normalcy
September 13th, 2011
pedestrian walkway bridge at the Rockville Metro.
Normalcy… Does anyone else seem like this has been missing in the past few weeks? I feel like the end of summer was a whirlwind of crazy – a major earthquake, followed by Hurricane Irene, then classes started, August was over justlikethat, another week of non-stop rain and flooding, the 10th anniversary of 9/11… It just seems to me like there haven’t been any normal weeks gone by of late. I guess that’s life. The slow, lazy days of summer are coming to an end, and there is cooler weather in the forecast for the end of this week. woohoo! Oh happy fall days, hurry up!
picnic by the water
July 19th, 2010
We went for a bike ride yesterday to one of our favorite places to sit and relax in DC — the steps by the water at the base of the Memorial Bridge, just off Ohio Drive and the Rock Creek Park Trail. Even though the view over the water is basically looking at the butt of Rosslyn, it’s still a nice place to watch people and the activity over the water. Given how hot it was yesterday, there were not only the usual boaters and kayakers, but also people jet-skiing and tubing as well. We also witnessed some sort of engagement photo shoot going on behind us, with the majestic Lincoln Memorial serving as a backdrop for some lovey couple. And so we sat and ate pineapple, cantaloupe, and goat brie with bread and watched the sun get lower over the water, all-in-all, a great way to waste away a Sunday evening.
under the Whitehurst!
December 29th, 2009
…out of the SUUUN! under the Whitehurst… Whitehurst..
The Whitehurst Freeway rises above K Street in Georgetown, and it carries vehicles along the Potomac River between the Key Bridge at the west end and Rock Creek Parkway/K Street at the east end. Named after H.C. Whitehurst, the director of the District Highway Department at the time of its conception, the bridge was built in the 1940’s and was the District’s very first freeway. Steel shortages at the time delayed its construction and it opened a year behind schedule, in October 1949. The final cost: $3.3 million. Included in the demolition was the house of Francis Scott Key, writer of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Source: http://www.dcroads.net/roads/whitehurst
I happen to like this bridge
September 28th, 2009
Not much to write about this morning, especially after one of the worst sports weekends in DC area history, at least that I can remember… So here’s a photo I pulled from the archives, taken 3 years ago in March, of the old stone bridge on Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park. We used to run in that direction, over the bridge, more frequently when we lived at our old apartment, but it’s been awhile now. When we would go by, I always expected an old troll to be sitting under it, eating little children or whatever it is that trolls do. Now that the leaves are starting to change, it would be a good time to go back and see it.
Canal
December 10th, 2008
The Georgetown canal. If you squint your eyes, don’t the clouds look like they make a big heart?
Nation’s Triathletes!!
September 14th, 2008
We did it! Woooooooo, we are triathletes! Here is a photo of the Potomac swim (it’s taken with Matt’s new birthday present ) Congrats to our entire Team in Training Team for finishing this race, and thank you to everyone who cheered us on–parentals, coworkers, Jill, Pat, Jami, Slutsky, JJ, Jessica, Zack, Brigid, Keith, Jayluf, and Kristen, and everyone else (Aine, Carolyn) in my swim corral who helped me stop freaking out. yay, you guys rock! (please feel free to comment on your favorite part of race day.) Here are some of the other photos from the day…
Time results:
Lori/Matt
overall place: 1563/314
TIME: 3:18:04/2:37:31
swim: 39:25/33:53
transition1: 3:03/2:28
bike:1:27:01/1:10:02
transition2: 2:25/1:24
run: 1:06:12/49:45
The course itself was great- the Potomac was less gross/intimidating than we had been thinking all summer, and the water was actually refreshing at 7:45 in the AM. No bodies or Loch Nessies were spotted, though I did graze a piece of driftwood. eeek! Sighting on the back end of the swim was nearly impossible – foggy goggles and the sun directly in my eyes. I had to stop a few times, remove the goggles, and tread water to look for the yellow buoys. But I made it out of the water, and up the ladders, and to me, that was as good as finishing the race because the part where you could drown was over.
The bike course was smooth “these roads are like butter” as Matt would say… and no real hills, up or down. There was, however, a more-than-24-hours-dead deer on the side of the road that stunk like nobody’s business, but other than that, no real issues. AND, most importantly, no flat tires!!
The run was tough for everyone it seemed. By that point in the day, it was getting really humid and into the mid-90s. Black pavement is hot. No shade was unfortunate. But I did happen to look up a few times and see things such as the Washington monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the place on Hains Point where The Awakening used to be. Pretty!
Now we are looking forward to getting those finish line photos back. I did a standard arm-raised in victory motion, but Matt went for a leaping fist-pump. Sure to not let me down.
Also wanted to point out everything that I ate today, starting at 5am:
pre-race: 1/2 banana, 1/2 whole wheat bagel, 1 bottled water, 1 caffeinated cherry sports beans pack
during-race: 1 orange sport bean pack, 4 bottles water, 1 lime sport bean pack
immediately-post-race: 1 bottled water, 3 powerades, 1 pickle, 1/2 turkey sub, 2 mini packs of Skittles, 1 banana, 1 slice cheese pizza
lunch: a baked potato, steak, cantaloupe and grapes, 1 dos equis, veggies and dip, 12-ish caramel cream candies, cherry-whipped cream pie
10pm: pomegranate fro-yo with fresh pineapple, strawberries, and blackberries
Now time to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep……
Beautiful, no?
August 15th, 2008
The Potomac is pretty to look at, right? I suppose that’s hard to disagree with. But now it’s exactly 1 month until I will be swimming in that water for the Nation’s Triathlon, and I’m getting just a tad bit nervous… especially since I’ve heard the Potomac mentioned in the news in the last 3 days, regarding things like toxic algae and dead bodies. Super!!
And then I remind myself that I’m doing this for a great cause and in honor of my grandfather, so won’t you please help me with a DONATION to DO NATION’s (Matt came up with that, I wish I was so clever…) and help fund blood cancer research ?
…and it sets in the west
August 11th, 2008
Great picnic spot = a grassy patch near the Potomac, just down past the Roosevelt Memorial Bridge. Good for: sunsets (see above) and boat watching. Pairs well with PB&J sandwiches, wine, a blanket. Bad for: gnats, seeing loch-ness monster things jump out of the Potomac.
…annnd it’s August…
August 1st, 2008
Where did July go? ..it’s about that time of year, when you were little, that you started realizing that summer was over and that school would be starting again soon. Dread!
Anyways, this weekend we are headed to Philly where I will be participating in the SheROX Sprint Triathlon . It’s my first, but it will be really good practice for the Olympic one in September. It’ll also be my first chance to really test out the new bike and see what it can do!
gorillas in the mist
July 24th, 2008
While I do not believe that gorillas are a species indigenous the the great District of Columbia wilderness otherwise known as Rock Creek Park that is what the view from the Taft Bridge this morning at circa 6:45a reminded me of. Very weird remnants from the intense storms that we had last night (which incidentally downed a large portion of a tree on the southwest side of the bridge).
On a separate Rock Creek wilderness point, last night while I was waiting outside our apartment building for Lori to come back from her test ride on her new bike (!) I saw a small raccoon fall from about 45′ up in a tree all the way down to the ground taking a fair bit of tree branch with it. I have to give it to the raccoon though, he/she/it shook it off and scurried right back up the same tree. There must be some good eats up in those limbs somewhere.
