TD 5 Boro 40 Mile Bike Tour

Chelsea

St. Michaels Half Marathon Recap

May 232013

Hey there! How are ‘ya?

For my part, work is still crazy, but I’m doing my best to try to keep up with a good work/life balance. Sometimes work can really bring you down, but it’s never something that friends, family, a boyfriend, a dog, and a chilled glass of white wine at the end of the day can’t fix right?

Anyway, I promised you guys a recap of my first half marathon so let’s get to it!

Before the race

As I mentioned on Monday, Fabio and I woke up super early on Saturday morning to head over to the race. The race officially started at 7:30 am, but runners were encouraged to line up by at least 7:00. Since my grandparents’ house where we were staying was still a good 45 minutes away, we made sure to leave plenty of time to get there.

The traffic was pretty bad (there is only one road into St. Michaels, MD, where the race was) but we still arrived with plenty of time to spare. My dad dropped us off and went to park the car while Fabio and I headed over to the starting line. At this point, butterflies were doing some serious jumping in my tummy.

Gahhh, so nervous!

We stood around for a little while and people-watched while everyone else lined up.

In the meantime, we ran into our friend Angela, who was running the 10K with her mother-in-law-to-be (is that a real phrase?) and although I didn’t know it until afterwords, two of my sorority sisters, Emily and Macey, were also running the race.

Lots of runners!

Eventually my dad came and found us in line and wished us one final good luck. My dad was a real trooper and brought Jack with him to spectate, so we were able to have the comfort of our best K-9 friend right before the run began

He was our good luck charm for sure

My dad snapped a couple more pictures of us before he stepped out of the runners line and walked back into the crowd of spectators.

…he also got a lot of outtakes like the one below haha.

Oops! It was hard to get Jack to look at the camera, obviously.

See ‘ya later, dad!!

Once my dad stepped away, we only had a few minutes to go before it was time to get moving. Eventually the gun sounded and we were off!

During the race

As soon as the race began, I realized I needed to pee.

I had of course realized this earlier, but I thought it was just nerves (I always have to pee before presentations, performances, etc.). Unfortunately after running the first couple miles, I realized the feeling was not going away (not that you’d know it from my goofy photobomb pic around mile 1.5, below!)

This dilemma was totally my fault, since I drank half a water bottle in the car before the race (I was trying to be extra prepared) and didn’t bother waiting in the long line for the porta-potty before the race began. Stupid.

At this point I was getting really annoyed with myself and was trying to ignore my urge to use the restroom, but it was getting in the way of my concentration and I just felt really off. Eventually around mile 5 we spotted a lone porta-potty, and I made my way over to use it.

(P.S. Fabio took most of these pictures; I was NOT coordinated enough)

I absolutely hated stopping during the race (having everyone pass me was the worst), and unfortunately two people were in front of me in line (wasting even more time), but I felt so much better after that it was 110% worth it. Sometimes nature calls!

Now I know not to drink water before a race. Lesson learned!

Once we got back on the road, I really got into my groove.

I actually thought stopping to use the porta-potty helped me pick up my pace afterword. I really wanted to try to catch up to the people we were running with before, so I had something concrete to look for in the crowd (e.g., I have to catch up to the girl in the Rock-N-Roll half marathon shirt that we ran with earlier!! Oh yay, we caught up to the woman in the hat with the underwear shorts! Haha, these were the thoughts going through my head).

The rest of the race really flew by. I wish I had more specific comments about the run itself, but it was actually kind of uneventful. I was hoping the route would be along the water (which was one of the main reasons I chose this race) but unfortunately a lot of it was just on the highway or in neighborhoods. The course was totally fine though; it was nice and flat and I was able to just zone out and enjoy my run.

Going into the race had one real goal: run without stopping to walk. I sort of had another goal, to run the race under 2 hours, but I hadn’t done any calculating and didn’t want to focus too much on it in case it was unrealistic and I burnt myself out.

At around mile 11 I started to get really tired (I had never gone past 11 miles before) but Fabio asked if I wanted to pick up the pace to try to run the race in under 2 hours. I said I would try, and I did the very best I could!

We picked up the pace and I felt like we would never get there. The last two miles kind of wound around a park, so every time we rounded a corner I expected to see the finish line and then get disappointed when I saw more of the trail in front of us. Come on finish line…where are you??

Those last two miles were definitely the toughest part of the whole race.

Eventually we rounded one more corner, and I noticed there were tons of spectators. They were all cheering and clapping us on and I knew we must be almost there!

Just a little further!!

Aaaaaaaand, we did it!! Woohoo!!

After the race

At this point we immediately walked through a huge mud pit (ew) to pick up our medals.

Aren’t they cool?

Mine is now hanging up in my cube at work

When Fabio and I crossed the finish line, we thought we saw a digital clock reading 01:59: and then some numbers next to it that I couldn’t read, so I assumed this meant we finished in 1 hour in 59 minutes.

I was pretty excited to have finished in just under 2 hours, but when I looked at my RunKeeper app (which I had on the whole time) I thought something must be amiss; my app said 2 hours and 3 minutes.

…and I had paused my app during the trip to the porta-potty, so I figured there was no way we finished in one hour and 59 minutes.

Either way I was just super excited that we finished the race and better yet, we didn’t stop to walk!! That was my number one goal the whole time, so I was really proud of achieving it (the two hour thing was just kind of something I had in my head, it wasn’t a real goal).

I later got an email indicating that I finished in 2:08:04.1 (that accounts for the porta-potty time), my overall place was 569/1182, and I placed 14/52 in my age group. Not bad, right?

I was really happy and couldn’t wait to meet up with my dad in the runner’s village.

The runner’s village had a ton of picnic tables, live music, beer, and snacks for the runners. We didn’t stick around too long because it was pretty crowded, but it was really fun to hang out in such a positive atmosphere.

Right before we left, a woman approached Fabio and me and told us that we were her strength during the race. She was using an interval technique where she would run for a minute and then walk for about 30 seconds, and I remember seeing her a bunch of times during our run.

She said that during her intervals she would spot us going at such a strong and steady pace (I think this was around miles 8-10) and that we really helped her to keep going. I was so happy to have helped someone that I honestly got a little teary-eyed when she told me this. I guess my emotions were a little wonky after the run, but I was seriously so touched by her words. It was a great end to the race-day experience.

And as I mentioned on Monday, after the race we went out to eat and celebrate with my grandparents and had a lovely restful weekend!

