Before I die...

Recently "Before I die..." popped up on a construction wall in the neighborhood. Panted with chalkboard paint and permanent blanks for filling in what you will do before you die (or Antes de morir quiero in spanish). What's great about the wall is every time it rains people get to fill out more goals/dreams/wishes.  

graffiti = not cool

my favorite = Be a farmer

What would you write on the wall?

Memorial Day Weekend

I had a great weekend, a good mix of relaxation and activity. 

Saturday morning I ran 8.5 miles, my last longish run before the 1/2 next weekend. Then I rushed uptown (upNorthwest?) to meet a friend for lunch. We dined and dished. I headed back to my apartment for last minute packing for camping/rafting. Then I headed to the bottom (foggy bottom) to meet up with friends to carpool to Pennsylvania. We arrived at the campsite a little before dark and got our tents set up and fire roaring... then hit the hay.

Sunday we were up and going at 7 am. We had delicious breakfast burritos and then packed up and headed out to get our rafts. We had two rafts with four people on each, two pros (e.g., friends who kayak a lot). We hit the Lower Youghiogheny River at 9:45 AM. It was my first time white water rafting, but I didn't fall out! (no one ended up falling out in the falls... a few times there were assisted falls). The river was fun. There was calm water between each falls, which was nice for a little relaxation. We pulled over and stopped for lunch on some rocks midway through. The river took us around five hours. Afterwards we grabbed food and drinks river side. I tried a turkey sandwich that had coleslaw, french fries, and provolone on it... it was amazing. Then it was the long ride back to DC.

Today I started off with a 4 mile run, made some summer salads, bought some new shorts, and walked around the neighborhood trying out a new app "cinemagram".

Created with cinemagr.am

Engine Company Number 4

Warrior Dash

A little over a month ago I decided to check out the local run club. I don't mind running alone, but thought it would be fun to have some people to sign up for races with. First day at run club, not only were people super friendly, but I ran into a girl who I had met through another friend a few months before. 

Best (worst) thing about run club is the after run drinks where crazy run ideas come up. It was at one of these after run gatherings that I agreed to run the Warrior Dash.

Warrior Dashes are held all over the US and each have their own variation of the standard set of obstacles along with a 3 mile run. Some of our obstacles included:

Jumping over 3ft walls and under barbed wire

Climbing up 15ft walls of various set ups

Crawling across a horizontal cargo net

Jumping over fire

"Swimming" in 3ft of mud under barbed wire

Oh and this was all between running up and down giant hills.

Yes, it was a ton of fun.

When we arrived it was quite the party atmosphere

Live music and fire cam

Our before picture, nice and clean.

And after... the last obstacle is the mud pit

To rinse off they had three middle aged men sitting on top of tanker trucks spraying everyone with fire hoses (I doubt they had trouble getting volunteers for that job). It took awhile to get the mud off and especially hard to get it all out of my sports bra. Then we headed to the women's changing tent and got cleanish. 

Oh yeah!

We got warrior hats, I'm wearing mine as I type this.

And medals! I am such a warrior.

Oh ps... so we weren't really focused on time, but I placed 2243rd out of 7800 and some with at time of 44:42 and pace of 13:58. And perhaps a bit more impressive 315th out of 1741 women ages 20-29.

Weekend part one

After a morning football game and three miles around the track (fastest 5K ever) I finally made it to Taylor Gourmet. I almost didn't go in when I saw someone wearing a KU shirt chowing down, but I figured we should break bread together now that we are in different conferences.

The menu was quite long, but organized by meat type, which I found quite handy.

I went for a Turkey Race Street on wheat. The menu said it had prosciutto in it, but I couldn't see or taste any :(. Overall it was decent. The bread was thicker and tougher than what you usually get at a sub shop.

I did love the lighting! Buckets on the ceiling!

Sandwich

As I continued on my walk home I came across the DC Craft Mafia show. There were a lot of vendors with items I hadn't seen before and well made things. However I didn't make any purchases.

Pillows & Chocolate

Weekend part two was a lot muddier....

Dupont Dance Party

Sunday: Day for breaking it down in Dupont

EU Embassy Tours

My cousin came to visit last weekend and I thought what better way to introduce her to Washington DC than touring through a few of the EU's finest Embassies (or those with the shortest lines).

