goodbyes | Fitness is Sweet

It’s started. The graduation goodbyes have started. Today was my last Tuesday spin class of the quarter, and next quarter I’m only teaching Wednesdays. Because there are some people that only can come on Tuesday, today was my last class with some of them!

Goodbyes are the hardest. I love Stanford, but the people I’ve met here (both on and off campus) are the part I am going to miss most.

Over the past few years, I’ve realized that life is a series of goodbyes. My first taste of this was leaving DC after a summer. Every time I go somewhere new, there are people I leave behind. It’s so sad to leave people that have touched your life in so many different ways. It’s been such a joy teaching my spin students this year, and I know I’m going to be a mess during my last class in June! I also am really going to miss my Crossfit community here. I’ve spent 3 years there, and the gym itself has evolved and turned into such a community.

Enough mushiness, let’s cheer up with a little WIAW action, huh? Thanks to Jenn for starting this madness.

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I always seem to do Tuesdays for WIAW, so I thought I’d do a Monday for some variety because what and how I eat varies day to day. ALSO: I have decided to do a what I ate in a day VLOG over spring break, so if I can figure out the technology, look out for that!

Preworkout:

Lemon-blueberry poppyseed bread, which I remembered about halfway through to photograph. Classy.

Workout: Crossfit

For strength, we worked on overhead squats. I think I got to 65 or 75#? This is kind of a big deal with my still recovering shoulder, and I was sore today! The WOD was 3 rounds of 4 exercises, for 1 minute each, with 2 minutes of rest between rounds. The exercises were box jumps, rowing, wall balls, and burpees.

Breakfast:

Full fat Greek yogurt, a nectarine/cherry blend, and crunchy sunbutter.

Lunch:

Minestrone soup (GF) with GF cheese toast and an artichoke olive salad. Perfect for a stormy day!

Dessert:

GF blueberry upside down cake. My mom made this for my for my sister’s birthday dinner, and it’s ridiculously good. She used the pineapple upside down recipe and subbed blueberries for pineapple!

Snack: Not sure this is even worth posting because I literally had 3 carrots, but I was hungry after class at 4:30, and even though dinner was at 5, I wanted something in my stomach so I wouldn’t get hangry in traffic on the drive home.

Dinner:

Dijon chicken and kale stew topped with cheese. SO delicious. Asparagus on the side, plus half a carrot cake flax muffin (another 1/4 was eaten not pictured).

Dinner #2 (eaten in Biochem):

Besides the fact that I need more food in my day, this snack helps break up 3 hours of Biochem!

What is the best thing you ate this week?

Guys. This is probably my last post from DC. So, so crazy. I’m going home tomorrow. I cannot wait to see my cats. That’s really the biggest thing about home I miss!

I’m sorry for the sporadic posting-I’m trying to pack my entire life from the last 10 weeks into 2 suitcases. I’ll let you know how that works out when I’m 3000 miles back home.

I want to talk a bit about my last weekend in DC.

Saturday, I went to the Newseum. If you ever come to DC, you need to come here. Best museum hands down. I chose this over the American History for my last museum trip and it was 100% worth it. It showcases the history of news and various news/history related things. One exhibit was Pictures of the Year, with a whole bunch of amazing photographs and descriptions.

There was also a really moving 9/11 exhibit. It inspired me to go to the Pentagon Memorial after work the other day. It’s so crazy to me that I commute through the Pentagon metro, so I’m right there.

Here’s a view from the outdoor balcony at the Newseum. It’s a great view of the city, and the gloomy wet day was perfect for museum visiting.

For my pre-run dinner that night (my run was the next morning), I stopped at what seemed to be sort of like an Indian Chipotle? Not super authentic but good!

Then, Sunday was my long run. Guys, taper rocks. I feel like one really important aspect of taper is the mental recovery. I tend to burn out a bit, and with tapering, I’m more than ready to run again come race day. That run flew by in a flash-I swear I was done before I knew it! Not a bad pace either!

I made the mistake of not wearing my compression socks until that night, and my calves have been sore and tight since. I swear those socks are magic!

The reason for no socks? I went to the Nationals/Giants baseball game! I’m a huge Giant’s fan, and I’ve been loping forward to this all summer. I mean, come on, my favorite race is the Giant’s half!

Here are some shots of the ballpark.

I managed to snag some really good seats for a decent price. I’m pretty sure San Francisco tickets are WAY more expensive. I was right along the left field foul line, and I was able to walk right up to the edge of the field to watch some of my favorite players warm up.

As for lunch, my grandma who grew up in Maryland told me I HAD to try some Maryland crab before I left, so this seemed like as good of a time as any! I had a crab cake sandwich and it was SO good. So, so good.

The weather was also really nice. Because it rained the day before, it wasn’t too humid or hot (at least by DC standards). It was a fun game-until the last couple of innings. Ouch.

That evening, I said goodbye to my DC friend with an Ethiopian dinner. It was insanely messy, but delicious!

I had Chicken Doro Wot, and the chicken came with bones. And everything is eaten with your hands and the spongy flatbread. The last time I had Ethiopian, I used about 20 napkins so I was a bit nervous when I saw this place had fancy cloth napkins!

The last few days have included a ton of goodbyes. I said goodbye to my Crossfit friends today as well, plus a run club buddy I happened to run into on my run this morning. I’m more determined than ever to make my way back here!

And now, more packing awaits!

Archives

WIAW-A Series of Goodbyes

Baseball and Taper Fun