Days off are the best!

Saturday morning I woke up early and went to meet up with my running group. It was a beautiful day and perfect weather to be outside. The run was fabulous, I ran to Roosevelt Island, met up with the group, and we ran around the island. It felt so good to be in the woods, and for a little bit, while on a trail, I was brought back to Montana having to duck under branches and hop over roots. It was a fabulous run... I logged around 7.5 miles.

After the run, I headed home and while eating eating my veggie omelet, I got a text from Tom about going for a bike ride. It was way to nice to be inside, so I changed into my biking gear, pumped up my tires, and headed to Shady Grove. We biked Rock Creek- the whole thing (around 25 miles). We ended up in Georgetown, headed to Trader Joe's for some Ben and Jerry's, and ate the whole carton of it while watching the rowers on the Potomac. The ice cream was great, but didn't exactly sit well on the 10 mile ride home. The ride was great though, especially the part when I smoked Tom in our 1/2 mile race (I am sure the fact that I was on a road bike and he was on a mountain bike made no difference).

K2, anyone?

I went to the greatest presentation last night by this guy who is a serious mountaineer and summited K2 last summer. He told an awesome story of the trek and the teamwork that went into making the journey. His team made a movie which aired on NBC. His trek involves three friends who teamed together and ended up helping lead many to the summit (the largest group of people to reach to top in one year). It also conveyed the dangers of that mountain, with two deaths, hypothermia, altitude sickness and some genuine dirt bags on the trail (someone stole a sleeping bag and a pair of crampons at their advanced base camp). Overall though, he conveyed the three things important in the trip, Safety, Summit and Style. His team definitely displayed all three throughout the trip.


He also told the story of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. They were the first two to summit Mt. Everest. They went together, and they made a pact that they wouldn't tell anyone who got to the top first. When Tenzing Norgay died, he wrote in his will it was Hillary who reached the top first. I loved this story both for the character that it showed, and the perseverance of reaching that goal.

Accident prone?

My family teases me all the time about the fear that went through them each time I would go on a bike ride as a child. They joke that I would be riding along not paying any attention to what was going on, cars could be crashing, fire hydrants going off, dogs fighting... and me, just riding along. Well, last week I biked into work (which I plan on doing daily once the rain is gone) and I laughed to myself at these images. I am happy to say I made it safely to work and back home through the streets of DC without a hitch.

On the other hand, my roomies in college have an ongoing joke that I consistently trip on dry flat ground, this I don't even try to deny. On my way home from the bike shop, I was walking briskly because I was going to check out a car and didn't want to be late. Well, it happened last night. I was walking along and then all of the sudden, WHAM! I hit the ground. My arms outstretched to catch myself, me laying on the pavement. I stood up rather embarrassed, though I only saw one guy in his car nearby, who I am sure was dying with laughter. When I got up, I did notice my big toe missing a chunk of skin (gross, I know) and my palms were all red. It was one of those moments when, once I stood up, I couldn't contain my own laughter.

Rock Band

For all those Guitar Hero lovers out there (Mom)...

This weekend we headed up to the City of Rock (Rockville) and played Rock Band. I am sure all of you faithful readers out there know what this is, but if you don't, it is possibly the best video game since Tetris. You get to be a band member, instrument and all. It's kind of like being in a real band, minus the sex, booze and drugs.

Sports and politics

There are two ways to fill out the NCAA bracket. You can watch the games, research teams shooting records, and fill it out based on percentage of three's hit this season. Or, you can randomly fill out the bracket. I do the latter. Well, I actually just pick a random team to win (this year Xavier because I like the name) and fill in the other slots. I have a friend who filled her bracket out based solely on the team's colors.


At work today, Roz and I were discussing political candidates. We came to the conclusion, there are also two ways to pick a candidate. I wonder how many Hillary haters know what her opinion is on tax policy, or the war in Iraq. Obama is such a likable guy, because, well... he just is. He seems really friendly doesn't he? McCain doesn't seem like he would be quite the kick in the pants that Romney would have been. Speaking of Romney, I would have liked to have seen Obama and Romney against each other, charisma would ooze off the debate stage. Uninformed voters would have to choose based upon tie colors, or shoes.


The funny part about this is though, in sports, the best generally comes out on top. I realize this could be debated due to upsets and the nature of the brackets. Who decides if the best candidate won? I like to think that the system works itself out. Checks and balances. And if that still doesn't catch it, due to government bureaucracy it takes years to get anything done.