacking and camping gear, swimming stuff...you name it. it's an investment, no? (so i tell myself when the credit card bill comes. and then i comfort myself with thoughts of the frequent flier miles i earned with each "investment.") i most recently indulged in climbing shoes and a harness. boxing gloves are probably next; i already have the wraps. but i need a place to box. (details, details) i entertained the idea of buying a punching bag, but i have no place to hang it. i most desperately want a bicycle. a hybrid. yes, yes, i already own a serviceable bike...from 1993. and i'm not exaggerating. i bought it with the money i saved from my paper route. so i deserve a new one. especially since i've worked so much overtime lately...

it is literally impossible for me to go into an art store and come out empty-handed. (i think i've done it once, but i was with a friend. and she bought some items that i'd helped her pick out, so it doesn't count. i will always find some paint, pens, squeegee, paper, paint, chalk pastels, pencils, sketchbooks, book cloth, paint, wood, stretchers, paint, canvas, fabric, paint or some kind of goo that makes something else do something cool. i would love a printing press. this one. i did recently acquire a studio. that deserves a post all its very own. oh, did i mention paint? 

also, i wish i could sing. like really belt it like aretha or a fine frenzy. ok she doesn't really belt it cause it's not her style. but she could if she wanted.