DC Half and the Pope

Every year, in preparation for whichever fall marathon I am doing, I run the Philly Rock n Roll half. The weather is always perfect and it's a fun run through my city. However, this year, due to the Pope visit, the Philly half was postponed until late October, so I signed up for the DC Navy Air Force Half with Andrew and Dan. We decided to make a fun weekend of it so we reserved an Airbnb and piled into the Civic.

Air BnB Brownstone

We got into DC early Saturday afternoon so we could spend the day exploring. Our AirBnB was super cheap and in a perfect location for being a tourist, right by the White House. We spent the beautiful day walking around the city and seeing the sites.

The half on Sunday was the kind of half that makes you reconsider ever running again. I felt terrible, I ran a much slower time than I expected, and just didn't have fun. Since the half, I have gone on a few runs and am feeling better, but it did not make me feel optimistic about the marathon in November.

We got back to Philly and the city was in full prep for the Pope's visit. The parking was beginning to get blocked off and the anxiety was high for residents. We had tickets to the Madonna concert on Thursday night so my mom came into Philly on Wednesday night and we spent the day exploring on Thursday.

For all the hype, the city was fine and we had a really fun day together! We took the subway to the concert with no trouble at all and had an awesome time at the concert. My mom got us really great seats and Madonna is a true performer. It was terrific.

It was really amazing to stay in Philadelphia on such a momentous weekend. It's a shame that the city scared away all the locals but I am so happy we stayed around to witness it all. Seeing the city so empty and the streets I walk down every day shut down was just so cool.

On Saturday Andrew and I went on a run around the city and ran up and down the empty streets. We picked up bikes to shop around the city and go even farther around the city. We decided to go through security so we could see the Pope parade! 

After seeing the Pope, we biked a huge loop around the city to visit friends in Fairmount. We passed an entry ramp to 76 and went up it to see the empty Schuylkill. So so cool and eerily quiet.

After visiting with friends, we went to pick up an Indego bike for my sister to ride home and there were none left! I had to hop on Andrew's back and we rode through the city - it was insane. So many people laughed and made comments about us but it worked!

We spent Sunday preparing for our trip to Europe! We fly out of JFK on Wednesday and head to London - we cannot wait! I packed this afternoon and am bringing quite a colorful suitcase...

My next post will be all about our trip - yay!!