Good morning, friends!
I’m back to share a bit more of my fun 4th of July weekend in D.C. One of the highlights was meeting up with my friend and running buddy, Ashley!
Remember her? Ashley and I trained together in D.C. for my first half marathon (the insanely hot Zooma Annapolis half marathon) and nearly all the races I did in 2009/2010 were with her by my side (the Army Ten Miler, the St. Patrick’s Day 8k, the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler)!
Ashley has been traveling around Asia for a couple months and every other weekend I’ve been around she’s been gone, so it was great to finally see each other again 
We had a fantastic run on 4th of July morning down along the Potomac river on the Mt. Vernon Trail.
We were out there at 9 a.m. and people were already lining up to cross Memorial Bridge to get set up for the 4th of July festivities – crazy!
We ended up running 5.5 miles at a 9 min/mile pace and then walking another 1.5 miles for a total of 7 miles, chatting away the entire time. It was wonderful to catch up, and also the farthest I’ve run in awhile! Felt good
After running, I met my high school BFF Jenny for lunch at my local D.C. favorite – Sweetgreen! We were so busy chatting that we didn’t get a picture of ourselves! Oh, well.
I tried a new (to me) salad – the Santorini. It was chopped romaine and mixed greens with roasted shrimp, feta cheese, grapes, fresh mint, and chickpeas; topped with a cucumber basil yogurt dressing & a fresh lemon squeeze.
SO freaking good. Definitely a new favorite!
After a walk and more chatting (I miss you, Jenny!), we came back to share a frozen yogurt, obviously
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Later in the day, Matt and I decided we were feeling brave enough to venture into the madness that is downtown D.C. on the 4th of July. Despite living in D.C. since 2004, he’d never seen the fireworks down there before! I decided this was the year to change that.
We headed down around 6 p.m. to set up shop. It was crowded but not as obscene as we expected! We got a spot right by the Washington Monument, looking towards Lincoln and the reflecting pool, and settled in on our blanket with a packed chicken salad and some fruit for dinner and playing cards to pass the time.
Awkward underneath photo:
Our view through a cool filter on Matt’s phone:
And the monument through some cool effects on Matt’s phone. I want a phone that can do cool stuff like this! He has a Droid.
Before we knew it, it was 9:10 p.m. and the fireworks had started! The show was spectacular and we had great seats. My favorites were some red heart-shaped fireworks and anything that was shimmery or super bright. What can I say? I’m a sucker for shiny things
Have you guys ever been to the fireworks display on the mall in D.C.? I’ve gone a few times – mostly during high school and early college, since the past few years I’ve been lazy and watched them from Virginia instead!
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I’m off to my dietetic internship – we’re spending the day shadowing/helping out at a county health department and WIC (women, infants, and children) clinic as part of our required hours. Should be interesting to mix it up! I hear we might be measuring babies?! Please don’t let them poop on me.
p.s. Please help out a classmate of mine by taking a second to fill out this 2 question survey that Advocates for Health in Action developed as part of the "Sports Snack Game Plan,” which is an effort to make fruit, veggies, and water the main snacks after youth sporting events. The survey is anonymous and takes literally 5 seconds. Please click here to take it!
