National Press Club 5K

Just thought I'd throw this photo out there as record of the fabulous AARP team that took part in the 12th Annual National Press Club 5K. The team consisted of myself, Kim Keister, Marlece Lusk-Karamitsos and Tina Johnson-Marcel (not pictured).

The race took place in downtown DC on Saturday, Sept. 12th, with a course taking us down Pennsylvania Ave. towards the Capitol Building, Union Station and back. It's been about two months since I really got into running, so I was anxious to see if I could improve on my personal best time. And wouldn't ya know it, I killed it by about 3 minutes. I finished the race, according to my clock, at 24.53 minutes with a pace of 8.01 minutes per mile. I can definitely be happy with that. Of course I'd love to get my time down to the 21 minute range, but at-least I'm making some progress.

On a side note, the race actually had an interesting twist that made for a colorful run. The 9-12 Project was hosting their protest of big government, socialism and nationalized health care. They lined up at Freedom Plaza, which was right at the start and finish of the race. As we came around the corner to start and on the way back, we were cheered on by thousands of protesters. They lined the streets and made a nice path for the runners to go through. Honestly, it felt like I was finishing the New York Marathon, running through a crowd cheering from both sides.

The most interesting part of this was the mixed reaction from some of my fellow press colleagues. Some took such offense to our fellow Americans exercising their 1st Amendment rights. One man standing near me gasped "they were so mean!" Another sitting at my table post-race said "such nasty people cussing us out and flipping us the bird."

I gotta tell ya folks, I think these members of the press ran in a different race. I didn't see one nasty thing done when I ran by. I didn't see one "mean" person or "nasty" gesture. I saw lots of cheering and clapping. But the words "mean" and "nasty" would never come my mind when thinking of these particular protesters. Then again, I tend to agree with the protesters limited government/free market ideology, so I'm not as quick to label them or belittle them. The fact is, most running in the race didn't agree with their message of freedom and liberty. So they didn't take a second to notice the celebratory mood of the protesters or the fact they were actually showing us support as we ran by. It's pretty interesting how two people can take away completely different experiences based on our political ideology.

Labels: Entertainment, Media, Politics, running

posted by DVS @ 4:03 PM 1 comments links to this post

I Was Running...

Those of you who know me fairly well and keep in touch know that two weeks ago I began running every morning. This has actually been a lot easier than I expected and now something I actually look forward to when my alarm goes off. The fact was, with work, dancing and lifting weights, it left very little time for me to concentrate on my cardio. So it seemed like a smart idea to actually go to bed an hour or two earlier and get my run in before work. So far so good! I'm averaging 3 miles each morning and get to run past some of our nations most familiar icons. And my work day is filled with so much more energy it's insane!

Well recently I came across an email about a running club at the new Lululemon store on P Street across from the Whole Foods near Logan Circle. I decided this week I would check it out and push myself to run a bit longer than I normally do. Now I don't typically pimp out retail stores on my blog. I'll go to clubs and restaurants and tell you what I like and dislike, but retail has been an animal I've typically left alone. But I've got to say, this running club and the staff at Lululemon who run it are awesome! We did our run from the store down around the mall and returned to stretch, do some ab work and enjoy free bananas. The thing that I really liked about all of this was it seemed like a genuine effort to reach out to the neighborhood. There was no sneaky side-arm tactic to get you to buy things. It was simply people who enjoy running getting others to run with them. I'll most certainly be back next week!

Labels: retail, running, sports

posted by DVS @ 10:24 AM 1 comments links to this post