Race Recap: Run Rogue 5k – Running for a Cause

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This Saturday I got myself up bright and early to run in the Run Rogue 5k in Fairfax. I found out about it on Facebook just a week and a half before the race, but once I learned what it was all about, I couldn’t resist signing up. This was the inaugural Run Rogue 5k race, and it was created by the Rogue Racers to honor two of their athletes who are battling brain and breast cancer. The proceeds went to Life With Cancer and the National Brain Tumor Society.

The day I found out about this race my aunt was undergoing surgery to remove two brain tumors, and it’s been just over a year since my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, which thankfully they caught at a very early stage and were able to treat. I was excited for the chance to give to these causes and help out in someway in the fight against cancer.

On race morning, I grabbed a Zipcar and zipped out to Fairfax. It was a bit overcast, but the rain managed to hold off. The start line was a bit crowded, but as the announcer aptly reminded us all – this race wasn’t an Olympic Qualifier, so be careful and have fun. After getting through a slow (well, slow for a 5k) first mile in about 7:45, I was able to pick up the pace for the next 2.1 and finish in 23:26.

It wasn’t my best time, but that’s not what this race was about and it was still a great way to start a Saturday morning! I stayed to hang around the finish line for awhile, and was able to see a lot of cancer survivors (wearing special shirts so you could spot them) cross the line. It was a really inspiring and awesome sight. I’m glad I got to be a part of it and will definitely go back next year!

I was hoping to test my luck in the post-race raffle, but as it started to get a little chillier the Fairfax Wegmans was calling my name. I took advantage of having the car for the morning and headed over to Wegmans to indulge in my favorite chicken finger sub!

Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Half Marathon: Exceeding Expectations

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I ran the Rock ‘n Roll half marathon last weekend in D.C., and ended up pleasantly surprised with how things turned out. The race exceeded my expectations on a lot of levels.

Rock 'n' Roll USA shirt and medal

I ran this half years ago while I was in grad school when it was just known as the National Marathon and Half Marathon before the Competitor Group took over making it part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll series this year. I remember it being freezing cold, and I’m a bit of a cold weather wimp. I remember a lack of crowd support especially in the last few miles. I remember crossing the finish line, going right to bag claim and immediately heading to the metro wrapped in a space blanket saying never again.

Despite that, I found myself at the start line again on a beautiful St. Patty’s Day morning last Saturday. Temperatures were around 50 at the start and probably got up to mid-60s by the end of the race. It was probably a bit hot for the full marathoners as temps continued to climb, but it was my favorite kind of race weather. Not half bad for mid-March!

The Competitor Group has gotten some bad press in recent years including rising prices, a large amount of racers getting sick at the Las Vegas Marathon or frequently running out of medals or food for slower runners. My last experience with them wasn’t so great either. I ran the Nashville Country Music Marathon several years ago and it was a bit of a disaster as most of us had to be diverted to the finish line at the 22-mile mark because of an incoming tornado. While I understand they had no control over the weather and probably made the right decision to cut the race short, there were a lot of
other issues that could probably fill an entire blog post on its own. My biggest problem was that they started the race 15 minutes early without making an announcement leaving me stuck about 15 corrals behind where I should’ve started wasting energy weaving my way in and out for the entire first half of the race.

Celebrating with my friend Lindsay post-race at Four Courts. She also set a PR finishing in 1:41:14!

I had good intentions when I signed up for this last November, but unfortunately started training about a month later than I should have and followed a plan geared toward the Cherry Blossom 10-miler next weekend instead of focusing on this race. I’ve been running a lot and working on my speed, but other than one 13 miler a few weeks before the race, I haven’t run more than 8 miles since Marine Corps Marathon so I didn’t have high hopes for my time.

The race was underway right at 8 and thanks to starting in a corral near the front, the first few miles were much less crowded than I expected. We started out running behind the Capitol Building and worked our way down Constitution along the Mall before turning up 18th. I hit the 5k mark in 23:19, a much quicker pace that I thought I’d be able to run. The course was hillier than I remembered (selective memory has a way of making that happen) as we winded through Adams Morgan and worked our way to H street before making our way back to the finish line at RFK.

