Tar Heel Trotters

And Im back with the East Coast...

After spending a few days in DC, I was off to run my third Ragnar. 

What I love about Ragnar is that even though this was my third time, each race is unique and brings a different experience and memories.

The Maryland course (I refuse to call it the DC race since we ran in the district for like .2 miles) was absolutely beautiful!! 

Rolling hills and quaint little towns.

sooo different than So Cal! 

Im pretty sure I said "I want to live here" in like every little town we went through. 

This years team consisted of my favorite little Heather Fay, husband Kevin and Heathers dad, Lee and members of H&K's Charlotte, NC ward.

Of course {like always} it takes no time to get to know your vanmates and just have fun navigating your way through the unchartered territories. 

For this race, Im pretty sure Heather and Kevin thought I was way more intense of a runner than I actually am (just because I ran a half like two weeks prior...) and I got signed up for the 2nd longest running legs of the whole team! Just behind Kevin, who actually ran cross country in college. NBD.
This ragnar, we were Van 2! and I was runner 12! 

Heather started our van off as runner 6.

She killed those hills!

Our vanmate Dave had to conquer a huge hill for the next run. One of our favorite things to laugh about as the race went on was that Dave had a huge hill on every run. "Whats the point of running up this hill!?" Poor Dave. 

My first run was through the cutest little town!

Running 7.3 miles at around 6ish at night. 

with some rolling hills and one big hill that I might not have been ready for but always good to get the first run under your belt.

Our van was then done now for awhile. We found a little restaurant in the cutest town who even stayed open late to feed us starving runners! 

I now had a looooong time till I was running again. Bummer of being runner 12. 

I slept, cheered on our van first few runners, slept some more. 

Next up...9.6 miles in a scary forest! at around 4 AM. 

Seriously, I was running through some wooded areas. {And getting passed like woah. Thats what happens when you have the second longest mileage.}

Needless to say it was a little creepy but also really cool. 

Side Note: During my half, I had kinda injured my leg. I was hoping it would be healed by Ragnar but nada. It was still kinda hurting, especially throughout this run. My team was awesome and stopped a lot to check on how I was doing.

But I finished it, and super proud to have run that long of a distance. 

I dont know how I keep getting good hook ups for Ragnar, but this race, Heather's mom and sister rented a hotel near our next major exchange. So once again we were able to shower and take a nap!!! 

This was definitely the best hook up, as I slept for two hours solid! in a bed! and then we went down for breakfast!

At this point we were all a little worried if I was gonna be able to run my last leg. I was icing my leg and limping a bit. But I was gonna run my team into the finish! I had to get better! 

Luckily, as it came close I was feeling better and left Alexandria right in the middle of the hot day for my 4.5 mile run into the finish line. 

I loved running through an area that I knew from my DC days. And I was able to run through such a great part of town. 

Seeing an old cemetery

{kinda crappy picture. but i was running..on a windy bridge..}

and running across the Wilson Bridge into Maryland with a great view of the DC mall!

It was hot. Real hot. But kept going, kept pushing to go to that finish line. 

21.2 miles later...

{are we there yet??}

wooooo!!!

 I did! And brought those Tar Heels with me! 

Seriously so fun coming into the finish line together. It makes the feelings of a Ragnar accomplishment even more prominent and exciting. Its exhausting and I really had to push myself to get to the finish line and help my team finally finish too.

However, I might be a little Ragnared out for awhile.
Of course I say that now...

- 

Back in the District.

Lets rewind for a sec, 

back to my unemployed days and before I made the plunge to SLC, 

 back to September when I was finally able to go on my long awaited, previously blogged about trip. 

Going back to the District. Seeing some of my favorite friends. Running Ragnar. Visiting Charlotte. 

So here is Part One of my East Coast adventure.

Washington D.C. 

It was my first time going back since my short stint as a student teacher and I can easily say that DC is my favorite city and place to be. 

I took off on my first red eye. I bought my little neck pillow and was all set and ready and before I knew it, I was flying over Mount Vernon.

And boy, was I excited to be there. 

It didnt matter that I maybe got 3 hours of sleep, I was so giddy and it felt oh so good to be back to my stomping grounds. 

First stop: White House 

Which was always one of my favorite stops. 

I felt a little rusty on my navigating skills in the District {made some rookie mistakes, as Allie liked to remind me} but also loved that I felt confident in tackling the city all by myself. 

I met up Heather Fay and her great family for a tour of the White House.
It was so good to see Heather! We havent seen each other in over two years, and I loved our little run to each other for a hug. And i love love love that baby of hers!
 Our tour was a little bit of a let down, {self guided tour?? really, can't we do a little bit better for the historic home of the President??}

We hit up Ford's Theater.

Unfortunately we couldnt go into the theater, but were able to go to the museum to read all about President Lincoln's life and the details of the assassination. 

{which at this point is when some sleep deprivation set in} 

{John Wilkes Booth's gun}

I learned Abraham Lincoln is the most written about president, as proven by this massive stack of every book printed about him.

And this was barely even a full photo of this stack.
We also wandered to the home in which Lincoln was taken to after he was shot.

We wandered to the National Mall. 

{ahhh so beautiful}

Walked the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and war memorials. 

It just made me so happy to be back walking along my favorite places. I just really, really love it.

The Shumways were off back to their hotel and so I took to the metro to go back to my real stomping ground. 

Wilson High.

This place will always have such a special place in my heart. Those first times teaching, the students and all of the wonderful memories that happened there. Again, I was giddy to go back. 

But its a different Wilson High that I left behind.

My ghetto and old school has been completely remodeled to a brand stinking new school. This partly made me really sad. The hallways were different, I couldnt remember how to get around and that ghetto vibe was gone. But its awesome for the school.

I wandered down my old hallway and missed it so much. Missed my students and all the fun we had. Missed having that room be my room. I missed the charm of the old and worn door and my students work posted along the hall.

{my old door. new door}

However I didnt miss the students giving me cat calls outside the front doors of the school. Cause yes, that did happen again. I guess some things never change at Wilson.

I walked away trying to not have regrets that I had left that school and my city and rather filled my mind that I was off to go to another favorite place of mine.

A baseball game. And not just any Nats game. A Nats vs. Dodgers game.

My boys in blue knew just how to make my DC trip just a little bit better.

It was a little rough to face the Natitude from Allie and her friends, and I will give them the benefit that the Nats ended up winning their division but it was tough to have a 6-0 lead dwindle to a 6-6 tie and face those reprecussions. But Kemp delivered and I walked out with a W.

And feeling like I fit in more with the east coasters as I finally enjoyed some Shake Shack. Allie and I did have to wait in a 30+ minute line to get it...but it was worth the experience.

And great to be at the game with Allie!!

Love spending time with her. She graciously let me stay at her house and then gave us the best tour of the Capitol the next day.

Allie is doing an internship for Senator Hatch and is full of knowledge of the Capitol and gives great tours!

{This spot marks the exact middle of the District of Columbia and is suppose to be good luck. My vans wanted in on that action!}

And we saw Brother Brigham!

Basically I was jealous the entire time of Allie's job and I really want her life. 

My favorite spot in the Capitol:

The place where John Quincy Adams could hear the echo from the other side of the room. 

It really works! and is so cool. 

We finished our stint at the Library of Congress.

Its so pretty inside and we all enjoyed watching little Brookie climb the steps.

We then had to hit the road and leave DC. We had Ragnar to conquer and 200 miles to run before I could see my beloved DC again.