A Long Long Saturday

The alarm goes off at five in the morning yesterday as I struggle to wake up and turn it off.

Yesterday, I was all about soaking in all what living in a fun city has to offer. I must admit that living in the DC area has its perks. I love the area and love all the exciting things there are to do around here. So yesterday was a day in which I was able check out the city and participiate in some of its activities. It started off bright and early to the tune of 5:00 in the marnin'. I got up this early because I signed up to run the National Half Marathon. I did this last year, and this race is somewhat special because it really was the first race that I ran in my short running career exactly one year ago. So I ran it with two of my buddies, Lyle and Gerald whom I met while working at my last job. The weather called for sunrise temps in the high 20's so I packed my thermals but did not use them. It was a clear morning but definitely brisk. The atmosphere was electric as runners prepared for the race to start. I felt like I could have trained a little better for this race but I had a goal in mind of 1:50. Just walking around prior to the race I was reminded why I love running so much. We were all set and crossed the starting line. All three of us disbanded within a quarter mile of the start. The first few miles were pretty packed with people as I felt like a was bobbin' and weavin' across the asphalt. Again, I was reminded why I love running as I chose not to listen to my ipod as I could hear the pounding of the soles hit the asphalt on a cool brisk morning. The first few miles were of this course were great. Running along quaint neighborhoods by the Capitol, passing the Library of Congress and Supreme Court, the US Capitol, the Washington Monument and along the mall for a mile or so. Then through some great parts of downtown as we plowed through Dupont Circle and on to Adams Morgan. Again, I was reminded of why I love running. About mile nine, I saw this row of port o johns with a line about ten deep. I saw this lady frantically running around these as if she were trying to break down the door to let herself in. After getting frustrated, she went around behind the port o john and in clear view of me and Im sure dozens of other runners, dropped "trou" and did her thing. Was I reminded about how much I love running....maybe not then but it was one for the books! About mile 10, I started to stagger and I knew that I was on pace to tie my record so I wanted to step it up. The last few miles were tough as I honestly thought I was going to throw up as I kept pushing it. As I got nearer and nearer, I knew that it was going to be close. I realized that I was not going to get my goal, but the possibility of beating my old PR was still possible. As I made the last turn, I was dying but had to continue strong. I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:54...one minute better than my last half but still short of my goal. I was hammered! All sweaty and temps in the 40's I was freezing but still just happy to be done. How did I ever run twice this far???

After hanging out afterwards for a bit, I left and headed downtown to fight the crowds at the annual Smithsonian Kite Festival. I had never been to see this but being on the Cultural Events Committee for church, yeah that was Cultural Events...it's a step above the Activities Committe. We organized it. There were so many people down along the mall and the whole sky was filled with kites, as shown below.

I even took a stab at flying a kite. I'd seen the Kite Runner, so I think I could handle it. I think I got the form down but it soon got tangled with another kite, not that there weren't hundreds of kites to get tangled with but whatever.

After trying to fly a kite, we walked over to check out the Cherry Blossoms, being in peak bloom. This was a mob scene! There were so many people cruisin the Basin checking them out. My one buddy, shown below, has lived here his whole life, and this was his first time seeing the blossoms in effect. (Sorry Paul) He was giddier than a schoolboy!

All this time, I was just dying to get home and rest, or shower or something. After that, I met up with my friend who rigged her 7 thousand dollar camera again for the weekend to shoot the cherry blossoms. So we cruised the Mall searching for some good photo ops. I logged another five miles just walking up and down the Mall snapping photos. We then made it to the Tidal Basin as we snapped some good shots at sunset. I unfortunately don't have any photos from that yet but, I definitely got some good ones. That camera is voice activated and it even duals as dry cleaner. It's kind of a big deal. We then wrapped it up about nine and again, I was wasted! My legs couldn't go on. We then grabbed a bite to eat at Lebanese Taverna which was less than disappointing due to bad service, a hair in my food, and a non-caring manager. I finally got home and hit the hay! All in all, it was a good day and made me feel lucky to live in such a cool city!

Feeling like a Big Dawg

So one of my friends works for the National Archives as a digital archiver. I am starting to enjoy photography more and more over the years and want to keep working on it. She digs photograhpy too so some of us went downtown the other day and did some "shooting." She was able to rig her work camera for the weekend. This is no ordinary camera. This thing maxs out at 7 Gs on Ebay. This was kind of a big deal. In many ways, this was my first day at the circus as I tried to capture some tiny morsels of photography. It was a great day but definitely on the windy side. Here are some of the shots and let me just say, all I had to do was say "shoot" and this camera could make anyone look good! The crazy looking ones were taken at the new Air Force Memorial.

Happy Birthday Jack!!! Three big ones!

Jack turns three big ones today and here is a special shout-out to my main Jack! You look fine Jack!

Saturdays

You gotta just love Saturdays! This morning I woke up and laid in bed for thirty minutes or so and just loved that it was Saturday. Finally got out of bed a little before eleven. The weather outside was just kind as could be. So I decided to go for a run to get ready for this half marathon that I signed up for in two weeks. Really haven't trained well for it but I needed to get out today so I decided to head out and ended up cranking out nine miles and some change. It was just the perfect day for a run....high fifties and a slight breeze. I stopped off at the Giant at the halfway point to get a drink from their drinking fountain and turned around and headed home. It felt good and I always love the feeling after a long run. Now it was after one o clock and still had not had breakfast. No big deal. So I cranked up the griddle for some french toast. Just stacked the toast six deep and drenched it in syrup.

She was good...real good. Breakfast at 1:3o is normal right? Then I wanted to go biking but the mountain bike park was still closed for the winter and had to settle for something else. Golf perhaps? Yeah, that works. Just the perfect day for being outside. Hope there are plenty more Saturdays like this one.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

So last night I decided to go up to Baltimore to check out the Banff Moutain Film Festival that was making its way through the area. I knew very little about this but it sounded cool. Going into it, I thought I was going to leave pumped up and ready to move back West where they have "real" mountains. We left early because it was a little disappointing and I had to wake up bright and early for tennis the next day. But the real action came on our way home. I was with Blake and Paul and Paul was at the helm. We didn't know exactly where we were going because we were looking for 95 south to DC. we were heading south on some side streets and we felt we were getting closer. We made a wrong and turn and next thing we knew, we were the only car around. Paul, trying to figure it out, went screaming through this red light! Realizing this halfway through, he slammed on the brakes and starting reversing as if to reverse all the way through to "make it right" I told him, the damage was done and to keep moving. We then come around the corner and we see this blue light flashing on top this pole as if a crime had just happened and not to come close. What do we do..get closer and next thing we know, we are stopped at a red light and I kid you not, there were about six or so foos just chillin and staring us down. Paul locks the cars as we try to wonder what is going on. We are trying so hard not to laugh but was rather easy because I think we were all a little spooked! Then, this guy in a orange puffy coat was looking at us and moving closer towards us. Then two people crossed the street right in front of us not five feet in front of us. They were all eyeing us! The light was still red and we had no where to go! There are few things I know in this life but I know that these guys were sniffing the pixy stix if you know what I mean. The only thing that was going through this guys mind was "357" or 8" blade? So the light turns green but the two guys are right in front of us and won't move. So Paul weasels his way around them and just leaves a patch right there on the crosswalk and we were out of there! Needless to say, we finally found the freeway and made it home safely. We did however catch the name of the street...Dolphin Street! Word of the wise...don't hit up Dolphin St this side of Baltimore!