May 29, 2014

Currently...

Feeling... Not great, a little dizzy. I just ate a Snickers. Hopefully that helps.

Reading... My Guantanamo Diary by Mahvish Rukhsana Khan. I'm only one chapter in but so far, I love it. It's about a law student who goes to Guantanamo Bay as a volunteer to interpret for Afghan prisoners being detained by the US government without habeas corpus.


Drinking... Water.

Watching... Scandal Season 3 (it's getting a little weird...oh Shonda Rhymes, why do you always have to get weird?) and Orange is the New Black.

Anticipating... Getting our wedding invitations put together, they're looking great so far and I just ordered all of our envelopes and other essentials!

Wishing for... My bum knee to fix itself. Starting another round of PT tomorrow.

Loving... Summer weather. Even though it's cold and rainy in DC, this weekend was perfect and I've already started working on my tan! I may have raccoon eyes, but hey, I'll take it.

That's that!
What's on your summer reading list?

May 28, 2014

Race Recap: Alexandria Running Festival 13.1

The Pilot and I woke up at 6am Sunday morning to head to Alexandria for his FIRST half-marathon! He was much calmer than I've ever been before well, any race, and after a quick breakfast, foam rolling and PT exercises on my part, we headed to the race.

The race started 30 minutes late. They didn't make an announcement until 15 minutes after the race should have started as to why...and then no one could hear the announcement because the sound system was down. When the race finally started, we were off. We started off nice and slowly. It was already close to 80 degrees which was annoying since the race started late and they ran out of cups at the aid station at Mile 4. At Mile 6, my knee started twinging. By 7 1/2, I was walking. At Mile 8, I gave up. I wasn't about to cry and suffer my way through another race and risk hurting myself again. I had told The Pilot to go ahead of me at Mile 6 and I hitched a ride to the Finish in an undercover cop car and waited for him to cross.

Since he actually ran the race, and his recap is a lot more exciting than mine, I'll turn it over to him for his recap of his first half-marathon.

From The Pilot:
If you had asked me 3 years ago if I would run a half marathon I would have told you no way!  I'd never run more than 5 miles before I started training for this race and usually stuck around 2 or 3 when I did run, so the thought of 13.1 was crazy to me. After watching my fiancée run multiple half's and full marathons, I started to get curious about running a half. One day I mentioned to my fiancée that I thought I wanted to run a half marathon and was struck with more excitement than if I had told her we got an all paid trip to London for a week. That began months of asking which race I wanted to run and the "we have to run one before we get married" pressuring.  Finally, I caved and said yes to the Alexandra Running Festival Half Marathon. I had a few stipulations about the race I wanted to run. 1) Something small. I hate the start of races and all the people crowded around. It gives me anxiety and I just don't feel comfortable and 2) Something in semi-warm weather. I don't like going to races and freezing while standing around. This race met both and it was local, which was a bonus.

Now for the recap of events.  We went to the expo the day before and I must say it was disappointing. It had about 3 booths of nothing interesting and a station to get a shirt, but I guess what can you expect for a race this small. Maybe a balloon or 2 would have brought more excitement. For race day, we woke up, I slugged down 2 glasses of water,trying to be a good runner and be hydrated for a race, and some banana bread Christy made. 

I threw on my awesome new DC shirt I got from Pacers, my Rutgers shorts because they matched and had pockets, and my bright orange Brooks shoes because they obviously didn't match a thing I was wearing and I'm a runner now and that's how it is done. We arrived about 30 minutes prior to the start and made our way towards the start line, but not before a pit stop at the bathrooms. I guess everyone drinks a gallon of water before a race because the lines are like waiting to be interviewed for American Idol and people don't go just once. Just for the record I used the bathroom before I left the house and again when I returned home from the race. I'm just assuming I had the right amount of water. 

