Running Long in Maryland

This past weekend marked a series of firsts out here for me... all which were great experiences.

In general, it was my first weekend living out here. It was great, in short. Friday night was my first time ever trying oysters. I can't really say that I fell in love with them, since it was kind of like eating snot a strange texture, but I'm never one to hate on food. I'd try them again, if the situation presented itself.

Saturday marked my first long run out here.. 16 miles. The city of Columbia has over 90 miles of paved biking/running trails (Yea, you heard me right, 90) so I went into the situation thinking I'd have no problem finding an out and back route of 16 miles.

My gigantic map of the 90 miles of trails

Turns out I thought wrong. I believe what the maps says; there's trails out here up the wazoo. However, they are hilly, constantly splitting off, winding through wooded areas and neighborhoods, so that it is nearly impossible to remember the way you came once you turn back around. However, somehow I managed to do a few random laps, and pushed through a solid 16 miles, just over two hours, sitting right around an 8 min pace. Too fast for what my long runs should be, but whatever. My training has been pretty lax the past week, with the combo of being sick and the move, so I was happy with the result.

I already shared this on Twitter, but for those of you who care, here are my splits.

The rest of Saturday was a beautiful blur as well. Andrew and I headed down to Annapolis for dinner with some of his family at a FANTASTIC Italian restaurant. Literally everything was to die for, from the champagne, to the many courses of food, to the coffee. I just about wept tears of happiness the entire meal. My favorite was probably the soft warm mozzarella served in some find of liquid happiness.  Something along the lines of butter, but better. The night also marked my first time trying clams, and tuna tartar. YUM.

I won't continue to give you a play by play of the weekend, but let me leave you with this. On a whim, we decided to head down to the DC zoo this afternoon, since it's free. As we were checking out the monkey house, one of the apes came right up to the glass, as if to say hello to everyone watching her. She proceeded to throw up, eat her vomit, throw up again, and once again eat it. The process may have continued on, but Andrew and I were so disgusted we had to walk away. Another first for me.

Andrew's favorite part of the zoo by far. His top choice for a pet.

Hope you all had a great weekend as well! Cheers!