Happy Halloween!!

The crab hat will be making an appearance at work tonight!  

Just because I am working the night shift, there is no reason we cannot have a little bit of fun!

Hope everyone has a ghoulishly good night!

The Tale of a (SORE) Weekend Warrior

After 13 weeks of on and off training the big day has come!  Yesterday I headed to the Convention Center, along with 27,000 of my nearest and dearest, to pick up my swag bag.  

 

With some carbs and peanut butter in hand, Mama Mazurak and I headed to the start line.  This could have been the hardest part of the day as the marathon shuts down the entire city.  As the sun rose over the Inner Harbor, everyone headed to their waves and waited for the race to start. 

Look at those smiling faces!  Anything seems possible at the beginning of the race. 

 

Things got off to a good start, but by mile 6 my knees were beginning to feel the hills and I was WAY WAY WAY off my 10 minute mile pace.  I will admit it did it to myself.  Thanks to being sick and busy and a little unmotivated, I had not gone for a run in nearly four weeks (hence the weekend warrior status).

At mile 8 there there was time to take an #ussie with the YMCA turkey.

At mile 9 this sign game me a brief glimmer of hope.  I really should have taken more pictures of the posters.

By mile 10 I was doing the run for a song, walk for a song thing, but I was able to get my legs going at mile 12.  Running through a crowd of shouting people and then the Orioles stadium definitely helped.  I finished a before my mother and got to cheer her on for the last 500 feet!

 

We somehow found each other again and got a picture with our new bling!

 

All and all we covered nearly 17.5 miles and crossed something off my mother's bucket list.   It looks like Elise will be joining us for the DC Rock and Roll half next spring so there will be plenty of time to train (or at least think about training).  Until then hand me some advil.

Bike and Build ABC's (Part 2)

This weekend's ABCs include: Arden, who is once again blog famous, brunch, and Columbia Heights Day.  In true SUS fashion, (we played a lot of "I'm going on a picnic and bringing ...") I am adding a D for DC's Dare Theory. 

Over 100 teams hit the streets to complete 50 dares with teammates and complete strangers.  Our team had the foresight to bring bikes so we were able to cover A LOT more ground.  While some people called it cheating, we referred to ourselves as resourceful.  Here are a couple of picture and video highlights: 

Get the number of a complete stranger

 Tie three pieces of clothing together and play limbo

Dance like a ballerina with some strangers 

Drink something with no hands

Make a 6 person pyramid

Record your best touch down dance.  I pulled out some new dance moves for this one.

Take a picture under the Friendship Arch.

Take a picture with something which no longer exists in the Natural History Museum

Have a teammate crowd surf in an elevator 

Have a stranger feed you some water while doing a push-up (never forget arms day people)

Take a reflection picture in the Reflection Pool

 Participate in a giant bat fight on the National Mall

Take a picture in Freedom Plaza

Make a four person chair 

In four hours we completed all 50 dares and we took third place.  

Not bad for an afternoon/evening's work.  

 

Autumnal Bliss

As the weather gets cooler and the leaves begin to change color, I, along with thousands of people, get excited for the beginning of fall.  Mine is a deep rooted love which started as a kid living in the country, raking leaves, eating apple cider doughnuts, roasting pumpkin seeds, picking apples ... the list could go on and on and on.  While everyone is running around in scarves and drinking mulled beverages, there are still the haters; take example 1 and example 2.  There are also some great spoofs like this Dr. Seuss pumpkins spice latte poem.

While I no longer live in the country, I have to get a bit more creative when it comes autumnal bliss.  Near by state parks makes it easy to take in some fall foliage and feel hear the crunch of leaves under my feet.  The local farmers market makes it easier to eat the perfect apple; if only I could get my hands on an apple cider doughnut. 

Stay tuned for adventures in apple picking, half marathon runs, fall leaves friendsgivings and some local brews!