National Marathon and Cherry Blossoms

So its the last day of March, the Kroll/McCarthy contingent was here in DC to run the National half Marathon and see the peak of the Cherry Blossoms...and do some touristy things besides run.

We managed to get a table at the hugely popular Dr. Granville Moore's on H Street [yes, you read that right, there is an at capacity restaurant with a wait list of up to an hour for food on H Street NE]. But the mules and frittes were worth the wait. Besides, we got to hang out in The Pug next door and have an appetizer of cheez balls before hand...

Molly took some fantastic photos of cherry blossoms and we tried to not be so annoyed at stupid tourists who violate and vandalize the trees!!


Oh, back to the race, we started out at RFK at 7 a.m. right on time, ran down East Cap and saw Meagan on the corner of 13th and East Cap [yeaaa!!] and then chugged around the park, down Cap Hill on Independence, in front of the Capitol on 3rd Street and then down along Constitution Ave, right past the Kite Festival, and then turned up 18th Street [where a convoy of black SUVs rudely drove across the line of runners] and into Dupont Circle and Adam's Morgan, through Capitol Heights [and the new Target store] by Howard University and Children's Hospital, down North Capitol Street, along K, 4th Street NE, and then H Street [my neighborhood] and then back down to North Carolina via 13th Street and back to the Stadium...where the announcer was touting the sponsors as runners were finishing...what?? No "hey, Mary X, you've finished your 1/2 marathon in 2 hrs!!" Phoey...oh well, time to go find Meghan and Molly and head home for dry clothes, good food, and some rest.

Made it back to our house in time to shower, prepare brunch for 18 and eat 'till I thought I'd burst...only thing I didn't remember to do was stretch and take ibuprofen before I started to stiffen up [and now I'm having trouble walking down stairs].

Went to visit the blossoms again on our way to drop Molly at National Airport for her flight back to Chi-town and Meghan and I went for a short swim to work out the kinks [well, my kinks].

Side note here [in case Chris p Chicken is reading]: I ran [literally] into one of Chris' former band-mates, Barb Haney, during the run [she was doing the entire marathon] and I ran with her for about 5 miles, during which time she told me that Chris had gotten a dream job with the Montreal Symphony and would be moving to Canada soon....congrats Chris!!

Anyway, I'm starting to wander with the story but suffice it to say that a good time was had by all, PRs were set, blossoms were seen, and food was consumed!! All within the confines of a very packed weekend!

Can't wait for the next adventure!