Finally, we get to the start line and begin the anxious wait for the start surrounded by a ton of strangers I don't know, but everyone keeps a safe personal space bubble around me and everything is cool. I try to photo bomb the girls in front of me with no success, see another girl with with a superman shirt saying "it's my birthday" I say happy birthday to her and instantly hear 5 more people chime in the same. I feel good that I could contribute to her special day. 730 rolls around and we we haven't started and and a guy gets on the mic, which no one can hear, and eventually find out the race is going to start 30 minutes late. I started to re think why I did this. Luckily it's 62 degrees and sunny and everyone seemed to have showered in the past 36 hrs so things aren't half bad. 801 rolls around and we are off. The following is the recap of my thoughts through the race.

Mile 1:  See a sign that says Eisenhower, instantly start singing Billy Joel 'We Didn't Start the Fire.' "Eisenhower, vacancies,  Brooklyn's got a winning team!" No one else sings along, am told by Christy no more Billy Joel for the rest of the race. 12 miles and no Billy Joel is tough. Oh sweet! There is a movie theater with IMAX I'll have to remember that.

Mile 3: See the sign for Mile 3, hear everyone's watches going off, seems they measured correctly. Start to take in the scenic industrial park. Say out loud how nice it is, begin convo with 2 nice ladies. They say there is another one up the way that is way better. I bid them good day and continue down the road and thank the cop for playing music from his car. Hit the water station to find 3 guys guzzling down water from pitchers, am a little confused till I find out they ran out of cups. They ask if I want some which I don't understand.  Yes I want to share the pitcher of water with 30 others. Sorry folks but I was in a fraternity and those days of sharing liquids out of a large cup are over, unless I win the Stanley cup, then it is completely acceptable to do so.

All smiles in the early miles!
Miles 4-6: Things going well. Guy says to get up on side walk, figure because it's because the road is now closed but nope we make a sharp turn into a park. Dust flying up everywhere, people tightly packed, running through people's back yards, pretty sure I saw a guy in his underwear watering the grass. Finally make it to the other industrial park, meet a nice man and his wife. Tell him I'm drafting off of him. Make the turn around bid him good day and continue back to the backyards of Alexandria. Oh yeah Christy yells at some dude for stopping in the middle of the course and does some stretches for her knee. (Christy: Seriously, he just stopped dead on in the middle of the path so the photographer could get a picture of him.)

Someone had a lot of energy
Miles 7 and 8: See some friends, they have a great sign, pass me a frost blue gatorade. I cradle it like a football and keep a cruising. The water station is decorated like Hawaii. I'd rather be there. Christy's knee gives out and I lose my running buddy and biggest supporter, but the race must go on.

Miles 9-11: Continue running through the park and over the bridges. Have no idea how far along I am because I have no watch but hear a lady's watch go off ahead, I believe it's Mile 9, feeling pretty great, picked up the pace a bit. Still cradling the gatorade, keeping it high and tight like I learned in football. See a photographer, I'm all alone decide to make a Heisman pose, should end up being the photo for next year's race. Keep moving thinking this isn't so bad.

I think this is his Heisman pose...
Miles 12 and 13.1: Over the hill and through the woods to a closed street I go. Some guy yells, 'You're looking good' and I feel good. Notice everyone is still running on the side walk with the street closed, decide they are crazy and hop on the yellow line to show my dominance of the road. Here is where I start picking people off one by one, everyone is huffing and puffing and some are walking. I realize at this point I haven't stopped this whole race and still feel great. Pick up the pace and see a girl in a sparkly skirt way ahead of me. I've seen her all race and finally I caught up, blow past her and think the skirt probably created a lot of drag and slowed her down. Sorry I'm a pilot I think of aerodynamics time from time. Come up on a big bridge, I remember the finish is just past it, look up to notice a 757 (my favorite plane) on approach to Runway 1 at DCA and am reminded of my long term career goal along with my short term goal of finishing this race. Come over the bridge, start really picking it up. See 2 guys walking, one has a spartan race shirt on and I think I can catch up and beat the spartan. They start running again, I start sprinting towards the finish see my fiancée pop out of the crowd cross through the finish line. Look up to see 2:16 and think awesome, just crushed the goal of 230-235. Some little kid hands me me a medal in a zip lock bag and think how nice of them to keep my medal clean. Grab a victory banana and bagel and tried to get my face painted at the festival unsuccessfully. The least they could have done was give me a balloon.

