Yesterday afternoon we attended our first DC Roller Girls match at the DC Armory over by RFK. The tickets were a Christmas gift from Val and Ty, and though we’d heard about the league before and seen pictures from the games, we still had no idea what to expect. We were really surprised by the masses of people getting off the metro and filing into the ticket lines. It draws a pretty large crowd.
The court is an oval ring centered between the bleacher stands. There were lots of awesome costumes, like the man dressed as a pickle throwing candy to the crowd, and the DC Cherry Bomb. All on roller skates, too. The names of the players were things like “Helen Killah,” “Nasty Pelosi,” and “Ivana Tripabitch.” There was also a bake sale table on the way in. How had we not been to this before?!
Luckily the guy sitting in front of us overheard our confused conversation and was nice enough to explain the rules of the game to us. That definitely helped. So we drank our PBR Tallboys from the front row, did some spectacular people watching, and enjoyed the game! Highly recommended event for any DC peeps that haven’t yet been.
Last night we watched the opening matches of the Washington Kastles World Team Tennis league at their new stadium at The Wharf in southwest. They beat the Kansas City Explorers in overtime, 21-18, but more importantly we were thisclose to Venus Williams! ahhhhh! I’m pretty sure if I stood on the other side of the net to receive one of her serves, I wouldn’t even see it go by me. It’s that fast.
Tennis is pretty awesome to watch in person, though. The speed that they change directions, the ball control, and how they know just where to send it to be out of reach. SLAM! The instant replays are also one of my favorites parts — watching the little ball diagram in slow motion to see if the line calls are correct. Is the shadow inside, outside, or on the line? Aaaand, now I am feeling really pumped to go play some tennis sometime soon!!! The last time I went (not counting the Wii) was with Matt when we lived in Silver Spring. If I remember, it ended in many tennis balls being lost over the fence and a couple of adult temper tantrums.
Now THIS is a great spot to play some hoops (extra points for hitting a shot off the tree, but you have to call it first). It also seems like it could be the very place that the alley-oop was named for… However, according to Wikipedia, “The term “alley-oop” is derived from the French term allez hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap. It was first used in the 50s by the San Francisco 49ers to describe a high arcing pass to wide receiver R.C. Owens, who would out-leap cornerbacks for touchdown receptions, but later became more well-known for its use in basketball.
I suppose the only problem I see here is not enough range to practice your three-point shot, and especially not for the long-shot in Bob-Ball ™
Matt and I both completed The Nation’s Triathlon yesterday! It was our second time doing the race, but the first time training without the help of Team in Training. I think we both easily admitted that we were far more prepared for last year’s race, but it was fun nonetheless jumping into the Potomac river again, seeing our training friends from last year, and of course crossing the finish line! Thanks to our families and Bowser for coming out to watch us!
We went to the Nats game last night with Matt’s company tickets, and I will say it’s the first good game I’ve gone to, of about 5 or 6 attended so far, at the new stadium. The team held onto their lead to beat the Florida Marlins 5-4, apparently putting them on an 8-4 run in their last 12 games. Which is pretty good, for anyone who knows how dismal the Nats can be.
Highlight of the evening for me may have been watching the 3 men sitting in front of us – three generations of baseball fanatics, all with blazing red hair. Grandfather and father both wearing full Nats gear and earphones (undoubtedly listening to the radio broadcast of the game), and the 6 or 7-year-old son, wearing his little league uniform down to the cleats, Nats hat, and giant grey sunglasses that bordered on goggles. Dweeby but so cute! Only a picture of that lineup would do it justice, but I wasn’t that creepy. So you’ll just take my word for it that some of the best people watching is in the stands.
Hello Washington. It is (apparently) National Running Day so tie those laces tight, put on your fancy moisture wicking tech-tee, and go pound some pavement. Just make sure to get the run in early because it looks like we are going to be getting some biblical storming tonight starting around 6p and no one likes a soggy run in a thunderstorm. Speaking of which, this could make my bike ride home from work rather unpleasant….hmmm.
The photo above was taken during this years National Cherry Blossom festival (see the Washington Monument in the background for proof!) with my wrist mounted GoPro Digital Hero.
The Cherry Blossom 10 miler went off with out a hitch this morning. Some 12,000 or so runners plus associated friends and family, along with a huge contingent of volunteers (thank you!) descended upon the National Mall this morning. The gun went off at 7:40a and the first bunch of runners were done 45 minutes later. That is a break neck 4:36 pace! While Lori and I didn’t go quiiiiite that fast we both got personal records (1:45 and 1:11, respectively) so that is a win in my book.
A good rite of spring indeed.
…here are the photos I snapped mid run with my GoPro Digital Hero wrist camera. They get strangely distorted but it is still fun to take photos mid race.
