I left for Dallas at 6 AM on Tuesday, landed in DC at 11 PM on Friday, and haven't stopped moving since. It was a phenomenal week.
Fri, 11:50 PM:
Shower, Ubër to Hanks where I caught John, Jeff, Eddie, & Tara for last call. Eddie and I meandered home by way of JR's and The Green Lantern. You really can do some damage in two hours.
Sat, 9:00 AM:
Shower, taxi to Ben's Chili Bowl for breakfast with Rita Jean, Gladys, & Jim. The greasy food was a perfect anecdote to Friday night shenanigans but probably not the best choice less than 24 hours before a race. I walked back to Eddie's and then to the National Building Museum for race check in. This, of course, included a mandatory shopping spree at the Expo. I got out with a cheap pair of running glasses and a Hipster. Yes, it sounds ridiculous but is my favorite phone carrying device to date. Now I just need to figure out ehich Bluetooth headphones to purchase. The Fox something or another would go nicely with the Hipster of the same brand but research is necessary.
Sat, 1 PM
Lunch outside at Matchbox in Chinatown with Eddie and Steve. Did I mention the weather was perfect? Despite the fact I should have remained outside, a two hour deep sleep nap followed.
Sat, 5 PM
Shower, then Cocktails with Emily, Kara, and Heather at Em's new pad. Super cute with an enormous DC kitchen. My cocktail was H2O. There may or may not have been a fire but that's a completely separate story!
Sat 7 PM
Dinner at DuPont Italian Kitchen to carb load! Tammy, Michael, Catrina, Eddie, and new friends David and Mark made it a great experience. While this should be where Saturday ended, we apparently had social expectations to maintain! The peeps committed to a beer at three stops. While I stuck to water, let's just say they didn't keep their word. We met Hector, Jaime, and three new friends at a new place in North DuPont. Stop two was friends of friends from Boston and Richmond at JR's. Stop three was a birthday party for Sweetness and I also got to see Dr Delicious and Nic at Satelite Room. It was tempting to cave for a boozy milkshake but I knew that would spoil my race results! When midnight slapped me in the face I left the peeps behind and went to bed!
Sun 6:00 AM
This is when the alarm was supposed to wake me. Thankfully it was a big gay slumber party and the boys woke me by 6:30. At 6:45 we were out the door with Mary and headed to the Mall. This was undoubtedly the most beautiful Cherry Blossom race weekend I can ever remember. The temperature was appropriately cool in the AM but the sun was bright. My unofficial race time came in at 29 seconds under target. While still not great, it was better than expected. Apparently some "incident" on the course caused a last minute re-route so they still have to re-measure to determine the actual course length.
Sun, noon
Shower and eat...do you see a theme to this weekend? My friends Tara, Tammy and Anna joined the runners including my DC wifey Elizabeth for a delicious brunch at The Coop. Despite the slow kitchen time, we had a delicious meal. Their hash brown brick and Brussels sprouts are the bomb. Thanks to the tattooed hottie from Massilon for buying a round of drinks for our wait time! Thanks also to Tara for the hangry runner bags to help us out during the wait to be seated. Mine was a beautiful glitter pink and became my handbag for the afternoon.
A few of us met the amazing Peyton at KBC for a round on the patio. The orange vodka drink was a perfect sunny Sunday patio drink for Spring. We then walked down 11th St., past my old trailer, to Sollys where the owner and friend served up some tasty cocktails while we visited with Lateef and some other repeat offenders from the weekend.
Thanks to the Ubër driver for whisking me to DCA despite the ridiculous tourist traffic. Thanks to American for the first class upgrade. It is a fancy ending to a perfect weekend. My Timmy should be returning from a long weekend in Florida with girlfriends at about the same time. I can't wait for him to pick me up at the airport!
One night in my own bed and then back in the road tomorrow...