I jumped in to cross with him, of course. 
So there you have it, my first half marathon and my first race recap. I must thank my wonderful fiancée for pushing me to this and to my great friends who came and gave me a gatorade. It helped. 

Just a side note I decided I like my gatorade shaken not stirred.

A few things about this race (from me, Christy, again). I wouldn't recommend it at all. On an 85 degree day, starting a race 30 minutes late is just unacceptable, especially when you don't make the announcement until 15 minutes after the race should have started. Running out of cups at the Mile 4 aid station was unacceptable, and the fact that we were literally running through people's backyards on an unmarked road made this a race that I definitely wouldn't run again. 

All that being said, I'm so proud of my fiance for running his FIRST half-marathon and crushing his goal in 2:16:47. (Notice how many times he said FIRST? Doesn't that imply that there will be a SECOND?) I hope that one day, I'll be back to running again and that we can tackle 13.1 together. But until then, this was his race and I hope you all enjoyed his recap as much as I did!

May 27, 2014

Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

From Good Reads: On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?


My Thoughts: I hated this book. I didn't really have an interest in reading it. I had heard a lot about it and nothing about it really intrigued me. Then, someone recommended it, saying that I needed to read it, so I did. Without actually being a romance novel, this book was basically a trashy romance novel. The book alternates from being told from the perspectives of Nick and Amy, husband and wife. Amy goes missing and Nick just really doesn't seem to care, which leads everyone to put the blame on him.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Here's one of the things I hated: Nick has this totally wrong attitude about his missing wife and keeps saying things like, "That's the third lie I told the police" leaving you to think that he did it. But there is SO much evidence pointing to it being him, that you know it couldn't have been him. It's too obvious. Then, you start getting a little bit more into Amy's diary, which makes her sound pathetic, and I started to think...she set this up. She ran away and made it look like an abduction...and then lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. Then you find out that 'Diary Amy' wasn't actually the real 'Amy' and that she found out her husband was cheated so decided to frame him for her murder.

Blah blah blah, you realize Amy is psychotic and then she kills her high school ex-boyfriend who was equally psychotic and she runs home to Hubby Nick, lies her ass off about how her ex-boyfriend kidnapped her, and moves back in with Nick. Nick knew she was trying to frame him, gets really pissed, has all these thoughts about killing her, and then she gets herself pregnant from some sperm Nick had donated some two years before and THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

***END SPOILER ALERT***

What a joke. I literally threw my book down at the pool and screamed, "That was the worst book I've ever read" loudly enough for the entire pool to here, and then got into a discussion with the girl behind me who also hated it. Please, don't read this book. It was well-written, but it was awful. The characters were very one-dimensional, even though everyone kept referring to how complex Amy was (The jealous-wife-who-goes-psycho character really isn't that complex).

The movie comes out in October and I'll probably go see it because I love Neil Patrick Harris (who plays Desi, the ex-boyfriend), but I think I'll wait for it to come out on Netflix.

Have you read Gone Girl? What did you think? Any interest in seeing the movie?

May 22, 2014

Currently...

Feeling... Meh. I had a really hard time waking up this morning.

Reading... Gone Girl. I didn't really have much interest in reading this but one of my mom's friend's gave her a copy and told me I needed to read it. She knows me pretty well so I decided to give it a shot. I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet. It's a fast read, which I like, but I don't really like either of the two main characters. We'll see.


