Um, you people really like T-shirts, huh? I am currently swimming in emails, Tweets, Facebook messages and comments from people demanding “I Heart Sweat” shirts.
So here’s the deal with the shirts: I was informed over the weekend that the shirts left at JackRabbit are already sold out.
That’s good news for me, because it means lots of money is on its way to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation!
But of course it’s bad news for those of you who are craving a shirt that proudly displays your sweat affection.
I’m planning to order more shirts this week. They will take a few weeks (2–3) to arrive in stores, but I’m looking into an online ordering system so those of you not in NYC can get your hands on these lovely little shirts.
Go “Like” my Ali Run For The Rabbit Facebook page for T-shirt updates.
And again, thank you all so much for your continued support. Marathon training is fun. Marathon training when you get to raise money and bring people together is even better.
Now let’s talk about the weekend, because it was divine.
I spent it in Washington, D.C. I was joined by my handsome friend.
We went to visit Emily and a handsome man of her own.
I don’t remember when I first decided a trip to D.C. to visit my favorite sweat monster was in order.
Probably back in June, after a very magical weekend.
So on Friday around 2:30 pm — peak traffic time, just so you know — Handsome Friend and I boarded a BoltBus bound for Union Station in D.C.
The bus ride took for-freaking-ever. Is it necessary for the bus to make a 15 minute rest stop when we’re already 2 hours behind schedule?
No. No, it’s not.
But we eventually made it to Emily and her Rocketship‘s apartment. People in D.C. have bigger apartments than people in NYC. They also have a washer/dryer. I was sad I wasn’t told to bring my dirty laundry. Oh well.
We were immediately greeted with wine and carbohydrates.
Do they know me or what?
We stuffed our faces and were in bed somewhere in the 11 o’clock hour.
Lately I’ve been waking up at 5 am during the week and on Saturdays to run. It was amazing to sleep until 6:30 yesterday morning! The weather in D.C. was perfect for my long run. Sure it was humid and I produced enough sweat to fill several Olympic-sized pools, but it was overcast and not too hot. So I win.
Coach Cane’s big plan for me yesterday: Run 20 miles.
No. Big. Deal.
I couldn’t have asked for a better way to cover a giant distance than in a new city with an Ironman friend.
Oh that’s right. Emily just completed an Ironman. But when I told her I had 20 miles on my schedule, she jumped right in.
Emily took me around all of D.C.’s historic monuments, including the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument and, of course, right up to my beloved Abe Lincoln.
We stopped to refuel with Lincoln and seized the opportunity to take a few sweat shots.
Lincoln would have wanted me to sweat in his presence. Obviously.
We covered about 11.5 miles together before Emily passed the imaginary baton to my handsome friend, who joined me for the final miles.
The second half of the run was basically the same loop, including a jaunt toward the Capitol Building, which I think is stunning and sexy and quite desirable.
It was at this point — roughly 16 miles in — that I started to feel more dead than alive.
But I forced a smile, choked down the last of my Chomps…
…and powered through.
I was so happy when my trusty watch beeped signaling the completion of 20 freakin’ miles.
20 miles. 6 Gu Chomps. (Probably not enough.) 2 laps past Honest Abe. 3 hours on my feet.
One very happy, tired and sweaty girl.
The first half was speedier than the second half. Note to self: swap that on marathon day. Negative splitting is cool.
What does one do after running 20 miles?
Eat and drink and play games.
So that’s what we all did for the rest of the day.
We ate apples, chips and salsa, pita chips and hummus, pad thai, Brussels sprouts and basically anything else anyone put in front of us.
We played Apples to Apples and drank roughly 36 mimosas…each.
And then we drank some other things, like wine.
The boys went late-night swimming. Emily and I did not.
Emily and I got up to run this morning.
The boys did not.
Somehow I managed to wake up this morning feeling surprisingly OK. My legs were tired, but not too sore, and my stomach was rumbling but not terribly hungover feeling.
Coach Cane requested a 4-mile recovery run. In fact, he described it as “the easiest 4 mile recovery run you ever did.”
Was it easy? Not so much.
Was it super slow? You bet it was.
Naturally we went to visit Sir Abe again. We performed dances in his honor. Celine Dion was playing in my head, of course.
Then I got sad, because finishing the run meant it was time to shower, go to brunch and leave D.C.
Now I’m on the BoltBus, with its sad little Internet connection (I gave up on it and am being powered by Handsome Friend’s trusty little iPhone), and I’m not too thrilled about returning to real life tomorrow.
The weekend was fabulous.
Also, I ran 20 miles.
Hamptons Marathon, I will kick your ass. And then I will kick Crohn’s Disease right in the face.
Good things are happening.
0 Responses
Congrats on the 20!!!!
you are mad inspiration.
Your first 20 miler is huge!! Congrats, Ali! And what better way to run it then with an awesome sweaty friend 🙂
Looks like an awesome urban adventure run!!! I was dreading my run (I HATE when that happens) but at mile 3 I shifted my mind set to ’18-miles of exploring’ and it was fun!!
PS – saw your t-shirt tweet and I am interested in a shirt!!
NICE JOB ALI! Great pace, too!! You are so gonna be ready for this marathon!!!
Congratulations!!! I never had any doubt that you would dominate your 20 mile run!! But you did amazing! I’m glad you had some awesome friends to help you through it – breaking up the run and doing it with others makes it so much more manageable.
