Ever since I got back from vacation, getting out of bed before work to run has been a struggle for me. But somehow this morning, I mustered enough will power to drag myself out the door for a sweaty four miler.



It was a Garmin-less run so I have no idea on my time. Probably for the best, I'm sure it was slow with the humidity. Glad I woke up and got it done though.

Now... on to a totally unrelated topic.

Last week, I was having a pretty meh week. Catching up from vacation, trying to juggle a bunch of softball logistics for tournaments, not sleeping well, etc. I was not in the best of moods, and I'm sure I was just a real doll to be around.

And it's like the universe knew I needed a little bit of a reminder that not all people suck and are actively trying to give me massive headaches. I had three of the most simple, kindest gestures dropped into my lap from friends over the last couple of days.

DC gets a lot of flack for being a city of power-hungry jerks, who march around with their speedy powerwalks, faces pointed down staring at their phones, firing off quick emails and grumbling at tourists who don't know that you should always "stand right, walk left" on the Metro escalators.

Sometimes I think people get the impression that common courtesy and manners get totally thrown out the window here, so I figured it's worth sharing those three random acts of kindness.

1. The other day I was out to lunch with a colleague who opened every door for me between our office building and the lunch spot. It was the tiniest little thing, but was the third in a string of people doing nice things for me, so I happened to notice it more than I might have normally.

2. Monday night I was walking with one of the guys on my softball team from the field to the Metro, and all of a sudden he moved from walking on my left side to walking on my right side because "ladies should never walk closest to the traffic." I didn't know this was a thing people still did but again, just a small, polite act of kindness.

3. Friday night I was catching a ride with a friend from an event we were at to a friend's birthday party. When we got to the car he opened to passenger door for me, let me get in and then closed the door afterward. Who does that anymore? Apparently nice, polite people with manners actually do exist in this city.

Yes, the gestures were small, and to my friends they were probably nothing more than their normal nice-person behavior, but when you're having a meh week like I was, little things like that really add up.

So that's all I've got for today. Not everyone in DC sucks and sometimes when you're having a rough week, the universe throws good things your way.