2015 Turkey Trot and Black Friday Workout at Solidcore Old Town

Every year since I started running back in 2012 I have signed up to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning…so that is 4 turkey trots. My first Turkey Trot was the Alexandria Turkey Trot which is a 5 miler that begins at George Washington High School near the Braddock Road metro. Turkey Trots are a great way to get out with on Thanksgiving morning and burn some calories with your family and neighbors before enjoying your Thanksgiving meal.

My family has never been big into running so in 2012 I ran my first Turkey Trot on my own and had a wonderful time so I decided to keep participating every year…in 2013 I was staying at my aunt’s house in Fairfax so I decided that instead of driving 40+ miles round trip to the Alexandria Turkey Trot I would look for a local trot…I chose the Fairfax Turkey 4 mile trot which was holding its inaugural race that Thanksgiving morning…I’m not one with a lot a patience and that Thanksgiving was particularly cold. Being in its first year I am assuming the race organizers didn’t have all their logistic together…the race seemed poorly organized they ran out of shirts when I got there and the start was delayed so I decided to just go back to my aunt’s and run on my own and do the Alexandria Turkey Trot instead next year which I did once again on my own but I still had a great time! This year however I convinced my mom to join me since she had run the Mother’s Day Four Miler with me and wanted to exercise before our Thanksgiving feast!

My mom and I waiting for the race to start

Once again I had a great time at this Turkey Trot and more so now that my mom was there with me even though we don’t run together due to our vast pace difference. After the race my mom was convinced of three things 1.) we will definitely do it again next year 2.) she needs to get back into shape since she ran almost a minute per mile slower than back in May and 3.) we need matching turkey hats!

I highly recommend you do the Alexandria Turkey Trot if you are in the area. The race starts at 9AM which allows you to sleep in a little and packet pickup on race day runs pretty smoothly but definitely get there by 830AM. There is plenty of parking and the metro is close by so getting to the race is also very easy. If you are a faster runner I would recommend you get as close to the front as possible as there are no corrals and many runners who think they are fast try to line up towards the front causing a large bottle neck around the first two miles. The course is nice and flat and winds through the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria where the local neighbors come out to cheer on the runners.

My mom crossing the finish line!

For Black Friday I opted to go take a fitness class at Solidcore in Old Town Alexandria which I can best describe as a super tough resistance type training class. The class is performed on exercise machines that very closely resemble a pilates reformer machine where the instructor leads the class through an exercise routine that targets different muscle groups individually until failure for an intense full body workout while you listen to some heart pumping music. After the class I felt awesome! I was tired but I felt rejuvenated and after class I decided to reward myself with a a delicious donut from Sugar Shack located right next door! ...I also ran almost 4 miles that morning so I figured I could try a donut...  I got the Samoa donut which was delicious. Come Sunday my body was defiantly feeling the workout. I would definitely recommend you checkout Solidacore if you haven’t already. It may be a bit pricey for some but if it is your first time look for their 2 classes for $25 deal. Also, treat yourself to a donut at Sugar Shack ;)

 

Samoa and Maple Bacon donuts from Sugar Shack!

 

2015 Richmond Half Marathon Weekend

This past weekend I ran the Richmond Half Marathon. This race was a Saturday race with no race day packet pickup so I took a half day from work on Friday and made my way down to Richmond with my boyfriend in tow.

Originally I had planned on going alone and stay overnight Friday and leaving promptly after the race on Saturday but after my boyfriend expressed interest in going we extended our stay an extra day.

We stayed at the Clarion Hotel on Boulevard…it was cheap and about a quarter mile from the expo so I thought why not…in the past I had stayed at cheap hotels like this one with no problems at all…this time not so much. It wasn’t that my stay was terrible but several little things just made me not want to recommend staying here to anyone. Two big factors were the rooms keys never seemed to work! The two nights we were there we both had to change our room keys at least five times and several of those times there was no one at the front desk to assist us so we had to wait around several minutes…the longest wait was after my boyfriend went out for a run (he didn’t race) his room key didn’t work and he had to wait about 20 minutes with other guests in the lobby for someone to show up to assist. The second thing was that this hotel allows you to bring dogs…this wasn’t so much the hotel’s fault as the irresponsible pet owner’s but our second night (thankfully not the night before race day) a dog in a room near our barked nonstop from midnight to 3AM. It would quiet down for a few minutes then start again we finally called the front desk and the dog finally quieted down but then around 8AM the door slamming began as people began to get up and get going with their days…so bottom line you can hear EVERYTHING at this hotel so if you need quiet to sleep don’t stay here.