Sounds like an amazing weekend all around! Do you want to come back to DC the weekend of October 30th?? I heard there might be a marathon then…and all the cool kids will be there. 😉
Please try Clif Shot Bloks in Strawberry. I’m not surprised you have to choke down Chomps…they’re disgusting! I can’t stand ’em. Clif Shot Bloks. Try them. Please. For my sake.
I actually like the Gu Chomps better than the Shot Bloks — and I’ve done both in Strawberry, which is my favorite flavor in life in general, always. I found the Chomps easier to chew than the Shot Bloks.
Fair enough! As long as you stick with Strawberry. Mmmmhmm. 🙂
wow. in awe. congrats on 20 miles. after doing craptastic in my half yesterday, I am just thankful to have finished, reading your post about your happy 20 miles, makes me want to do it all over again to prove that I can.
Awesome job on the twenty… It is always nice to run in a new place
cheers
Congrats on the 20!!! I ran in my shirt today. 🙂
Yay! Sweat!
What an amazing twenty miler! I have no doubt you are going to blow through your marathon coming up. So awesome!
Congrats on 20! You will dominate the marathon, no problem.
I wore my sweat shirt all over Manhattan Saturday and got lots of comments from “where can I get one of those” to “hmmummm gurrrl I wanna see you sweat.” Then, I ran in the rain in it this morning. And, my pillow pet wore it. Tshirt is going EVERYWHERE.
Ahhh sounds like an amazing run!!!
I love the title of this post 🙂 You’ll be glad to know I wore my I <3 sweat shirt this morning. It got very wet from the rain a.k.a. I washed it.
You rocked those 20 miles, longest run ever, right?!
Love that your handsome friend was censored by a stop sign. Also find it ironic and impressive that you ran 20 miles in DC in 3 hours….the politicians there haven’t been that productive all year…(sorry for the politics reference, I know you just cringed)
Congrats on your 20! I am not looking forward to that run. Awesome that you made a weekend around it.
SO glad you had a wonderful, sweaty weekend and that you ate 20 miles for breakfast. Way to rock it. (And life, but we can focus on running…)Good things ARE happening.
If I stil have a “I heart sweat” t shirt reserved than yayy!! Can’t wait to run in it! If not, include me in your next order PLEASE!!
(Also, next time you need a “slowest 4 miles(or less…) run” in nyc I’m your gaL 😉 legit. Welcome to my specialty)
20 miles??!?? Thats absolutely amazing. I hope I can get there one day! And what a beautiful place to run!
I am wearing my shirt right now! Probably should actually take a shower since my workout finished a while ago 🙂 I suck at recovery runs, I just can’t mentally get through them. Any suggestions?
A run is one of the best ways to see a city! Congratulations on your first 20! You’re going to have a great race!
GREAT JOB!!!!! You ran twice what I did and still finished in only an hour longer ( numbers are fun!) haha so you should be super proud! I’m going to DC soon, too….maybe I’ll throw my sneaks in the bag??? Could be fun.
Congrats on your 20 mile run! That is freakin’ awesome!!! It is nice that you had two different wonderful people to run with – and I am sure the sights in DC made everything go by rather quickly!
Clearly you run with a photo decide… is it your phone? I want to take my iPhone with meto snap pictures.. but I am afraid it will fall out of any sort of case I put it in and I will have to have a funeral for it.
Woooo! 🙂 Congrats on the 20 miler! Awesome and it just gets easier next time. You will be so ready. Looks like a fantastic weekend!
So glad I got a shirt! 🙂
This was a lovely blog post. Your happiness just jumps off the screen. 🙂 Congratulations on hitting 20 miles! Amazing.
This is my favorite Ali post ever. Doesn’t 20 miles feel awesome? ! Good job!!!
20 miles 20 miles 20 miles!!! it’s all down hill from here! Enjoy the rest of your training! be safe, you’re going to feel great when you cross that finish line!
Congrats on the run!!! What a great way to get 20 miles done. Running in new cities is always a blast. I wonder if I can justify a trip just to get my 20 miler/s in this cycle….
congrats on your run! i love d.c. and i’ve made it one of my goals to at some point in my life go for a run around the city and all of the monuments 🙂
Oooh gosh u rock, 20 miles ahhh. My ten miler this friday still scares membut I am hoping to do it in NYC although no clue where I am going!
congrats on your 20 miler!! Huge milestone right there. Also, I am so bummed I missed out on the Jack Rabbit event because I really want one of those shirts!!! Will they be getting more in?
When you said the shirts were sold out and that it was bad news for us out-of-towners, I thought you meant no shirts for us! And my heart was about to cry.
Nice run! And what are those on the side of your omelet, chips? Looks delish!
amazing first 20 miler, my friend! You are awesome. And it must have been great to have such different scenery! Hooray for great, sweaty weekends. See you this week?
You know what they say…if you can run 20, you can run 26!
Running friends are THE BEST!!!! Looks like such a fun weekend and the perfect combo of working out and all the other fun stuff. Amazing job on your 20 miler – marathon day is getting so close 🙂
Yay!!!! I mean, I neverrr had any doubt you would kill 20 miles. Can’t not wait for you to do the same on marathon morning! Your dedication is contagious!
And I’m so glad I snagged the coveted tee on Thursday 🙂