Boot camp- waking up is hard to do

Back in May I was talked in to buying a Living Social deal for a month of unlimited bootcamp by some friends who I'm running the Tough Mudder with. I love the idea of the bootcamp as we all need to work on our upper body strength, but it starts at 5:45 am.

So I've been getting up at 5 am the last few weeks and either 1. throwing on clothes and catching the 5:11 bus or 2. getting dressed and catching a 5:20 ride from a friend.

The bootcamp is at Carter Barron an area in the Rock Creek Park, when we arrive around 5:30 the sun is still on its way up.

Everyone brings a mat, dumbbells, and water (I also bring a towel, because I'm a sweatasaurus). 

Then as the sun rises we start to the tune of "Ah One, Two, Three (ONE) Ah One, Two, Three (TWO), Ah One, Two, Three (THREE)"

Mondays and Fridays are lower body & core, Tuesdays and Thursdays are upper body & core, and Wednesday is cardio. Its been a good workout and after two weeks I can tell my arms are a lot stronger. Today I picked up some 8 lb dumbbells, lets see if I'm courageous enough to take them to class tomorrow.

I have two more weeks left and even though I love the class, I'm not sure I can sign on for unlimited 5 am wake up calls.

Race Recap: Crystal City Twilighter 5K

Saturday night I ran the Crystal City Twighlighter 5K in non other than Crystal City, Virginia. The race was advertised as the hottest race around and then we had a record low for a high temperature of like 75 degrees. So when the race started at 8:30 pm it was cool and misting. 

just noticed this says "twighlighter"

When I arrived I had to pick up my number and shirt and check my bag, but that went over pretty well. The race had special prizes for running teams and high school teams so there were a lot of serious runners there warming up. I joined in and jogged a few yards to make sure my iPhone wouldn't bop around too much in my pocket.

While the race seemed well organized overall there weren't any corals or signs for pace. I can never tell where I belong. I saw a few groups I knew I should be in front of and a few groups I knew I should be behind, but there were a lot of people in the middle.

slick roads

When the race started we didn't move. We got to the starting line and still the pace didn't pick up. A few more strides and we had this weird left turn, right turn, right turn, left turn thing that slowed us down even more. I didn't get to my desired pace till about .3 miles in.

Due to the slow start the last half of mile one (8:25) and mile two (7:58) were ran faster than planned and then my stomach started cramping for mile 3 (8:00). Racing (and running) at night always presents additional nutritional challenges. I had dinner around 6 pm, but I think 5 pm would of been more ideal. Either way I survived the rolling race course for a new PR of 25:20! A solid 3:03 less than my last PR in February. Running with faster people has really helped. 

Happy, Wet, and in the Dark.

woo hoo

Watermelon house

There is a giant watermelon in the hood.

Window Gardening: Major growth

I haven't given a window gardening update in awhile, but all the sudden some of my plants are going crazy, so I thought I would share.

I've had this cactus plant for about 18 months (like babies plants age in months till they are two). It had a red bud on top till about two months ago, when all of a sudden it shriveled up and hardened. So I plucked it off. Soon after this sprout came out the side and ballooned. It kind of looks like some more might come out and play, we'll see.

cactus action

I recently bought a succulent and rosemary plant to keep the cactus company.

we're better together

Before I bought the succulent I put a basil plant in one of my little pots, but it couldn't get enough water and every night would look at me with sad droopy leaves. So I transplanted it to my big planter and it started growing like crazy. I've even used a few of the leaves for dinner.

room to breathe

I scream for ICE CREAM DAY!

Happy Ice Cream Day! 

July is ice cream month so you can still celebrate if you missed your ice cream today, but I have a feeling with the heat and humidity across the USA today, most of you indulged.

I celebrated with a gelato (I hope that still counts).

Rhubarb and Stracciatella.

It was delicious.

YUM.

biker * barre

Last week I signed up for a free class through Lululemon Logan Circle at the new cycling and barre studio, biker * barre. The studio is located about two blocks south of the Eastern Market metro station.

The space was pretty cool. It has a bit of an industrial/hollywood mix. 

Lately I've been taking all my spin classes at the YMCA, so going to a place with bikes that didn't wobble was pretty awesome. A towel was waiting for me on my bike.

The style of the class was a lot different than I have taken in the past. The instructor spent more time off of the bike dancing instructions instead of pedaling along with us. This was ok with me, it kept me distracted from the sweat rolling down my face and the resistance on the bike.

