A Fun Staycation

This Weekend
I'm writing this on commercials as I dorkily cry along to Biggest Loser, so it'll be quick! I've made good progress on implementing some of my January goals so far this month--I'll do a check-in later this week.

Dan and I had a great weekend. On Saturday, we got the opportunity to stay overnight at a hotel in DC and go to one of our favorite restaurants! Long-ish story, but my mom ended up gifting Dan and I with a hotel night and gift certificate to Graffiato for Christmas, which was super nice and generous!

The hotel was in Woodley Park (near where I used to live when I lived in DC!), so we went to one of my old brunch favorites to start our Saturday--Open City. I had some super delicious post-run eggs, toast, and hash browns (my favorite!), plus a pancake.

After brunch, we walked over to the zoo. We didn't stay too long, but we saw several cute animals--highlights were the pandas and elephants.

Adorable panda eats adorably. 

The pandas cracked me up for some reason. They were moving so...humanly? I kept saying they reminded me of a person dressed in a panda suit.

Adorable man with adorable panda!

That night was the real star of the show--Graffiato! I failed at taking any pictures of the food. I highly recommend the burrata salad and cauliflower, and Dan recommends the pepperoni dip and pizza (he had the Porky's Revenge).

Nice view across the table!

I had their version of a pisco sour--tasty but rich. 

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed the luxurious room and comfy beds. This morning we had a delicious brunch at the hotel and headed back to VA. Overall it was just a great mini "staycation"--great note to end the holiday season on! Thanks Mom!

Weekly Workout Summary
Monday: pre-NYE run--4 mi @ 10:57.

Tuesday: 4 mi tempo run with lots of geese. This felt doable!

Wednesday: 35 min yoga. I used one 20 minute power yoga/vinyasa style podcast from YogaDownload.com, and then did a few videos for more stretching style/hip openers.

Thursday: 3.3 mi @ 11:11 outside, and then I circled back to the apartment gym for a quick and dirty strength routine. I don't remember all of the exercises, but it covered most of the major muscle groups and included lunges, planks, lat pull downs, push ups, etc.

Friday: REST.

Saturday: 6.2 mi @ 11:20. This felt tough while I was doing it, but I stayed strong mentally and pushed through a bunch of hills. I'm still kind of wondering how the heck I'm going to do 10 miles in April...but plenty of time to build!

Sunday: Another quick yoga at-home session--35 minutes again, similar split to Wednesday. I actually have been enjoying these at home yoga sessions and plan to incorporate them into my routine. But it will feel good to get back to the studio on Tuesday!

Total weekly mileage: 17.5 miles.
Overall I was really pleased with this week! Felt great to jump back into more frequent running--honestly, I think the more I run the easier it feels (within limits, I'm sure). On to the next!