Monthly Archives: November 2012

24 Hours in Cali

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This week I took a whirlwind business trip to San Diego to attend a board meeting. I flew out of DCA around 9 a.m. Wednesday morning arriving in California just after noon pacific coast time knowing that my departure flight back home would take off in just 24 hours. If I was going to fly more than 10 hours in two days, I was definitely going to make the most of my time on the west coast.

I stayed at the beautiful Hilton Bayfront Hotel right on the water. My room had a comfy king-size bed, a nice flat screen TV and a beautiful view. I’d scoped out a Mexican restaurant on Yelp near my hotel before making the trip, and made that my first stop after dropping my bags in my room. Lolita’s began as a mom and pop shop in the 80s and now has about 5 locations in California including the one I went to right next to Petco Park. After just a couple minute walk from my hotel I was enjoying a delicious chicken burrito and an enormous plate of chips and guac.

I still had a few hours before my meeting and would have loved to take advantage of the sunny, 60-degree weather to go for a run along the water, but seeing as running is still off limits I hit the fitness center to use the elliptical instead. The fitness center was great – very well equipped with plenty of cardio machines that all had individual TVs and a view of the pool and the bay if you preferred that instead.

After the board meeting I flew out to attend wrapped up at 7 p.m., I was running on fumes since I’d been awake since 3 a.m. local time. My supervisor and I swung by a reception for a quick drink and some hors d’ouerves before heading to one of the hotel restaurants for some burgers.

I took advantage of waking up super early Thursday morning by lounging around, enjoying a Starbucks breakfast and going for a quick walk along the water. It was a gray and rainy day, but I was in California with just a few more hours to spare so I was going swimming. I did laps in the hotel pool overlooking the bay and soaked in the hot tub before hustling back to my room to shower, pack and head home. And just like that I was back to D.C., 40-degree temps and a regular Friday.

Book Review: Going Long

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You don’t have to be a runner to enjoy this book – just human. Going Long: Legends, Oddballs, Comebacks & Adventures compiles the best stories from Runner’s World over the years. Fair warning: have a box of tissues close by, especially when you read the section on inspirations.

David Wiley, editor in chief of Runner’s World and editor of Going Long writes about the stories included in this book: “To land in these pages, they had to go long and deep, transcending running as mere sport in some way, connecting it to larger themes such as fame, faith, family, love, and even life and death.”

Thirty stories are included and are separated into five chapters including inspirations, legends, true originals, the runner’s high, and adventures and investigations. Inspirations is the section I think non-runners will connect with the most. Stories show people recovering from 9-11, amputation and getting crushed by a bus with running. There’s the story of the father-son running and triathlon team where the father pushes his son with cerebral palsy along the way as they complete marathons and Ironman triathlons across the country.

The section on legends talks about the runners who have made running what it is and shows why so many everyday people love to take part in this sport. True originals takes more of a look at some of the colorful characters to have graced the sport of running the runner’s section consists of personal essays from runners themselves about what it takes to be a runner. Finally adventures and investigations looks at going to great lengths to report on running whether looking to find the Tarahumara Indian runners made famous in Born to Run or trying to trace the route Terry Fox made in his attempt to raise cancer awareness by running 5,300 miles across Canada before being cut short by the disease that would soon take his life.

I’ve been reading Runner’s World for a few years now, but all of these stories predated my subscription to the magazine so they were all new to me and I thoroughly enjoyed each and every story. Runners that enjoy the longer stories near the end of each Runner’s World mag will surely love this compilation of the best – even if you have seen a few of them before.

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DIY: Ceiling Fan Edition

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I’ve done a bit of work on my place since moving in, and if you’ve read my earlier posts you know some of it worked out great and some was a bit more difficult. With a kitchen remodel and new hardwood floors the place is really looking great.

The most recent upgrade was to finally finish the hardwood flooring project this summer. My boyfriend installed the floors, but we decided to hire a contractor to do the trim, door threshold and transition pieces into the bathroom and kitchen. My building manager recommended Silva Construction and they were extremely professional, did a phenomenal job on the project in one day and were very reasonably priced.

This weekend I tackled a smaller DIY project on my own. My ceiling fan broke some time ago, and I’ve had a new one from Home Depot sitting on the floor of my apartment taunting me for weeks now. Apparently running a fan for four years straight without ever turning it off can burn out a motor. Lesson learned: occasionally turn fan off, especially when not at home or on vacation!

