Tucked away in a run-down shopping center in the Glenmont neighborhood of Silver Spring, Md. is a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant called Szechuan Palace.
It looks a little sketchy. And a little dirty. But their combination fried rice is fantastic.
It is so good that I have them on my list of “favorites” on my iPhone.
Long holiday weekends are the best. Especially ones that involve fireworks.
Fireworks!I feel like I crammed a lot into the past few days — dinners with friends, jazz in the garden, cookouts, some family time, and even a little running.
I was on the fence about whether or not to post weekly updates for Marine Corps Marathon training.
My main concern is keeping up with the updates. If you’re regular reader here, you may know that I don’t really post that often. I’m working on that though! Blogging more is one of my goals this year. Maybe that’s what I need… something like weekly updates to keep me on a blog-writing schedule, and to also hold me accountable in sticking to the training plan.
Hot days are here.
And pretty soon, marathon training will be, too. (starts tomorrow, actually!)
I’m excited about doing the Marine Corps Marathon again. It’s such a fun event. So much energy. I also know a lot of people participating this year, which is cool.
Do you ever go through periods where life is so busy and you’re kind of on auto-pilot, quickly moving from one task to the next, barely having time to soak in the moment? That’s kind of how I’ve been feeling these past few weeks.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing—it makes me feel like I have a sense of purpose, and I’m accomplishing things. But I think it does take a toll on you.
A year ago this month, I ran my very first half marathon (Frederick Half) and kicked off Running the States — my challenge to run 13.1 miles in all 50 U.S. states.
The idea for Running the States came about in December 2013, when I met my co-worker, Kevin, who had recently completed the challenge. In January 2014, I signed up for my first couple of races and started training.
If we’re going by calendar year, which I still do most of the time, I completed four half marathons in 2014. But if we’re starting the count from when I ran my first half, then I’ve completed nine since last May.
A couple of weekends ago, I took a quick trip to Music City to run the Country Music Half Marathon (aka Rock n Roll Nashville). It was my first time down there, and I loved it — such a fun city.
The forecast called for a rainy race day, and I heard from locals and other participants that the course was super hilly. But I was pleasantly surprised on both accounts — the rain held off and it actually turned out to be great running weather, and while the course was indeed hilly, most of the hills were manageable. It was fun time!
Earlier this year, I was on the fence about whether or not I should enter. Was I ready for another full marathon? Did I really want to put in the time for training?
In the end, I decided to go for it – and I got in!
Running the States 