Final Thoughts

I’ve been trying to corrale some final thoughts on this half marathon, and here are some things that have been bouncing around in my head:

I was way more sore and tired after the half marathon than I was after any of my long training runs
I definitely want to run another half marathon and strive to get under 2 hours (this should totally be doable)
I think I’d like to run a bigger half marathon, since this one was relatively small
My dad wasn’t really able to position himself along the course without losing his parking spot, and I would have really liked to have a spectator there, so next time this might take some planning ahead
DON’T DRINK WATER THE MORNING OF A RACE! Haha. Oh, and thank the race coordinators for porta-potties. Seriously.

Question of the day: What did you think after your first big race? Did you have any key takeaways?

WIAW #51

WIAW 10 Responses »

May 222013

First of all, I just want to take a moment to send my thoughts and prayers to everyone who was affected by the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. I can’t begin to imagine what they must be going through, and it really makes me stop to think about how lucky I am. In case you’re interested, here’s a link with tips for how to help victims.

Hey guys. I have to admit, I’m feeling a bit down today.

Work has just been super, super stressful lately, and then to top it off we just got out of a meeting with the head of our department where we all got yelled at for not working hard enough. Apparently there are some people on our team who are shouldering all the work (read: me) and some people who have been seriously slacking off (enough to gain the attention of our finance department and get us all in trouble).

Even though I know the meeting wasn’t about me, and I know I have been working by butt off at work, it still sucks to be a part of a meeting where you’re disappointing your senior-level management. No one wants to be a disappointment, especially when you are already overworked and stressed.

At least I have an awesome manager, who said the following to me after the meeting:

“Hi – in case I don’t see you before I leave for the doctor, I wanted to let you know that meeting was not about you; they just needed everyone to be there to hear it. You’re wonderful and everyone loves you. I’m happy to talk with you tomorrow about any questions you may have.”

She is amazing. She seemed to know exactly what I was feeling after the stressful meeting and said exactly the thing to cheer me up (at least a little).

I know I usually try not to ~~talk~~ rant about my real job on here, but sometimes it really affects the way I’m feeling and I can’t just brush it off and go on cheerfully like usual. This week has been one of the most difficult weeks I’ve ever had at this job, and I’m having a little trouble staying positive. I know things will slow down again, but it’s hard to keep that in sight when I’m running around like a crazy person.

But you didn’t come here to read about my work life, so let’s get back to today’s regularly-scheduled programming. It’s What I Ate Wednesday, after all!

Thanks to Jenn for hosting the link up! Here’s a little peek at what I ate on Monday.

Breakfast

Check that out- new cereal! In addition to my usual Multigrain Cheerios, I recently bought some Oatmeal Squares and have been enjoying them for breakfast this week (I measure out 1/2 cup of each, Cheerios and Oatmeal Squares,) with skim milk, a banana, and blueberries. I love this breakfast. I actually get really excited in the morning when I think about eating it (it’s one thing that helps get me out of bed in the morning – is that weird?).

Lunch

Luch was pretty standard around here on Monday- I had turkey, mustard, and American cheese on a sandwich thin, with carrots & hummus on the side. I also had a mini Babybell cheese. This lunch is definitely my favorite go-to It never gets old!

P.S. I hate when my carrots get like this. Why do they turn all white and gross-looking??? I washed them before putting them in the container…so weird.

Snack

A little later in the afternoon I headed into the kitchen to chop up my apple and make some unsweetened green tea, when I saw there were some pretzel crisps leftover from a meeting. Score!! I had a few pretzel crisps with my apple and tea and was very satisfied with my snack. Yum.

Dinner

My dinner on Monday was pretty good, but admittedly not my favorite. I had a piece of tilapia (seasoned with a few herbs, salt, and pepper), some cilantro-lime quinoa (this actually was really good), and roasted brussels sprouts and yellow squash mixed with some goat cheese. Everything about this meal should have been delicious, but for some reason it just wasn’t doing it for me.

Oh, I still ate every bite, but it just wasn’t my favorite dinner ever.

Dessert

Ahhh, nothing like a bowl of low-fat cookies & cream ice cream to end a hard day

Daily Activity: Now that my half marathon is over, I’ve gone back to running 1 mile every morning with Jack and completing Jillian Michaels workout DVDs in the evening. I’m going to try to do all 90 days of the DVD program as scheduled this time (since I actually have 90 days and am not training for anything), so you know I’ll keep you posted. Right now the DVDs seem too easy and I’m actually missing my runs a lot, so I put a 5 mile run on the schedule for this weekend. I hope I get to it!! I’m missing my running!!

Question of the day: What do you do when you’re stressed at work??

Psst…I was really hoping to get my half marathon recap up for you guys yesterday, but with my work schedule that just didn’t happen. Hopefully I can get it up tomorrow!!

I ran a half marathon!

Weekend Recaps, Workouts 8 Responses »

May 202013

Guess whaaaaaaaat?

I did it! I ran my first half marathon!! It went really well and I accomplished my goal (WOOHOO!). But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s rewind to Friday night.

Friday

After work on Friday, Fabio and I quickly packed up our bags and headed over to my grandparents’ house, since they live about 30 minutes from St. Michaels, Maryland, where the race was being held. They were super generous to let Fabio, Jack, and I stay there before the race, and I was excited to see them and get the weekend started.

The weather on Friday was beautiful, so Fabio and I rolled down the windows and blasted some fun music on our drive down.

Once we hit the bay bridge we knew we were almost there!!

It wasn’t long before we arrived at my grandparent’s house!

We said hello to my dad, grandma, and grandpa, and then headed inside to drop off our stuff in the guest bedroom that my grandma made up for us.

My grandma decorates her house beautifully (it’s the perfect mix of comfy and cute) and I was so happy to be staying there There’s nothing like the comfort of a grandmother’s house!

Once we dropped off our stuff, we let Jack play outside with my grandparent’s black lab, Cindy. Can you tell them apart in this Vine video?

Looks like I messed up the video at the end there. Woops!

After letting the dogs play outside for a while, we headed inside for dinner. On the menu was salad, pizza, and my grandmother’s homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert

Yummm. Talk about carbo loading before a race!

After dinner, we watched a great family movie called Hachiko, which was really cute and definitely a tear-jerker, especially for all of us dog lovers. Relaxing and watching a movie with my family before the race really helped calm me down and prepare me for the day ahead. It was great!

