Date Lab Can two marathoners
go the distance? Anna Russell, 27, policy analyst Daniel Zielaski, 26, graduate student
Dating history as a tV show… Anna: Nice girl dates a string of losers: “Love Gone Bad,” the series. I am sure MTV would pick it up. Daniel: Based on the short story “Children of the Corn” by Stephen King.
how you feel about working out … Anna: I run marathons, so I work out every day. I am also working to become a professional trainer. Daniel: I run 13-22 miles a day.
happiest when …
Anna: I am at the beach or traveling. Daniel: On the road. I have traveled to 27 countries in the past six years.
first thing people notice about your home … Anna: That I have a pretty good view from my window. Daniel: Nothing; I am a minimalist. I sleep on an air mattress.
interviews by stephen Lowman
7:30 p.m., Oya, Penn Quarter Anna: I had just come from the gym at work and got to the restaurant five minutes early. I ordered a glass of wine [from the bar]. I wasn’t really nervous or anything, more like, “Who are they going to set me up with?” Daniel: I got to Chinatown around 7, so I was actually a half-hour early. I walked around a little bit, went to City Sports and popped in and out of some other places. When I arrived, she was already there waiting at the bar. She was gorgeous. Anna: I don’t really have a type, but I was attracted to him when I saw him. Immediately, there was a good vibe. We gave each other one of those meet-and- greet-type hugs, then he sat down and
She’s laid-back, generous and in a band, and looking for a woman
who’s girly, confident and fun. Is that you? Apply at
washingtonpost.com/ datelab. Find out whom else we’re looking for at
facebook.com/datelab and on Twitter (@datelab).
8 The WAshingTon PosT MAgAzine | June 6, 2010
ordered the same drink I had. He asked what I did before coming here. I said, “Oh, I was at the gym.” Daniel: Her work has a gym, and she personal-trains there, too. That’s how we jumped into the whole running thing. She is a marathoner, and I am a marathoner. She is not just a runner, she is lightning-fast. I find that drive and intensity really attractive. Anna: Runners can be strange people, and I have met guy runners who are just bizarre. This was great, though. Both of us have similar personalities, which I don’t find very often in D.C. He seemed pretty laid-back, very go-with- the-flow and like he didn’t take life too seriously. After we finished our drink, we went to a table. Daniel: We were doing that thing where you have the menu right in front of you and you are looking at it but not really reading it. We were talking the entire time. I don’t know a whole lot about wine, so she picked out a bottle for us. We ordered some sushi and shared different-sized plates: steak skewers, chicken and salad. We could
Dream Date … Anna: A humanitarian that is tall, dark and handsome. Maybe Jack from “Lost.” I want to meet someone that likes to travel, doesn’t need tons of stuff in life to make them happy and is a good person. Daniel: A baker who runs triathlons and hates golf.
have portioned everything onto our own dinner plates, but we just shared and ate off the food plates. Anna: You know how sometimes if you go to a restaurant you can tell the people who are on a first date? I think if someone looked over, they wouldn’t think we were on a first date, just because there was such ease to it. We didn’t mention what we do [for work] for quite a while. When it did come up, we both agreed that it was so off-putting whenever the first question somebody asks you is, “What do you do?” Daniel: The thing I really liked about her was that she was definitely not Type A. She didn’t seem fixated on one thing, like her job. It’s hard to meet
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