Hey guys! I hope you had nice weekends. I got back to DC on Friday afternoon after a great trip to San Diego! It was hard to say goodbye to the ocean – I spent Thursday with my toes in the sand (and the water), which is one of my favorite things in the world. It was unseasonably hot in San Diego last week – perfect for the beach!
But as sad as I was to say goodbye to beautiful San Diego and to my friend Lauren, it is also wonderful to be home. Besides Christmas (in Pittsburgh with Matt’s family), we don’t have any travel from now until late January, which is kind of amazing. I’ve had the best time on all my adventures lately but I feel like I need a minute to reset. 🙂
Plus, I LOVE fall in DC. I arrived home on Friday afternoon to autumn in full swing – cool temps, brilliant sunny blue skies, and changing leaves. Matt and I went out for a run in the early evening (his office did a volunteer day for Veteran’s Day and he was home earlier than usual) and it was wonderful to move after sitting on a plane, and to catch up with him!
We ended up covering about 5 miles, I think – I wasn’t wearing a watch. It felt really good – I’d forgotten how much I love running when it’s cold outside (vs. hot and humid) – and I loved that I could just go for a Friday evening 5 mile run without worrying about messing up long run plans.
We spent the rest of the night chilling and enjoyed some salmon (a variation on my Salmon with Lemon Mustard Dill Sauce) with veggies and potatoes and finished up the series Narcos on Netflix. 🙂
On Saturday morning I enjoyed a wonderful, restorative yoga class at Edge Yoga, my local fave. Nikki was teaching, and she’s one of my favorite instructors – she leads powerful flows with but nice calming messaging. It was just what I was looking for.
We spent the rest of the day doing some errands and things around the house, and met some friends for lunch. Saturday night, we had our friend Shane over for a low key dinner at our place. On the menu: brats with sauerkraut, our old fave. Plus some unpictured paleo pumpkin muffins for dessert!
Matt made us a huge thing of popcorn and we all watched a movie after. Nice and relaxing!
Sunday, I was pumped to get out and meet friends for a run! It had been too long since I was in town for a weekend run date, and the weather could not have been better for running – in the 40’s and sunny. My favorite!
I met up with Sokphal, my track buddy Diane, and Diane’s friend Craig for a fun DC loop. There were a bunch of races going on so it was fun to cheer people on as we went (don’t worry, we stayed off the courses/out of the way)!
We started in Georgetown and ran along the water and a bit of Hains Point before crossing over my old friend the 14th street bridge. The last time I was on this bridge, I was crashing and burning HARD at mile 18 of the Marine Corps Marathon (<- race recap). I was excited to be back and to crush it this time. 🙂
From there we enjoyed the fall colors on the GW Parkway trail before heading back over Key Bridge to Georgetown. Blurry action shot:
When we made it back to Georgetown we said goodbye to Craig and Diane asked if Sokphal and I wanted to run back to Fletcher’s Cove (where her car was) with her. We hadn’t planned to run farther, but we both felt great and were enjoying the lovely day so we figured sure, why not. Diane said she’d drop us off back in Georgetown – perfect!
We ended up covering almost 8.5 miles. Wow – isn’t it funny how sometimes when you take off the pressure to do something (like long runs) you end up wanting to do it after all? Not that I was interested in doing a super long run – I’m pretty over those – but you know what I mean. I’ve determined anything under 10 miles is my sweet spot – leaves me feeling energized and accomplished but not drained. 🙂 We kept up a good clip for the run, too – faster than I’ve done on a longer run in quite awhile! Excited to work on speed again now that the marathon is over…
Back in Georgetown, Sokphal and I decided coffee was in order before heading home – we stumbled upon Grace Street Coffee, which was awesome! If you’re local, check it out. I got a pumpkin spice latte with whole milk; they use real pumpkin to make their pumpkin spice syrup. Thumbs up!
I spent the rest of the day doing stuff around the house and raking up some leaves while listening to podcasts. 🙂 Matt enjoyed the weather with a bike ride with a friend – I was going to join but decided I’d rather chill and return some phone calls to friends I’d been trying to catch for ages instead. As for dinner last night, we had an old favorite – grilled chicken with baked beans (canned) and salad. Hit the spot!
I’m working downtown today and have a big to do list, so I’d better get back to it. Taking a break over lunch to hit a yoga class, though – I’ve really been craving yoga lately!
Having a nice day, my friends – don’t forget to practice self care and to spread some love and joy to others today. xo
