A Day in Baltimore

Happy Monday or happy summer to those who are on vacation!  #jealous.  Well, as mentioned on Friday, I was able to kick off my weekend with a summer Friday and quick trip down to Baltimore.  After taking a later Bolt Bus on Thursday night, I arrived around 10:15pm where Sarah was kind enough to pick me up 🙂  Both of us crashed and woke up around 6 to run over to the November Project Baltimore.

I have to say, it was one helluva workout.  Sometimes Friday workouts can be somewhat short and uneventful but ours was not.  In total Sarah and I ran 7 miles, 4 hills, and added in a whole bunch of pushups/squats (whichever set of cards we drew).  She’s a doll and is going to get my passport shirt tagged for me 🙂

^^ Can you believe the views?

After jogging home, Sarah got ready for work and I was on my own for breakfast.  I have to say, it was quite nice to just sit and enjoy breakfast – no obligations to go anywhere, see anything, or really move.  Sure, I could have done that at home, but I always feel the need to keep moving and accomplish something else in the city.  Overachiever?  Maybe.  No shame in that, right?  That or I need to take a chill pill.

^^ Torn between two of the coffee joints nearby, I decided to get an egg bagel sandwich from one and cold brew coffee from another.  While not really a huge bagel fan, this everything bagel wasn’t half bad.  But it had a ways to go to meet New York standards 😉

More of the morning was spent reading various newspapers that I had brought along, thumbing through the latest Runner’s World magazine, and attempting to read Christopher McDougall’s follow-up, “Natural Born Heroes”.  Doe anyone else have trouble concentrating when they read?  Maybe I haven’t spent enough time immersing myself, but I’m struggling to follow the plot.  Hopefully it picks up or I’ll have to start from scratch in attempts to understand what is going on.

^^ Lunch at a local sandwich + salad shop (harvest salad + falafel)

^^ Picture taken because the dog is adorable.  I will do anything for labs.

As you can see, a majority of my free time is spent running, eating, wandering, and spending money.  Yes, there are certainly tons of fun free things to do in the city and in any city (Time Out New York will tell you so), but it’s also fun to eat out once in awhile and travel.  So there, #worktospend.

Once Sarah got out of work, we wandered along the water and the stores, checking out Lululemon and wandering through Whole Foods.  My sister, the best saver I know, would be proud to know that I did not spend anything in Lululemon.  I held back but did end up walking out of City Sports with a pair of Birkenstocks.  I reason that they were 1) on sale because City Sports was going out of business and 2) obviously a necessity for my plantar fasciitis.  Runners need supportive footwear, so swipe goes the card.

After a little bit of chill time at the apartment, it was off to dinner where we both inhaled our burgers.  It must have been the tough morning run because I was practically ravenous all day long.

^^ Alexander’s Tavern Maryland burger with crab dip, cheddar/jack cheese, and sweet potato tater-tots.  I’ve been skimping on my protein intake lately, so a good ‘ol burger hit the spot.  Then, since I was in Maryland, home to the crab-obsessed citizens, I had to get that on top as well.  Outcome?  So worth it.

The trip was finally made complete with a trip to Kilwin’s Ice Cream. I have seen Sarah post about this place for ages and well, may have been the basis of this trip.  That and of course to have some girl time with Sarah and work out with a new tribe.

^^ Quite possibly the most enormous single scoop of ice cream (and maybe one of the most delicious) I have seen in my life.  It’s certainly not something that I can afford (price or calorie wise) all the time but that scoop of marshmallow topped with sprinkles was a must.  #balance

^^ Post-food-coma walk around the harbor

Always a blast to see Sarah and chit-chat the day away.  Loved running around and checking out a new tribe, hanging out by the water with few obligations, and one can’t forget the epic ice cream cone.

“The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.” – Frank Lloyd Wright