Back to the race…the packet pickup was quick and easy. The expo was pretty small but did have a good number of vendors. We didn’t stick around too long since we were both pretty hungry so we headed downtown to look for some dinner.

Long Sleeve Race Shirt. I got the unisex kind since I don't like form fitting shirts.

 We decided to check out the Roosevelt for dinner after we had done some research and found that it was consistently voted the best place to eat and we were not disappointed.  Our dinner was delicious! I got the sword fish and he got the steak. If you are in town I would recommend checking it out but make sure to make a reservation if you are going during normal dinner hours…we went right when they opened at 5PM and got seated right away but the place filled up soon after. We also stopped by briefly at Saison which is a speakeasy type bar where we had a really awesome dessert and a few craft cocktails. I really enjoyed the atmosphere at Saison and would highly recommend you check it out.

S'mores Dessert at Saison

The half marathon began downtown at 730AM. I had Spencer drop me off at the start about 20 minutes before. The lines for the porta-potties seemed long at first but they turned out to move pretty quickly. After using the restroom I made my way to my corral. At many races corral entry is not very well monitored and you see a lot of slower runners make their way to the front but not at Richmond…there was a security guard and a race organizer present checking corral assignments and sending back those who did not belong…I think this is great and should be done more often to prevent bottlenecks…it might not always work 100% since people to lie about their projected finish times which was evident in the first few miles where I saw people already starting to walk after only about 2 or 3 miles but it does help at least reduce the inconvenience.

The race course took us through downtown Richmond then into more residential areas before making its way back to downtown ….the terrain was predominantly flat with a few hills as we crossed bridges and entered/exited a park.  There was a good presence of spectators cheering us on throughout the race. The final half mile was a steep downhill which was very welcome as I was starting to fatigue and my muscles tightened up. Once you crossed the finish line volunteers handed you your medal…which I thought was very pretty…and you also received a bottle of water and a fleece blanket which was wonderful since it was pretty cold out and I had discarded my layers along the course.

The finish line/finisher village was located several blocks away from the half marathon start next to the river and had several vendors as well as food for the runners. I didn’t stay too long since my boyfriend was having trouble finding parking/getting to the finisher area. Luckily the race provided a shuttle to take us back to the starting area which was easier to get to by car.

Richmond 2015 Half Marathon Finisher Medal

My dog under the finisher fleece blanket once I got back home

Once I was able to find my boyfriend we headed back to the hotel so I could shower and warm up before heading to brunch at Lulu’s downtown. We once again had made a reservation which I recommend you do since the restaurant was packed. The food here was decent but a bit greasy for my taste.

After brunch we headed out to meet some local friends and check out the local breweries. We went to three breweries…Triple Crossing, Hardywood, and Ardent Craft Ales. All three were pretty good but Ardent was definitely our favorite. We called it an early night after getting dinner at a Mexican restaurant called En Su Boca located near Ardent. Their tacos and chips and salsa were great! My boyfriend is very picky about tacos and he really enjoyed these so check them out if you like tacos.

As previously mentioned our second night at the hotel was disturbed by a barking dog and then slamming doors. We got up around 8AM since we couldn’t fall back asleep so we decided to just head home early. After packing and checking out we stopped at Lamplighter Roasting for some coffee and breakfast. I got a cappuccino and a ham and swiss croissant both which were excellent!

I just love cappuccinos and the ham and swiss croissant was great!

To sum up I think I would do the Richmond Half again and I would recommend it to others but I would recommend not staying at the Clarion Hotel.

Shake Shack Track & Field + SoulCycle Duathlon

Yesterday I took my first SoulCycle class at their Mount Vernon Square location in Washington DC. I had been wanting to check them out for a while but the heft price tag per class had always kept me from doing so…$20 one ride for new students then $30 per ride after that.  I got my chance to check them out for free as part of the Shake Shack Track & Field Duathlon where we would first meet up at SoulCycle for a free 7:30PM class then run 2 miles to Shake Shack.