The crowd support was also better than I remember it and I was feeling pretty good making it a fun race. I surprised myself setting a PR with a 1:43:14 finish, maintaining a 7:53 pace. (Full disclosure I’ve only run 2 other half marathons.) The perfect weather, better than expected organization of the race, and a PR all exceeded my expectations. The post-race beers at Four Courts and a Syracuse win made it a great day. I might even run this race again someday!

DIY Done Right

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I’ve always wanted hardwood floors in my place, and after the kitchen disaster ruined my carpet as detailed in my last post I decided the time was right. While I’m sure there are plenty of good contractors out there, after my horrible experience with the Ransom Company remodeling my kitchen, I really didn’t want to go that route again. Lucky for me, my boyfriend is pretty handy and offered to help me put the new floors in. We planned to do the work while he was visiting at Christmas.

I chose natural bamboo wide plank flooring and read up on all the other materials we would need. I picked up all the supplies so we’d be ready to go as soon as Ian got into town. It took two Home Depot trips – one to pick up all the tools I’d need and the next to pick up 18 boxes of flooring. Thanks to a very helpful Home Depot employee at the Alexandria store, I managed to fit all of them in my little blue car with enough room for me to squeeze in the driver’s seat and drive home very, very slowly. Lesson learned here – even with an elevator, getting 18 boxes of flooring up to the 8th. floor is no picnic. My brother and his girlfriend happened to be in town that weekend though, so they helped tear the carpet up making my life a lot easier.

Ian and I got to work the following Sunday starting in the main room of my apartment. We put down the underlayment in strips over the old floor and started with the first planks of the click-and-lock flooring. He’d done one other similar type of floor so he had a good idea of how this would work. While I did my best to be helpful, I have to admit he did most of the hard work while I did a lot of the measuring. Progress was a little slow at first, but eventually we got the hang of it. After the weekend Ian continued working away during the days I had to go into the office and a few days later I had nice new, shiny bamboo floors. They make such an amazing difference it almost looks like a whole new place!

The work wasn’t quite done yet. After spending Christmas up in Syracuse, we came back and assembled a whole bunch of Ikea and Container Store furniture – a desk and shelf set, a pub table and chairs, a side storage table, a coffee table and an end table. When I bought the place it came furnished which was great at the time, but it was nice to finally add some of my own choices to the place. My parents helped complete the remodel with new area rugs.

While it was a lot of hard work, I’m extremely glad we did the project on our own. I did, however, have to promise Ian there would be no new projects anytime soon! Now that my new kitchen, new floors and new furniture are in place though, I won’t be needing anything else!

My Own Kitchen Nightmare

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Last spring, after three years of saving and planning since moving into my condo, I hired a contractor to remodel my kitchen. I went with Robert Ransom of the Ransom Company on a recommendation that came with a few caveats. I really should have paid more attention to the caveats and done a bit more homework. Instead, I learned firsthand what happens when you hire someone who isn’t very experienced, responsible or trustworthy.

That said, after a few thousand dollars more than planned, a few extra weeks of living in a construction zone and a minor kitchen flood, I’m really happy with the choices I made and love my new kitchen.

My kitchen is pretty tiny so to make the best of the little space I had I went with Ikea. I absolutely love Ikea and all the solutions they have for smaller places. I spent a couple Saturdays at the Woodbridge Ikea laying out the design I had in mind and choosing cabinets and hardware.

I met with Robert to get a quote and listen to his ideas for the remodel. He had a lot of really great ideas, his quote came in at a reasonable price and he said he could do a kitchen my size in about a week. I will give him credit for suggesting AJ Madison – the retailer I bought my appliances from. They had a great selection and great prices too. I was sold and we planned for Robert’s company to do the work while I was going to be on a family vacation. This is when things started to unravel.

Robert was supposed to send me an updated estimate and final plan for the kitchen. Weeks went by without hearing from him. As my vacation got closer, I kept emailing him and he kept promising me he’d get me the plan. He finally sent it to me less than 24 hours before I was scheduled to leave for Cancun. I’d give anything to go back in time and realize then that I shouldn’t have gone forward with the Ransom Company, but I was just so excited and being my first remodel project, I had no idea what was in store for me.