After returning from a great Thanksgiving weekend, I decided why not give it a shot. I watched a couple videos on Home Depot on how to do it, read the instructions that came with my new fan and set out all the pieces and tools I would need. My place is pretty old so it runs on fuses instead of circuit breakers and all of the electricity in my apartment is powered by a single fuse, so I was working by flashlight in the bedroom and hoping to finish before I lost all of the daylight coming in from the main room. Of course I forgot about how much earlier it’s getting dark these days and ended up finishing the project in a very dark room.

I undid the wiring and removed the current fan and light fixture in place. I was moving a bit slow since I was very paranoid about messing up a fan that hangs over my bed while I sleep, but I finally got to the wiring stage. There was no ground wire in my apartment so things just weren’t matching up with the instructions I had on how to hook up the wires. I decided it best not to guess and sent a picture of the wiring situation with a please help text message to my brother. He called and talked me through what color to hook up where and I was back in action.

After completing the wiring, I covered it up with the canopy, attached the fan blades and then affixed the light fixture. Now was time for the moment of truth. I’ll be honest, I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence that this would actually work out. I plugged the fuse back in and flipped the switch and to my amazement I had a working fan and light! It really was an easy project, so I’m probably more proud of this than I should be, but it’s the toughest DIY project I’ve done on my own and succeeded at, so I’m going to go ahead and brag about it!

My Favorite D.C. Restaurants

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Last week I wrote about my favorite Arlington restaurants, so I figured I’d share my favorites in the District today. It’s hard to pick just a few, but the ones I find myself going back to again and again are RFD, Buffalo Billiards and Match Box.

RFD has a beer list that numbers in the hundreds so it’s a great spot for happy hour that turns into several hours plus dinner! They usually have a few ciders on the drinks menu that I like to try, but more often than not, I find myself ordering the “get real Miller Lite” – yes, that’s actually how they list it on the menu. What can I say? I like my Miller Lites! They have decent pub food to complement all the drinks with good nachos, good burgers and good sandwiches/wraps.

Located in Chinatown right near the Verizon Center it’s a great spot to go to before or after games. It’s huge so even when it’s packed you can usually find room. They also have a nice back room for parties or watching games.

Buffalo Billiards is admittedly nothing special, but I love it. It’s the perfect spot for watching sports. You can grab a table and see a bunch of TVs all around from any angle. They’re great about putting the game I want on if I ask them to change the TVs (Syracuse games of course!), and they have really good specials.

I haven’t met many buffalo chicken wraps I don’t like, but theirs is great as are the french fries. If you’re bored with the games on TV, you can entertain yourself with shuffleboard, darts or pool as well. It’s always a good time here.

Last but not least is Matchbox. They have several locations, but the Capitol Hill one is my favorite. Given my love for pizza and burgers, a place that is known for it’s amazing sliders and pizzas had to make this list. You can order the sliders to share (or for just you!) in sets of 3, 6 or 9 with a choice of several cheeses – I usually go with gorgonzola. They’re also served with onion straws – the only way I like onion rings – making them the perfect app.

At most restaurants I have one go-to dish that I get everytime I go. At Matchbox I always have a tough decision. Even their sandwiches are great, but I almost always go with the pizza since that’s what they do best. My favorite pizzas I rotate between are the matchbox meat, spicy meatball or four cheese white. You really can’t go wrong!

Similar to my Arlington list, my favorites here fall in the pub food and pizza categories, but there really are a lot of other great places in D.C. to eat out at as well. Let me know your favorites in the comments!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Good luck to all the Turkey trotters out there racing today – what a great, healthy way to start off a day of indulgence!

Friends Thanksgiving

I’m headed to Maine today to celebrate with my boyfriend and his family. Ian’s been raving about how good of a Thanksgiving meal his Mom cooks for quite some time, so I’m really looking forward to a great meal! I’m blessed with a lot of great things, but am most thankful for all the amazing people I have in my life.

Today will actually be my second Thanksgiving this year. A group of friends that live in the area decided we should do a “friends Thanksgiving” ahead of time so we could celebrate together before everyone headed off in different directions on the actual holiday. The food was amazing – check out the spread in the pic! We went with most of the traditional staples for dinner, and dessert consisted of pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake and a peanut butter pie.