After the movie we all headed off to bed, and I set my alarm for a 5:30 am wake-up call. Yikes!

Saturday

When my alarm went off on Saturday morning, I was ready. I didn’t hit snooze at all and I bolted up with energy/adrenaline. I was feeling pretty nervous about the race, so I felt wide awake (even if I didn’t look it, haha! Look at my sleepy eyes!!)

The weather was actually pretty perfect for a run, warm (but not too hot) and cloudy (it probably got up to about 65 or 70 degrees once it was race time).

Before the race we stopped for breakfast at 7-11 where I purchased a blueberry Chobani, a banana, and a Kind bar. My grandparents had a bunch of breakfast food at their house, but it was mostly sugary stuff (e.g., danishes and donuts) which I didn’t think would be smart to eat right before the race. I wound up being pretty full after the yogurt and banana, so I saved the Kind bar for later

Then my dad drove us over to St. Michael’s for the race!

I won’t go into too many details about the race in this post because, as with my Bike New York post, I think it deserves a whole recap post to itself. I have a lot of thoughts that I want to share with you guys about it, so you’ll have to wait for another day (hopefully tomorrow, but no promises).

Sorry, Charlie!

I will say that the race was awesome and I enjoyed every minute of it

After the race, we headed back to my grandparents’ house to shower and change before heading to the Crab Deck for lunch!

The Crab Deck is usually one of my places to eat, since it’s right on the water and we can take the boat up and park on the dock. Unfortunately the weather turned pretty crummy by lunchtime, and we had to sit inside. Boo.

At least we were still able to see the water a bit from our table.

Although the weather wasn’t great, I had a great time celebrating the completion of my first half marathon with my grandparents, Fabio, and my dad. Everyone seemed really proud of Fabio and me, and it was so nice to just bask in the enjoyment of having completed something major.

Oh, and getting to eat whatever I wanted to without worrying about the calories was pretty nice too, obviously

For my lunch I chose a crab-cake sandwich with french fries, and it did not disappoint. YUM!

Lunch was wonderful, and my dad and grandpa treated Fabio and me to a free meal What great guys!

After lunch Fabio and I headed back home (with Jack, obviously) and then immediately crashed on the couch. I think we napped for three hours or something crazy; we were wiped!

We didn’t do much for the rest of the day, except walk to Safeway to pick up a frozen pizza, ice cream, and two Redbox movies. Yep. It was that kind of Saturday night.

Perfection.

Sunday

Sunday was a little more productive than Saturday, and Fabio and I spent the day cleaning the apartment, doing laundry, and running errands.

A trip to Costco:

And Trader Joe’s:

Check out all that wine! As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Fabio and I want to get more into wine, so we bought a bunch of cheap (read: under $5) bottles at TJs yesterday. I can’t wait to try them out!

After running all our errands, we settled down to watch a movie (we rented Argo and Life of Pi from Redbox and loved them both- even though I’ve already seen Life of Pi!).

While Life of Pi was on, I worked on a cooler that I’m painting for Fabio. I actually started this cooler last year, but when I didn’t finish it in time for a beach trip Fabio took with his friends, I put it aside and never finished (womp womp). I’m trying to pick it back up again so he can take it with him on a beach trip this year, but I still have a ways to go!

The bottom portion is Fabio’s favorite alcohol (Kraken, Patron, and Captain Morgan)…

And the top portion is from Fabio’s favorite Vineyard Vines bathing suit!

Here are some photos of the real thing so you can compare…

…and now I just want to go back to the Caribbean. Oh well. At least I have a trip to Italy to look forward to!!!!

So guys, that was about it for my weekend! I am already itching to give you more details about my race, but you’ll just have to wait…

Questions of the day: Are you good at arts and crafts? What do you do after a long race; are you active and busy or do you rest all day like we did? Do you like my cooler? Haha.

Favorite Things Friday

Favorite Things Friday 5 Responses »

May 172013

Hey there friends! Happy Friday!!! [Insert Chelsea doing the Friday dance here].

Edited to add this awesome Friday BuzzFeed article.

I had a lot of fun things going on this week, so let’s get to today’s Favorite Things Friday post!

Favorite Viral

One of my male coworkers is going to a wedding this weekend, and his fellow groomsmen’s date bailed on him at the last minute. Instead of flying solo or going with a girl he already knew, he decided to take to the internet to find a new date. Check out his Craigslist post, below.

One Man Needs Date to a Wedding – 28 (Northwest DC)

For your reference (and in case you didn’t click over to the real post), his attached pictures included a photo of him “tearing it up” on the dance floor, jumping into the water (i.e., “flying”), and riding a lion that is riding a horse (photoshopped, obviously). It’s a pretty funny post, and I had a good laugh when I saw it earlier this week.

However instead of just being a quick laugh and then disappearing into the internet archives forever, it sorta went viral. We’re talking DCist, Reddit, and then Gawker. It was also on Elliot in the Morning (a local DC/Baltimore radio morning show) and NPR. Crazy, right?!? I felt pretty cool that I got to see it happen from the beginning I think he’s already chosen a date, but I heard he did get a ton of responses! I would have loved to see who sent him selfies haha.

Favorite Free (part I)

Earlier this week, my favorite coffee shop by my office was offering free coffee and coupons to King’s Dominion (random, I know). They had Charlie Brown stuff everywhere (I guess there is a Charlie Brown/Snoopy exhibit at King’s Dominion?) and all of the workers were sporting yellow shirts with black chevron, à la Charlie Brown.

[Source]

Ah yes, there he is

Anyway, it was fun to see our favorite coffee guys dressed as good ole’ Charlie Brown (I love those coffee guys; they always remember my order) and it was even better to get a free coffee out of it. Woohoo!

Favorite Free (part II)

On Tuesday I received a text from Fabio saying it was free ice cream day at Häagen-Dazs. Free ice cream? Sign me up! Luckily there is a Häagen-Dazs right in Georgetown, which we were planning to run to on Tuesday anyway. We wound up running 1.5 miles to Häagen-Dazs, grabbing a free cone (dulce de leche for Fabio, cookie dough for me) and then running back home It felt weird to be eating ice cream before dinner, but it was really fun. What a great weekday treat!