Eating/Drinking... A green smoothie. It's finally smoothie season and I'm giving the green ones another shot after some unsuccessful attempts last year. This one has spinach, banana, pineapple, avocado, Greek yogurt, and olive oil (??). The recipe called for parsley but I hate parsley and never keep it in the house. I had to add some almond milk because it wasn't blending which took away some of the sweetness from the pineapple, so I'd make it again, just with more pineapple.

Watching... Oh man...Scandal Season 3 is finally on Netflix. I'm three episodes in in 2 days, so that's awesome. So far, the Season is pretty good all though, I'm not too sure what happened with everyone getting supermodel hair in this season.

The Pilot and I also started watching Orange is the New Black. I had no idea what this show was about, so it threw me off a little bit, but it's pretty good so far. I'm not a Laura Prepon fan, but we'll see if this show changes that. The new season comes out on June 6th so we started watching at the perfect time.


Anticipating... this weekend's half-marathon WITH THE PILOT!!!!! I'm so excited to run together and even more excited to get some redemption from my last 13.1. I don't even care about my time (again), I just want to run start to finish pain free.

Wishing for... a way to get all of my sisters/bridesmaids to DC. I have a lot of DIY projects to tackle in the next few months for the wedding and I'm a little overwhelmed at having to do them by myself/with my fiance. I may enlist the help of some DC friends who have offered though.

Loving... That The pilot is going into his 4th month of having weekends off. It's awesome. He's been away Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday every week since the beginning of March and having him around on weekends is just awesome. We've never been able to spend this much time together.

Happy Thursday friends! I hope you all have an awesome 3-day weekend planned!

May 21, 2014

Book Review: Three Junes

From Good Reads: A luminous first novel, set in Greece, Scotland, Greenwich Village, and Long Island, that traces the members of a Scottish family as they confront the joys and longings, fulfillments and betrayals of love in all its guises.

In June of 1989 Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, travels to Greece, where he falls for a young American artist and reflects on the complicated truth about his marriage. 

Six years later, again in June, Paul's death draws his three grown sons and their families back to their ancestral home. Fenno, the eldest, a wry, introspective gay man, narrates the events of this unforeseen reunion. Far from his straitlaced expatriate life as a bookseller in Greenwich Village, Fenno is stunned by a series of revelations that threaten his carefully crafted defenses. 

Four years farther on, in yet another June, a chance meeting on the Long Island shore brings Fenno together with Fern Olitsky, the artist who once captivated his father. Now pregnant, Fern must weigh her guilt about the past against her wishes for the future and decide what family means to her. 

In prose rich with compassion and wit, Three Junes paints a haunting portrait of love's redemptive powers.


My Thoughts: I liked this book. I didn't love and I certainly wouldn't call it a Must-Read. It's a bit deceiving. Framing it the way that it's framed..."set in Greece, Scotland..." makes it sound like a travel novel, when it isn't...at all. These places are merely places where the characters go or live; their experiences in each of these places are more about their daily rituals, than about traveling through them.

The book is divided into three sections: 1989, 1995 and 1999 and takes place in June of each. I liked the first section, yet again, this was deceiving. Paul does not fall for a young American artist, he simply meets one who steals his attention. The relationship isn't romantic at all.

I loved the middle section. It switches back and forth between Fenn's experiences in Scotland as he prepares for his father's funeral, to his memories of watching his friend Mal, lose his battle to AIDS back in New York. I loved the relationship between Fenno and Mal and the way it progressed.

The third section introduced Fern, who was so insignificant of a character in the first section that I had completely forgotten who she was. It never comes up that she met Fenno's father all those years ago in Greece, so I'm not sure what the book description/back of the book were trying to say when they described her as having "captivated" Paul. This section also kept Tony, a character who Fenno had been involved with in the previous section, in the story and he was a character who I just hated and didn't want to see more of.

All in all, this book was ok. The book description was misleading. I think I would have liked it better if I had just picked it up, but I'm not sure.

May 20, 2014

Recipe: Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let me tell you a story.