It was a great get-together and fun to get in the spirit ahead of time. We also lucked out and got to enjoy a mid-60s November day on our Thanksgiving allowing us to hang out with beers on the back deck – not a usual Thanksgiving occurrence, especially for someone who grew up in Syracuse!

Anti-Gravity Running

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Fast Track Physical Therapy where I’m doing my PT just got a new Alter G anti-gravity treadmill that I’ve gotten to run on as part of my last two sessions. I’ve only put in five to 10 minutes each session at 60 – 75 percent of my body weight, but it’s got me even more excited to get running again after having a little taste.

Anti-gravity running…Tell me more!

I had only recently learned about an anti-gravity treadmill so I was very excited to get to test one out, but for those that aren’t familiar, here’s how it works: You put on some pretty cool (read with sarcasm!)  neoprene shorts that allow you to zip into the machine at hip height. Check out the link above for a pic. The machine calibrates to your weight and pressurizes the compartment so you can adjust it to feel like you’re not running on your full body weight.

My boyfriend keeps asking me to try it on the moonwalk setting (about 17 percent of your body weight), but that seems a bit counter productive to trying to get better and run on more weight! You can bring the Alter G down to 20 percent of your body weight. I started out in the 60 percent range and have already bumped it up to running on 75 percent of my weight – completely pain free!

This is such a great tool for injured runners. Yes you can do the elliptical or aqua running, but except for the amount of weight you’re putting on your legs, the Alter G is exactly like running. You can work on your form and get back to running earlier than you would be able to on a regular treadmill or on the road.

You can also use it for recovery runs when you’re looking to give your legs a bit of a break or for adding mileage without all the impact. According to Inside Triathlon, elite athletes will use it to practice at a pace unmanageable at full body weight so their bodies experience neuromuscular firing patterns they couldn’t otherwise. One warning – your legs seriously feel like they weigh 500 pounds as they bring you back to full body weight. I can imagine your first run back on the road after running on this would seem pretty difficult.

If you live in the D.C./NoVa area, Fast Track is having an open house with free trials on December 1 if you want to try it out. You can also rent out 30-60 minute running sessions on it.

With this being the only form of running I can get in right now, I’m looking forward to another go at it in my session tonight, and maybe will work my way up to running on 80 percent of my weight this time. Getting closer to being back on the road!

Cross Training

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Without being able to run I’ve had to resort to a lot of cross training to keep in shape. I’m not great at fitting in time for other fitness activities other than core strengthening when I’m running a lot since I like running so much, and tend to subscribe to the more is better line of thinking. Seeing as this might have a little bit to do with how I got myself injured in the first place, I’m going to make an effort to add in more cross training when I do get back to a run-specific plan.

My go-to cross training activity that I absolutely love is spinning. It’s indoors so weather is never an issue, it’s quick – usually less than an hour, and it’s an awesome, intense workout. However, spinning is still off limits for me, so I’ve had to look elsewhere. I’ve spent a lot of time on the elliptical listening to tunes or catching up on Hulu on my phone to stave off the boredom. I do the same on the recumbent bike at the gym. I get a little frustrated with how much longer I have to spend on these activities to burn the same amount of calories I do running, and just don’t feel the same cardio gains I do from running, but at least it’s something active.

I love to swim, but am not a big fan of the pool situation in this area. I’m used to most gyms being able to have pools, but get that there just isn’t the space for that here. I finally got myself back to the pool up at Washington & Lee though this weekend and it felt great. I love the exhausted but feeling great feeling I get after a hard swim workout.

W&L has a nice, relatively new facility, but it’s usually a bit too crowded for my tastes. I’m not a great swimmer so I much prefer when I can just split a lane with one other person rather than circle swim, which usually doesn’t happen here. I know I’m too slow for the fast lanes so I stay out of them, but when the slow lanes are filled with older folks doing the backstroke, that doesn’t work well for me either. I just purchased a deal for a month at the Crystal City Sport & Health, which recently renovated its pool, so I’m going to check that out soon to see if it works better for me. I’d love to fit swimming back into my exercise routine on a regular basis if I can find the right pool for it.