Favorite Happy Hour

Two of Fabio’s coworkers are moving on to work at other places (Yay! So happy for them!) and there was a going away happy hour for them on Wednesday evening. They are two of my favorite people at Fabio’s company (Hi Keith! Hi Rebecca!) and I’m going to miss them so much when they’re gone. Even though I don’t actually work with either of them, I join Fabio for enough of his work happy hours that I’ve become great friends with all of them (from playing kickball with some of them on Wednesdays, to attending double dates, to even going to a wedding!). They’ve been great friends to me and I’ll be sad to see them go. Hopefully they won’t roam too far and we can all keep in touch!!

Favorite Food Truck

On my walk to the metro on Thursday morning, I happened to see this lovely donut food truck parked on the side of the road. I had seen it there a few times before (apparently it comes every Thursday morning) but after an evening of too many drinks at happy hour (see above), I was feeling like it was donut day.

I really didn’t know what to expect from the truck, but when I approached it I saw you could buy a dozen “donut bites” for only $5. I planned to share the treats with my coworkers, so a dozen bites sounded perfect! The flavor of the day was dutch chocolate (apparently the flavor of the bites changes daily) and they were made fresh to order.

The donut bites were piping hot when I got them, and I couldn’t wait to dig in! Eventually I arrived at work and enjoyed the donut bites with a couple friends. Man, were they good!! It’s going to be hard not to stop by the donut food truck every Thursday now that I know how good they are YUMM!

Favorite Beauty Product

A couple of weekends ago, I mentioned that I stopped by a professional nail store to pick up a few discounted Essie nail polishes (for $4 each! Woot!!). It’s a weird little place, and I’m pretty sure it’s only supposed to be for people who actually work at nail salons, since they have all the stuff you would see in a salon (e.g., fake nails, scrubbers, nail-drying machines, gel polishes, and every color of Essie and OPI nail polish you would ever want). In short: it’s awesome for people like me who love having the newest nail colors, but don’t feel like paying out the wazoo to get them.

Anyway, last time I was there I bought a professional base coat and top coat, and let me just say, it has made such a difference! I painted my nails this fun coral color more than a week ago, and there’s still not a single chip to be seen.

Awesome, right? With this top coat, my nails look and feel like I got them done professionally. Plus it dried really quickly. Awesome. I totally recommend buying this stuff if you can! (Looks like you can get it for only about $3 here). Woohoo!! BUY IT! Haha.

Favorite Event

Days until my half marathon: zero.

Ahhhh!! (Note: this ticker is a little off; my half marathon starts at 7:30 am tomorrow, not at midnight, so I have a few more hours to prepare). But seriously, my half marathon is tomorrow. AHHH!! Excuse me while I go freak out. Who did I think I was? I can’t really run 13.1 miles, can I? CAN I? Omg. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. Please keep Fabio and me in your thoughts tomorrow morning!!

And don’t worry- he started “carbo building” three days ago.

Yep. That’s my guy.

Question of the day: Do you get nervous before a big race? What should I eat for dinner tonight/tomorrow morning before the run? Any last minute tips for me?????

AHHH!!

WIAW #50 (holy cow- fifty?!)

WIAW 6 Responses »

May 152013

Hey folks! It’s that time again…

Time for What I Ate Wednesday! In case you’re new to the party, head on over to Jenn’s page to read more about what WIAW is all about

Let’s get right into the good stuff, shall we? Here’s a peek at what I ate on Monday, a typical workday.

Breakfast

Breakfast this week has been pretty typical for me- one cup of Multigrain Cheerios with skim milk, a banana, and a handful of blueberries. YUM!!

Unfortunately I used up the last of the blueberries yesterday (they were organic and on sale at Trader Joe’s!) so this morning I was stuck with just the banana. Lame. My, how quickly I became spoiled with those blueberries! Last week they were a decadent treat, and now I’m grumpy because they’re gone. #FirstWorldProblems

Lunch

Yesterday’s lunch was a “chic p” salad leftover from this weekend’s trip to SweetGreen. Included in my salad was:

mesclun and baby spinach
baked falafel
chickpeas
cucumbers
fresh peppers
pita chips
lemon hummus tahini dressing

So good! I was worried the salad would be a little wilted since it was leftover from Saturday, but it was surprisingly delicious even two days later.

Clearly.

After finishing my salad I munched on a few raw almonds, which I brought in case the salad didn’t fill me up. The salad did fill me up, but I ate the almonds anyway They are my nemesis.

So good!

Snack #1

A few hours later my stomach started to growl, and in order to avoid the chocolate in my office’s candy bowl, I munched on an apple and sipped some unsweetened green tea.

I’ve been keeping my apple slicer at work lately (it’s an awesome gadget I found at Marshall’s for like $5) which makes eating my afternoon snack much more enjoyable. Maybe I’m just lazy, but the idea of cutting up an apple at work without a proper knife or cutting board always seems to difficult. Having my apple slicer handy makes me actually want to eat a healthy afternoon snack, instead of looking at my apple and deciding froyo would be a better option (not that it isn’t of course, but you can’t eat froyo every day at 3:00 pm now can you?).

Anyway, this snack was great

Snack #2

But it didn’t keep me out of the candy bowl, unfortunately.

Sometimes a girl just needs chocolate, especially when there are Reese’s involved. I mean, come on.

Dinner

Fabio brought some good steaks back from New York last weekend, and on Monday he offered to cook them in our new cast iron skillet (a gift that he purchased for “me” – aka, himself – a few weeks ago). I made some brussels sprouts and healthified mashed potatoes to go along with my steaks. The brussels sprouts were sauteed with a little olive oil, garlic, and balsamic vinegar, while the potatoes were boiled and mashed (skins on) with a wedge of laughing cow cheese, skim milk, and Brummel & Brown buttery spread. YUM. This was a fantastic dinner.

Cooking the steaks on the cast iron skillet produced a LOT of smoke at first (I was worried they’d taste burned), but the steaks were perfectly cooked and very flavorful. Fabio did a great job!

Yummm!

Monday was a rest day for me (since my half marathon is on Saturday, this week is pretty low key on the training front) so Fabio and I enjoyed this meal from the comfort of our couch and caught up on a bunch on TV It was a great evening!

Question of the day: How do you cook your steak?

Room to Read Gala

Random 4 Responses »

May 142013

A couple weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend a charity event for my work. Things got super busy, and I never got around to telling you guys about it, but it was an awesome experience and is definitely worth talking about.