Saturday night, I was baking muffins. I was planning to make a pie for dessert when I realized that I didn't have the key ingredient for the pie I wanted to make. The Pilot said, "Why don't you make chocolate chip cookies."

I have about a dozen chocolate chip cookie recipes on Pinterest that I've been dying to try so I sent The Pilot to Pinterest to peruse chocolate chip cookie recipes.

We only had about 2 1/2 cups of flour left in the pantry so that limited us a bit, but after 3 tries, we settled on these from Oh, Ladycakes. After perusing her blog, I now want to cook my way through it.

Now, Oh, Ladycakes is a vegan blogger, and I have thoroughly un-veganized her original recipe.

I mentioned yesterday that I made a little bit of a mistake in the kitchen in making these cookies that turned out to be one of the greatest mistakes I've ever made. It really wasn't that dramatic and it really wasn't a mistake.

First, the ingredients. (For the *probably* healthier, vegan recipe, click over to the original recipe).

Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup cold butter (or 1 stick)
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla (if using extract, use 1 1/2 tsp)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 1/4 cup unbleached flour
  • 1/2 chocolate chips

Now, here's what happened. My brown sugar was hard as a rock. I knew this before we decided to make chocolate chip cookies. I had recently seen something online that said that if you put the brown sugar in a bowl, cover it with a wet paper towel, and microwave it, it would magically become soft again.

Well, it became soft again. It completely melted. It was this gorgeous wet sand looking mess of sugar in a bowl and I looked at The Pilot and said, I'll take it.

And that my friends, yielded the most decadent chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. Oh Ladycakes says that the secret is in letting the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight so the sugar to completely dissolve. Well, something about that already dissolved sugary goodness sitting in the dough overnight just made for these cookies to be heaven.

Instructions
  1. In a mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy.
  2. While the butter is mixing, pour the brown sugar into a microwave safe bowl. Cover with a damp paper towel and microwave in 20 second instruments until brown sugar melts. You may have to stir it after each 20 second increment.
  3. Add sugar and vanilla to butter, continue to mix for 1 minute.
  4. Add the egg, mix until just combined.
  5. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix until thoroughly combined.
  6. Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
  7. Cover the dough with plastic and stick it in the freezer overnight.
  8. When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350. Scoop the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with sea salt. Pop the cookies in the freezer for approximately 10 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes, allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

They probably would have been just a tad too sweet if we hadn't sprinkled sea salt all over the tops of them.


So, there you have it. I will never make cookies the same way again...or anything that requires brown sugar for that matter.

Tell Me: What's the best kitchen mistake you've ever made?

May 19, 2014

One of those busy weekends

This weekend was one of those busy weekends where I wish I could just get one more day out of.

Thursday, I met up with Jenn for drinks. It was our first time meeting and three hours flew by before we headed home and I realized it was almost 10:00! It was a great night and I can't wait to hang out with her more!

Friday after work, I headed to Nats Park with some coworkers because the Mets were in town! Despite what was originally a 6 hour delay, due to an aircraft change, The Pilot was able to make the game! The Mets lost but it was a great game and we had a ton of fun.


Saturday I was up bright and early to tackle the four loads of laundry that had been building up. I took Peyton for a nice long walk and headed to the gym for a short bike ride to get my legs moving before Sunday's planned run. We made our way to Clarendon for brunch and then drove out to Old Town and did a little window shopping. We did some grocery shopping and I did some baking and we called it a night nice and early so we could tackle Sunday's run.

Sunday morning, we headed out for our long run. We signed up for this race weeks ago but this was the first long run we were actually able to do together given all of my knee issues. I planned for 10 miles and he planned for 11 and we ended up running 11 together. It was the perfect run. We negative split, every mile was a few seconds faster than the previous one and I just felt great. I was pretty sore from about 5 on from having done 7 miles just 3 days before, but aside from that, I really felt great and I'm so excited for Sunday!

