Running
Surviving Heatmaggeddon
The District is hotter than hot. Walking outside this morning, I started sweating before breathing. Although I notoriously complain about being “too cold,” I’ve changed my tune – Help! I’m melting. In yoga class the other day, our teacher said this heat wave serves as a reminder of the eternal shifting nature of…
Read MoreA Flower A Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Today, I woke up from a late afternoon nap around 5pm. My stomach clenched – I’d slept too long and “wasted” my day. Yet, bright sunshine poured in through the windows. With the recent time change – there were still two hours of daylight! Determined to make something of myself – I changed into…
Read MoreRain Showers Bring Energizing Powers
Rain makes me drowsy. On rainy days, all I want to do is curl up with a book and fall asleep. So when yesterday’s weather report called for torrential downpours, hail, high winds and lightening – I thought, “Hurray, I don’t have to go running.” Rainstorms aren’t for runners, or are they? I went…
Read MoreSuperman Saves My Day
You never know where a run will take you. In the case of my first training run, I didn’t expect to end up in the parking lot of a Best Western Hotel, a sweaty mess, waving down my roommate. The first half of the run was euphoric (as detailed in my last blog post). I ran past…
Read MoreOff the Ground and Running
Columns of buttery yellow sunshine spread across a crystal blue sky. A few fluffy white clouds drifted aimlessly above. As I ran long the Potomac River at sunset yesterday, I found something I hadn’t realized I’d been missing. Recently, my life changed dramatically. At the beginning of September, within one week, I started a new job working full-time and moved apartments to a whole new area of…
Read MoreChasing Fireflies
Everyone talks about the unbearable heat of Washington DC in the summertime, and rightfully so, as it’s been so hot recently that I’ve worked up a sweat just walking to Starbucks for a Frappuccino. Because of the extreme heat, I haven’t been running too often, but if I do, I go out either early in…
Read MoreAfter the Party Is the After-Party
In the after-glow of the marathon, I made my way from the finish line over to Sonsie Restaurant on Newbury Street, where Wake Up Narcolepsy was hosting a post-race celebration for its four marathon runners and their supporters. Although physically drained, I was still “flying high” with awe and excitement that I’d actually done it! …
Read MoreFrom Start To Finish
The first half of the marathon, running through Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham and Natick can be summed up in one snapshot – me being passed. I wasn’t passed by a few runners, I was passed by everyone. The gazelles flew by first, rubbing elbows with me as they weaved their maze around the slower runners –…
Read MoreGoing The Extra Mile
“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” -Charles Dickens 6:30am on Marathon Monday:Waiting to board a bus to Hopkinton,with my official marathon bag slung over my shoulder. On the morning of the marathon, I awoke at 5:11am, still a little groggy from my nighttime medication, but there was…
Read More312 Miles Down, 26.2 To Go
Six months ago, on October 7th, 2009, at 4:26pm – I received an email from Kevin Cosgrove, founder of Wake Up Narcolepsy asking, “Julie, Would any of your friends want to run the marathon for WUN? We’ve received 4 official entries.” Exactly three minutes later, at 4:29pm, I responded: “Hi Kevin, That is such great…
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