Archive for October, 2011
Falling for the Weather
Posted by Will on October 24, 2011
We are having some mighty fine weather in D.C. lately which has called for some quality time outside.
As noted previously, Nola absolutely adores the great outdoors (which for her entails discarded 40′s, hysterical motorists, and questionable levels of air pollution). But, the trivial peevish points of living in a city aside, getting out in the sunshine and fresh air generally puts her in a good mood.
Without the fear of sweltering in the UV rays so much, it’s easier and way more desirable to spend as much time outdoors as possible with our dear friend, Cooler Temps.
Aside from basking in the crisp fall air, Nola has been making other strides.
In general, we can feed her most foodstuff (aside from citrus) as long as the preparation is pretty vanilla (and even then, we tend to stray – I mean, who knows what oils, spices, and prep actually went into those sweet potato fries?). This goes a long way when we’re out for a meal.
Nola is also quite the mover and shaker these days. She is everywhere, all the time, wherever, whenever. It is practically a 50/50 split between her preferred mode of transit; a full out mercurial crawl or cruising upright along whatever will support her (furniture, people, walls, etc.). I feel pretty comfortable that she’ll be taking her first steps before she’s one year old.
Socially, Nola’s skills are rapidly developing and coming to light. We have observed everything from hand claps to waves (she normally will respond to being waved at). She occasionally will jabber gibberish but can also repeat sounds when prompted (e.g. buh, yah-yah). Endearing to us, she can occasionally assign “mama” and “dada” to the correct persons.
Here are some photos from this past weekend (since that is what you’re probably here for).
There's an app for that.
Hello? Hello!? Hello. Hellooo?
Confused? Determined? You decide.
Wake up, Dad's got the camera out ... again.
Hanging out with my very good friend Jill.
Now listen here, you!
This weekend we took advantage of an event going on in our backyard, DC Cyclocross 2011 at the Old Soldier's Home. Held at what is now known as the Armed Forces Retirement Home, we gained unusual access to the large and largely private green space near our apartment.
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Baltimore, Hon
Posted by Will on October 17, 2011
It was the third consecutive year that a Bramlett has participated in the Baltimore Running Festival (specifically the half-marathon). Brittany knocked it out first in 2009 and last year it served as the first leg of my 7 day marathon.
This year, with Nola in tow, we trucked up to the Charm City once again so I could give Baltimore another go.
After braving the bowels of the Baltimore Convention Center to pick up my race packet, we then set out on a magical quest to uncover the coveted safety pin. First, I have to say Corrigan Sports puts on a very tight, grandiose, well-organized event. Also, the city of Baltimore is full of a bunch of sweethearts who heartily come out and support thousands of strangers running through their neck of the woods. Simply put, it is a very fun event to be a part of.
Yet, I find it really odd that such an event could run out of safety pins. If you have ever run a race, you know you normally are given four pins to hang your running bib from. It is doubly important when your chrono tracking device is a B-tag (a tracking device attached to the bib that tracks your time). Granted, Baltimore requires more pins than normal as they have additional back bibs for the full marathoners and relay runners.
But … C’mon!
The last of our Friday night was spent tracking down a CVS and coming to realize that previous participants facing our same plight had already commandeered whatever pins the store had hours ago. Thus, hotel sewing kits (a combination of safety pins and needles) worked in a pinch.
I have been training in general for quite awhile. Part of the parental adjustment included deducing how to fit in runs with a newborn. As I’ve said before, hopping off of the train home early and running the rest of the way has been the best solution. It has also allowed me to become a little bit more familiar with sections of D.C. I am not the most familiar with (e.g. Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Adams Morgan).
Once I signed up for the race about five months ago, I also ensured I ran plenty of hills (the course seems to consist mainly of grades of varying degrees), made all of my long runs to condition my legs for the heavier mileage (yes, I did run home from Bethesda one day), and kept running even when I was out of town (Florida and California). These three things heavily influenced how I was prepared for last Saturday.
The run was great, the weather was golden. I was a little amazed how much of the course I recalled — that was definitely an advantage. I had two goals going in. The first, as always, is to run the whole time. The second was to run under 2 hours.
I finished at 1:54:08 shattering my time from last year, 2:07:26. This also marked the first time I had run sub 9-minute miles in any race (8:42/m) and I also set personal bests in finish percentage (16.8% overall, 27.2% amongst males). I’m eager to see how this might be reflected in shorter runs in the future.
The icing for the weekend was having Brittany’s cousins Amanda and Amy along for the ride (primarily to spend time with Nola, natch). That also ensured a few helping hands to help keep our little girl in check (Nola, as usual, was very good).
Wherever we are next year, I think I would like to make sure we try to make another trip back to Baltimore mid-October.
You did great ... But you're pretty sweaty.
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