Sunshine and lollipops

Yesterday was the start of marathon training. I signed up with the Arlington Road Runners, which is sort of like the running equivalent of beer league softball.
I had kind of a rough start to the morning- my Irish oatmeal turned into a grenade, I triaged my microwave, grabbed a yogurt and ran out the door.
Luckily they started a bit late so I had time to down a couple gels before we started. I had never eaten dinner the night before, so my 60 calorie yogurt wasn't going to cut it.

It was warm, but not too hot, sunny, and honeysuckle was in full bloom.
We ran a short 3 miles down around Georgetown and Rosslyn mostly along the water. Either Potomac's club, or Georgetown's team was out on the water so I got running as well as vicarious rowing. It was heaven. I can't wait until I can row and the sun comes up earlier, the water looked beautiful. And I forgot how much I love running. It's still the beginning of the season so everyone was really friendly and polite. I didn't break any records, but I did manage to hold my own and I can't wait for next week.

On the way home I stopped at Starbucks and tried to decide what to make for lunch. I should have learned from DC Rainmaker's post about shopping while hungry. Once I got home I settled on pasta pesto salad with pine nuts. Mmmmm. My whole house still smells like garlic and basil.

Later, I took a friend to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. If you haven't been you should go. It's Vienna's best kept secret. The azaleas and tulips were blooming and we even saw a few turtles which were hiding the last time I was there. And in case you're wondering why I've sounded like a pack a day smoker this week, we watched with shock and awe as pollen blew off the pine trees in clouds so thick the trees looked like they were on fire.

Last night was a date auction benefitting the Avon Breast Cancer Foundation. In addition to hot girls from the Hill and beefcake from Ft. Myer, they had some items to bid on as well. Nikki's bad influence means we wound up with 5 luxury box tickets each to a TBD Nats game :) Who wants to go?