WORKOUT – Ran
8.05 miles/1:13
part trails, part roads
My last run in DC before heading home: hilly and slow even though I felt like I was hauling.
PACING
I’m not sure if I came across as disappointed in my performance on Saturday, but I’m not. My goal wasn’t to PR, I had hoped to run about a 3:20. I knew by starting fast I was setting myself up for a tougher finish and I did that willingly. Pacing is a mental discipline and I was ok with it and what I was doing.
I definitely struggled in the last hour of the race, but that’s what makes marathons so dang addictive – not enjoying the first 2o but suffering the last 10k.
YESTERDAY’S YESTERDAY
After the race R and I did some stretching, I ate a free granola bar and then took off in search of food.
We took the Metro to a farmer’s market area, walked around for awhile and finally ended up at Banana Café on 8th Street because Matchbox Pizza was too long of a wait and it was already 2:30pm. By that time we were both getting mean angry hungry meaning you wouldn’t want to run into us in a dark alley.
It was really crowded and the service was a little off (J was nearly finished with his meal when we got ours and his margarita was served after his meal) but the grilled chicken salad was pretty good – simple but hit the spot.
A little interesting tidbit of information that you didn’t want to know: I knew it was warm out and I was dehydrated when I realized I peed at 7:30am before the race and didn’t go again until 3pm despite pounding bottles of water after the race and taking 2-3 cups of water/Gatorade at each aid station.
Is it bad when your urine looks like a GU gel?
After lunch we took the Metro back home where we started celebrating properly… with green champagne.
Happy St. Patty’s indeed. Running a marathon on a holiday, like Super Bowl Sunday which is practically a holiday, is a fantastic idea.
YESTERDAY
R had to do some massive work and studying; I told her to quit making me look bad and while she was it, quit her MBA program but she doesn’t listen to me. probably for the best. maybe.
So J and I drove into DC and went to a couple Smithsonians. First we went to the Air and Space museum.
I enjoyed the air part with airplanes and the history of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earheart much more than space part.
The Wright Brothers 1903 plane. And I complain about Southwest being a crappy airlines.
Then we walked over to the Museum of American History which was awesome; I really enjoyed it and learned tons of educational stuff:
Not sure what Dumbo had to do with anything, but I loved the First Ladies exhibit which displayed inaugural dresses, presidential china and other small First Lady things.
First Lady Obama’s Jason Wu dress, Mrs. Bush’s red dress and Hillary Clinton’s inaugural blue dress.
This was an exhibit on the Vietnam War and how it was a televised war. For the first time, Americans watched a war in almost real time.
Other huge, life-like exhibits about the history of transportation and the different modes of it.
There was so much to check out and the Star Spangled Banner exhibit was pretty amazing. Photography wasn’t allowed in the exhibit to preserve the 200 year old flag, but this is the entrance to it:
And a picture from the website:
After about an hour and a half, we left with our museum fill for the day and walked to the White House since I hadn’t seen it.
Leaving the museum, another sunny afternoon, feeling all smart and educated and like I actually belonged in DC instead of inside a gossip magazine.
It was pretty cool to see the White House and I was surprised at how close we were to it. For some reason, I thought it would be more blockaded from the public. I mean, no one was going up ringing the doorbell, but every mansion in Santa Barbara has higher privacy fences than this. But it was sweet to get to see it.
Last night after dinner we drove to the Lincoln Memorial which was amazing lit up at night. What isn’t amazing? My camera. It sucks so these pictures are sucktastic too.
We also walked over to the Vietnam Memorial which was moving and incredible to see how many names are on the wall (over 58,000).
Now we’re going to try to fit in a little more site seeing before I hit the airport and head home to Cali. Can’t wait to get home.
Did you eat or drink anything green on St Patty’s Day?
Do anything interesting this weekend?
If you had to NOT celebrate one holiday out of the year, which would it be?
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{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the museums and monuments in DC!
I didn’t really do any St. Patty’s celebrating, but I did do some racing and redecorating, so it was still an awesome weekend.
I’m still hanging out in injury land, so I spent this weekend celebrating my 30th birthday (it was the 17th) in Virginia wine country near Charlotesville, VA.
