Shirlington Extreme Running Team

This isn’t exactly breaking news, or surprising seeing as how it is July, but it has been extremely hot in DC. Even though it has been disgusting outside, I’ve been trying to run as much as the foot allows. I ran earlier in the week but had some radiating pain in the foot so I took a few days off. Over the weekend, Patrick and I went up to New Jersey/New York to visit our dad and stepmom and to finally give my dad his father’s day/birthday present. While were were there I was able to run 3 miles on Saturday through my parents’ adorable town, Maplewood, and got 6 miles in on Sunday.

In between that, we took the train into the city, swung by the AP to pick Jane up, had dinner in Chelsea, checked out the new High Line and then went to Chelsea Piers. A few months ago, Patrick and I bought my dad’s gift -- tickets for a night-time, Manhattan city lights sailboat tour on the Hudson. It was my first time sailing and was so much fun!  Although, in typical New York fashion, the guy sitting next to me on the boat called someone as soon as the boat left the dock to tell them he was out sailing. All of that adventure in the city (and a few glasses of wine on the boat), combined with extremely busy week in DC caused me to fall asleep on the train back home.

We tried to take pictures while on the boat but it was so dark they didn’t turn out that well but I’m going to share them anyway. Even though my parents have lived in NJ and worked in NY for the past 8 years, somehow I’ve never made it to the Statue of Liberty so that was pretty exciting to see from the river.

After my 6 mile run on Sunday I got back to my parents’ house, took a shower and then started to feel icky – probably due to the heat. My dad took my brother and I out for lunch and I began to feel a little better. Then, right before we left I noticed that I had a rash on both of my feet. And, in the car ride back to DC, I noticed a rash on my right hand. My brother and I diagnosed this as a heat rash. He spent two summers in what must be one of the hottest environments ever – Iraq – so I trust his diagnosis. This summer hasn’t been very kind to me – I’ve had a stress fracture and now a nasty heat rash. It has mostly gone away at this point but I’m a little nervous about running tonight and having it come back. The things I go through because of my love of running…