Twenty Nine

I turned 29 yesterday. I now have one more year until, according to my friend Nat, I literally start falling apart. I better start living it up now while I still can! Thanks to everyone who made me feel so special on my special day.

Running tour of DC

I thought it might be fun to take you guys along with me on my run, give you a little pictoral tour of NW DC and VA. This is what 17 miles looks like when you're shuffling and walking and barely moving some of the time.

DC before dawn:

Holly, this is the bridge you'll have to "beat" on race day:

Look, my favorite spot in (er just outside) DC. This was taken from the top of the hill the cruel race organizers are making us run up at mile 26 of 26.2. It's evil!

The infamous Watergate Hotel:

Seventeen miles was rough, but I did it. No mental fakeouts this time! I celebrated my 17 mile victory by chugging an entire half gallon of chocolate milk. Not the best idea for the tum tum but I'm hardly sore this morning. In fact the only thing that hurts is my shoulders...strange.

homesick

I got an email from my mom today which said the following

We're having a birthday party for you this weekend…too bad you can't come.

That makes me soooo sad, but at least I know I'll probably get to enjoy the festivities from thousands of miles away just like I did last year...

SEVENTEEN

This is the run I'll be doing on Saturday. Not only to I have to run 17 miles, but I have to actually pay attention to where I am going. I'm hoping the excitement of looking for the next turn, as well as the fact that it incorporates much of the official marathon course, will help take my mind off of the fact that I am RUNNING SEVENTEEN MILES!

Here's the turn by turn...no zoning out on this run, but do I really want to zone out? Check out all of the great things I get to run by (in bold)!

1. Start on Ohio Dr. SW heading towards the Jefferson Memorial.

2. Turn LEFT on Buckeye Dr. SW (still in East Potomac Park).

3. LEFT on Ohio Dr. SW...continue down and around Hains Point and back up towards the Jefferson Memorial.

4. Head to the RIGHT on East Basin Dr. Get on the path and run around the Tidal Basin. This will bring you up to Independence Ave. and over the water. Get back on the path/trail and head towards the Roosevelt Memorial. Exit Basin path and head back to Ohio Dr. SW.

5. As you approach I-495, you'll come to a path that will take you up and onto the 14th Street Bridge. Get on that to cross the Potomac River into VA.

6. The sidewalk on the bridge will dump you onto a path along side the George Washington Pkwy. Get on that and you will cross a small bridge before the LBJ Memorial and Columbia Island Marina. Exit this bridge to the right and follow the path along the water.

7. You'll look for the path to split - take the path to the LEFT to cross the George Memorial Pkwy. right after you've passed Lady Bird Johnson Park.

8. Continue on the path heading to the RIGHT towards Arlington Cemetery. You'll cross the road 2 more times through here. Just keep to the path and head towards Memorial Drive which leads to the entrance of Arlington Cemetery.

9. Once you see the Metro - cross the street so you are on the RIGHT side of the sidewalk as you face the entrance to the Cemetery.

10. The path will veer off to the right, down along the exit ramp and along the gravestones.

11. Continue following the path around along Rte. 110 towards Arlington.

12. Take a LEFT onto Marshal Drive heading up the hill to the Iwo Jima - THIS IS WHERE THE RACE WILL END on MCM Day.

13. Cross over the street and head up the hill to the Memorial. Head to the RIGHT towards the Iwo Jima Memorial. You'll head to the RIGHT and circle around the Memorial.

14. Exit the Circle to take a RIGHT on N Meade St. Head on the sidewalk down into Arlington. Meade St. becomes N Lynn St. Continue to run on the sidewalk down through Arlington towards the Key Bridge.

15. Cross the Key Bridge into Georgetown. Turn RIGHT onto M St.

16. take a RIGHT onto Wisconsin Ave. Head all the way to the waterfront, passing under the Whitehurst Fwy.

17. Follow the path along the waterfront. You'll pass the restaurants in Georgetown.

18. Follow the path up to the Marina and head up to Rock Creek Pkwy. Take a RIGHT onto the path along Rock Creek Pkwy.

19. Pass the Kennedy Center. Pass under Memorial Bridge.

20. Head up Parkway Dr. towards the Lincoln Memorial - you stay on the same path/sidewalk. Rock Creek Pkwy. breaks away. So just keep going on the same sidewalk up the hill to the Lincoln.

21. Cross the street at the sidewalk to the left of the Lincoln.

22. Turn LEFT onto 23rd St.

23. Turn RIGHT onto Constitution Ave.

24. Just past 3rd St. take a RIGHT and run in front of the Capitol Building.

25. Take a RIGHT onto Jefferson Dr. SW. to run along The Mall.

26. Cross 15th St. at the Washington Monument.

27. Take a LEFT on 15th St. and follow it along and back down to East Basin Dr.

28. Pass the first entrance to Ohio Dr./East Potomac Park.

29. Follow East Basin Dr. in front of the Jefferson Memorial and end up merging back on Ohio Dr. SW. under I-495 entering into East Potomac Park.

30. Take a LEFT onto Buckeye Dr. SW.

31. Turn RIGHT onto Ohio Dr. SW and end back where we started.

catching up

If you were to come to my blog lately, you'd think that I have been doing a whole lot of nothing, well except dumping milk in my car, when in reality I have actually been doing things, fun things! Here's a little catch up, mainly for the benefit of my mother.