Post-run, after stretching and foam rolling, I spent the next few hours on my feet prepping all of my food for the week. Not the smartest decision I've ever made, but I've been so bad about meal planning for the last 6 months or so that I really just needed to get a kick on it and I feel so much better about this week knowing that all of my food is prepped!

I do have to say, when I started baking on Sunday, I followed a recipe on Pinterest which I didn't realize needed to sit in the fridge overnight before baking. Well, I made one of those kitchen mistakes that turns out to be the best mistake ever because when I finally got to baking these cookies yesterday, they were the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made! I'll leave you with this picture and you can bet that I'll be sharing the recipe later this week!

They might not look pretty but they were heaven.
So that's my busy weekend! I'm ready to tackle the week ahead, after all, it's race week!

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

May 15, 2014

Currently...

Feeling... Awesome. Awestruck? Maybe a little bit of both. This morning, I set my alarm for 5:30am. Snoozed for awhile and then got up and tackled 7 miles. I'm shocked that it's 9:30am and I've already run for over an hour. Ever since the 3 month episode of no sleep, mornings have not been my friend. I'm also thrilled that I managed 7 pain free miles. #getitgirl

Reading... Three Junes by Julia Glass, yet another library book sale find from last year. Can you believe I'm still working my way through those books? I joined the library right before going to that book sale and haven't gone once.


I've also decided to join Megan's 2014 Summer Book Challenge. Click over to see what it's all about and I'll post monthly how I'm doing!


Drinking... A Smoothie. It's finally been warm enough in the mornings to break out the blenders. This one has raspberries, blueberries, almond milk, greek yogurt, honey and a banana. Yum.

Watching... Season 3 of Scandal comes out on Netflix on Saturday!!! Also, lots and lots of baseball. I'm thrilled that the Mets won the Subway Series 2-1. I would've liked them to go for the sweep, but I'll take a win over the Yankees any day.

Anticipating... A blogger date with Jenn tonight! Also, a 10 mile run. My plan was to try to get in 7 pain free miles this weekend and then try and tackle 10 with The Pilot in advance of next weekend's Half. Things are looking good right now.

Wishing for... My pool to open. I'm looking forward to a long summer of lazy poolside lounging.

Loving... Infused water. I bought this glass infuser dispenser from World Market last week and I love it. This week, we have cucumbers and lemon infusing. Next week, I'm planning for strawberries and lemon. Water  has never tasted so good.


So, 7 miles to start my Thursday? Plus free breakfast at the office and planned drinks with a blogger friend tonight? I can't complain about much today at all.

May 14, 2014

Book Review: I Am Malala

Every once in awhile you come across a story that compels you. For me, that story was that of the millions of girls across the globe who do not have the opportunity to go to school.

That story came to me while I was an undergrad interning in London with Women for Women International, talking to women about the fabulous programs offered for women who are survivors of conflict.

Women for Women is a phenomenal organization and I pray for the opportunity to work with them again some day. While working with them and learning about more and more organizations that do similar work, I came across a trend: there are a number of global programs that help women get on their feet but there are virtually none for girls.

*Note: This was about 7 years ago. Since then, a wide range of programs have started that do work to give girls better opportunities.

In 2012, Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban for her longstanding efforts to stand up to the Taliban and keep girls in school. Malala was shot just four months after I had finished my Master's thesis writing on the very topic that she had stood up - and almost died for. Her story has compelled me, not just because she stood up to the Taliban, but because it made me realize just how fortunate I am to be able to freely, openly write and speak out against girls not going to school.

Malala's story is compelling not only because of her fight for girls' education, or because she was shot, but because after all of that, she is still fighting, more loudly and clearly than ever.


Her story tells of her life growing up in Pakistan, of her love for the Twilight series and watching TV...of how the Taliban came to power and slowly took away her right to an education, and how, today, she is still fighting against the Taliban.