My brother helped me demo the kitchen the night before vacation and we left it ready for Robert to start working. Two days later he emailed me with an invoice that was 30 percent more than his estimate – all in materials! Also, the discount for demoing the kitchen on our own was cut in half because he’d changed his mind on what it should cost. I was not too happy to say the least. He also decided that then would be a good time to tell me I chose the most expensive kind of granite for my countertops – information he didn’t think I needed two months earlier when I said that was the granite I would like. He sent one more email to say their progress had been slowed because the electrical work was difficult given the fact that I had plaster walls (apparently he hadn’t noticed this on his two site visits to see my kitchen), but that they were still mostly on track.

Despite my shell shock over the price, I was still excited to come home and see my new kitchen. Unfortunately mostly on track wasn’t exactly what he meant. I had cabinets without doors or hardware, no countertops and no appliances. All the base cabinets had a one-inch gap between the toe kick and the bottom of the cabinet. Robert tried to tell me this was just how Ikea cabinets work until I showed him a website saying otherwise, which took me all of five minutes on google to learn.

Next I found out it wasn’t the plaster walls that slowed them down – it was the hole they punched through my wall into my neighbor’s apartment that took more than a day to fix. I found this out from my building manager – not from Robert.

Another week later and I finally had my appliances. Unfortunately, they’d been too lazy to remove a one-inch piece of moulding from the wall meaning they installed the base cabinets an inch to the left of where they should be, so they had to squeeze the fridge in a space it really couldn’t fit. They also installed the fridge door backwards so it opened into the cabinets that were too close, denting the door of my brand, new fridge.

Things did not get better. The cabinet doors went on, but they didn’t test to realize that the upper cabinet door smashed into the tracked lighting they were supposed to move to the center of the kitchen. I’m guessing they were hoping I wouldn’t try to open my cabinets before they finished. Robert again blamed the decision not to move the lighting on the plaster walls/ceiling, saying it’d be too difficult to do, so I had to settle for a thinner light fixture.

They finally installed my sink and faucet just before the next weekend. I happened to set a 5 a.m. alarm since I had a half marathon on tap – a bit earlier than my usual noon wake-up on Saturday. Thank goodness I woke up when I did or my apartment might have been underwater. The faucet had sprung a leak over night filling my kitchen and half my living room with two inches of water. My brother, his girlfriend and I spent the day cleaning up the mess as it took Robert 13 hours to return my call and another two to finally send someone to help. Robert insisted they would cover everything so I let his subcontractor tear up my ruined carpet.

When Robert returned, he did his normal routine of refusing to accept any responsibility, saying the leak was a result of a defective Ikea product so he would not pay for any of the damage. He added that this was what happened when you bought cheap Ikea products – a bit of a different tune from when we first met and he told me that he’d done plenty of Ikea kitchens and thought they were great. I gave up on that battle in exchange for getting him to agree to fix the gap in the cabinets, move the base cabinets to where they should’ve been placed, and correct a series of other minor mistakes. None of the good ideas he’d suggested when we first met were implemented because they weren’t in the written contract. Lesson learned: get everything in writing.

My biggest issue came with the fact that he would never just apologize for something that went wrong – it was always someone or something else’s fault. He did send me an email at one point in the process saying he was sorry for how things were going, and that this was the worst job he’d ever done. That didn’t really make me feel better!

All’s well that ends well though I guess, and I do love my new kitchen. I more than doubled my counter and cabinet space. The backsplash and stainless appliances look fantastic. I can fit more than two dishes in my sink. And best of all, I finally have a dishwasher.

Hope you enjoy the before and after pics. Stay tuned for an upcoming post on my most recent home improvement project – you probably won’t be surprised to hear I decided to stick with DIY instead of hiring another contractor.

Dear Carrier Dome: I’ve Missed You

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Dad and me at the Dome!

I went home this past weekend for the Syracuse vs. UConn game at the Carrier Dome. I’m sure there are a lot of other teams’ fans who might disagree, but there is nothing quite like watching a game in the Dome. It routinely hosts the largest on-campus crowds in college basketball, and if you’re there for one of the 30,000+ games, you’ll understand why they’ve dubbed it the Loud House.

