Ireland was amazing. There's really no other way to describe it. With the exception of our flight back (which actually went smoothly once we took off), the trip went as perfectly as one could imagine. So, I'm going to take the Friday Five topic that Cynthia, Mar, and Courtney came up with and spin it a bit. 1. The weather!- I've never hidden my dislike for Virginia in the summer. I'm not a fan of heat and humidity. Ireland was a lovely moderate temperature every.single.day. There were periods of rain most days, but with the exception of one overnight downpour, the rain was either light or shortlived or both. I didn't wear shorts the entire time I was there! LOVE! 2. The beauty of the country - Everything was so … [Read more...]
Five places I’d love to race!
Today my buddies over at the DC Trifecta (Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney) are talking about places they'd love to run. Since I'm kind of race obsessed, let's talk about places I'd love to race. Obviously, since I'm planning to run a race (and hopefully a half marathon) in all 50 states, I could easily list any state I haven't raced in yet, but there are definitely places that rank higher on the list than others. One of the places that might have been on the list is Ireland. I'm so very excited to not only get to vacation there this summer, but to also get to run a half marathon there. My first international race! (Just for the record, I had a really hard time only listing 5. I'd pretty much be up for traveling anywhere in the US and many … [Read more...]
Apera Tech Bag review + Lucky 13 Giveaway #2
Half marathon #2 is done! I ran it way faster than I expected. I need to learn how to not race every race LOL. This was my first "away" race in my 13 in 79 days. It wasn't far and we only went up for a night, but it did mean I had to pack a ton of running stuff, plus I had some work I wanted to get done in the car. Luckily, I was recently approached by Apera Bags to review one of their bags. I tend not to do fitness activities that require a duffle or other type of gym bag, so I chose their Tech backpack. As I head out on my adventures over the next few months, I need to have my shoes and my computer with me wherever I go. Short story: I LOVE this bag. I put so much stuff in it this weekend. There was a section for my … [Read more...]
There’s no place like home
We just got back from a week long vacation in Kentucky. I've never been so happy to roll up to our front door! Of course, that probably has something to do with the fact that we put more miles on my Pilot last week than we usually put on in a year. I'll do a post about everything we did, but I'm sure you are wondering "Why Kentucky?" Well, why not? Growing up as a military brat, I saw a lot of the U.S., most of it from the back of our station wagon or van. My dad was stationed in California, North Dakota, Alabama, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Virginia while I was growing up. I didn't go on my first plane trip until high school. So, guess how we got everywhere? Yep, driving. I have been to every state at least once and most of … [Read more...]
Tourists in our own town: National Museum of Natural History
The Natural History Museum has always been one of Jones' favorite museums. It was his favorite even when we had to sneak past the elephant. Yeah, this elephant. It used to scare the crap out of him. Luckily, now he finds that amusing, so he's more than happy to walk past the elephant in pursuit of his favorite display: the dinosaurs. He's been begging to go this summer, so we finally did it today. We parked at the Pentagon City Mall because the weather was iffy and I didn't feel like walking in a rain storm. We hopped the metro and quickly got to the Smithsonian stop and it was a short walk from there. Our first stop was to pick up tickets to the Butterfly exhibit. (Tip: it's free on Tuesdays, but get there early and … [Read more...]
Tourists in our own town: Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum
This summer has been... different. Not only have the boys chosen not to go to camp, but it has rained nearly every single day. And it's not a refreshing rain - it just makes everything feel humid and oppressive. We are feeling a little stir crazy because of it. After a nice 3 mile tempo run (went surprisingly well considering the humidity), I decided we needed to get out of the house. We headed over to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. We've probably been there at least once a year (or more) since it opened, but it never gets boring. Like most of the Smithsonian museums, Udvar-Hazy has free admission. Unfortunately, they charge $15 to park. Since it would cost me close to that to use the metro and it's way cheaper than the … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #7 for 2013: Frederick Running Festival
If I had to pick one word to describe my running this weekend, it would be "perfect". Seriously, this was one of the best running weekends I've ever had. Both boys had overnights on Saturday, so Beer Geek and I headed alone up to stay at my boss' house (Beer Geek's fraternity brother and Shoo's Godfather, so obviously also a close friend.) He lives right in the middle of the Frederick half marathon, so we invited ourselves up LOL. A few days ago, another mutual friend trash talked my boss (E) into running the 5k (his first race!), which led to me signing up as well. The bright side of that? Nut Job AKA the extra medal for finishing both races. I had no intention of racing the 5k. None. But at the start line, there was a … [Read more...]
Escape to Chincoteague
No, that's not the last book in the Misty series. It's what we did for the last four days. And it's the real reason I didn't run the Army 10 miler. Our county schools always have two days off in October for elementary school conferences. Normally this coincides with Columbus Day, but this year it was later. I didn't even realize it until well past the Army transfer date. (And, for the record, I was not the only parent in our county who was caught completely off guard by the change.) Anyways, we rented a small cabin (at Dove Winds, if you are curious), packed my Pilot full of kids, clothes, and food, and headed to Chincoteague Island. And it's been pretty much nothing short of amazing. Seriously. The weather was nearly … [Read more...]
State #21: Iowa – Will run for Watermelon
One of these days I'll check the race description/elevation chart BEFORE I sign up. I'm beginning to feel like I'm not on just a 50 states quest, but rather a quest to find all the hills along the way. The Good: Muscatine, Iowa is a really cool small town. The boys got to play at an awesome little park the night before the race. In its 35th year, the Watermelon Stampede was really well organized. First rule of the race? Double tie your shoe laces. Second Rule? No one under 14 in the first three rows. Loved it! The weather was perfect. I finished in 58:13, my fastest 10k in a while. Randomly running into a fellow member of Team Tough Chik. On the drive home, we got to stop at a brewpub and brewery museum for … [Read more...]
How do you train for THAT?!?
You may remember my crazy post from a few days ago about the five half marathons in five days? You know, this... I realize it's 7 months away, but there's been a lot of discussion about it in our house. I mean, the cost and logistics of getting four people from DC to Amarillo, TX, is a bit daunting. That's without even thinking about the missed school, the missed work, and what the heck the boys will do while I'm running. There's even been some discussion of having my non-runner husband volunteer at the races so that I can get a free race or two. But the piece of planning that has been foremost in my mind is "how do I train my body to cover that kind of mileage over 5 days?" (And maybe a little bit of thinking about what level … [Read more...]
Energized!
I have a lot to say about the two weeks we spent in Oregon and Washington. We did a lot of really cool things and visited some awesome places. I'll get to that over the next week or so, but the most important thing this vacation did for me was to relight my inner fire. Pre-vacation, I was struggling. My runs weren't going well. I was totally burned out by the heat in Virginia. I was just tired all the time. I constantly found myself escaping to the computer, but not to actually do anything productive. I just needed a break from "real life." For two weeks, I took a nice break. I mostly left my job at home. I only ran 3 times all week and two of those were races. We ate out way more than we have on any vacation since we had … [Read more...]
Wordless Wednesday
