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.

Weekend Wrap-up and Some Random Thoughts

Pretty lazy weekend overall, thought I did accomplish four of the five items on my retroactively-created "to do" list: (1) see State of Play, (2) do beaucoup de laundry, (3) return some stuff to J.Crew, and (4) buy new running socks. The one thing I didn't get to was to go to the NGA to see this exhibition, which I've been dying to see but just haven't had the chance yet. Only got two more weeks to see it, so I'm already planning to go this coming weekend.

FYI, State of Play was really really good. Definitely one of the better films I've seen so far this year. I highly recommend it. Just make sure you pay attention, otherwise you might get confused. I love movies like this, but I overheard a couple of women talking about how confused they were, after the movie had ended. Anyway, great story, excellent cast, stunning setting (DC, of course, haha!).

I'm really frustrated with the washing machines, or with my laundry detergent, or with both. I can't really figure it out. There tends to be detergent residue left on clothes that I take out of the washer and let air dry. It is soooo annoying, because basically I find myself having to rinse out the clothes in the sink. I suppose another option is to run everything again on a rinse-only cycle (thank you Mom advice), but that's just so annoying too, I am not going to start spending another $1.25 just to rinse this stuff out again. The washers are definitely smaller than the ones in my previous building, but I try to not pack the clothes in too much. I feel like these washers don't work as well as they could...but, I also wonder if it's the detergent I use. I dunno, I started using different detergent when I moved to my current place, it's that double strength stuff, so you're suppose to use half of what you would otherwise use. Which I do, there's even a line thing on the cap so you can measure properly. I still wonder if maybe I'm using too much, since that detergent residue crap still shows up on some of my clothes. Today was particularly annoying because I washed one of my running jackets (made out of that swishy material, whatever it's called), and I air dried it, and it had all this crap all over it. Reminded me of a car's dirty windshield after a rainstorm. Such a pain. I rinsed it off but it's still on there. Whatever, I'm over it.

Went to Friendship Heights to return a couple things to J.Crew. Didn't buy anything except some new Puma running socks, but I almost (almost!) bought some really random stuff from World Market. LOVE World Market. I managed to find a lot of fun pineapple stuff today, in general (wall hanging at World Market, lamps at Stein Mart, etc.) but held back. I really like shopping in Friendship Heights and the neighborhood in general. Really like the Borders there. And it's like department store heaven. Aside from it being super close to where I live, it basically has everything (every store) you could feasibly want. And the Cheesecake Factory! Except, I guess, kind of bummed that Linens & Things went out of business...kind of hoping they'll put a Bed Bath & Beyond in that empty spot, but I'm guessing probably not, since there's that huge one in Columbia Heights, plus the other one in Chinatown. 

Ergh...why does it seem like it's perpetually Sunday night? I so dislike Sunday nights...weekend is nearly over, another week upon us. Blahh. Hoping this week goes by quickly!

Went to Starbucks today...I definitely don't go nearly as often as I used to. The last time I went was 2-3 weeks ago now. I just don't feel like I really need it, if that makes sense? It's sort of surprising though, since there's a Starbucks right across from my office, but maybe since it requires crossing the street (as opposed to the Starbucks literally attached to my old office building...), and I'm lazy...it just doesn't happen. Except now I go to Chop't at least once a week, which is not really good...except it is soooo good.

I would really like to make it a goal to run a half marathon within the next year. I'm eyeing the SunTrust one, which is next March (2010). The major roadblock here is that, in order to qualify, I have to run a 5k in 31:00 (actually...that's the 2009 qualifying standard, I dunno if it will be lower for 2010...). That essentially means that I need to shave 4-5 minutes off my current 5k time (based on the Cherry Blossom 5k), which is a LOT of time to work off. Eek. Ideally I'd like to try and do this with one of the two upcoming 5ks (Police Week, Komen), but I think that might be way too optimistic. Oh, the reason why I'd like to accomplish this sooner rather than later is that registration for SunTrust opens in July. I'm getting way better at running longer distances, but I really need to focus on improving speed, even if I have to sacrifice distance, at least for now. Hmm...

That's about it... Off to enjoy the precious few hours left of this weekend :-)

Summer 2009: Movies!

I heart summer movie season, and it looks like 2009 will be no exception. Lots of high-profile, highly-anticipated, likely blockbusters are coming out. Woo! The major ones that I'm especially looking forward to are:

[4] X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1);

[7] Star Trek* (May 8);

[3] Angels and Demons (May 15);

[5] Terminator Salvation (May 21);

[6] Pixar's Up (May 29);

[2] Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June 26);

[1] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 15).

(Numbers in brackets indicate my ranking from 1 ("Most Most Excited About") to 7 ("Least Most Excited About").)

*No, I am not ones of those crazed Star Trek fans. In fact, I'm not really a Star Trek fan at all. But, J.J. Abrams (Alias, LOST, MI:III, Cloverfield) is directing, and if you must know, Alias is my favorite show of all-time. Like, EVER. Seriously.

On the other hand, I think I'm going to have to pass on Sorority Row. I mean, it does look really really good and all (Oscar-worthy, in fact), but I just have to keep my movie-going priorities in order.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing State of Play this weekend. I am a sucker for Washington political thrillers. Will I ever get over seeing my adopted city on the silver screen? Unlikely. :)