On Sunday, Matt hit a new PDR (personal distance record) for continuous running: 10 miles! :)
I say “continuous” running, because the Tough Mudder we did last fall was 11ish miles, but it’s such a different sort of running since you stop a lot for the obstacles.
As I mentioned last week, Matt and I are doing the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May with our brothers, so we’re working on building up his distance. We’re going to do an 11 miler and a 12 miler before the race, too, with step down weeks (6 to 7 mile weekend runs) in between.
On Sunday, we got in the miles with our friend Pete. It was gray and dreary out but not super freezing, which was good.
As part of my Brooks Run Happy Ambassadorship, they sent me a shiny new pair of my fave long distance Brooks shoes – the Brooks Ravenna 5 – in a cool new spring color, so I busted them out for Sunday’s run. Cute, huh? They felt great – nice and cushy. My last pair (which were the Ravenna 4 series) must have really gotten worn out from all the miles I’ve been doing lately because these felt SO much better! I didn’t notice any big differences between the Ravenna 4 and 5 besides the cute new colors, fyi. Also, these shoes are between a neutral and support/stability shoe.
In terms of the run, we started at our place and ran down the Custis Trail to Rosslyn, where we continued onto the Mt. Vernon Trail along the water.
From there, we ran all the way down to the 14th street bridge, where we crossed over and did a loop around the tidal basin.
Here are my running companions Matt & Pete. Thumbs up from Matt!
We exited the tidal basin area near the MLK Memorial and jetted over towards the Lincoln Memorial.
Hey, Washington Monument! I hear your construction will be done soon – can’t wait til we can run up to you again!
We looped around Lincoln & ran along the water towards the Georgetown waterfront.
From there, we tackled the hill of death and ran into Clarendon to complete the 10 miles. Whew! So proud of Matt for his new distance record. He had no problem with the run!
As for me, it was a tough one! I felt REALLY tired for the whole run even though we weren’t running at what is normally a challenging pace for me. I guess my body just wasn’t feeling it – which makes sense, considering all the running I’ve been doing lately (cough LA Marathon cough Rock ‘n’ Roll USA half marathon)! I’m dialing things back this week/weekend on the running/exercise front so hopefully I’ll be back feeling refreshed next week. :)
Matt’s parents were in town over the weekend so after our run we met up with them for one last meal: brunch at Cassatt’s Kiwi Café. Love this place – I had a delish mushrooms, egg, and cheese quesadilla with a big tomato/avocado salad on the side. Hit the spot, and so good catching up with Matt’s fam, too!
And now, back to work for me! Between teaching at GW, my AnneTheRD and Endurance Athlete Center client work, and this blog, 2014 has been so insanely busy – trying to keep my head above water! This morning’s GW lecture was about the fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K); on Thursday, I’ll be teaching about water and the major minerals! I can’t believe we only have a month left of the semester – it’s gone by quickly, as time tends to when you’re super busy, I suppose.
Have a wonderful day – and for those of you in DC, let’s hope that today’s snow is the last of it!
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Of interest:
- Join lululemon athletica on Saturday, April 5th at 10 a.m. for Cherry Blossom Yoga – a free, hour-long outdoor vinyasa yoga class led by Mimi Rieger and held at the Washington Monument. Sign up here. Matt and I will be out of town – sad to miss out on this!
- Running as Therapy – via the NY Times
- New Spring Fitness Classes in Washington – via Washingtonian Well+Being
- “House of Cards” Will Probably Stay in MD – via Washingtonian Well+Being – anyone else a huge House of Cards fan?! Matt and I are obsessed – working our way through season 2 now!
See you in Pittsburgh, Anne!
Congrats, Matt, on the PDR! :D
That quesadilla sounds awesome!
That is great that Matt is doing so good!! Looks like a great weekend!
The shoes are beautiful! (Can shoes be beautiful? Yes, yes they can.) I’m currently running Brooks PureCadence 2s and am LOVING them!
Cheer’s to Matt! New PDR’s are so much fun :)
Ha. I just bought the Ravenna’s last week. I love them!! Same colors as well. So happy. Happy shoes, happy run. :)
Hi Anne! An idea I had- I personally would love it if you incorporated some of the basic nutrition info you are teaching the students at GW into blog posts. Run recaps are great and easy I know, but I think with your RD and the audience here, we could all learn a thing or two about basic nutrition from you! Just a reader request- have a nice week :)
Thank you for the feedback, Amy! I’ll be 100% honest, though — I seriously think my head will explode if I add anything else to my to do list right now. Like I said last month – I’ll definitely work on occasionally writing more informative/nutrition-related blog posts in the summer when I have a little more time, but until then, run recaps and quick meal ideas/recipes are about all I can handle, and have also always been what my blog was all about from the start. I’m sorry – thanks for understanding and for reading!
Sure, I understand you must be crazy busy. I know your blog has been along these lines since the beginning, I just meant it would be cool to see it evolve some (not change completely!) based on your knowledge and career choices that have changed a lot during this time as well! I thought maybe since you are presumably making powerpoints and developing lectures for your course it wouldn’t be too much extra work to include some of it on the blog- didn’t mean to suggest a difficult undertaking. Anyway, no biggie.
No worries – thanks again for the input! I appreciate your thoughts and love that you are interested in more nutrition-related info – more people should be! :)
Well done to Matt on the run! And to you for battling through! Hope you’re resting up as envisaged!
We might be in the DC area in early May. Is there a route map to run the monuments or other points of interest in DC? My husband will be in meetings, so I might do running tours on my own.
Thanks!
I bet there is something on MapMyRun — check it out and enjoy your visit! http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/
I have had the same Ravenna 5s since December and I absolutely love them. I have also ordered another pair of the 4s too though because I am so sad that my first pair are almost worn out. Have fun in the new shoes!
Congrats Matt! I remember feeling super accomplished when I hit double digit runs…like a ‘real’ runner!
Well done to Matt! And his coach!
Hey anne!
that lecture sounds really interesting! do you think you’d soon be able to do a post about the vitamins a d k &e ?even if its a short snippet, or adding some links, it would be really helpful coming from an RD & Blogger! :) thanks! love everything you do!
Thanks priya! Will try to do some more nutrition related posts soon :)
can’t wait!