As a bit of background, I should mention that I work for a large global corporation (which I try to be ambiguous about on here, for obvious reasons), which partners with an organization called Room to Read as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Room to Read is an awesome company, but up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t know too much about it. I knew the company provided books and libraries to children in poverty, but I had no idea the extent of the work that Room to Read does until I volunteered at work to help with the DC chapter’s annual Room to Read gala.

The gala took place on May 2, and I was able to leave work a bit early with a few of my coworkers to help set things up. We were told to dress in business formal attire and where we had to be, but otherwise I had no idea what I was jumping in to. All I knew it was that it was for a good cause, so I blindly signed up to assist.

Good thing I did!

Upon arriving at the venue, it was clear that the location was going to be spectacular. The chic glass elevator should have been my first clue that this was not going to be a normal work function.

Helloooo down there! (I have to be honest, the glass elevator was a little scary and I wouldn’t recommend riding one if you’re afraid of heights!)

As soon as we stepped off the elevator and into the main room, I was blown away by the view. Holy capital building! Just look at that view!

The room was set up beautifully and all we had to do was set up the finishing touches (e.g., make the flower centerpieces, put flyers on all the chairs, make sure each table had enough pens, etc.)

It didn’t take more than hour to set everything up, and then we got to enjoy the event!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous (about 70-75 degrees and sunny) and we were allowed to mingle with the guests and take advantage of the hors’ d’oeuvres and open bar

It was such a beautiful location!

Soon it was time to be seated for dinner, and I was lucky enough to sit at a table in the back (near the windows- and the view!) with my coworkers.

We were served some great food, including salad with balsamic vinaigrette…

Chicken with a creamy risotto and veggies…

And a variety of tasty desserts.

Shout out to Amanda for taking this picture! Hi Amanda!

Delicious!

Once the dinner was over, the gala moved on to a more serious note and we watched a ton of inspirational videos about the good work that Room to Read does.

Here’s an example of the types of videos we saw:

Then we heard from the founder of Room to Read, John Wood. John spoke to us while a slew of pictures flashed on the screen behind him- highlighting families and children whose lives have been changed by Room to Read.

John explained to us that he used to be a senior executive at Microsoft. He worked a busy lifestyle and sat behind his computer all day raking in more money than most of us will ever see in a lifetime. He had everything that a rich business man should want, except that he didn’t feel fulfilled.

Then on a vacation to a remote town in India, he visited a school and realized it had no books. How could the children learn to read and write without any books, he wondered. It was at this moment that John’s life changed forever- he left his big corporate job at Microsoft and founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to building libraries and providing books for children in under-developed nations around the world.

One of Room to Read’s target audiences is young women. So often in these countries, the young girls are married off before they even hit puberty or drop out of school to take care of their families. We were told that the number one killer of children 11 to 15 years old in some of these countries is child birth. Can you even imagine such a thing? Room to Read is striving to educate young women so they can continue with their schooling and become something other than under-educated young mothers. And guess what? It’s working.

To this day Room to Read has helped more than 7.8 million children learn to read, including 21,582 girls.

As if hearing all of this information from the founder wasn’t inspiring enough, next came the live auction.

Now, I realize the attendees of this gala were not necessarily your “average Joe.” In the middle of a Washington DC fundraiser, these people probably had way more money than most of us ever will. I get that. But, their generosity still blew me away.

Tons of people donated $5,000 to build new libraries. One man offered to match each bid, and wound up paying about $50,000 total at the end of the night. Two of my coworkers donated $250 each to help print new books, and I contributed $20 to each of them to help pay for it (if my salary was larger, you can bet I would have helped out even more!).

Me with my beautiful coworkers!

Before the night was over, Room to Read had raised $388,000. Wow. I was incredibly impressed. I felt so honored to be a part of such a great movement (and to think- all I had to do was set up some flowers beforehand. Wow).

Once the event was officially over, my coworkers and I decided we didn’t want the night to end, so we headed to the Board Room in DuPont circle for a few more drinks…but not before snapping a few last silly pictures with the capital building

Heyyyy Amanda! Haha.

We were able to take the flower centerpieces home with us, so we decided to bring them in the cab with us on the way to the bar. Hey, you can’t waste flowers, right?

Note: This cab driver had bad allergies and hated us. Oops! Not sure why you would pick up 5 girls holding flowers if you knew your allergies were that bad…oh well!

We stayed at the bar for quite a while before eventually heading home around midnight. It was a fantastic evening and I felt so honored to be a part of the DC chapter’s Room to Read gala. What a wonderful organization! It was a great opportunity and an evening I will never forget!

Question of the day: Have you ever helped out with a charity event? Did you want to donate?

Also as an FYI, if anyone is interested in donating to Room to Read you can check out their donation page here: https://www.roomtoread.org/Donate. Any amount is welcome!

Busy Mother’s Day Weekend

Weekend Recaps, Workouts 4 Responses »

May 132013

Hello there! Hope your week is off to a great start!

I had a pretty great weekend around these parts, so here’s a little recap of what I was up to!

Friday

Fabio went back up to New York this weekend (two weekends in a row- crazy!) for Mother’s Day. He had a random day off from work that he was going to lose by the end of this month, so he decided to go up early Friday morning so he could work a little bit.

What? That doesn’t look like work to you? Haha!

Fabio used to be a ball boy/bat boy for the Mets and the Yankees when he was in high school, so every now and then he will help out with a game again (for free) so he doesn’t lose those relationships. You never know when a connection will come in handy! Plus, you have to admit it’s a pretty cool “job.”

All weekend he was sending me pictures like this one…

Pretty cool, huh? At least I think so

Anyway, after work on Friday I headed home to quickly change and walk Jack before my friend Sam came over to go to the National’s game (hi Sam!!). Sam just finished her first year of PT school and was ready to celebrate at the Nats game

Sam and I planned to metro to the game, but unfortunately we got super caught up in our conversation and missed our metro stop twice. Oops. Guess that’s what happens when you don’t see your friends very often; you get wrapped up in a conversation and make rookie travel mistakes! Haha!

After we found ourselves on the wrong metro line for the second time, we decided to cut our losses and take a cab. We wound up at the Pentagon (annoyingly close to where we started) and found an abandoned taxi stand. We had to call a cab ourselves, and felt quite sheepish that we were so late to the game. Woopsieeee!

Eventually we arrived at the Bull Pen bar right outside the stadium where the rest of our friends were waiting for us. The Bull Pen bar is a lot of fun and I always make it a point to stop there before the game. The live music, corn hole games, and cheap beers provide quite the fun atmosphere!