At the end of the class she handed out cold, wet, rosemary scented towels. These were very lovely. I wish I was handed one after every workout. Then on the way out we were handed a mimosa.

It was nice to be pampered even when sweating.

Then a few days later I received a thank you in the mail!

Check it out if you live near Eastern Market!

Montana didn't want to say goodbye

On Saturday it was time to go home. My flight was scheduled for 6:30 am so we got up a little before 5 and Matt dropped me off at the airport around 5:30. I was to the gate by 5:50, perfect.

Then we had a slight delay due to fueling, but they had us on board by 6:30. Then we sat during "paperwork" and finally took off at 7am. I promptly fell asleep. I woke up about a half hour later only to still see mountains very clearly out the window and realized something was off. Soon after they announced that we were beginning our descent back in to Bozeman. Oh great.

gorgeous sunrise & defective airplane

We were back in the terminal by 8 am and told just to sit near the gate and wait for further instruction. After about two hours they started rebooking people, very slowly. I watched the line for a half hour and only one person was helped.

gorgeous mountains at 8am

Around 11:45 they finally booked me on a new flight to DC. Only I had to now go through San Francisco instead of Chicago and I was flying into Dulles instead of National and I'd be arriving after midnight instead of a little after 1 pm.

not excited to see the noon day sun in Bozeman

Luckily the flight to San Francisco was uneventful. As I walked from my arrival gate to my departure gate I passed a cool exhibit from some museum about sewing, pattern making, and style over the years.

sewing machines!

I'd like to thank the San Francisco Airport for my only real meal of the day. Shrimp Fajitas. Delicious. And I apologize for screaming for a fork, but my patience has finally worn thin.

The airport also had this cool water bottle refilling station. So much easier than a water fountain. So cool.

men with sleeves also care about the environment

My flight from San Fran to Dulles was also smooth and I was lucky enough to have a window seat. I got tons of reading done and a little sleeping. I also lucked out that I had a friend with a car flying in to Dulles Saturday night too and got a ride home. That was key.

So to recap I travelled for 19 hours and didn't even leave the US. Yea United!

Livingston, MT

We drove over to Livingston, MT one afternoon. Livingston was much more Cowboy than Bozeman, in all the right ways. Livingston also had ton of historic buildings and signs, which made it fun to just walk around and admire. 

We also stopped in the Murray Bar to try the much talked about Huckleberry Vodka (with soda) and then had dinner at Mark's In and Out, where our shakes and burgers were delivered by girl on roller-skates. 

 

Hyalite Canyon

A few miles outside of Bozeman is Hyalite Canyon. We drove up and did a few hikes. The area was beautiful and thankfully we didn't run into any bears or moose (the locals said the moose are meaner than the bears).

Matt reflecting at Hyalite Reservoir

the water was very clear and chilly

We drove up the mountain from the reservoir and had a lot of good views along the way.

The first hike we did was up to the Grotto, which was along a river and through the river at one point (which was awesome).

I look slightly pained here... I think the sun was bright

the Grotto

Ohhh

Ahhhh

The second hike we did was to Crescent Lake. Crescent Lake was a little lackluster, but the hike took us around a good chunk of the reservoir too.

this picture just doesn't look real

Crescent lake...

on the trail... getting warm

vintage style

A Montana 4th of July

I started out the 4th with a run. Bozeman had many trails that wound through the neighborhoods, luckily one went right by the place Matt was subletting. I took off to do 4 miles for the 4th (ended up with 4.5) and discovered it is a lot harder to breath at almost 5,000 feet than at sea level in DC.  

After cleaning up a bit we headed to a children's bike parade and picked up some flags for our bikes.

kids decorating their bikes

my patriotic outfit. I made the shirt several years ago and thought I'd get another 4th out of it

Matt on his patriotic bike

After the parade we poked around downtown for awhile, ate bison burgers, had coffee, biked to the local lake, discovered many local establishments were closed for the fourth, and went back to the apartment to prepare for the evening.

Around seven we biked over to the fairgrounds for the Bozeman Symphony and fireworks. Only thing is Bozeman doesn't get dark till after 10 PM. There wasn't much going on in the fairgrounds except a Lions Club BBQ. However Matt was able to finagle ice cream, brownies, and apple pie for a small fee and we got to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

the Symphony was quite good, even played some Johnny Cash

we snuck into the arena for a few shots

I'm a little sad I won't be there for the county fair

The fireworks did not disappoint. Twenty minutes of fireworks against a pitch black sky.