And DC Burns

Without all the troublesome ash and actual flames, like in the War of 1812. Or so says History. I didn't realize that part of DC burned during that time.

Lucky to see it! I got to the run in the nick of time.

Hitting one's alarm instead of the snooze is not a great way to be on top of one's morning. In fact, since I woke up again with a start at 5:38, there wasn't much time at all.

Rushing, I drank breakfast (the healthy kind, not the liquor kind, silly), got some coffee and rushed into my clothes.
Whew!

After a trip around the Mall and the Washington Monument, I ran up to R, got on the MBt, gulped some fortitude and squashed my laziness, and turned uptown.

Slowly creeping towards Rhode Island, I finally made it. I turned around and ran to the end, then ran past Union Station and home.

About 10.4 miles today.
At times, I wondered if I were actually walking but 10 miles is still 10 miles, right?

And orange swirlies were all around when the sun was rising.

Mmmmmmm. Orange swirlies.....

Inked Back In

"Yes, hello. We're downstairs."

Oh goodness. I knew from my mother's tone that they were READY TO GO.

And I wasn't even vertical.

A quick change later and I was up and at the lobby, awaiting instructions.

Of course: we had to go. Right then.

With my parents, it's pointless to argue. So we packed up and went.

"Another workout missed. Just because I have to work completely on someone else's time table. And here it is the weekend. This is the time I really have to make sure I get in those workouts!"

I was grumbling and whining to myself, all the way to the train station.

And then, while I enjoying beating Suave at the crossword, I resigned myself to a slow day. Indulgent food choices on the train.

Watching Top Chef: Just Desserts instead of trying to finish a bit of my homework.

But, while I was setting up at home, watching the end of a show, I decided.

It was time and there was time. I don't have to be resigned to a day I'll regret, even though other people dictated most of it for me.

Off my rear I got and put on Summer Hits, in homage to the last bit of nice weather we will likely have for a while.

I even raced a few people on the Mall as I went out for a 6-mile motivational run.

So what if I've got too much homework to finish tonight: I've still got a good 5 hours before I should really get to bed.

Lots of time to make progress.

No more excuses. I will recognize my limitations but no more excuses.

After all, I had already written off the day before I inked it back in.

In fact, I just signed up for my first race since the relay in February I participated in with the Vivacious Redhead and her son.

The Veterans 10k on the 13th of November.

Fitting One In

"Ok.....Two more pages......"

I was racing the train timetable yesterday while I tried to finish my Contracts homework: the only homework I managed to do all weekend.

I need to cut down on activities! And maybe sleep.

But not right now! I had a dinner to go to! With people I hadn't seen for a long time. In Baltimore.

So I managed to squeeze in a run down 1st Street NW to the Mall, then around the Mall and around the Washington Monument and over to the Lincoln Memorial.
Instead of running around the Memorial, I stopped and got water.
This humidity has really been bothering me of late. My body is all screwy here in D.C.
Back around and back down to 1st, then back up to Massachusetts Avenue and home.
A bit less than 6 miles.
Then, running, racing, last-call-all-aboard-no-ticket-yet whew! I'm on the train.
On the Mall, they've been having a lot of kickball games and softball games.
The softball games make me nervous: it looks like they are using actual softballs.
You'd think, in a city with this many lawyers, that would have been deemed a "bad idea".

Question of the week: what's the difference between a Monument and a Memorial? Ideas?

Despite Amtrak

I managed to get a run in today! Yay!

The regular Amtrak, on the weekends, is like a bus with a snack car. It stops just about everywhere and the bathrooms smell about as bad.

I'm spoiled from having a job and, therefore, feeling justified in taking the Acela.

Now, jobless, I take the cheapest regular train I can find.

At least I get a chance to get work done. A LOT of work done.

Yesterday, I left Boston at 3:00pm. I got home at a quarter to midnight. After chores and such, it was 1:00am or so.

Not the best for feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning before class!

(By the way, I have no idea, really, why that saying is supposed to mean what it does. Suave says that my family has an odd set of Southern colloquialisms.)

And today was a doozy. Constitutional Law and Contracts, where I was on call, plus some extra Legal Writing homework and a meeting to go to in the afternoon. Add tired and it was not conducive to actually getting out there to run.

I've been having a lot of afternoon running motivational problems, actually. I fought with myself all the way home about running, giving myself deals and lying to myself about where I'd go.

Cloudy but cool as I strapped on my shoes. Funny, but my body temperature has gone haywire: the cool weather makes such a difference. I felt it on yesterday's slow run with Suave and I felt it again today - it was only about 72 and cloudy.

Plus, I didn't bring my water bottles. "Just go down H Street to 8th Street NE and see how it goes."

The run was broken up into motivational segments like that. "You can always just stop after the next one, if you feel like it."

White lies. I'm still not sure how I convince myself of the truth of them, even as I am conscious of the fact that I am lying to myself.

Anyway, I got to tour the cool houses of the revitalized NE and SE before turning right onto Pennsylvania Avenue, then right onto 1st St NE by the reflecting pool, around the pool to Madison and down the Mall, around the Washington Monument and around the Lincoln Memorial then back around the reflecting pool, up 1st Avenue NW and left onto Massachusetts and home.

A lot of people play softball on the lawn by the Washington Memorial. Fear of getting hit in the temple by a ball, which caused the only fatality during a game in baseball in the early 20th century, makes me skittish.

And now that I'm running more slowly, running without my headphones doesn't seem to be as big a deal. Interesting.

A tiny bit under 9 miles. Yay!

Plus, I had an awesome fairy find my lost phone and give it back to me today. What luck!