Whirlwind Washington DC Weekend

Man what a whirlwind weekend it was.. About a month ago my sister convinced me to come down to Washington DC for the weekend to be part tourist and part cheerleader for when she ran the Nike Women's Half Marathon with some of her fellow sorority sisters. Friday after work I headed down to DC via Bolt Bus with a stop along the way in Delaware, a new state for me. After a 4.5 hour drive, I made it to the hotel not even 10 minutes before my sister and Heather showed up from the airport. Exhausted but hungry we went to eat at Crystal City Sports Pub, a local pub near the hotel recommended by Trista, another sorority sister who was already in town and checked in.

Saturday morning bright and early, well earlier than I hoped, the four of us headed out to the NWHM "expo" so they all could get their information, gear, check out the vendors and take tons of pictures of course. After all, what was I there for? Lol. Once all the NWHM shenanigans happened we stopped at DC Cupcakes. Luckily we got there only about half an hour after it opened even with the line. I ended up getting a vegan apple cupcake and a coconut cupcake. Despite not having much of a sweet tooth, they were delicious. Post DC Cupcakes, we went back to the hotel for a bit then headed out again but to Nationals Baseball Park to see the Nationals play the Cincinnati Reds. The stadium was awesome and the goregous sunny day made it a perfect first time at the stadium. After moving into the shade, I was more comfortable and glad to see the Nationals take home a win.

After the game we headed back towards the National Mall to a bit of sight seeing/tourist action. Never having been to Washington DC before, I was excited to see all the national monuments. First stop along the way was the Washington Monument even though it is covered in scaffolding to do repairs after the earthquake in DC. Organizing dinner plans resulted in seeing the World War II Memorial next, of course photo ops with both my home state of California and my new home New York. We headed to the Lincoln Memorial after with a stop along the way for some good luck wishes for the runners. After another mini photo shoot courtesy of my sister and Trista, we headed back towards the White House before dinner. Suprisingly the White House is not along a main street that I imagined it would be from looking at pictures. It was nice not being overly crowded either. The day ended with a pizza filled dinner and last minute stop for race day necessities for my sister and fellow runners.

Sunday morning bright and early, well not bright as it was still dark out when we left, we headed over to the race area/start. There was a lot of photo taking and race prepping before they started at 7am. Myself and Russel, a boyfriend of one of the sorority sister's, mapped our game plan to be able to see our designated people run at certain mile markers. I was able to see my sister and capture a photo of her somewhere between miles 5 & 6 thanks to the handy werundclive.com app that was offered for spectators. I made it to mile 10 with Russel but we both managed to miss seeing my sister as the app had lagged in updating. After that bummer, I hauled my way towards the finish line to see my sister cross. Knowing her goal was sub-2 I eagerly anticpated her arrival. Not knowing she had stopped at a medical tent along the way I saw her cross at 2:01:33. I was so proud she finished, even a new PR although not the sub-2 she wanted. Once I met up with her at the medical tent we managed to make our way (with a bit of a detour) to see Heather, Trista and Brandi come by us to the finish line. Congrats to everyone!

After a long morning, I was ready to head to Union Station for my bus ride home. Had I known that you can possibly catch an earlier bus if there is extra seats, I would have not stopped to charge my phone. Even though I missed that chance, I was the first person on the bus and had my pick of seats. Let me tell you, I don't like long bus rides to begin with but the bus on the way home was by far one of the worst rides I have taken. 6.5 hours later after no stops and horrible traffic, I bailed at the first stop downtown by Canal Street in the city because I couldn't take it anymore. I was so lucky that I made to the N/Q/R Canal stop right as a train was pulling in and made it back home in 25 minutes on a Sunday night.

Overall it was such an exhaustingly long weekend but well worth the trip to see my sister and her fellow sorority sisters I had previsouly met and just met as well as checking out our Nation's capital. What a great way to end April and roll into May. I can't wait for my trip to San Francisco and Folsom/Sacramento this weekend to see friends I haven't seen in almost 3 years (or more for some). Stayed tunned for that post!