Mama, this one's for you

It took a snow day from work after a long weekend to get me blogging again but hey, whatever. Started from the bottom now I'm here. 

So much has changed from my last post. I don't even know what that post was. Not that it was insignificant, it was probably a really excellent post.  

I am back to living in DC, where it all began ("it all" being my blog).  I'm living on Capitol Hill again, living by myself for the first time, and I have a new job.  But still no english bulldog.  It's all fairly exciting - except for that latter part.  But trust me, if I had gotten an english bulldog there would have been a blog post about it (read that parents? english bulldog = more blogging). 

In October I ran the Chicago Marathon with my dad and it felt relatively great.  I would venture to say that if it felt great, I was doing something wrong, but relative to my other marathons - great.  No passing out.  No mid-point nausea.  And I cannot tell you, dear reader, how many blog posts I started in an effort to write about my experience. Who knows if that will ever happen (it won't).

 

I have a lot of exciting things planned for 2014.  My dad and I are running the Grandma's Marathon in June and the Steamtown Marathon in October.  My new job includes a lot more travel to places other than one county in West Virginia, so there's that. 

So now I'm sitting with my blogging friend Annie, in the middle of the snow globe that is DC, about to press "publish" to get this awkward first post out of the way.  It's like ripping a bandaid off..just gotta do it, and the sooner I do it, the sooner I can move on with substantial, meaningful posts (because that's what you get when you rip off a bandaid).

Looking forward to many blogging and running ADVENTURES ahead. 

can't quit dc

When I was living in the DC metropolitan area, I signed myself up for a couple runs and events in the area.  Then I moved away. And these events in the "area" turned into multiple weekend long trips up to DC...not that I'm complaining. A couple weekends ago I went up to run the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon with my dad. It was a hot and humid and successful race. However, the next morning I woke up with a killer pain in my hip. 

Fast forward two weeks. I still have that nagging hip (flexor?) pain. I've only run twice since the half. And I have another DC weekend run coming up, this time it's the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. Even with the pain I convinced myself I HAD to do it. It was a lottery entrance, others didn't get in, so yeah, I'm gonna do it even if I have to walk it. Plus a couple friends were running it too.  Luckily our pre-race dinner with multiple desserts (pictured above) boosted my confidence. 

And it was pretty great. Usually when I run a race, I hope and push for a good time (time meaning time it takes to complete the run).  But this race was different.  About 1.5 miles in I (literally) ran into Megan (one of my 3 great roommates) and we ended up running the rest of the race together. We kept a solid pace and chatted for most of it. And we finished strong, which is always a good thing.  When we finished, the last thing on my mind was the pain in my hip.  All I could think about was how great that run felt. And how I did have a good time (see what I did there!??!).

Might I add that there were hardly any cherry blossoms.  The blossoms hit their peak maybe a week before and there were just a few here and there behind the Jefferson Memorial. Some cherry blossom run..  To top off a spectacular weekend that also included a second viewing of Hunger Games and seeing many friends, I went to a Bruce Springsteen Concert. I saw Bruce Springsteen in DC. Bruce. It was a darn good concert. Okay it was amazing. I heard most of my favorites. There was so much power behind his music, as well as emotion since Clarence Clemons' nephew was there filling in the E Street Band. AHHH!!!

did i mention i saw bruce springsteen??

My friends, i love them

Fun is:

reuniting and reminiscing

a jukebox

skee ball

plastic horses glued to strings

inside jokes

the fastest 2 minutes in sports (i guess..it's really not that fun

but if it adds to my fun weekend, then sure)

Cherry Blossoms

even through my iphone they're pretty fantastic

dinner with dad, date with denison

My dad was in town at the office for work today (which happens to be the office i'm interning in). This gave him the opportunity crack jokes and embarrass me, his favorite daughter, with the likes of "i hear this office stops functioning when you leave" and "does everyone know you're the hardest worker in the office?" when we were around other people in the office. Thaanks dad. But it gave me the opportunity to spend time with him and go out for dinner.

After dinner with my dad, I headed over to a denison alumni (WHat! me!? alumni! when did this happen!?) event at The Laughing Man Tavern. It was nice to see everyone that i have been unsuccessfully trying to meet up with, especially all at one time. It made me realize what makes me anxious about blogging- I want to take pictures for my blog, i want to take pictures in general. But i'm timid about breaking out my large camera in large groups of people, forcing people to pose for pictures. I guess i'll have to get over that. So if you're my friend, and you're reading this, be prepared - i will probably take your picture if we hang out.

Anyhoo- chels and kels and I weren't really enjoying the crowded group of older alumni we didn't know. And the food, while free, wasn't quite up to par. So we left and brought the real party to FroZenYo. Not captured: the three of us running up the down escalator to the metro when we realized we wanted frozen yogurt. Captured instead: a casual walk through downtown dc.

And if i didn't have enough Denison for one night:

I got to skype with my mah bestie yohn.

Freshman year i bribed her into being my roommate.

And we haven't looked back since!!

weekend. in b&w

postal museum, friday night reading time in starbucks, circulator to get running shoes for josh and a stick (my new best friend after 12 miles), museum of american history, all veerry "hipster" thanks to my hipstamatic app.

and now it's almost game time.

GO JETS!