i did it! (x2)

morning run success!

with a little help from kevin, i sprung out of bed with my 5am alarm on friday. yeah, friday is so old news now, but i had a busy weekend.

drawing an iphone is so much funner than taking a screen shot

mkay so maybe i didn't spring, but i did get up for an early morning run in the rain.

i got sprayed by a pepsi truck near the end of the run. don't drink pepsi 'cause they have mean drivers.

i've grown; i'm bigger than a pepsi truck

after the run i had to hurry and pack for the weekend. packing is stressful and i always forget something. i was late as always but eventually met up with a friend and began roadtripping to dc for a bachelorette weekend.

it was super windy and we got stuck in a traffic jam once for a tree that had fallen across the interstate somewhere around richmond, but otherwise it was a pretty smooth ride. we checked into our hotel, and relaxed before a late dinner (9-something pm) at cafe citron.

saturday morning i hopped out of bed (early again!) and went for a run! all by myself! this is a big deal because i struggle to run when traveling, especially when my travelmates are not running. i sort-of looked at a route on mapmyrun and figured i could wing it. i did pretty good, only got lost mixed-up twice. what's up with the 6-way intersections dc? do you know how hard it is to "turn left" when there are 3 lefts you can take?

eventually i made it to a paved-trail system. i was a little freaked at first because it looked like i was in the ghetto and there was no one else out and about. a half-mile later i felt relief as i started to see runners. and runners. and runners.

back home you only see this many runners at a 5k

this was a huge deal. do you know how many runners i see at home? zip zilch nada. here, i saw so many runners! groups of runners, pairs of runners, i was the only loser running alone. what a tourist. however, a lot of them were wearing more clothing than me (wimps).

i had no idea where i was, but eventually i came up on the zoo! i wanted to sidetrack but i figured they probably didn't have the animals out of bed yet and i needed to get back to the hotel at a reasonable time. i ran on.

some go to the zoo to photograph animals;
i capture the pizza playground

and then my bowels started rumbling. never a good thing when you have no idea where you are, but the trail was never far from civilization. i shamelessly walked into the four seasons on pennsylvania ave to utilize their facilities. the hotel workers were polite and didn't kick me out for looking homeless. so there's a plug for the four seasons in return for their clean bathroom and friendly doorman.

the trail met up with the potomac and i saw rowers! if only i had a shell... and a few more people... oh and a body of water. i kinda miss rowing.

i ended up at abe's memorial, turned and ran to "the pencil" (washington monument) before heading back on 17th. this time there was a sign pointing "left" to dupont circle and of course i picked the wrong left, but i figured it out. after 11+ miles (only meant to run 10) i treated myself to starbucks and went back to the hotel where i found my friends still sleeping.

the rest of the weekend was a blast. we went shopping in georgetown, trapeze lessons at tsny (you know i did not participate. heights, no thanks. it looked fun though), dinner at barcode, a night out on the town, and sunday morning brunch at perry's. a dc must-do.

male readers - you're welcome