Last Saturday: Komen, National Gallery, and Up

On Saturday I ran in the Komen Global Race for the Cure. This was my second time participating – I “ran” last year, too, though I did more walking than running since I really hadn’t trained at all, and in all seriousness I think that was probably the first time I ever actually ran a distance of 5k/3.1 miles. EVER. Yeah, that was also the day I ended up in the ER at GW after slipping on the wet concrete outside the MLK Library downtown after seeing SATC at Gallery Place with a few friends. Run-walking a 5k for the first time + slamming back of head against concrete = not a good time the following morning.

Anyway! This year’s race was fantastic. I didn’t run with anyone this year, but I did end up chatting with this random woman while we were waiting to start. She works for the US Tennis Association (USTA) as I *think* kind of like a sports attorney/agent for the tennis players. Okay, I finally believe everyone who says tennis is great for your legs, because this woman said she plays tennis daily and she seriously had the best legs ever, and she’s definitely in her fifties at least. Mine are like hugs barrels of lard compared to hers! We chatted about our jobs and the race and what not, and of course this slowly evolves to law school and all that fun stuff. Yahoo! She went Catholic’s evening program, working during the day, and actually lived at the time in one of the other Van Ness buildings that is part of my complex. I talked a little bit about law school and all that stuff, and then she started talking about “oh but there’s so many things you can do with a law degree other than traditional law firm practice.” And I sort of starting thinking ugh can we start the race already so I can run away from you! But, she was genuinely nice, not lecturing or any of that garbage. I just pointed out that what I had wanted to do was traditional law firm stuff (at least for a while), but I obviously do acknowledge that there is a ton you can do with the degree outside of that realm. But, the bottom-line being, it was not the right thing for me. Plus, I didn’t exactly have a clear alternative picture of what *else* I might want to use the degree for, plus really, why continue to put myself through all that for some kind of ethereal unknown?

Yeah, so finally (finally! like a half hour late) the race started, and I was kind of worried by that time that I was getting stiff from standing around for so long. Plus I was testing out the waist pack. (Side note: thumbs up for the waist pack. Definitely much better than running with water bottle in hand. Having that weight on my lower back instead was much less obnoxious. Still, I'd prefer to run without the pack - it can be a little distracting when it moves around when you move - but it's great to be able to safely and securely store water, cell phone, keys, and other small essentials). I was pretty close to the start line, but it still took a good couple minutes to really get moving and get across the line, because there were SO MANY PEOPLE (which is great!)! I think there ended up being around 45,000 runners/walkers! So, to make a long story short, I had a great run (definitely helped by the good weather and flat course), ran the entire time (first time! the past two races, I had some very brief walk breaks), and shaved about 15 seconds off my mile time (though I am still très slow). Yay! And it was for a good cause.

After, I hit up Starbucks, then went to the National Gallery, which was AMAZING, because I went right when it opened at 10am, and it was mostly empty which I LOVE. What I didn’t love, however, was getting accosted by a security guard at the bag check about my water bottle, which might I say was empty, but it apparently needed to be stored in a bag (it was partially protruding from its holder on my waist pack), and the guard basically insinuated that I was probably just there to use the bathroom (ok granted, I was in post-race state, with bib pinned on and what not), and blahblahblah. So I said no, ACTUALLY I am here to see the art. Ergh! Anyway, I obviously could have just tossed the water bottle, but I’m trying to be good and environmentally friendly, but in the end, a different security guard (a nicer one!) magically produced a bag for me to put the bottle in.

Post-art overload (yum!), I went to see Up. Okay, so despite the fact that I knew the general storyline in advance, especially the gist of the first 15-20 minutes were you see one of the main characters (the old man) meet his future wife, grow up, etc., I KNEW (KNEW!!) I was going to be crying all over the place. No surprises there, I so did. Ahhh. Granted, it doesn’t take much to make me cry (I can probably find something to cry about in comedies), but I was definitely silent-sobbing at various intervals throughout the movie. It wasn’t strictly sad in a traditional sense, more of one of those make you think about your life/reevaluate your priorities/etc. things. I have to give credit to Pixar/Disney for being so great about injecting these kinds of messages into their movies. Children can still enjoy the more surface-level storylines and whatnot, but adults can appreciate the deeper messages and lessons of the story. I definitely recommend seeing the movie! Bottom line, it’s a very adorable/touching story, but with its light-hearted moments, the characters (especially Dug, the dog!) are memorable, and of course the whole magic of animation is amazing.