The Oasis

Wow. I've never been so happy as I was at 1:30 on Saturday. At around mile 12 of our 20 mile walk, there it was: Liz's parents house.

The "moderate" incline to get to this Oasis was about as moderate as John McCain- which is to say, not moderate at all. But it was well worth the short hike.

A bathroom, water, Gatorade, sunscreen, and more awaited us. Let's talk for a moment about the spread: hummus, bread, olives, pita chips, fruit salad, sandwich fixins'. It was pure heaven.

Thank you so much Laura Stone and Ezra Levine.

Getting back on the road was another story, but somehow we managed to pry ourselves away. Once again, my post-walk state makes me an evangelist for those special blister band-aids. I love them!

Haiku

At the end of our 15 mile walk on Sunday, I composed this Haiku about the L2 bus line. The L2 bus route ran right alongside us for approximately the last 3 miles of the walk. It was so tempting when it went by. Luckily, when the moment of truth came, my fellow walkers were there to keep me going.

L2 I love you
Please come and get me right now
I want a ride home

I invite the other walkers to submit their poems.

Airport Training anyone?

I just wanted to drop a quick line about my airport training experience. Last night, I flew from DC to Cedar Rapids, IA for work. I was supposed to connect in Detroit and get to IA around 8 pm.

So I coast on into to Detroit to find out that my flight has been cancelled and there are no other Cedar Rapids connections from Detroit. This means I get to spend a lovely 3 hours in the Detroit airport, followed by a flight to Minneapolis and then a flight to IA.

So, what better way to pass time than to train in the airport. That's right, me and my backpack made our way around the Detroit airport in style. By my calculation it was only about a mile and a half of walking - but it helped pass the time.

Of course, the Minneapolis flight was delayed too, so I got a quick training session as I RAN like hell to make my 10:20 flight in the C concourse after arriving at 10:10 in the F concourse.

I made it, but my luggage did not. So I crawled into bed at 1 am after brushing my teeth with the free hotel toothbrush that is about as soft and smooth as sandpaper. Cross your fingers that my luggage comes in today, so I can spend some quality time with the hotel treadmill in my workout clothes tonight and do some real training.

We are on the team!

Molly just taught me how to blog! I feel so technologically advanced now. Phew. Anyway, Oriana, Alison and I are now officially part of Team Pink is the New Avon Walk! Now we have enough people to have a group tent and at least somebody will be getting a hat. Thankfully, Molly said that if she doesn't like it I can have it.

Yesterday Alison, Lucy, Molly and I went on a walk after work. We went through Georgetown, around the U St. area and back. We tried to beat the time that Lucy and Molly had on their last walk, but it took us just a little bit longer. I blame it on the snow still covering the fancy shmancy streets of Georgetown. We also stopped at Cake Love to peer in the windows--mmm. That will have to happen on our next walk. The only other exciting thing was what happened outside of the Hilton on Connecticut...I'm pretty sure Lucy and Alison would rather forget about that though.

On a totally separate note, Duke is playing Maryland tonight. Go Duke!!

best bathroom ever, moderate incline, wind, oh my!

Last Saturday, we had a record number of participants in our weekend group walk of 7.1 miles. Those in attendance: Lucy, Lilly, Shalini, Amber, Molly and Annie. I know I personally enjoyed (finally) meeting our Charlottesville, VA member Lilly... and it was great to see Shalini kicking all of our butts on her first group walk. Well played, Shalini my friend.

The walk started off poorly for me. I had to go to the bathroom more than I had previously thought, and that made for an interesting 2.2 mile journey to the Chevron bathroom. Yes, a gas station. But, no joke - it was the nicest bathroom I'd been to in a long time. And yes(!), I include those bathrooms in private homes. Chevron really knows how to do it up. Golf claps!!


After some much needed Chevron time, I was back in the game... and nothing was going to stop me. Not gale forced winds, not shoes that were 1/2 a size too small, not shin splints, not calf aches, not a lack of a camera, not runaway tires, not the super speed runner (the ladies know who I'm referring to), and certainly not our moderate incline that capped off the 7.1 miles.

I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...

After some post 7.1 mile stretching (did I mention we walked 7.1 miles?) it was time for the Chipotle reward... waiting for us mere steps across the street. I dare say Chipotle has ever tasted so good.


.THE END.

...the enchiladas that never were...

So, I meant to blog about this on Monday night, but I was in a "mood" by the time I got home, and opted to instead write it Tuesday when I got home.

Well... Tuesday, the federal government closed @ 2pm due to the snow and icy road conditions, and I seized that opportunity to get tanked. No need to say more.

And, well, here we are on Wednesday... and I'm finally writing about what I should have written about Monday.

So, I'd like to give myself mad props for doing two "big" walks in a row-- Sunday's 5.2 miler with the ladies and Monday night's 4.4 miler with Annie. I'm most definitely a rock star! Or at least, I felt like one, until my journey home.

Let me set the scene: It's cold, blustery even. My nose is running. My butt is a tad sore from yesterday. Annie, bless her heart, walks like she's being chased by the mafia - and my legs were working double time simply to keep up. So, I'm tired and hungry and imagining a steaming hot plate of enchiladas. Yum.

I proudly declare that I will cab home, rather than wait on a bus... but, with my dwindling funds in mind, I decided to wait for the bus. Besides, there was a gaggle of people already waiting, so I felt like the next bus was just around the corner... um, WRONG!

I waited for the bus, any bus, for 45 minutes... and while a stronger person would have thrown in the towel and taken a cab, I did not. I felt like I had something to prove. What- I'm not exactly sure.

So I waited 5 minutes more... 10 minutes more... 15 minutes more, until I decided to just walk. Which felt awesome because my muscles had totally frozen up in the interim between walking and waiting. As luck would have it, a bus did come, and I was able to hop on at the next stop.

Buuuuuuuuuuut, it was one of those accordion buses, and I was caught in the center-- literally smack-up against my fellow passengers. I didn't care, though, because I was warm! And going home! To eat! And thaw out! And watch The Hills! All very important, exclamation-point warranting things!

Clearly, as my luck that night would have it, I was unable to get to a door in time to get off the bus... for the next two stops. And so... I marched my sad, sad self home...

... where I made a sad, sad salad (not enchiladas), and went to bed before The Hills because I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open.

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