We kicked off the tour at Luxembourg. Small countries have small lines (Luxembourg is 51.7 miles long and 32.5 miles wide).

Justine & Luxembourg's flowers

Embassy Flags

After Luxembourg we checked out Estonia. Estonia was giving away bottled water and had people dressed in native outfits. I also picked up a map of Estonia, so if I wonder over from Russia I won't get lost.

Before I found out how popular the event was there were a few embassies that I was hoping to see, the one we made it to was Ireland.

While waiting to get in they had children step dancing out front.

A reel or a jig, I can't remember

And inside they had music! 

The Irish Embassy was had tons of tourist information, cheese, Kerrygold butter, bread, and best of all we got to chat with the Ambassador.

After Ireland we went to Shake Shack for lunch. I hadn't been in a long time and since we were in the area I was craving a Shroom burger. Luckily Justine was up for checking it out. When I went to pick up my food, I was aghast to find a hotdog on my tray. I mentioned the mix up and in a few minutes not only did I have my burger, but also free fries!

After the great experience at Ireland I thought we should head to Spain to gather some information for my upcoming trip. So we headed up 16th street to see another line. This one luckily moved pretty fast, the only hold up being the Spanish guards filing us through a metal detector and our bags through a x-ray. 

The Embassy was recently the Ambassador's residence 

Inside they sold tickets to buy Sangria and Paella and other Tapas and had a dance demonstration, but no tourist information!

Across the street from Spain was Lithuania, which turned out to be the best deal of the day. There was no line, friendly people, free beer and cheese, and front row seats for a folk dance performance.

We didn't make it to any of the others, but I hope to see some of them in the future. 

Handi Hour

Last Thursday I went to the Renwick Gallery for their Handi Hour event.

For $20 I got:

Two craft beers

Beer goblet

Snacks

Supplies for 2 crafts

Instructions for 2 crafts

Scavenger Hunt

Live music

So it was pretty much amazing

Oh and your surrounded by artwork

The gallery

The live music

Craft 1: scarf made from t-shirt

Trying it out

Craft 2: Duck tape wallet

The next one is July 11th check it out here!

Zola Kitchen + Office Art

DC has some great lunch places. Lots of innovation I don't remember in NYC. This week I ate at  Zola Kitchen for the first time.

Lamb burger with caramelized onions & a side of caprese salad. Gourmet at a walk up counter. They bring it to your table, which is pre stocked with a pitcher of water, which is amazing.

DC has a new TJ Maxx downtown. I ducked in just to check it out. Very nice store with the Runway section. I ended up trying on a few suits and buying a dress and some decorations for my cubicle. I'm not one to buy canned art, but the deal was too good and I figured I can always create my own art over this canvas if I get inspired. Now I feel like I have a window.

French Market + Running Skirt

Last weekend I went to Georgetown to check out the French Market.

Too bad it was just a sidewalk sale and one booth selling crepes.

So instead I went to Athleta and bought a running skirt.

May Day!

I almost forgot to recap my goals today! Good thing I was reading a few other blogs that reminded me. Happy May! I hope you left flowers at someone's door (or even better received flowers).

Refrain from using the snooze button- Success!

Run at least 6 races- No races in April, but I signed up for a Half Marathon in June and am debating a Warrior Dash in May.

Track what I eat & when I work out- Success! In light of the Biggest Loser Finale tonight, today's with today's weigh in I've dropped 12% of my body weight.

Knit something new- FAIL

Travel somewhere new- Sunday I ran to Roosevelt Island, not the Roosevelt Island I lived next to in NYC, but the wooded one in the middle of the Potomac. The island has a one mile hiking trail and a HUGE memorial. Parts of the island seem pretty secluded, another section is a long boardwalk, and then in the middle of the woods arises Teddy and his love for nature. The only way to get there is a footbridge from Virginia, but you can take the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge accessed near the Kennedy Center or do a little off roading like I did on my way over and take the Arlington Memorial Bridge and then run down to the Mount Vernon Trail. (My directions are if you are on foot or bike (bikes are not allowed on the island, but they do have a spot to lock them up) please do not try to off road with a car) I included the trail in my run, although some areas were not safe for running... so I did some bouldering and limb hoping. Then took a short break to check out ole Teddy. Pretty cool.

Be friendlier to strangers- Partial success. Balancing politeness and safety.