Waiting for us at the Bull Pen were my friends Bianca, Daria, Ashley, and their respective dates. Since Fabio was out of town and Sam’s boyfriend was working, we decided to be each other’s dates It kept either of us from feeling like a seventh wheel haha!

Bianca took this picture with her phone, which unfortunately turned out blurry.

Drat! It would have been so cute!

By the time we arrived at the Bull Pen it was already pretty late in the game, and Bianca confessed that she hadn’t been able to buy tickets online because of a computer error. She suggested we buy tickets at the gate, but since it was already more than halfway through the game, none of us really wanted to pay for tickets.

In the end we decided to ditch the idea of the game and go to another bar, which seemed silly but cost-effective. Unfortunately we took way too long to come to this consensus (plus we were busy catching up again) and before we knew it the game had ended and we were still in the Bull Pen. Aghh!

Once the game ended, everyone and their mother seemed to need a cab, so we walked a few blocks to try to avoid the crowds. We wound up going into a nearby hotel and asking them to call us a cab, but then we heard the bartender at the hotel bar say there were free wings for anyone who stayed to buy a drink.

Free wings? Sign me up!

Me and Bianca in the random hotel bar

Free wings!

We wound up staying in the hotel bar for about an hour before we gave up on our plans for the night and all headed home. It was a lot of fun, but a pretty random evening. I’m not sure we’ll be trying that again anytime soon haha! But hey, at least we got free wings, right?

Saturday

On Saturday morning I didn’t set any alarm, which felt glorious. I woke up at around 9:00 am, walked Jack, and then headed out for a 5 mile run. I ran along my favorite path, the Mt. Vernon trail, which is always so pretty.

I love running along the water and getting a nice view of the monuments. It’s such a great route!

It also seems like I run a bit slower when Fabio isn’t running along side me.

Even though my pace was a bit slow, I didn’t mind too much and was just happy that I completed the run

Around lunchtime, my friend Shaun came over. Although I saw her briefly during Halloween, it had been years (literally) since we actually hung out one-on-one and caught up.

We had plans to walk around Georgetown and then take a yoga class at 4:00 pm, so she came over around 1:30 and then we walked into Georgetown.

First up, we stopped at SweetGreen for some lunch. I chose the Chick-pea salad with falafel, which was awesome.

SweetGreen is always so delicious!

After lunch we popped into a few stores including Anne Taylor LOFT, ZARA, Cusp (new obsession), and Paper Source (we needed some Mother’s Day cards). We had a lot of fun and I wound up with a new brightly colored floral spring scarf

Eventually it was time to head over to yoga, and I was feeling a bit nervous. The yoga class was at the brand new CorePower Yoga studio in Georgetown. I had heard about CorePower Yoga from my coworker (who said she was sore for days after) and then read about it again on Anne’s blog (funny- she went to SweetGreen in her post too!).

The class we took was called Sculpt, and is basically a heated yoga class with various strength exercises (think lots of squats and a bit of cardio) with weights. It was pretty tough on its own, but once you added the element of heat, I was struggling quite a bit. It was no joke!

Moment of truth! Once we opened this door, it was hot!

Here’s my mat, towel (so I didn’t slip- I got sweaty!), and weights (I used a combo of 3lb. and 8lb. weights).

Shaun right before the class!

Shaun and me after the class. Yikes! I was a sweaty, red mess. It was a great workout!

New members get one free week of classes, so I’m going to try to take another class this week while it’s still free. I highly recommend taking a class at CorePower Yoga if you have a studio near you!

After yoga, Shaun and I walked back to my apartment and then Shaun headed home. I quickly showered and then ran some errands, including a trip to Target where I bought a bunch of stuff I didn’t need (typical), in addition to my mom’s Mother’s Day gifts.

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home and hanging out with Jack. I debated going out with some friends, but it was pouring rain and I was tired from the run and intense yoga class. Staying in and reading my kindle while cuddled up and listening to the rain sounded great to me, and I fell asleep at around 9:30 pm. No joke!

Sunday

On Sunday morning I took Jack for a quick 2.5 mile run, which is just about as far as he can go without getting tired and lagging behind. Unfortunately I messed up my RunKeeper app mid-run (I meant to hit pause at a red light, but it didn’t register. Then when I hit resume, it actually paused. Bummer.) but I think I was running about a 9 minute 45 second pace. It was nice, easy, slow run, which was perfect for allowing my body to recuperate from the day before.

After my run I showered up and headed over to my mom’s house for Mother’s Day! Her azaleas are all in bloom and looking lovely

My mom was prepared with snacks, of course!

The weather was beautiful and my mom, stepdad, and I spent the afternoon outside sipping on white wine and talking about our upcoming trip to the Amalfi coast in July. It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon!

Jack had fun playing with my mom’s dogs, of course.

My mom started getting the pool ready and it should be swimmable (I made up that word lol) soon! I think Jack is ready now haha!

Soon it was time for our early dinner

My stepdad was hard at work at the grill! BTW- look how many plants my mom has around the grill haha. It looks like a jungle (but a pretty one, of course).

Soon the food was ready- we had ribs with homemade BBQ sauce (my mom’s specialty) and corn.

Everything was great! It makes me really excited for more summer BBQs at my mom’s house

For dessert we had homemade orange blondies that my mom whipped up. Deeeeelish.

After being at my mom’s for a while, I headed over to my dad’s house (about 10 minutes away) to celebrate my sister’s birthday! Nicole is turning 8 years old today! I can’t believe how big she is getting. We will be having her full family celebration this Saturday (after the half marathon) and her official birthday party later in the summer, but it was nice to go over yesterday to see her open my dad’s gift.

Just look at what she got…

Yep, my eight year old sister has an iPad. I don’t even have an iPad!! It’s crazy, haha!!

At any rate, she seemed super excited and my dad definitely hit this year’s gift out of the park. Here’s hoping she doesn’t break it/lose it!

After watching Nicole open her gifts, I picked up Fabio (his sister who lives in Baltimore drove him home from NY and we met at a half-way point) and then headed home. Fabio and I tried to watch TV for a little while, but we were too sleepy. Even Jack was exhausted, haha!

All in all, it was a great Mother’s Day weekend!

Question of the day: What did you do for Mother’s Day?

Have you ever been to the Amalfi Coast of Italy? Do you have any recommendations?

