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Sunday, 28 September 2008

180 Miles of Ragnar Running

Posted on 15:08 by rendy orton
The Ragnar Relay. Three words which will signify torture, sleeplessness, and delight for me for the rest of my life. I ran the race on a team of 12 people, and we did a great job. Our van (#2) got started on Friday afternoon, and the first van (see Melanie's description of the race) had set a great pace in its first legs. After two of my van-mates had run, it was my turn.My first leg was 8.7 miles. Fairly flat, but with a couple short, steep, brutal hills. There had been some strong rain before my leg, but I only got a little drizzle, which was perfect. And the cloud cover kept temperatures down for almost the entire race. I was feeling pretty tired, but we cheered on our runners and eventually made it to the trade-off with the other van fairly late at night.

Once the other van was off running, we drove to the next spot we'd resume running, voraciously chomped some spaghetti dinners, and tried to sleep with all 6 of us in the van. We didn't get a whole lot of sleep (maybe 1-1.5 hours) in our packed quarters, but we didn't have much choice with the rain coming down outside.Van #1 arrived, and we took over while they went to eat and rest. My second leg was 3.2 miles, all downhill, in the wee hours of the morning. I was feeling surprisingly spry and decided to bust out some speed. Turns out running downhill is kinda rough on the joints (though I didn't feel it until the next day) and excellent for running very fast. Even with an almost wrong turn, I was close to a PR for a 5K, as I went under 20 minutes. It felt good to run so late/early and I enjoyed the moonlight and just seeing the headlamp's light illuminating the road just ahead of me as I listened to my breathing and stalked the next runner ahead of me :)

By the time we finished our second legs, my van-mates and I were pretty much tuckered out. We handed off to Van #1 for their final legs, and we drove straight to the last van hand off so we could rest briefly. Fortunately, we got about 2-2.5 hours of sleep this time, and since we went to bed in the dark and woke up to the sunlight, it felt like we'd gotten more shuteye.

My last leg was 4.4 miles, mostly flat. Though I felt like my legs were heavy and I wasn't moving very fast, I was surprised to see the 1 mile left marker earlier than expected. Turns out I was actually running just under 8 min miles, while I thought I was probably doing 9 min miles. A pleasant surprise and I was stoked to finish my leg strong and be done running!

Three more runners, and we were in Crystal City for the finish line. Van #1 had showered, napped, and eaten. I was quite jealous in my smelly, tired, hungry state. When Chris rounded the last corner, we joined him in running across the line. Each of us received a well-earned medal, then we took some team pictures, chatted for a while, and ate anything we could get our hands on. Several friends came to meet us at the finish as well, which was greatly appreciated.

It's hard to describe, and people don't believe us, but though it was a challenging and at times torturous adventure, I would do the Ragnar Relay (or one of its sister relays) again in a heartbeat. Keep on running!
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Ben Folds Rockin' the DAR

Posted on 15:01 by rendy orton
DeEtte invited me to go to the Ben Folds concert at the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Constitution Hall, and we had a great time. It was a little bit of an odd venue for a concert, I'll admit, but it worked. Missy Higgins opened the show, and both DeEtte and I really liked her style and lyrics.
Then Ben Folds came out and he sure is an energetic fellow. He barely sat on his piano bench, as they played a lot of upbeat stuff. He first played stuff from the new CD. After a mini-break, the band came back out and played the oldies and goodies we've come to know and love from Ben Folds. A couple times, DeEtte and I were straight up laughing at the lyrics in Ben's songs. Some very political, some very silly, all very entertaining.
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Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Wicked Cool NYC Trip

Posted on 12:04 by rendy orton
So I don't know when I'll get caught up on the blog posts, but here's my most recent exciting trip: New York City last weekend.

There were a couple reasons. 1) See friends I haven't seen in a while. 2) Go to a Yankees game, since it's the last year before they switch to a new stadium. 3) See some Broadway shows. 4) Go for a run in Central Park.

I can happily report that I accomplished all of these tasks in the 3 days I was there. Here's a quick overview of my weekend.

Thursday
Took the bus to New York. $50 roundtrip. And they had outlets and free wi-fi. Arrive at Penn Station, meet up with my friend Rikki, have dinner at a Persian place, and see the irreverent but hilarious musical "Avenue Q".
Friday
Visit Wall Street, Ground Zero (World Trade Center), and the New York Public Library. Meet up with Adrienne and go to the Museum of Modern Art to be uber-intellectual. Meet up with new friend Sara and old friend Jason, see Yankees game [note: 3rd to last game in the ballpark] and meet new friends Ari and Shira. Go to swanky party in Soho.
Saturday
Run in Central Park along the paths and near the reservoir. Brunch with Adrienne and Sara at the bustling Sarabeths [note: highly recommend the lemon & ricotta pancakes, eggs benedict, or the almond-crusted french toast]. A little shopping with the ladies. Adrienne and I see "Lion King" and are floored by the costumes. Relax in Central Park and take a power nap. Back to Broadway for "Wicked". Great seat (about 10 rows back) and still can't appropriately verbalize how great the show was. The word 'spectacular' doesn't suffice. More play time with Adrienne and Sara.
Sunday
Bus back to DC.
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Monday, 15 September 2008

Opera in the Outfield

Posted on 11:53 by rendy orton
The Kennedy Center opened its performances of the opera La Traviata, and as a promotion to get youngsters like me interested, they did a free live simulcast of the performance at Nationals Ball Park. A good-sized group from my current ward went. Some sat down on the grass of the outfield, and some sat in the lower-deck seats. So that we non-Italian-speakers could understand, they subtitled some of the lines. This was helpful for part of it, but also became a bit distracting at times. During one of the intermissions, we had fun running around in the outfield. You may think us juvenile to do so, but how often do you get the chance to be on a major league baseball field? Yeah, not very often. And I'll tell you, it was delightful for my little toesies. A joy to run on.We also thought it was cool that Placido Domingo, one of the three tenors and currently a big-wig at the Kennedy Center, came by the ball park to encourage everyone to become a patron of the arts.
DeEtte was nice enough to explain to me what was happening in the opera, since she'd seen it before. Here's a picture of us with the infield behind us.
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Friday, 12 September 2008

Proud To Be An American

Posted on 18:00 by rendy orton
On the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I was fortunate to attend the Pentagon Memorial Dedication. There was a program in the morning that included reading all the names and a moment of silence, but I was at a training in the office so I wasn't able to be there. In the evening, though, I was able to make it to a concert by the Navy Band and the Sea Chanters Chorus. The music was very patriotic, and I was reminded of the great sense of national pride and unity we all felt shortly after that tragic day seven years ago.
I ran into a few friends at the memorial, made some new friends, and had good discussions about our experiences on 9/11 and the blessings of living in the U.S., which I think lines up well with what the memorial is designed to do.
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