On Saturday, the Dome again set the record for this season’s largest on-campus crowd while hosting Uconn with 33,430 fans – also, the fourth largest crowd in Carrier Dome history. I’ve been at many of the attendance record setting games over the years and they are really something special. For years (probably a few too many) I sat in the nosebleeds after buying my $5 youth ticket. When I was in college my Dad and I got season tickets behind the hoop opposite the student section, and I would drive the two hours home from school to make the games.

The first record-setting game I remember being a part of was in 2005 against Notre Dame. The Syracuse Athletic Department actually announced a sell out – the first in history – with 33,199 in attendance. Walking into the Dome that day, every single door had a sign posted that read: Carrier Dome – Sold Out. It gave me chills. Syracuse struggled early that day, and it truly felt like the crowd willed them to victory in a 60-57 win as it got so loud in there I felt like a 747 jet was taking off above us.

Carrier Dome

Gerry McNamara’s senior day game was another special record breaker. No player has quite captured the hearts of Syracuse fans quite like G-Mac did, and I have to admit, I may have been one of the many girls in attendance holding a “Marry Me Gerry” poster. The ‘cuse lost 92-82 against Villanova that day, but the 33,633 in attendance were as loud as ever celebrating G-Mac’s career.

I missed out on the latest record-setting game in 2010, which still stands as the largest on-campus crowd in college hoops, also against Villanova. The Orange didn’t disappoint this time, beating the Wildcats 95-77 in front of 34,616 fans.a

While Saturday’s large crowd didn’t break the record, it was still a packed house. My Dad and I sat up in section 315 about five rows up and enjoyed every minute of it. The ‘cuse made it interesting as always allowing Uconn to within two with five minutes to play. After that they shut it down though, beating UConn by 18 with five walk-ons on the court to end the game. We were on our feet cheering on Melo’s blocks (and jumpers!), CJ Fair’s amazing dunk and watching Kris, Scoop and Dion do their thing. There’s no place like home!

Cutting the Cable Cord – How I Got Rid of Cable TV

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There’s been a lot of news coverage in recent years about cutting the cord and getting rid of cable as people get increasingly frustrated with higher prices and poor service from cable providers. Some say that more people than ever are cutting the cord while others maintain that not that many people actually do it. Well I am an avid TV-watcher and I actually cut the cord several years ago.

Three-plus years ago now I moved into my current apartment and Comcast was the only choice I had for a cable provider. After experiencing the wonder of Fios at my old place I wasn’t thrilled about going back to Comcast, but I didn’t think I could live without cable either. Right during NFL playoffs and the beginning of college basketball season, my high-def cable box broke. I was told I could wait two to three weeks for a technician to come and replace it, or I could take it to a Comcast office for a replacement myself. I chose the latter, but the new box they gave me wasn’t so new. In fact, it was a standard-def box and it only worked in black and white. The final straw was the customer service representative’s suggestion that maybe this wasn’t so bad as it could be “fun and old-fashioned like.” Comcast might say it cares, but I don’t buy it. I cancelled my cable right then – and you know what – I haven’t missed it at all.

I have an RCA digital antenna that brings in the networks plus the CW, Ion, a variety of weather channels and a Spanish soap opera channel, all in high-def. I subscribe to Netflix’s streaming service and just recently replaced their DVD service with Hulu Plus. I stream Netflix, Hulu or Amazon videos straight to my TV through a Roku box. Instant Netflix is great for movies that have been out for awhile and watching an entire series of TV shows I missed the first time around. Hulu is like having a DVR. I subscribe to all my shows that I watch on a regular basis and they’re queued up waiting for me to watch them one day after they originally air. I also can catch shows on my laptop or iPad and can connect both to my TV via HDMI cords.

That still doesn’t cover sports and as a big sports fan that’s something I certainly couldn’t live without. I cheat a little on this one and use my sling box for live sports that aren’t on network TV. My parents got the sling box for me back in college so I wouldn’t miss Syracuse games that were only broadcast locally. I keep it at their house and can watch their cable TV anywhere I have an Internet connection. ESPN3.com is also making it a lot easier to view live sporting events over the web.

I also use the sling box for shows like AMC’s Mad Men that I can’t get online – or at least not during the season. Occasionally I’ll buy an episode of Mad Men on iTunes also as yet another option.