Happy Mother’s Day!

Random No Responses »

May 122013

Hey everyone! I hope your weekend is going well! I just wanted to pop in to say happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

I have some pretty great moms in my life, including two grandmothers who raised wonderful children (my parents), and definitely spoiled their grandchildren a bit (me). Hi Grandma Chambers and Grandma Clark! I love you both so much and wish you a happy Mother’s Day!

Grandma Clark!

Grandma Chambers!

Then there is my stepmom, who has been a great mother figure in my life. Happy Mother’s Day, Afsaneh!

And now, for my own mom, who is pretty much the best woman I know. She is strong and sure of herself and is an inspiration to me every day. I know she would do anything for me and she loves me unconditionally. I love you so much Mom, and I can’t wait to celebrate with you today!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

Favorite Things Friday (Scenes from the Week)

Favorite Things Friday 4 Responses »

May 102013

Hey guys! I’m super busy today and don’t have time to write a “real” post today, so here’s a few “scenes from the week” that have been making me smile lately

1. Fabio made me breakfast on Thursday, which included an egg on top of an arepa. An arepa is sort of like the Colombian version of an English muffin; it’s made of corn dough and gets nice and crispy when toasted. Fabio melted some cheese on top (under the eggs) and it was de-licious!

2. I had a silly day at work on Wednesday, when I took a fun snapchat with my coworkers.

Love snapchat.

Then we had to test out a Google+ hangout for a client, and things got a little weird.

The funniest part was that the hangout was with two very important people on my team (read: the boss’ boss’ boss) and we had so much fun playing with the props and just hanging out on Google+. I have to say, Google+ might be kinda lame for everything else, but their hangout feature is awesome! (In case you are unfamiliar with Google+ hangout, it’s like Skype but for groups).

Even though my job can be super stressful at times, I definitely LOVE my coworkers

3. Fabio and I received a coupon in the mail for Chipotle for buy one get one. Oh yeah!!

We redeemed it on Wednesday when our kickball game was canceled (solving the to-bar-or-not-to-bar question) and I enjoyed a chicken burrito bowl with brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, corn, cheese, and lettuce. So good!

5. Does anyone remember the duck that I have now seen two times sitting outside my office? You may remember it as the super awkward duck that somehow made its way into the middle of a big city.

Yes. That duck.

Well, I have some news for you- said duck has had babies!!

How adorable are they?!?!?!??? Omg I could not get enough of these little balls of fluff when I spotted them on my walk to work yesterday morning. So cute! Also, since their location was not exactly an ideal place to be raised, someone called animal control and had them moved to a park. Sad for me, good for the ducks. Just look at their cute little fuzziness…

6. I’m going to the National’s game tonight with a bunch of my friends and I am so, so excited!

The last time I went to a game was way back in June of last year! Crazy, right?

Unfortunately Fabio won’t be there this time, but I might just wear the shirt that he has on in the above picture We’ll have to see if it fits me, but I think it would be cute since I don’t have any Nats gear of my own. We shall see!

7. And, the best news of all……from June 27 to July 5, my mom, stepdad, Fabio and I will be going to….

[Source]

The Amalfi coast of Italy!! WOOOOHOOOOOOO!!! Just look how gorgeous that is!! I absolutely cannot wait to go and it’s going to be a blast. I am so grateful that my mom is taking us on this trip- I know it’s going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity THANKS MOMMMMM!!!!

Ok kiddos, that’s all I have for today! Have a great weekend!

Question of the day: What’s the coolest trip you’ve ever been on?

TD 5 Boro 40 Mile Bike Tour

Random, Workouts 3 Responses »

May 092013

Hey there folks! Hope your Thursday is going well!

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I had a fantastic weekend in New York filled with a fun brunch date with my aunt, a Yankee game on a beautiful afternoon, and a great time at the bar with my friends. However, the real reason I went up to New York, of course, was to participate in a 40 mile bike ride around New York!

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember when I decided to sign up for the bike ride back in January. It was not initially something I was interested in, since it was pretty expensive (around $90 I believe) and I wouldn’t be able to train for it much since I would be spending so much time on my half marathon training (the bike ride was on May 5 and the half marathon is going to be on May 18, so training for both would have been tough). I also didn’t have a bike, so the idea of doing a 40 mile bike ride so close to my half marathon wasn’t even something I thought about.

Then I got an email from my dad saying he had signed up for the ride. I know I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, but my dad is a bit overweight and I am always trying to get him in shape. I have suggested Weight Watchers and told him I would do the program with him, but I know ultimately it has to be something he wants himself. No amount of me pushing (or gently nudging) will do the trick.

That’s why I was so excited to hear that he signed up for the bike ride. I immediately registered myself (goodbye, $90) and asked Fabio if he wanted to join too. Fabio invited his dad along as well, and the four of us planned to ride as a team. Fabio and I each bought bikes (a lengthy process, which I should probably go into detail about sometime) and rode some bike trails around DC. While we were in no way “training” for the bike ride, I think we felt as prepared as we needed to be and were excited for the ride.

Then a couple of weeks before the race, my dad called to say his knees were bothering him. He has always had bad knees, and has had more than 30 surgeries on his knees in his life, including two knee replacements. I have to admit I wasn’t too surprised by this news, but I guess I just thought my dad wouldn’t have signed up unless he was sure he would be able to ride. I thought maybe his knees were doing better and that he’d be fine (which is, I think, what he thought too), but after completing just a few spin classes and riding about 4 miles with Fabio and me on a weekend when we had nice weather, I think it became clear to all of us that the ride wasn’t going to happen for my dad.

So, Fabio and I went up to New York by ourselves last weekend for the race. Of course I missed my dad and wished he’d been able to come, but his safety, of course, came first.

The morning of the race arrived, and Fabio, his dad, and I woke up at 6:00 am. We donned the matching bike jerseys that my dad got us as a good luck gift and got ready for the day!

Sleeeeeeeepy eyes! Jack cheered us on too!

We ate a quick breakfast of toast and eggs, and then piled our bikes onto the back of my car and drove to Citi Field to park and hop on the subway.

Let me just tell you that taking bikes on the subway is not easy! You have to carry your bike up and down different flights of stairs, and try to hold them still while the train is moving. Phew!

Fabio and his dad helped me out

Soon we arrived in Manhattan (the race started all the way downtown) and had to walk quite a distance to the starting point (I think about 1.5 miles). The race had 32,000 people (!!!) and it took us forever just to get where we needed to be.