Shake Shack in conjunction with Pacers Running Stores has a monthly run club that meets the second Tuesday of every month at the Pacer Logan Circle location and runs 1, 3, or 5 mile routes to the Shake Shack in DuPont Circle where the first beer is free for those who ran. Prior to this run I’d only run with this club once when I went with a friend. I thought the run was great but the club kind of reminded me of high school where everyone was in their own clique my friend and I ran with the group then we had beer and burgers at our own table. Being an introvert I never went back since my friend was now longer in the area and my other friends and my boyfriend can never make it. If you are a social butterfly and make friends easily then check it out or if you aren’t find a group of friends and check it out. I would definitely try to go more but the location is also a deterrent for me…no metros near the start and DuPont isn’t that close to where I live.

Anyway back to SoulCycle…so once I arrived they gave me cycling shoes which is great because I didn’t bring mine and at many gyms and other cycling studios I’ve been to they don’t give you cycling shoes so you simply ride in your athletic shoes that are strapped into the pedal which don’t give you as a great a workout as cycling shoes. SoulCycle’s bikes are not equipped for non-cycling shoes so if you don’t bring your own then ask for a pair…also their pedals have one side for normal cycling shoes with clips like most bikes do and the other side with a clip distinct to their shoes…it took me a while to figure that one out.

SoulCycle Mt Vernon Square

The class was pretty awesome and very motivating with heart pumping music and dimmed lights. The instructor was very upbeat but at times he reminded me of Ben Stiller in Dodgeball because he would come around to the bikes and get all crazy in your face to motivate you. After the workout I was drenched in sweat and felt very energized and happy like I do after a good workout.

I did not do the running portion of the duathlon as it was raining and the class got out at 8:30PM and of course I did not want to have to transfer metro trains late at night but several people did do the two mile run from SoulCycle to the DuPont Shake Shack.

If you have the money, find a free class, or just want to check it out once I would recommend that you do. If I had the money I would definitely try and go to SoulCycle for my cross training days.

The Argonaut Running Club

So back in March I saw that the Argonaut, a bar in my neighborhood that I like to patron, was starting a running club so naturally I did as the posts suggested and followed the Facebook page for this club. When I finally made it to the club it was almost April and the club had been going on almost half a year now. The club organizer Ariel and his wife Marissa were very friendly when I arrived as were the other members that were there.

The club has three routes you can take…a two mile loop, a four mile loop, and a six mile loop. My first day at the club I opted for the six mile loop with two other club members and Ariel…Ariel is super-fast but he stuck to our pace and it was a pleasant run and we all chatted our way to the end where the Argonaut has an extended happy hour for the running club…all beers $6 and under are half off.

Group pic before the run. Photo taken from Argonaut Running Club Facebook page

Once we got back I got to talk to all the runners and the organizers and had a wonderful time. I came back several more times sporadically as the club meets at 6PM on Fridays and sometimes I will have plans with the boyfriend and can’t go and in July I got injured again and couldn’t run almost three months but when I did return Ariel and Marissa remembered me and asked about my races and my injury and were very nice as always making me feel very welcome which is awesome because I am naturally a very shy person and get social anxiety.

Before getting injured in July the club ran the Capital Hill Classic 10K as a team and the club provided us with club shirts which were awesome New Balance singlets!

The club before starting the Capital Hill Classic. Photo taken from Argonaut Running Club Facebook page

 

Now that the weather has been getting colder and it’s getting dark out before the run most of the club members have opted to do the two mile loop so we can get back to the Argonaut sooner to enjoy beer and conversation. The club is for all level of runners and you can even show up just for the happy hour like I have been doing since Fridays are one of the days I normally run…I like to do a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and one weekend day type thing.

On November 20th the club is having a special event…Runner Appreciation Night….they will have several sponsors present and giveaways in addition to the run and awesome time we normally have just hanging out. The club is open to everyone so if you live in the H St area or just want to come out and run with us please do! You can check out an article about the club in the latest edition of Run Washington.