Lots of St.Patrick’s festivities this weekend… Only green thing I had was spinach in my smoothie this morning at an attempt to be healthy after barely consuming a single vegetable this weekend.
I think I’d rather not celebrate New Years to be honest… It somehow happens that I’m always exhausted by 11pm and I get cranky! (Which is weird considering most nights I don’t sleep before 2am) Besides, am I the only one who finds it overrated?
I loved the first lady dress exhibit! That and the Star Spangled Banner (except that dark room creeped me out) thing were my favorite DC outings. And no I totally failed at eating or drinking anything green at all on St. Patty’s day. I had a green smoothie today though. Maybe that counts?
I would love to NOT celebrate Halloween. I really can’t stand that “holiday”. I hate dressing up and I’m not creative so I always have the worst time thinking of a costume. Debbie downer much?
Yep. I’m with you. And frankly we have managed to make it so bloody and scary the “suspense” is gone right out of it. Now it’s just disgusting. Hello, little children.
I’m also not a fan of Halloween. Yep, I’ll cross that off my list of yearly celebrations
Glad you liked DC! I love it! I’ve lived here for 25 years and have never gone to the Washington Monument. :/ I did the Shamrock Marathon (in VA Beach) yesterday. On Saturday I went to the Expo to pick up my packet. 26.2 Apparel was there. I was looking at some of the shirts, one of the guys there told me how soft the shirts were and that Skinny Runner wears it. I told him how you were in DC this weekend and that I’ve been to their website (through yours). He sold the $15 shirts for $10 because I’ve been to their site and he wants me to really try them. Cool! Walked away thinking I got a great deal. Had to go back to the Expo the next day…turns out they made everything there $10!
On the site it’s $20 more though AND the shirts are really fantastic! Plus they are coming out with some new designs. Looking forward to seeing what they look like. 
I like the festivities of St. Patrick’s Day but it’s not a huge deal for me.
that is sweet and sounds like a good deal. and yes, the shirts are insanely soft.
Looks like you packed a lot in for a quick trip. Nothing I drank was green but it I did feel bit green the next day…
Perfect day in DC! It makes me want to go there tomorrow! Or tonight or right now.
When I was in DC we couldn’t get very close to the white house because there were people on the lawn. We were trying to figure out if it was dignitaries or senators or other fancy important folks.
Girl, you have endless amounts of energy.
I’m impressed you squeezed in so many tourist things into such a small amount of time!
And you’re right, the Lincoln memorial at night is the way to do it.
Ooh I like the green champagne! Very fancy! We had green beer, and we also did wine tasting, but they weren’t cool enough to make the wine green.
I made Irish Car bomb cupcakes… they weren’t green but did have green sprinkles!
I spent the weekend relaxing with friends at the lake, my Saturday run was derailed by crazy thunder/lightning storms that persisted all.freaking.day.
Ummm, I kinda like celebrating all of the holidays. Maybe I’d skip Valentine’s Day?
I think my most favorite thing to see at night is Iwo Jima. I loved driving around it so that it actually looks like the guys are raising the flag. It was awe inspiring.
It was great meeting you at the expo (this is Meggan)!!! I let all my friends who follow you know that you are indeed just as pretty and skinny in real life as you are in your photos haha. Congrats to you and Reese! Have a safe trip back to CA!
thanks for coming and saying hi! you made me look famous in front of my friend. YES!!!!!!!!!
Love that you did all the “DC things”. You should now plan to run the Missoula Marathon (Runner’s World featured it) and come to Montana and do lots of “Montana things”!
DC is such a great city! I need to make it a point to go back there to visit. So much history and awesome museums! Glad you had a great weekend!
I can’t believe your legs didn’t fall off this weekend! Way to go!!
My family is from England, Wales, and Ireland, so celebrating St. Patrick’s Day (who’s actually Welsh, captured from Roman Britain) is an everyday event!
I had a guinness and called it a night. I know, LAME! But I had my son wear his green and orange footie pajamas all day, so at least he was in the spirit!
I think I would remove Valentine’s Day from my calendar. It’s turned into a holiday of candy, plus there’s a huge following of anti-valentine’s day people… I think we should show our affections every day to all the people in our lives… But maybe that’s just me
I’m on spring break in Cancun, so I ran barefoot on the beach this St. Patty’s day. But no one wore green or anything here. So I followed everyone’s shenanigans through facebook, and thanked God for all my blessings.