Ocean City, NJ

I think my friend Carrie is magic. A little background for you. It has been several years since I have put more than my toes in any body of water bigger than my bathtub. I've mentioned it before, but I hate hate hate to get my face wet, particularly my eyes. On top of that, I prefer to be warm, so I tend to steer clear of freezing cold water. Well I don't know how she did it, but one second I'm chilling (comfortably warm) on the sand with Holly, and the next second I'm fully submerged and frozen in the ocean, with Carrie right there next to me. It was nothing short of a miracle. Once my body had gone completely numb though it was a total blast. We also played a little volleyball and football and had a little dance party on the sidewalk. Such a fun day.

Here's a little collage I made. Tara

Tara came for work and to play and I got to spend a little bit of time with her. Rodeos were watched, funnel cake was consumed, the best burgers and fries were inhaled, lots of laughs, and of course a million self-portraits were taken. I miss her.


Running

3 minutes. That's how long I can run without getting antsy and looking at my watch. How sad is that? Running the last few weeks has been eh. The weeks I've been in Philly I haven't done my long runs and my 15 mile run a few weeks ago turned into a 3 mile run. I do alright when I know which mile marker I turn around at, but the second someone puts a landmark in my head I freak out. I guess I was intimidated with the idea of running through 4 cities before hitting the halfway point. I'm coming to love a good sweaty work out. There isn't anything more satisfying then finishing a run with sweat dripping off your earlobes, eyebrows, nose and chin and saturating your shirt.


Goshenhoppen Festival

I went up to PA again (I practically live there) to check out the Goshenhoppen Festival my friend Brian was participating in. This apparently is the most authentic period folk festival ever in the history of period festivals. It was a ton of fun. We got to see how people lived in 18th and 19th century Dutch PA, eat lots of food prepared in the 18th and 19th century style (including cow heart cooked by Brian the butcher), watched a pig get prepared to get prepared for us to eat, it was all very informational and entertaining. Oh, and the boys got a little show when Carrie fell during a gunnysack race.

Look, another collage!!
This weekends adventure? River rafting in the Poconos. (seriously, maybe I should consider relocating!!)

Goshenhoppen

Maybe I'll elaborate at some point (no promises though), but here's my favorite photo from the weekend.

Freckle Faced Girl - The Movie

I was surfing blogs and found this fun little thingy...

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?
1. Open your music library.
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you’re cool...just type it in, man!


Opening Credits: "Out of the Blue" by Various Artists (Techno...this must be an action movie...)

Waking Up: "Delicate" by Damien Rice

First Day at School: "Cream" by Prince

Falling in Love: "Man in the Moon" by Erasure

Losing Virginity: "From Where I Am" by Enya

Fight Song: "Do What You Gotta Do" by Nina Simone

Breaking Up: "Christmas Day" by Squeeze

Prom: "Storms in Africa" by Enya

Life: "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles

Mental Breakdown: "Sister of Night" by Depeche Mode

Driving: "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake

Flashback: "Edge" by Eiffel 65

Getting Back Together: "Almost" by Bowling for Soup

Wedding: "Renegades of Funk" by Rage Against the Machine

Birth of Child: "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" by Harry Connick Jr.

Final Battle: "No Soul (PMT Remix)" by Ils

Death Scene: "Vienna" by Billy Joel

Funeral Song: "Autumn Tactics" by Chicane

End Credits: "Chin-Chin-Chidori" by Yo-Yo Ma



And the sequel (because I was curious what it would be like using the marathon machine...)

Opening Credits: "Oh My God" by Mark Ronson feat. Lily Allen

Waking Up: "Chop Suey" by System of a Down

First Day at School: "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce

Falling in Love: "Collides With Beauty" by ATB

Losing Virginity: "Flight of the Bumble Bee" by Maksim

Fight Song: "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance

Breaking Up: "Flathead" by The Fratellis

Prom: "Psyche Encore" by Jay-Z vs. the Futurama themesong

Life: "Couleurs" by M83

Mental Breakdown: "Romeo's Drivers Seat" by Basement Jaxx vs. Sniff n...

Driving: "Black Electric" by Blaqk Audio

Flashback: "In A State (Mojib mashup)" by Unkle

Getting Back Together: "No Compromise" by Oakenfold

Wedding: "Lets Make Love and Listen to the Junior Boys" by Team9 vs. Stereogum

Birth of Child: "Bombs" by Faithless

Final Battle: "Athena" by Tiesto

Death Scene: "The Golden Path" by The Chemical Brothers

Funeral Song: "Friday Night" by Lily Allen

End Credits: "Home" by Depeche Mode

obsession

I want to kiss James McAvoy's red lips soooo bad, so I went to see Wanted last night to stare at them for a few hours. The movie was awesome, if not a million times more brutal than I was expecting, which is pretty ridiculous of me to think considering it's a movie about assassins...of course it's going to be brutal. Anyways, there was a song by Nine Inch Nails in the movie that I now love just about as much as I love James' lips. Of course I downloaded it this morning and have quite literally been listening to it non-stop since. Let's take a vote, how long until I burn myself out?? I'm giving myself two weeks (although I hope it's never, because seriously, this song is awesome).

Ben hits the big time...again

My handsome and fashion forward cousin Ben has done it again...he can now add the New York Times to his ever expanding portfolio, where he was quoted in an article appearing in both the print and online edition about shorts for men in the workplace. You can read the article here. And here's the photo of him that accompanies the online edition. Isn't he handsome?!

*photo courtesy of the New York Times