There is some initial investment for devices, although I was fortunate to get most of mine as gifts, so adding them to your Christmas list is always an idea! All told, I now spend between $16-25 a month on various services and TV or movie rentals, and three years after cutting the cable cord I can’t imagine going back.

New Beginnings

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The Jeopardy set at the 2009 CES

After almost five years, my career with CEA came to an end a few weeks ago. It was my first “real-world job” and was a great first job. I was fortunate to work for two awesome supervisors during my time there – both named Meg(h)an – who taught me the ropes of working in the world of communications, and were both genuinely good people. I received a lot of great opportunities like getting to be an on-camera spokesperson either at CES or during a satellite media tour while hopping from a bike to a treadmill promoting fitness technology. I got to write a lot and learn to work with media and member company representatives. I had the chance to travel the country including NYC, Maine, Chicago, Las Vegas and California. I went to the International CES five times.

All good things must come to an end though, and it was time for me to move out of the familiar world of consumer electronics and on to a new challenge. I accepted an offer to work as a communications manager for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). I’m working with two of their sections: Industrial & Environmental and Food & Agriculture. Knowing very little about biotechnology I have a lot of learning to do, but I’m really excited about the new challenges and new experiences ahead. I love how smart and nice everyone there is and think its going to be a great move for me!

100,000 Miles… Well, Almost

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Lil Blue before I abandoned her in the Wilkes Barre Pep Boys parking lot

On New Years Eve, my boyfriend and I set off to make the drive from D.C. To Syracuse in my little blue Saturn – affectionately known as lil blue. I’ve been driving lil blue since just before my senior year of high school so she’s been a lot of places with me. After high school lil blue traveled with me to all 3 colleges I attended, graduate school and my first job.

We had just made the same trip a few days earlier for Christmas, and I’d been bragging to anyone who would listen that week that I was about to hit 100,000 miles. Apparently that’s not a big milestone anymore, and most people hit it well before ten years. Regardless, I was pretty excited.

I took the first shift at the wheel on the way to our New Year’s party, and Pennsylvania got back at me for all the crap I’ve talked about how awful it is to drive through over the years. Just outside of Lebanon on 81 – the middle of nowhere – I heard a loud bang and the car started to rumble. This set off a series of “is this really happening” events making it quite an adventure to get home. My front tire had literally exploded, blowing off the front quarter panel of the car and damaging the horn and headlight too.

I navigated to the shoulder and after calming down gave AAA a call. I’ve always been impressed by their customer service, but they didn’t seem too enthused about helping this time. “You know it’s NYE so you’re probably out of luck,” was the response I got along with a list of Pennsylvania car repair shops and dealerships I could have just as easily pulled off google. It was also going to take over an hour to get a tow truck to us.

“Well, at least things can’t get any worse,” I said. I called shop after shop while sitting on the side of the road as cars and trucks whizzed passed us just a foot away. I kept getting the same answer – no one could help me, at least not until Monday. At the tow truck driver’s recommendation we decided to head 90 miles north to a Pep Boys in Wilkes Barre – at least we’d be going in the right direction.

“Well, at least things can’t get any worse,” I said again as we hopped into the tow truck with the driver and his wife. They were going to use our misfortune to drive up to Scranton for a fancy New Year’s dinner. If you know anything about Scranton, you’ll understand why I had a tough time not laughing at this.

At the Pep Boys I figured we were about to be back on our way to the party with a new tire in no time. The mechanic laughed when he saw the car and said there was no way he could put a new tire on until I had body work done. Of course no body shops would be open until Monday.

Determined to still make the party we asked how close we were to the Scranton airport – yes, it does exist. After turning down an offer from a slightly sketchy guy who was willing to bring just me to the airport, (with the way my luck was going, I really didn’t want to get axe-murdered that night!) Ian found a cab company to come pick us up. Our cab driver Junior was quite the character. He hated all other drivers, felt bad about how much he had to charge us and really liked the Kia gerbils commercials. The Avis rental car workers were also happy with our misfortune since they said they normally don’t get to talk to too many people there. They set us up with a Ford Fusion and we were finally back on our way to Syracuse. We missed dinner, but caught up with everyone for drinks at the hotel and had an awesome night out making it totally worth the crazy adventure it took to get there.

