So most of you know that while I love nature and the outdoors, when it comes to domicile, I'm decidedly a city girl. I love walking to the gym, restaurants, generally having a reverse commute, etc.
But Friday night, I ventured out into the suburbs! Du, du, dah!!! OK, so I am kind of kidding. Obviously I have lots of friends in the suburbs so I'm often venturing out, but my Friday night was such picture-perfect little slice of small town America - and only 30 minutes outside the nation's capitol - that I deemed it blog-worthy.
I went out to join a friend for a run and then a little night out in the town of Vienna, VA. Now let me tell you that sitting in traffic getting out there, I was still firmly rooted in this city that I love, but that according to some surveys has THE worst traffic in the country. No suburban bliss yet.
But once I escaped the parking lot of a main road and met my friend, we ran on a lovely trail that I believe is a converted railroad line. She teased me about being in the burbs and asked if I had ever run on a cul-de-sac before - ha, ha! I insisted that we have those in the city, but honestly when pressed I had a hard time thinking of one near where I live.
After our exercise, we went out for the beer that we had now earned. : )
(side note - did I ever tell you about a shirt I saw at a race recently: "First we run, then we drink!" I think this is an excellent philosophy!)
We went into "town" and were headed for bar food and beer when we got side tracked by a band playing on the town green - yes, that's right, there is a town square where they have free live music on Fridays during the summer. There were families spread out everywhere with picnics and kids running around playing. And, this week it was the Navy Commodores, playing all sorts of big band favorites. [For those who may not have heard the military bands or choirs before, definitely catch them if you can - I've always found they are quite good.] Between the music and the scene, it really was like being transported back to a simpler time. Very refreshing.
After the musical interlude we headed for the Vienna Inn - this place is everything that a quality dive bar should be. As my friend told me, you could probably show up in your pajamas and no one would care. This is true, but they serve good beer, cheap, and I had some of the best North Carolina style BBQ I've had in quite a while. So yes, not a typo, I deem this a high quality dive bar and highly recommend it should you ever find yourself in Vienna, VA.
So I'm not giving up my city roots or anything, but hats off to my running buddy, and the city of Vienna for a very enjoyable night out in the 'burbs!
But of course a blog post could not be complete this time of year without a tennis update. This week the tour was in Rome for the last big clay court event leading up to the French Open. It's actually not over yet because the men's final was delayed to Monday for weather. So far, though, the results were mixed for me. My man Federer looked fantastic up until the semis, when he comes out against Djokovic and serves at less than 50% - needless to say that's not going to get it done. And after he won in Madrid last week, retook the #2 ranking, and tied Nadal's record of 20 career Masters 1000 titles (level just below majors)! Ugh. Let's hope he can sustain his level during the French!
The women's final on the other hand was very interesting. Almost 3 hours of back-and-forth between Maria Sharapova and Li Na (last year's surprise French Open champion from China). Both players built and then gave up double-break leads during the second and third sets, but the most interesting part was the weather. I had forgotten that they sometimes play through rain on clay, but this one they played through a torrent! Not to mention, what good is it quieting your crowd when the crowds at the football (soccer) stadium next door are chanting louder and louder and the TV helicopters keep circling just when the server is trying to serve? It was pretty wild - and finally ended when Sharapova prevailed in a 3rd set tie break that was played at the end of a 2 hour rain delay! As Sharapova said at the end, it was really too bad there had to be a loser - hats off to both of them!
And on to the French - go Fed - come on man!!!
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