I’ve also gotten back to biking and am remembering why I used to love riding. I didn’t ride much my first few years down here as I got very nervous in areas I had to ride through traffic and eventually just stopped getting the bike out altogether. Capital Bikeshare rekindled my love of biking – especially the convenience of using it to avoid the metro. Now I’m getting back on my road bike a bit and really enjoying it. I’ve done a couple 90-minute to 2-hour weekend rides along the Custis and W&OD trails over the last two weeks and am getting back in the swing of things. As I continue to get more comfortable on my bike, I hope to join some group rides – something I’ve never done – to keep me motivated and out there riding through the cold winter months.

Tell me how you like to cross train or if you stick with just one primary fitness activity in the comments.

My Favorite Arlington Restaurants

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One of the great things about running and working out so much is that I get to enjoy all of the great restaurants (in moderation of course!) near me in the Arlington area without worrying about packing on the pounds! I’m by no means a foodie, so fancy or trendy restaurants aren’t my thing, but I do love to eat. There are so many great spots to eat out at here, but given my love for pizza and pub food, it should come as no surprise that my top three spots in Arlington in the Rosslyn to Ballston corridor are RiRa, Fire Works and Ray’s Hell Burger.

RiRa is an irish pub up in Clarendon. It’s part of a chain that tries to bring a bit of Ireland to the states by hiring bartenders and servers from Ireland and serving dishes like Guiness stew and fish and chips. For years my favorite Irish pub in the area was Four Courts, but since they have stopped serving Magners and have taken my favorite food options off the menu, RiRa is now number one.

RiRa has a great appetizer selection. My favorites are the soft pretzles and the spinach dip. If you’re not looking for a full meal, you can get a sampler to share with three full-size apps for under $25. They also serve good burgers and chicken sandwiches, which is about all it takes to please me! I love the setup and atmosphere of RiRa as well – you can catch a game in the eating areas downstairs, come for trivia night or head upstairs where another bar is located for some great people watching, especially on 80s cover band nights!

Fire Works near the Court House metro opened a couple years ago and won me over right away with their wood-fired oven pizzas. I also love their garlic knots and their spinach dip (are you sensing a theme here?) served with delicious pizza bread. I generally go with the plain old cheese and herb pizza, unless the special of the day is their buffalo chicken pizza, which is quite tasty. They have an extensive beer list and a few ciders too, so I usually end up ordering a Crispin or two.

The only downside to Fire Works is their service. I’ve never had anyone be unpleasant, but they are usually understaffed resulting in pretty slow service. The food and atmosphere make up for it though, especially when you can sit out on the patio on a nice summer evening or even on cooler evenings if you’re by the fire.

Ray’s Hell Burger might be the best burger I’ve ever had. If you’re looking for a great burger, then look no further than Ray’s. It’s cash only, so be sure to stop at the ATM first or you might miss out on your best burger ever. The meat is seasoned perfectly – you have several seasoning options to choose from – and cooked to juicy perfection. I always add a side of seven cheese mac and a coke. I’m no expert at restaurant reviews, so head on over to Croutons Stuck in Futons for a review that does Ray’s a bit more justice.

I finally made it to Ray’s: To The Third recently. It’s another one of the restaurants in the Ray’s family and is right across the street from the plaza that houses Ray’s Hellburger. I didn’t think it was fair to add to this list since I’ve only been there once, but it will quickly become one of my favs. It contains all the Ray’s wonderfulness from the steakhouse, Ray’s Hellburger and Ray’s Nice ‘N’ Greasy Steak ‘N’ Cheesy. The steak and cheese sandwich was out of this world, and the inside of the restaurant is a bit nicer than the more cafeteria-style version over at Hell Burger.

The best part about these places: all three are walking distance from my place. Some might argue with me on that when it comes to RiRa and Fireworks, but hey, it can never hurt to work up an appetite on the way there or walk off a delicious meal on the way home!

Setting Race Goals

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Last night I headed out to Falls Church for Tri360’s clinic: Big Goals for 2013 Panel. Tri360 is a new triathlon store in the area that I’ve wanted to check out for awhile, and it’s very cool. The space is awesome and they’ve got a great assortment of bikes and gear for all three disciplines as well as a service area for bike repairs and maintenance.

I’ve been biking a bit lately since I haven’t been able to run and am really enjoying it. I haven’t done a triathlon in years, mostly because I got frustrated with the fact that I’m not very good at either the swim or bike portions. I’ve been thinking about giving it another go though when I get back into running, so I have some other outlets to keep me from overdoing it on the running right away.