After some thought I decided it wasn’t worth repairing the car, and it was time to let lil blue go. The final odometer reading: 99,875 miles. I didn’t get my 100,000 miles, but I guess that’s life. You don’t always end up where you plan to, but hopefully you had some good times and fun adventures along the way to give you some great stories.

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Too Old For Kickball?

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Deciding you’re too old for kickball is probably something most people do sometime during their elementary or high school gym class years, but in D.C. kickball lives on into adulthood. Well, I guess that’s if you consider 20-somethings playing kickball on the National Mall real adults.

Kickball post-game fun at the Irish Times

A get-together with a few friends last week to see a former DC friend who was in town for work got us reminiscing about our kickball days. In 2007, our team captain brought together a rather eclectic group of friends he’d met throughout the years that one way or another all ended up in the greater D.C. area. That first season we quickly bonded over pitchers at our post-game bar, The Bottom Line. Team D.O.B. (a Zoolander reference that I think only we understood) was born.

Team D.O.B. had its ups and downs over the years mixing near championship runs with well, some more challenging seasons in there, but we steadfastly adhered to our no bunting rule, because really, it’s kickball… so kick the freaking ball. The bars changed from season to season bringing us to Irish Times, The Exchage, My Brother’s Place and Hamilton’s, but no matter the location, we always shined on the flip cup tables.

The question came up last week about playing kickball again, but we quickly agreed that we would now be those creepy old people we used to make fun of, not to mention, it’s pretty hard to drink that much on a Tuesday night now. When did we get so old?!

To my fellow DOBers, remember “throw it at your face!” and “flip first, swallow later!”

Traveling

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I’ve been neglecting my blog while I put to the test just how much I like to travel. I went on five trips in November, three by plane, one by bus and one by car, so it was a busy month to say the least.

Twins Game - September 2010

I took advantage of some rewards flights to book a pair of long weekends to Minneapolis where my boyfriend lives. Minneapolis isn’t anything like I’d imagined. My vision came mostly from Marshall’s descriptions of Minnesota on How I Met Your Mother. It’s a very cool, fun city, however I enjoy it a lot more when it’s not cold there! On my trips there, we’ve caught a couple Twins games; toured the Mall of America, including the aquarium inside of the mall; and checked out restaurants in different parts of town. Some of my favorites are The Nook, Psycho Suzi’s and Stella’s.

 

In between Minneapolis trips, I made it up to Hoboken for the first time to see my brother’s and his girlfriend’s new

NYC Skyline

place, and of course we made it into NYC also. Hoboken is small, but packed with people, restaurants/bars, shops and energy. There is nothing like New York pizza and bagels and we definitely ate well that weekend. My favorite pizza stops were Lombardi’s Pizzeria in NYC and Johnny Pepperoni in Hoboken.

For Thanksgiving I made the drive up to Syracuse. It’s always nice to go back home for a visit, but was especially nice given that the usual winter temps hadn’t set in yet, and we enjoyed 50s and even 60s with no snow the entire time I was home! My ride home was pretty tough, taking 2 and a half hours longer than usual while it rained the entire time, but my parents were waiting at one of our usual restaurant spots and had food and drink ready and waiting for me when I finally arrived. Thanksgiving was filled with some great food. My cousin cooked our turkey this year and did an amazing job, and my Mom made one of my favorites, a peanut butter pie!

Finally, I ended the month with a trip to Tampa for both work and fun. I got the chance to speak on a panel about mobile health at the National Conference of State Legislatures Fall Forum. I shared findings from a recent study on health technology that my company did. It was a really interesting experience, and I’m definitely intrigued by how this topic will affect our lives in the coming years. After the conference I headed over to nearby St. Pete to visit my grandparents. They spend the winters there and I head down every year to visit. It’s always a treat to be taken out to eat, go to the movies and lend my tech expertise. This year was pretty easy – I helped with a Netlix issue and added a bunch of pictures to their digital photo frame.

It was a fun month, and I do still love to travel and see new places, but I have to say I’m happy to be back home and staying put…well, at least for a few weeks.