Right now, I'm more fiery than ever about the fight for girls' education. Not just because I just finished this book but because I learned about the Boko Haram kidnapping three weeks before Michelle Obama decided to #bringbackourgirls, three weeks before the international community got outraged. Three weeks ago, something could have been done to get those girls back without being subject to sexual servitude. Now? The damage has been done. Why the public outcry now? Because the World Economic Forum happened this past week. It makes me sick.

Malala has also joined the campaign to #bringbackourgirls. Her fight has spread beyond Pakistan and across the globe, which adds something even more remarkable to her story.

If you're interested in this topic, read I Am Malala. Watch Girl Rising or email me. I'm always happy to talk about this subject.

May 13, 2014

...and the doctor said...

IT Band Syndrome.

The entire time he was examining me, he kept saying: "It can't be that easy."

To which I replied:

"Well maybe it is and the reason it keeps flaring up is because the asshole doctor I saw last time said flat out from the beginning that it WASN'T IT Band Syndrome when Google told me that it was, so he diagnosed me with tendinitis and sent me to PT for the WRONG FREAKING INJURY."

He's sending me for an MRI (because he's a good doctor) just to make sure there isn't anything else lingering there, so I go for that tonight.

In the mean time...he didn't tell me not to run...and he didn't explicitly tell me that I could run...though his PA said that I could and to stop immediately if it hurt (duh).

So, I ran 2 miles on Thursday.

3.5 on Saturday.

5 on Monday.

I've felt fine through all of them, especially the 5 during which I actually wore an IT Band strap.


Though in glancing at this image and reading up on it, I'm apparently wearing it wrong, so we'll try to wear it above the knee on tomorrow's run, pending that I'm still feeling good from yesterday's.

Yes, I'm still trying to run the Alexandria Half next weekend. I'm not afraid to drop out of it but damn it I'm going to try to get the miles I need to feel comfortable running. In the mean time, we'll wait for the MRI results and see what's next. The doctor said if my knee keeps flaring up, we can try a cortisone injection.

So, that's where I'm at. In case you couldn't grasp this from before? I'm pissed. After reading an extremely comprehensive guide to the differences between tendinitis and ITBS, there really was no reason at all for the doctor to diagnose me with the former. Lovely.

Here's to happy running...I hope.

May 12, 2014

Weekend Recap

This weekend involved a lot if late nights and early mornings but it was so worth it.

Friday, I left work early to head to the doctor's office for my knee. The good news is the doctor doesn't think it's anything serious. He's sending me for an MRI to be sure, but he thinks it's just a bad case of IT Band Syndrome. The bad news is, the reason this it's flaring up so badly is because the last doctor diagnosed me with tendinitis and sent me to PT for tendinitis...not ITBS so I was never actually treated for the problem. Lovely.

After the doctor, The Pilot and I made our way to the airport to catch a flight to Jersey. One missed flight and two delays later, my mom picked us up from the airport just after midnight. We got to my mom's house and passed out.

Saturday morning, I got up early to start the first round of what would be a long day of adjustments to my wedding dress. My poor mom has been working on it pretty much every weekend and it's taking way longer than she thought, but it's coming along and I can't wait until it's finished!


We spent the afternoon lounging around my mom's house before grabbing an early dinner and making our way into New York for the Mets game with my friends Jason and Joe. It was Jason's birthday week and Nolan Ryan bobblehead day so it wasn't at all hard to convince me to take the trip to Citifield!


I was a little worried because it was downpouring while we were on the 7 line but luckily the game only suffered a rain delay. The Mets ended up losing 5-4 but I'm hoping we can see them take the W when they come to DC this weekend to take on the Nationals!

It was another late night at the ballpark and an early morning on Sunday for one last dress fitting before brunch with the family. My mom made omelets, quiche, potatoes, mimosas and bread pudding and it was all perfect.

At 1, we made our way back to the airport to catch an afternoon flight back to DC. We picked up Peyton from my friend's apartment and then biked our way to Capitol Hill for dinner. We shared a fantastic pizza at Hawk 'n' Dove and then biked our way home and called it a night.