Tri360 put together a great panel of professional and elite triathletes, an elite cross/mountain biker, an Ironman finisher and a swim/run coach resulting in some really good advice and an info-packed discussion. They talked about setting realistic goals based on your fitness level and time to train to avoid burnout and set yourself up for your best chance at success.

The panelists reminded us that goals don’t just have to be about your finish time or place, but can focus on other things like improvement and attitude. It’s also helpful to have training goals and to document your progress so you can look back and see how far you’ve come. Set your goals based on what’s right for you, not based on a competition with someone else – especially if you’re not at comparable fitness levels.

A big theme of the night was achieving balance between training and the rest of your life. Family, friends and work shouldn’t suffer because of your training. Having family or friends that don’t participate in swim, bike and run with you can be really beneficial – sometimes you need to “step out of the bubble”. They also talked about remembering to have fun and the reasons why you do this. If you’re not having any fun then what’s the point.

I really enjoyed the clinic and loved the store. I’ll definitely be back!

Other than the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon, I’m still planning out my race goals for next year. Let me know what your big goals are for next year in the comments!

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Volunteering at the Veterans Day 10k

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I’ve run a lot of races over the years reaping the benefits of a lot of helpful volunteers whether it’s someone giving out a helpful hint at packet pick up, a cup of water just when you need it or cheers of encouragement when you’re at your lowest point. Throughout the past year or two, I decided it was my turn to give back a little, and have been trying to volunteer at races whenever I can. Usually, I try to help out at pre-race packet pick-ups so I can still run on race day, but while I’m on a temporary running hiatus I figured now was a good time to actually pitch in on race day.

I signed up to help with last Saturday’s onsite packet pick-up at the Veterans Day 10k in West Potomac Park. It was the same course I ran in early October for the Run for the Parks 10k, so runners could expect fast, flat, a little bit boring and if windy, a potentially brutal course. The weather gods smiled on this event though. It was sunny and the temperature hovered around the 50s – not half bad for early November!

I had to leave my apartment a little after 6 to get to the start of packet pick-up on time, so without a car and the metro closed, my only option was to bike over. It was still a bit dark when I took off, so I was very thankful my Dad helped me install blinking lights on the front and back of my bike when he was in town a couple weeks ago. I also sported a Nathan blinking reflective vest just for good measure. I’m pretty sure anyone could see me from a mile away!

Things started off slow with a few early birds there to grab their race bib and t-shirts right at 6:30, but quickly picked up steam as we got closer to 7. The hour before the race started was a blur. The lines were constant and we were all moving as quickly as we could to make sure all the runners were ready to toe the starting line by the 8 a.m. start time.

A handful of us were stationed at computers looking up runners by their name. I love Pacers’ system of assigning the race number at packet pick-up rather than having to search through a pile of numbers to pull the right one. I would simply find the runners name, grab the next bib in my pile and type that number in to assign it to them. Several others behind us at the computers hustled back and forth as we yelled out t-shirt sizes making sure to retrieve the right one for us.

One of the big things I’ve learned as a result of volunteering over the last year is that I will never, ever again complain to a volunteer about a logistical race issue or wanting a different t-shirt size. They have no control over it! For the most part, people were great.There were lots of smiles and excitement as people picked up their bibs and shirts and got ready to run. There’s always an exception though! A few bad apples were very upset with me for not allowing them to switch t-shirt size. I tried to explain they could just check back after the race to see if other sizes were available and that I wasn’t allowed to give out different shirts until we knew we had enough, but they didn’t want to hear it. Thankfully those folks were few and far between, so I was able to just smile, wish them luck and move on to the next person in line.

I decided to hang around and watch some of the finishers come in and boy were they flying! The top three men all crossed the line in less than 30 minutes. The winner, Chris Kwiatkowski, finished in 29:47 and the women’s winner, Carmen Hussar, came in shortly after at 33:45 for paces of 4:48 and 5:26 per mile respectively. Impressive!

It was one of those days I really wish I’d brought my nice camera along. Riding into D.C. looking at the red sky over the monuments as the sun just started to rise on a foggy morning was absolutely beautiful and my iPhone just couldn’t do it justice. Also, as you can see in the finish line pic, my shutter speed on the iPhone couldn’t quite keep up with the lead runner so all I caught was the finish line banner falling to the ground.

It was a great way to start my day and while I really can’t wait to run again, I also look forward to helping out on the volunteer side of things again soon too.