Blood, Sweat and Beers: Weekly Wrap-Up - We are Awesome at Avoiding Traffic

As the title suggests, SJ and I are the queens of getting ourselves both in AND out of the New York metropolitan area. The problem with living on an island is that there are only so many routes on and off, however, when you are skilled navigators like we are, you are able to avoid such minor things like flipped over tractor-trailers and fuel spills. Rather than rot in traffic like a wounded animal in the Saharan Desert sun, we maneuvered our way around the problem spots with the skill of a ballerina - and a graceful one at that.

Anyways, you don't really want to hear about how awesome we are at problem solving traffic issues, you just want me to talk about my weekend. And since I'm a people-pleaser, I will acquiesce to your wishes. However, I will not give you a race report in this update - that is why I write race reports, duh - so if you are here looking for that then you will just have to wait, because I haven't written it yet.

Washington D.C. - for the brief time we were there - was great. SJ and I arrived late on Friday night, but were up ~~at the crack of dawn~~ 8:30 to get the day started. SJ was not at all happy about this ~~early morning~~ wake up, however she got over. We both did our respective exercising - her for a run, me for the world's easiest brick workout - and then met up again around the feast that the Residence Inn Alexandria offered for breakfast. Seriously - that's not sarcasm - it was a feast. I had blueberry waffles. Then cereal. Then sausage and eggs. It was phenomenal.

After the debacle that was race check-in and bike drop-off (more on that in the race report), we dropped the car back at the hotel and headed to take the train back into DC to see some of the sights. We really had no immediate plans other than: eat, get on train, walk around. We randomly found the Gator bar of Alexandria so watched some of the UF/Miami game with the oldest possible Gator crowd I have ever been a part of - most of those people had probably graduated before the '70s. SJ and I brought the average age down by well into the double digits.

We took the train into DC and ended up walking along the Mall - taking pictures and generally just wandering. On a lark, we popped into the Holocaust Museum to see if you still needed reservations to get in and we ended up being able to go in for free (I have no idea if this is usually the case or simply because we only had an hour-ish left before closing). Nothing like a little genocide to get you keyed up for a big race! After the museum, we continued our tour of misery by heading over the bridge to Arlington Cemetery, where we hot footed it roughly a mile and a half uphill so that SJ could see the changing of the guard ceremony.

Finished with that, we decided that food and beverages would be just what we needed to cheer ourselves up, so we headed back to Alexandria to grab dinner. We saw a few places that were clearly out of our league (tasting menus/fancy attire/overall snootiness factor at a high) and stumbled upon a place called the Hard Times Cafe - much more our style. We grabbed a table and discovered that it was famous for it's chili - awesome. But actually, not. Because I feared that if I ate the amazing chili, both myself and those people around me at the race tomorrow would live to rue the day. I opted for something bland and boring, while SJ pounded down two hot dogs smothered in chili and cheese. According to her, I'm not racing tomorrow, I can eat whatever I want. Thanks for the moral support, babe. I did have some tastings though, so that would have to suffice. Have no fear though, friends, for I will be back down in Alexandria for Ragnar and fully plan on revisiting the Hard Times Cafe for my chili cheese dogs.

Skipping ahead, after the race, we went to visit with some family in the area and I was able to take a shower (you're welcome by the way, mom and SJ) before heading back to NY. By sheer awesomeness - and our amazing AAA quality knowledge of the roadways of New York City, we were able to get home just in time for the start of the Giants' game. Unfortunately, after having watched the game, I wish I had still been sitting in traffic to avoid having to see the atrocity.

On to the wrap-up!

Number of Miles Run: 21. Considering I'm training for a marathon, this is abysmal. However, with my A triathlon race done, I can focus more on running and building mileage than cycling and swimming (not that I swam pretty much ever this summer.)

Number of Miles Biked: 46. The whole 25 mile bike ride in the race really helped bring that up. This number will probably start to decrease now that triathlon season is pretty much over - but as long as it's nice out, I'll keep riding, so it won't go away completely.

Number of Yards Swam: 1500. Whew, thank god I raced or this would have been a big old goose egg.

I'll sit down with a full race report sometime in the next few days. For now, just have fun with these pictures.