It was a great weekend. I was so happy to be back at Citifield for the first time in almost 2 years and it was great spending the weekend with my mom and seeing how my dress is coming along. I should have another 2 or 3 trips home before it's done and I can't wait!

I hope everyone got to spend the weekends celebrating their moms!

May 8, 2014

Currently...

Feeling... Pissed off. Our neighbor sits outside on her balcony until 3am almost every night SCREAMING on the phone. With closed doors, windows and the AC on, we can still here every single word she says. This has been going on for 4 months and I'm getting really fed up with our building management telling us that there's nothing they can do. I didn't sleep last night, which means I didn't work out this morning and breakfast? Totally, completely forgot about it. Yea, I'm not happy.

Reading... I'm almost done with I Am Malala and I'm still working my way through The Five Love Languages. (I'm not very good at reading more than one book at a time. I love Malala and can't put it down. I should finish it by tomorrow and will have a review up next week. Not sure what to start next though...


Listening to... Norah Jones on Pandora. It calms me down.

Eating... An egg and cheese on a bagel. Because that's what happens when you don't sleep and have no time to even think about breakfast in the morning.

Watching... Season finales everywhere. The Mindy Project got better with every episode this season. New Girl got worse...

Anticipating... Tomorrow's doctor appointment + a trip home for Mom's Day to celebrate mom (and have another fitting for my wedding dress).

Wishing for... a good run. PT said I could try to run before my doctor's appointment. That obviously didn't happen this morning because I didn't sleep but after almost two weeks off, I'm hoping to get in a decent 20 minutes tomorrow and not rule out all hope for the Alexandria Running Festival...

Loving... my eyebrows. Yes, most random love ever. I have a scar in the middle of my left eyebrow that has made my brows grow all sorts of crazy like and I've always been really self conscious about them. After a particularly bad waxing a few months ago that left me looking like Rachel Dratch in Just Go with It, I caved and spent some money to get my brows down by a professional, and now they look great.

I'm sorry I've kept so quiet all week, this whole not running thing is bothering me a lot. I hope everyone has a great weekend celebrating their moms!

May 1, 2014

Currently...

Feeling...frustrated. I tried to run this morning. I felt great for the first 10 minutes or so and by the time I hit 15 minutes, I had to slow to a walk. I followed doctor's and PT's orders to a T, I took 6 months off, did endless PT exercises and made a slow comeback. To still be injured after all of that is both heartbreaking and infuriating.

Reading... I Am Malala. I've been following Malala Yousafzai's story very closely since she was shot in Pakistan in 2012. Malala is everything that represents what I want to do in life...provide education for adolescent girls in conflict areas across the world. Her story is incredible. It's an easy read and I very, very highly recommend it.


Listening to... Pompeii by Bastille. I love this song. I can't get it out of my head. If this song is 6 months old, I'm sorry. I only just heard it for the first time last week. Other songs I've only just heard? 'Let it Go' and 'Happy.' I don't listen to the radio...ever. #citygirlproblems

Working on... Cleaning out my computer. I started last night. My computer runs so slowly and it's about time I did something about it before it crashes completely.

Drinking... Nothing. I should probably go grab some water.

Watching... Season 2 of Sherlock. Tuesday night I also watched 'The People Versus Larry Flynt' with some friends. Man, that movie was weird.

Anticipating... tomorrow's PT appointment, next week's doctor appointment (with a new doc).

Wishing for... running to not hurt anymore. I'm so insanely annoyed about all of this and seriously starting to wonder whether my doctor knew what he was doing when he diagnosed me without ever taking an MRI. All of this worries me tremendously that I might be out for the rest of the year.

Seeing in DC... no plans yet for this weekend but The Pilot is home and I'm sure we'll get into some kind of adventure!

Loving... that it's almost the weekend. This week has dragged on!

What are you currently doing?
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