June 7-13, 2009
Last week, I took a lot of concert photos, too — which you can see over here. I’m only going to include one of those in this week’s ‘Winners,’ taken at the Nine Inch Nails show.
And now I bring you to my garden …
This week and last have been jam-packed with live music!
The madness began Sunday with a matinee performance by Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3. This show was in town, so we walked down to our favorite local venue and grabbed some lunch before the show.
We were seated in the front row, directly in front of Peter Buck. That was pretty amazing — I’ve been an R.E.M. fan forever so it was great hearing a little extra guitar through his monitor.
Loved the show, and got to briefly meet Robyn and Peter after the show. Too bad Robyn wouldn’t pose with us — he said Peter was the photo guy — but we got albums signed to add to our collection.
Monday night we headed up to Merriweather Post Pavilion to see The Decemberists. They were playing their latest album, The Hazards of Love, in its entirety.
But first up, we had a few openers. Andrew Bird was always on the bill. But a late addition was none other than Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3!
Robyn asked his “young nephew Colin” to join him on stage …
How great to see them again!
Next up was Andrew Bird. I’m not really a fan, I just know a few songs from the radio. But he was pretty good.
Finally, The Decemberists took the stage. And well, at least for the first three quarters of the show, we knew exactly what to expect. And it was fantastic!
They took a quick break and played a few more songs after finishing Hazards, right up until the venue’s 11 p.m. curfew. What a great show!
But there’s always room for more, right?
Tuesday night we returned to Merriweather to see Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction.
Our seats were pretty far back … and due to the nature of the show, we pretty much had to stand for both performances. But it was a great show, and a lot of fun!
I haven’t really followed any NIN albums released since the late 90s … but they always put on a good show. And they played all my old favorites!
Admittedly, I was never a huge Jane’s Addiction fan. The husband was, I just never got past the hits. But I liked them, and they played them all!
Phew! We’re done with shows for a few days, but it won’t be for too long. At least I think the rest of our summer shows are a bit more spaced out!
May 31 – June 6, 2009
I went into DC yesterday to run in the Race for the Cure 5K. It’s difficult to run because there are so many runners and walkers — something like 50,000. And a lot of the walkers didn’t follow directions and started with the runners. There was a separate start line, and they were supposed to start 15 minutes after the runners. But I crossed the start line and there were already people walking, holding signs, etc.
So it was a little extra workout from your usual 5K, zig-zagging around walkers and slower runners, trying to find a good pace. I was happy that I managed to finish just over 29 minutes (I think — official results not posted but I had my Garmin.) At least it was a chip race this year. In the past it wasn’t. My clock time was somewhere around 37 minutes!
I got into the city really early. I was expecting to have to wait for a train, and for crowds. But I walked into the Metro station and right onto a train, and it left just a couple minutes later. I was meeting some coworkers for a team photo at 7:30, but I got there around 6:40. Plenty of time to find a port-o-pot (no lines!), pick up my donation voucher, and wander around. (They offered incentives to solicit donations. I procrastinated and didn’t get any donations until race week. I reached my goal before race day, but I didn’t get my voucher emailed to me.)
Anyway, that killed a little time. But I still had to wait for my coworkers. Fortunately, we were meeting at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden so I could entertain myself.
Eventually it was time to meet up. Folks gradually arrived, and we took a few photos. Then it was time to wait for the start!
Only the opening ceremony kept going, and speakers kept coming up. We just wanted to run! They ended up starting about 30 minutes late.
But it was a really good time. The event was very well organized. There were great vendor freebies at the finish, and the race had plenty of snacks and drinks available. I was impressed!
Also this week …
I’ve got some lazy cats.
And finally, I took this at the Cracker show last week, while waiting for the encore:
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Hmm, guess what we’re talking about over at the Runners’ Lounge today?
This week, Take it and Run Thursday is focusing on the not-so-traditional running events … mainly triathlons, relays, and ultra marathons.
I think it’s pretty safe to say I’ll never run an ultra marathon. Yes, I was once known to say I’d never run a full marathon. And somehow, that happened. But I’m pretty sure I won’t change my mind on this one.
However, I apparently am willing run a half marathon one day and a full marathon the next. This is probably as close as I’m willing to get!
I’m currently training for my second sprint triathlon, Iron Girl, at the end of August. I had such a great time last year that I can’t wait to do it again.
I’ve only been to the pool a few times so far (I didn’t mean to slack all fall and winter … ), but I’m already swimming longer without a break than I ever did last summer, other than race day. I’ve got a new bike, too, so hopefully I can get comfortable going a bit faster!
I can certainly see myself moving up to Olympic-distance triathlons — Iron Girl’s swim is pretty long for a sprint, so it wouldn’t be that bad of a jump. While I’m not signing up anytime soon, a Half Ironman probably wouldn’t be out of the question. But I think I have to draw the line at a full Ironman!
Now onto relays … this is definitely something on my to-do list!
Back in April, I almost joined my friend’s team for the American Odyssey Relay. A few members of her team had dropped out, and she send out an email looking for replacements. TWO WEEKS before the event!
Even without any special training, I was actually considering it. I had kept my mileage up after my March half marathon and April 10-mile race, so it wouldn’t have been too bad.
But the race was the week after my vacation, and started on a Friday. I would have had to take another day off work at a time when I was seriously overbooked. I just couldn’t afford to miss another day.
And yes, I would rather go into something like this with a little practice running more than once a day!
I’m sure it will happen. Maybe even later this year … some friends are currently considering the DC Ragnar Relay in September. Sounds like fun!
What’s this? Two posts in one night?
Well … I was going to combine them, but then my race report got really long.
Anyway … I had to miss my 18×400 speed workout yesterday since we had other plans. I decided to run tonight instead. It is National Running Day, after all!
Only it looked like thunderstorms were going to roll in (and they did), so I thought the better choice was to hit the treadmill. I don’t think I had all those 400s in me tonight, anyway. I decided I’d just run a 5K, but was planning on playing with the speed a little bit.
As soon as the treadmill started up, my legs kind of hurt. Weird pains, too. No place that had been bothering me. I just chalked it up to being tired from the half (and oh, did I forget to mention the 12-mile bike ride I went on a few hours after running a half marathon?), and just kept going.
I took the first half mile slow, at 5.5 mph. Then I upped it to 7.0 and was able to keep it going for the next half mile. That was hard. I went back down to 6.0 for mile two. Then I did another half mile at 7.0.
For most of the last .6, I was back at 6.0. But when the Nike+ lady told me I had 200 meters to go, I kicked it up to 7.5. I think I made it to the end of my 5K before having to slow down again.
By no means my fastest 5K, but under 30 minutes (29:22), so that’s fine with me. It’s been a while since I’ve run on the treadmill!
