Wow.... Blogging is a lot harder than I thought! Actually, it's hard to make yourself sit down and reminisce about what's going on. Since it's been so long, I may split it up into 2 posts to keep you interested!
Week 1 of training went fine, though, it's much harder to run when you "have" to go a certain distance. Wednesday the 5th was the first time I actually got up before work to run. Morning runs seem much harder, plus, I was battling traffic and high school kids biking and walking to school. However, once I finished, I felt great and wanted to brag to everyone that I ran 3 miles in the morning! Wednesday night, I headed back to Raymore to hang out with my friend Megan. Unfortunately, Randy, my friend and her husband, died in a bike wreck on Sunday, May 2nd. We just hung out at the hotel and looked through pictures and I finally got to meet his family. It was terrible circumstances, but I'm so glad I got to see everyone before I flew out to Washington DC.
Thursday morning, Katy dropped me off at the airport for my 7:40 flight and I was on my way. Once I landed, my cousin picked me up and we went over to Georgetown. It had a great little downtown area, but holy population! There were tons of cars and people, but the weather was nice so we mostly walked around. After lunch at J Paul's, where I had an awesome fish taco, we walked down to the Potomac River and over to the University. Pretty buildings and neat looking, city style houses! After that, we drove back to my cousin's house about an hour (with traffic) south of the city. I ran my 1.5 mi as required by my training, but it was tough with the hot weather and hills. Finally, we got dressed up and headed back
downtown for dinner and our official tour of the West Wing! We got to see the Rose Garden, the door to The Situation Room, the Press Room, THE Oval Office, and other rooms I can't remember. It's pretty much how I imagined it. There were pictures everywhere from the White House Photographer who just follows around the President to log his day. Also lots of older art. It was a once in a life time experience and truly was wonderful!
Friday morning, Mom, Dad, Jonathan and I went back to the White House to get the public tour of the East Wing. Also impressive, but more in a museum kind of way! Then, we got on our walking shoes! First the Washington Monument! Not as impressive as the St. Louis Arch (don't tell anyone for StL I said that) but awesome, none the less. We headed down the hill to the Reflecting Pool, by way of the WWII Memorial! The "Pool" is pretty dirty and covered in geese and but once we got up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial,
you could tell how it got it's name. What a cool, architectural idea!?! The Vietnam War Memorial was what I imagined. My mom had a cousin we found, and my dad knew a few guys from high school that we found. Next we walked by the Korean War Memorial, which was surrounded by a veteran field trip. All the little old men were so cute! Our next stop was at the Roosevelt Memorial. It seemed to go on forever! Tons of stone and water, with a different quote or saying every 10 feet. This was my favorite...
Our last stop was at the Jefferson Memorial. It had a gorgeous location off the Tidal Basin, but there was a lot of construction going on around it, so that took away from it's beauty. After a full day of walking... 16,000 steps according to Dad's pedometer... we agreed to babysit the kids so my cousin and his wife could have the night out before he left town for 2 weeks.
Saturday morning we decided to sleep in! I ran my 3 miles around the neighborhood, then Mom, Dad and I drove to the metro station furthest South and too the train in. It took about 45 minutes but we didn't have to worry about parking or traffic, so it was definitely the way to go. We wanted to go to the Department of Engraving but it is closed on the weekend. We decided on the American History Museum. Saw the actual flag of the Star Spangled Banner and had no idea it was so huge! Also saw Julia Child's kitchen. Next we had gyros in the downstairs of the Old Post Office Tower and headed to the Air and Space Museum. The space shuttles and airplanes were really cool, I'm just not much of a fan of museums. I'd rather walk with a purpose than kind of putter around reading. I do, however, love walking around cities and am surprisingly good at finding my way around. And subways are fun :)
Mom, Dad, and I flew back on Sunday night and were greeted by Mike, Jessie and the kids, Charlotte and pizza! What a great way to end a weekend! Monday, however, was a cold, wet and unsuccessful day of car shopping. But thank you, Dad, for your patience!
As if margs weren't enough, we went to B12 for Karaoke! I didn't sing til the very end, but I now know my song! Originally, I though "Come to my Window" was the way to go, but after someone else sang "I'm the Only One," I knew it was the better Melissa Ethridge song!
