Running in Northern VA!

**caution** this post has a little bit of complaining in it.

Forgive me runners for I have sinned. I have not be running like I should be and I have no excuse other than a dog who eats rocks and has to be rushed to the vet, training a new gal at the office, and in town visitors in the form of parents and old bosses. But! That all changed when I got home to Northern VA. There is something awesome about running back home. I do not know if it is just the newness of the routes and roads. Or if it is because it is the ‘burbs and running in neighborhoods is much better than the city. So, as I packed I packed up 5 days worth of workout gear because I had every intention of running, spinning, hitting the elliptical every day I was home. However, mid last week I had a feeling that my vacation away from life and my hopes of getting in some major gym and road time was going to be squashed when Kyle started making my vacation away from my busy life busy with not one but two meals with his mother, drinks with his best friend, and dinner with his dad. Mind you all I wanted to do was dinner with his dad and 1 meal with his mom but of course me speaking up turns into “why do you hate my mother”. Kyle even had the balls to ask why I wanted to grab coffee with a high school friend. Yes, 4 events in like 5 days home made for a pretty hectic first few days home. No gym time as planned Friday. Saturday was spent recovering from 2 days in the car and dinner with K’s dad till oh 11:30 pm, followed by Saturday dinner with his mom and drinks with his friend. blah blah blah – the first 2 days home were packed and Monday was a 4 hour lunch with his Mom (and all I could think was, why does it take 4 hours to have LUNCH?!) …so leading up to leaving I packed running clothes, my iPod, and Garmin in hopes of running Burke Lake and around DC and around my neighborhood but I had a sneaky suspicions I wouldn’t get in too many quality runs and I was right…

so here were my planned runs and let’s see if they happened or did not happen

Burke Lake :: miles run = 4.65 :: I had planned on doing this run at 8 am and well, if you know me… waking up in the morning isn’t my strength so after hitting the snooze button about 5 times I postponed the run to the afternoon. worst.idea.ever. 90 degrees is still hot in the shade. The gorgeous views of the lake distracted me a bit from the terrain for the most part but I did have to take quite a few walk breaks. I never knew how hard trail running could be until this run and I the verdict it still out on how I really feel about it but my legs were dying after the run because of the ups and downs (more ups than downs) which I know if beneficial. If/when we move back to DC I think Burke Lake runs will happen… quite honestly, I wished I had more time home to go run it again. …next time…

Washington DC, around the mall :: miles run = 4.42 :: This was the one run I was looking forward to the most and it was a great idea in my mind but once I did it … no so much. I spent more time on the metro than I did running but other than that it was a cool run. I shall call in “find the monuments” because when I got off the metro I had no idea where I was and I was thinking “ok just find the Washington monument” … well I found the capital instead and then spotted the Washington monument and headed that way. So I ran from The Capital, to the Washington Monument, to Lincoln (where I wanted to wade in the nasty reflecting pool like Jenny from Forest Gump because it was so hot) and then back to the metro. Looking at the map of my run (thanks Garmin connect) I wish I had sucked it up and ran around the tidal basin, but the heat was getting to me. Needless to say it would have been a super cool run if it wasn’t so hot and if/when we relocate back to DC it will for sure be a spring/fall run. Now lets just hope it isn’t this hot in October for Marine Corps!! ….after getting home I kinda wanted to run Burke Lake again (crazy me) but the rain came in so I laid in bed instead! :o)

Around the neighborhood :: miles run = 2.01 :: the heat, hills, humidity, high pollen count, and hangover from 1 too man Blue Moons the night prior cut this run short. Who ever said a good run will cure a hangover was crazy, it just made my stomach cramp up and want to hurl in Taylor Ward’s parents front yard. (I didn’t though.)

For a grand total of 11.08 miles. Not impressive but not too bad for the busy vacation.

In other news… I pulled the trigger and signed up for a half marathon in Nashville on September 25th. It will be an easy trip up, spend the night, 7 am start, run for 2 hours, hop in the car and head back to Atlanta. I think it would be great training for Marine Corps… nothing like forced long runs with a shiny medal at the end! :o)

Tomorrow is national running day – I hope you all get out there and RUN. I will rock my running gear, but I will be trekking back to ATL from DC so no running for me. Happy running to you all tomorrow!!