OMG! I used to live in DC and went to Banana Cafe every Saturday after going to the market. Sorry your service was a bit off, but I always loved their salads!
I’ve never had green beer (or champagne! That was fancy haha). Next year I am for sure going to get my food coloring out and whip up a green beer. I love all the holidays. Especially the ones that my husband gets off from work. It’s always nice to have him around for an extra day
My in-laws tend to monopolize EVERY holiday that comes along. And I mean even the B and C-list holidays. So we could kick those to the curb and it would be ok with me.
The Kidless Kronicles
I would skip celebrating V-Day… it’s only fun to send my niece and nephew gifts but otherwise I think it’s overrated.
You both look so cute all decked out in green.
I used to make my kids food w/ green in it, like green scrambled eggs, green milk etc….but now that they are grown, not so much anymore.
I did have a green beer with my honey!!
Sounds like you had a great St. Patty’s Day! Awesome pics.
I love St. Patrick’s Day. My husband and I ran the St. Patrick’s Day 8K in DC the week-end before, and went to the St. Patrick’s Day parade. This Saturday we all wore green and we made corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread, and I made a really healthy (not) green marshmallow and pineapple “salad”. The kids had green sprites and husband and I had green beers. Then we put the kiddos to bed and we went out and had a few more with friends and family and watched all the sloppy drunkards. Fun! Have a safe trip home
I’d skip 4th of July.. I don’t like going to fireworks!!! Haha. I’m the worst!
All your DC talk makes me want to go back…granted I haven’t been in over a decade but I remember loving it! Great job at the race!
My son is going to DC next week with his classmates, so it’s been fun to hear what you have toured and the pics. Good job on your race.
The pics look great! I haven’t been to DC since my 7th grade field trip, but seeing all those pics definitely makes me want to go back.
I didn’t have anything green (other than a salad), but I did have a beer in celebration of St. Patty’s after finishing my 10K… set a new PR of 52:56!
No green drinks for me this year! But I did have salad
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I did nothing interesting but stay in like a bum and hang out with my dog. Did get some good treadmill runs in (its too cold to run outside here). Id prefer to do without valentines day (and I am in a relationship), it just seems like too much work.
I think we were St. Patty’s Day Party poopers this year! None of us wore green. (Maybe that was because subliminally I was hoping to get pinched…idk) Probably the fact that I have a one year old doesn’t motivate us much to go out to the pubs either…oh well! Would have loved that green champagne though!
I love the museums and monuments in DC, thanks for sharing your photo’s . Looks like you covered a lot while you were there.
My birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day so I try to focus on it more of being MY day! Although I usually will wear green and eat Irish Soda Bread. But not willingly!
I love doing “touristy” things and checking out museums and landmarks. The holiday I could do without is definitely Halloween! For some reason I just can’t get into it.
No green beer for this girl. Just green frosted cupcakes and green chocolate chip cookies. Any excuse to eat something frosted!
I have a question…I have a half coming up on Sunday. I’ve been training, but my longest runs have been 10 or just over. Is this ok? Give it to me straight…am I going to crash and burn, or is there a chance I’ll be ok? I should be taking it somewhat easy the next few days, am I right? Wondering if I blew my training?! Yikes…but too late now! I’m hoping to run 8:15 miles or under…I think!?
no, 10 miles is totally fine for a half but i would start conservatively and if you feel awesome at the midway point, pick it up.
I had a traditional Irish Car bomb and Irish Beer. Not that exciting but the place we went to was a blast. I totally agree with the pace being a mental thing. Although I am not quite as fast I have to make sure at longer races to set my pace from the beginning. Which can be hard to do if you start talking to someone right away. Looks like DC was a blast. Can we get rid of Valentine’s day?
I visited DC for the first time this past summer and I had the exact same thoughts regarding the close proximity of the White House to the general public. I was amazed at how easily accessible it was.
Gosh I love DC. I really want to move there!
How do you “walk”/tour DC after running a 42???? LOL!
Thanks for the heads up on the socks. I am addicted to compression socks and can only run i them and they are so damn expensive so this was awesome. I bought 3 pair!! YAY!!!
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