On Winter Running

Happy Friday, ya punks! Who has a long run scheduled for this weekend? I doooo, tomorrow to be precise, and I have to be done, showered, and ready to leave for a day at the winery by 11:30 am. Ouch. I have somewhere between 4-5 miles on the schedule, which means I need to be out my door by like 8:45-9, woof. Plus side; the high tomorrow is 50, so it won’t be absolutely freezing at that time of the morning. Just a little bit freezing.

However, I’m kind of digging this whole winter running nonsense. Sure it’s cold, but only for a little bit in the beginning, and then it’s kind of nice. I like looking at the snow and ice, and I really like not sweating my face off and struggling to breathe in the DC summer humidity. Oh, and the best part of course is no chaffing! I really don’t miss hopping in the shower after a long run and cringing in pain as the water hits some area of my body that unbeknownst to me, has been completely rubbed raw. Anyway, so yeah I’m acclimating to this winter running stuff, and it ain’t so bad.

Yesterday afternoon I hit the trails for 3.5 miles. It was sunny and 33, which felt amazing, and I was peeling off layers almost immediately. I lost my gloves after .5 mile and my headband after 2, and probably didn’t need two long sleeve shirts. I was really making an effort to keep yesterdays run at an “easy” pace, so I’d feel good for tomorrow. I was hoping to stay around a 9:10 pace, but every time I looked down at my watch I was running sub 9. Oops, I really need to work on my pacing efforts. The bike path was still all covered in snow and ice and looking pretty, so I took some time to appreciate it once I finished running.

January 30: 3.5 Miles

Why Don’t You Get a Real Boyfriend!

Woo!  I’m alive!  I managed to dig myself out and survive the Blizzard of 2009.  All it took were a few shovels, a giant jug of wine, a bottle of vodka, and a case of beer.  Don’t worry, I shared.

With the forecast calling for 14-20 inches of snow between Saturday and Sunday, on Friday night my sister and I went out to stock up on blizzard supplies.  A trip to the grocery store, liquor store, and beer distributor later we were ready.  Then we headed over to one of our favorite restaurants, Isaac Newtons for some dinner and beers.  I love that she is 21 now!  Saturday morning I was like a little kid on Christmas, woke up at 8 and immediately ran to my window to look outside.  Did it snow, did it snow?!  Well it sure did, and snowed and snowed and snowed… you get my point.  As the day went on, I started getting more and more worried that Alex wasn’t going to make it here, but he finally made it just as the heaviest snow started to fall.  Never did I think I would consider driving 25mph going fast.  Turning onto the highway I felt like I was off-roading in the arctic tundra, thankfully we had the Rooogueeee (you have to say it drawing out the o’s and e’s, it just sounds cooler) and made it too and from the train station safely.  Then the blizzard party really commenced with lots of food, drinking, and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Yeaaah, you know you’re jealous.  Blizzard pictures from Saturday:

my front yard around 5pm

Backyard, looks like there is a cake on top of our patio table

sibling rivalry

Sunday morning, we woke up to well over a foot of snow on the ground and the digging out process commenced.  Hey, we had a football game to get to, luckily the game time was pushed back to 4:15 so there was plenty of time to get the car out.

There’s my man, hard at work.  Clearly I was very helpful.

The Eagles game was fantastic!  Well for me anyway, not so much for Alex who is a 49ers fan, but the Birds clinched a playoff spot yay!  The fans at the Linc weren’t too harsh overall towards the boy, I think he only got hit with one snowball, and someone even offered to take a picture for us.  Some of my favorite comments were directed at our relationship;

“What is this?! What are you doing with him?! Why don’t you get a real boyfriend!”

“Someone buy the 49ers fan a beer” “Hell no, but i’ll buy his girlfriend one”

Aaaaah, good times, good times.  It was absolutely freezing at the game however.  I don’t think I could have possibly fit any more layers of clothes on my body.  All I have to say is THANK GOD for hand and foot warmers, those were a lifesaver.  Great weekend overall, let the countdown to Christmas begin!

Pass the Vodka and Hand me a Straw

Ever have one of those weeks where you wish you could rewind to back to before it even started and then fast forward through the whole thing?  This has been one of those weeks, and there is still one more day to get through.  I’m not going to go into all the different things that have pissed me off/annoyed me/made me sad this week, but there were a few.  Thankfully my boss gave out Christmas presents today, and mine is a bottle of wine!  Hey you, Cabernet Sauvignon, you are coming home with me tonight.

Also, my sister comes home from college tomorrow for her winter break, which is a very positive thing in this shitty ass week.  I’m pretty sure all of the local bars have been warned of our impending arrival, because putting us both together means one of us will end up smacking their head on concrete after an ill advised dizzy bat.  (Side note, that was not this sister).

According to the weather, there is a snow storm headed this way with significant accumulation possible Saturday afternoon into Sunday, and since I am depending on mass transit to deliver my boyfriend to me on Saturday evening and will be sitting outside Sunday afternoon at the Eagles game, it will probably be a blizzard.  That’s me, I’m a glass half full kind of girl.  But in honor of this possible snow, enjoy the snow on this website today!

(Tangent)  The title of todays post brings back fond memories of my 24th birthday back in July, when literally I was passed a bottle of vodka with a straw.  I’d like to thank my friend Keith for the bottle of Sweet Tea vodka that I was swigging from when the clock struck midnight, and then that everyone else had the pleasure of drinking from.  25 is only seven months away, get ready people!  More Patron and body shots are on the horizon!

Anywhoooo.  Laughed pretty hard this morning when I looked at my phone and saw I had about five unread messages from my boyfriend, who was at his holiday work party last night, so of course none of them made any sense.  I’ll have to employ a translator later.  And because I live with my mom and my cat, and my weeknights are not very eventful, here is another picture of Pumpkin being adorable:

digging for something in the box of wrapping paper and ribbons.  She managed to get that ribbon wrapped around her all by herself.  And then, because she looked so cute, I tied a green ribbon around her neck to make her a Christmas Kitty!