DC Day 2: Giving me A HUGE travel bug

So Day two of #rayraysDCweekendgetaway is done. Boo. But yay to a fantastic weekend!! After many margaritas and Coronas last night, my stomach was not too happy with me this morning. At all. I woke up at 6 and decided that I would try and fall back asleep and rehydrate some more before going on my run. After the tornado warning last night (yes, that happened here), I was relieved to see the sun shining this morning. Unfortunately the high temps and humidity were both still around. Finally around 8:30, I got out of bed, drank some Vitamin Water and got ready for my run. This is much later than I would ever go for a run in this heat, but it was my last chance here so I had to do it. I wasn't sure how my legs would feel after putting in about 20 miles on them yesterday but they felt great! I was pleasantly surprised by this. I had five miles on the training plan for today so I started out heading up to the Capitol.  Going there, I realized how much closer I was than I thought. Apparently I took the very long way yesterday which made it seem super far when in reality it was literally like eight minutes away. From there I headed down Constitution Ave again past many of the Smithsonian museums and headed straight to the National Mall again. I had to see the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial one more time! I made my way there, took some pics, and then headed to the White House again, because I just had to. When in Rome, right?!?! I could smell the Tequila sweating out of me but felt great afterwards. During this run I also had that feeling of utter happiness and gratefulness for my love of running. It allows me to see so much more on my feet wherever I go. It's a pretty cool thing!! 

DC: Hot Temps and Hotter Security

This weekend I decided to treat myself to a mini, pre-#rayrayseurovacay2; I went on, shall we say #rayraysDCweekendgetaway. I just love making hashtags for these. #sorrynotsorry. But anyway, there was no specific reason I went except that I wanted to. With all the traveling I did last summer on #rayrayspacNWvacay I had racked up enough credit with hotels.com to earn a free nights stay in any hotel in the US up to $250 a night. Pretty sweet, right? Well, the offer expired July 17 and since I'll be in Europe then, I had to act on this before then if I wanted to use it. I thought about using it on a staycation in NYC but quickly decided against that. I figured it was only right to spend money to save money (as so many of us do) so I was going to use this and make a fun weekend of it. The only decision now was choosing between Boston and DC and find a weekend with no race or event. Well, this weekend was the only one, and DC it was. I've been watching a ridiculous amount of Scandal lately on Netflix so seeing all the beautiful the DC scenery made my decision super easy. Olivia Pope, I was coming for a visit. 

You know I'm a runner because...

Today is National Running Day! Yes, this is a real holiday for us runners so Happy National Running Day to you and yours. Last year on this day I wrote about all the reasons that I run and what running gives to me but this year I am going to write about all the characteristics that I possess that gives me a away as a runner.

Sometimes I feel weird calling myself a "runner" because I am not very fast or built like a runner at all; however, I get out there and run 5 days a week and compete in races so yes, I am a runner. And believe me, if you saw my closets and drawers (and shoe collection) you would know this all to be true. So how does one know I am a runner? They know I'm a runner because...

3 Cheers for 11 years!

Today marks my 11th Anniversary of me living in New York City. Wooooooot. Seriously, eleven years here. It's amazing to me that I have lived here this long and NYC is the place I now call my home. This is especially crazy when I still get moments, quite often actually, where I have to pinch myself because I feel so lucky and grateful to live here.

I officially became a New Yorker last year when I hit the ten year mark. Even though I caught on pretty quickly on how to survive and succeed here, myself of any of my family members expected me to still be out here after all this time. But, I love this city. The architecture. The food. The opportunities. The pace. The energy. There is just something special about New York. Some people can't handle it, but I think I thrive on it and feed off it. It just suits me. As much as I love Chicago and my family there, New York has a hold on me and a very special place in my heart.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

I know, I know...I haven't written lately. Some of you care. Some of you don't even notice. Either way, it's cool. Part of the reason I haven't posted was because nothing too exciting has gone on worth an entire post. Part of it was a little bit of writers block. And part of it was that I wasn't totally sure anyone really found it interesting what has been happening. But then I realized that I don't really care if other people read this or not, or care or not because ultimately, this blog is for me. It's for me to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of my life. And when I look back on these in a few weeks, months, or even years, I can remember what happened, how I felt, and how it shaped me even more.

The end of April and beginning of May has had its ups and downs as usual so here it goes...