Skip to main content

Vacation thoughts

We came back from touristing early(ish) tonight and I'm still wide awake watching some UFC fights.  I think Mila's knocked out.  We've been walking a lot the last couple of days (over 9 miles
today alone!) and it's wearing her down I think.  We got here on Tuesday and spent the first few days with my grandma, great aunt, aunt, and cousin.  It was great to see them, especially my cousin Connor who I haven't seen in... 10 years?  We did a lot of the normal touristy things, including Arlington National Cemetery and all of the monuments.  One thing I noticed was ALL the runners.  Everywhere you looked, there were people running around.  We even had a shirtless dude stop in front of us while we were eating lunch on a bench to do some stretches before continuing on his run.  I think that was for my grandma's benefit.
Mila (correctly) talked me out of bringing my running clothes.  This neighborhood isn't all that runnable and I would likely get lost.  My phone has been acting up lately and would probably die while out running.  It'll be interesting to see how much, if any, fitness I've lost when I get in my next run, the Tuesday night trail run.
Mila and I waiting on our flight
After walking around and seeing the monuments, memorials, and famous quotes, I'm feeling pretty motivated.  Motivated to do what - I'm not so sure.  I need to find an avenue for that motivation.  The plan/goal is to tie it into all aspects of life.  As I read more about some of the great visionaries and leaders of our past, I am sure that it will have an effect on how I live and, eventually, what I write about.  What insights have you learned from our (or yours if you're from a different country) country's leaders?
I'll sprinkle some of the DC trip pics in future blog posts but I don't have any of them loaded on my computer yet.

Good luck to those Revel Runners tomorrow!  Have a great run!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fanciness, gardens, and you're a guey

 Day 4 was "supposed" to take place mainly outside. The forecast called for rain most of the day and, well, it looked like we would be running ourselves ragged to make the self-imposed time hacks. So, we made a little adjustment. We still decided to go to a couple different gardens. However, we needed breakfast first (let's be honest, it was second breakfast for this hobbit). We went to Confiteria La Ideal for a fantastic breakfast. I had thought it was a smaller place to grab a coffee and snack and then be on our way. However, we walked in and realized it's not that type of spot. The cafe originally opened in 1912 and was long considered the best example of porteno (coming from Buenos Aires) gastronomy for the best part of the 20th century. They closed their doors in 2016 but reopened in 2022 after a massive restoration project.  We also saw that we were way underdressed. Luckily, we could play the ignorant tourist card and, if need be, I could always speak horrendou...

Volunteering at the Run in the Sun 8k

As I've detailed in earlier posts, I'm about a month into my heart rate training.  That means, from May through August, it's nothing but aerobic training for this guy.  My fastest mile has been 10:20, so racing is pretty much out of the question.  As shown by our performances last year, Ryan and I don't quite know how to hold back during a race.  Additionally, I haven't met any runners out here and I figured that this would be a great way to do so.  I started trolling around the internets last week and found a couple races in need of volunteers. Mila, James, and I volunteered at the San Angelo Road Lizards 44th Annual Run in the Sun 8K this morning.  We showed up nice and early, 6 a.m. (Yes, I actually got Mila out of bed that early.) but didn't see anyone except a bunch of police.  We weren't sure if we were being set up for something.   Eventually we came across Daniela, the race director, and a few other SARL folks. T...

Swag bag

 It's been a busy few weeks since I wrote my last post  about the state parks we've been visiting.  Well, we did it again.  I wanted to roll up our trip to Jordan Lake with an update on the Csapo Family 5k and a shortened write up from our in-person 5k.  So, let's get to it. We hit up state park #5, Jordan Lake, a few weeks ago.  Just a bit outside of Raleigh, the man-made Jordan Lake is the 7th largest lake in the state.  Upon its several inlets, the state park includes several campgrounds, boat launches, and recreation areas.  We wanted a 2-3 mile trail so we went with the red trail at Vista Point.  Many of the other trails were either different distances or accessible only to campers.  The red trail has an inauspicious beginning as it's located kind of near a rentable pavilion.  It took us a minute to find it as there wasn't much of a trailhead sign.  Furthermore, it is a path through the woods, not quite the obviously delin...