Here’s my Vine video from the starting point(ish).

FYI I’m saying, “Bike ride!” at the end in case your sound is off

On our way to the starting line, we passed the new building to commemorate the World Trade Center. It’s being finished up right now, but is already quite impressive! The last (and only other) time I did this bike ride was in 2002, and I remember we rode past Ground Zero which was still a big hole in the ground littered with teddy bears, candles, and flowers. It was nice to see that in the 11 years since my last ride, they have progressed so far. It was great to see!

Soon they played the National anthem, the bike ride began, and we were off! [Source]

The first few miles were spent going uptown in Manhattan, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was cool to be in the middle of the street and not have to stop behind a million cabs. It was smooth sailing and the sights of the city were awesome.

After about three miles, we made it to Central Park, which was lovely. This part of the ride was all pretty familiar to me, as I’ve spent a good amount of time in New York City over the years (including one summer where I lived there!).

Once we started getting further uptown, the familiar sights disappeared and I enjoyed seeing a brand new side to Manhattan (I think we were in Harlem). I was expecting it to be sketchy and dangerous-looking, but we actually went through some really cool neighborhoods.

Then we popped into the Bronx for literally five minutes, and came back out. I thought it would have been cool to explore the Bronx a bit more, but I guess the people who planned the route had other ideas, haha.

At this point we approached the first rest stop, where we decided to take a break to use the restroom and switch bikes (Fabio’s dad had a low-angled mountain bike, which would have been great for trail rides but was not so ideal for the city. They switched bikes periodically so neither of them got too tired).

The rest stop was awesome and had energetic music, water refill stations, bathrooms, and free snacks! Hooray for KIND bars!!

We also made sure to snap a few group photos Hooray!

After our pit stop, it was back on the road; this time to head downtown along a highway on the East River that was pretty familiar to me, on our way into Queens!

My favorite moment of the whole ride was right around this point when we all had to go through a tunnel and everyone started cheering and yelling. I’m not sure who started it, but it was as if everyone was feeling super excited and just couldn’t contain themselves anymore.

Of course I joined in the cheering, and rang the little bell on my bike a few times. It was awesome to hear so many people yelling all around me, while the sounds reverberated off the walls. Awesome!

Shortly after this, our ride came to a crawl and we thought maybe there was a security checkpoint ahead. There had been a few other incidents where we had to slow to an awkward walk-your-bike/try-to-keep-riding-slowly-and-not-fall situations, so we assumed something like that was happening again. Fabio took the time to make another Vine video, obviously.

Haha, I’m convinced Vine is going to be the next Instagram!! They’re just so much fun

Anyway, we eventually came to a complete stop and realized this was not just a random bottleneck congestion issue like before, but something that was causing a serious backup. At first I found this to be pretty annoying, but then I got out my phone and saw a text saying that my good friend Hana was stationed nearby to cheer us on.

Because we were at a complete standstill, she was actually able to come over and chat with us for a bit! This worked out perfectly because if she had been positioned anywhere else along the route, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have been able to say hi to each other.

Yay for spectators!! I was so glad to have a friendly face cheering me on and instantly felt happier Thanks for supporting me, Hana!

While we were waiting around and wondering what the holdup was, Fabio’s phone started ringing. Then my phone rang. Then everyone’s phones rang. We soon realized it was the bike organizers sending an alert that the ride was being suspended due to a medical incident. What a fantastic alert system! I was super impressed.

Unfortunately, we later learned that the medical incident was a 51 year old man who suffered a heart attack on the Queensborough Bridge and died. Apparently this type of thing is pretty common for the ride, especially when there are 32,000 people involved, but it definitely shook me up a bit and left me feeling sad. I was also incredibly grateful that my dad wound up not doing the race, because frankly he’s not in very good shape himself and I’m not sure his heart could have handled it. That’s some scary stuff.

Anyway, eventually the incident cleared up and we were back on our way. Bye, Hana!

When we crossed the Queensborough Bridge, I felt like I was in heaven. We happened to be riding next to a guy with a stereo on his bike, so Bob Marley was blasting just as we were crossing the bridge and gazing over the beautiful view of Manhattan. I wish I had captured a picture, but I wasn’t coordinated enough. Too bad.

Thanks to Fabio, for this photo!

The rest of our ride was pretty uneventful, and we continued on our way through Brooklyn. We passed a ton of cute restaurant and bars, and even went through a neighborhood where all the little kids came out to cheer us on. It was awesome!

We bypassed the next two rest areas before finally stopping at one just 9 miles from the finish line. The views at this stop were incredible.

We’ll have to get some of those framed for sure!

The remaining 9 miles of the ride went by pretty quickly and then, before we knew it, the Verrazano Bridge was in front of us. I remembered from the past that this bridge was incredibly difficult to tackle, but I was determined to bike up the whole thing without stopping.

It was super intimidating when we were at the bottom, but when I focused on making it to the area right in front of me I was able to keep going.

I pedaled and pedaled, and said a little mantra in my head, “Keep going, Keep going, Keep going…” and it worked! Eventually I made it to the top of the hill and I didn’t have to stop to walk! Woohoo!! It felt like such a great accomplishment since I saw tons of other people getting off to walk (just look at that photo above!).

Then I flew down the hill at what felt like lightning speed, and saw the festival and finish line to my right. Awesome!!

We did it!!

It only took us 5 hours and 4 minutes (with the delay from the medical incident) and I burned 1,609 calories. Nice!

The festival was really fun for a while and they had a live band and free samples of tons of goodies. We planned to stay to grab something to eat, but the lines were so long that we decided to wait until we got home.

I guess that’s what 32,000 people looks like?

Once we decided we had enough of the festival, we left, hopped back on our bikes, and rode three more miles to the Staten Island ferry (I would like to point out that no one told me we had to get back on our bikes after the finish line. UGH!).

The lines for the ferry were ridiculous…

And we waited for about an hour to get on. Ugh x2.

It was quite the scene once everyone boarded.

Back to Manhattan we go!

Luckily we were seated by a window and saw some awesome views.

(The windows were filthy…)

But it’s a great view, right?

After we got off the ferry, we headed to another subway station and took the train back into Queens. Then we hopped in my car and immediately grabbed a celebratory dinner. It was an awesome day, and I’m so proud we were able to finish! Woohoo!

Question of the day: What makes you feel proud?