A Weekend in the Burgh

One of my best friends lives in Pittsburgh.  I wish she lived closer, but at least she lives in a cool city. The Megabus also goes there so I don't have to drive.  

I had off Friday and Monday so I could leave early Friday Morning, which was great since it was like a 6 hour ride.  I of course arrived late and ended up not having a seat to myself, or even a window, totally bumming.  

Now, if you know me, I love to eat.  So of course I had to eat my way around Pittsburgh.  For dinner, we went to this noodle place called Noodlehead in Shadyside.  I ordered the pad thai, with a spice of 2, I think it goes up to 5, with 5 being blazing hot! It was actually plenty spicy, I didn't have to add anything extra, actually I am pretty sure I downed 6 glasses of water.  T and I also ordered a Ginger beer to split the bottle labeled it "hot, hot, hot." Yeah, that did not help calm the fire that was burning in my mouth.  However, it did meet my need for a good ginger beer.   A good ginger beer should not be able to be chugged, it should be sipped because of the spice.  Oh, we also ordered these pork belly steamed buns, with some type of pickle slaw, soooo delish!

After dinner T and I had a few hours to chilax before we went to see Les Miserables.  The theater was super cute and the food was super cheap compared to normal AMC/Regal prices. They also had a full bar. Winning!  Then after consuming a medium popcorn we headed over to the all night diner, yup and ordered more food. I love diners and cheap food. I got a caramel sundae, YUM!  and mozzarella sticks, yes the perfect sweet/salty, hot/cold combo.  I think I gained like 5 lbs that weekend.

Does this look staged?!

We slept in Saturday morning and then went for our 6 mile run.  I signed my girl up for the DC half marathon in March, so I have her on a training regiment and she's been so good about sticking to it.  I however, haven't been all that diligent.  My running buddy, aka my husband, does not always like to run and I don't enjoy going on longer runs solo.  C'est la vie.   We ran along the river, highway, over a bridge and through a cute town.  

Dinner that night I had made a early birthday reservation for T at Lidia's Italian Restaurant, Lidia is apparently Joe from Master Chef's mother(I learn something new every day). Teresa got the restaurant week special, four course meal and I got the Lidia's Pasta Tasting Trio served table side(unlimited servings), with Caesar salad and dessert.  

The Breadsticks were delish!

Teresa had a roasted yellow and red beet salad with goat cheese.  Soo the "it" thing right now.  Too bad I think red beets tasted like dirt.

Her second Primi was homemade ravioli with roasted almonds(I forget what was inside, was it butternut squash?) 

Her main dish, chicken parmesan with eggplant. 

My trio of pastas, rigatoni with meat and parpadelle with vodka sauce and peas and a 4 cheese ravioli with a browned butter sauce and freshly cracked black pepper- that was my fav!

Final course: Dessert

T got Tiramisu and I torta di mascarpone con cioccolatta.

Sunday Morning we had brunch

I had the Challah french toast with fresh berries and a fig jam, potatoes and the most delish bacon. Teresa had crepes with asparagus and a cream mushroom sauce, also with potatoes. 

Later that afternoon, prior to departure we decided to visit the Andy Warhol Museum.  Let's just say he isn't one of my favorites. I am more of a impressionist lover, Monet, Degas, Renoir...

Tis the season

Well, it's almost December..... which means:

Red and Green decorations

Baking cookies (prepare for recipes to come)

Secret Santa

Christmas scented candles

Running in Cold weather...brr....but I love it! I busted out the cold weather gear yesterday. It was actually cold enough to see my breath.  Cold weather def takes my breath away, but I felt pretty good yesterday considering.

Saturday I hiked with the hubs, SIL and future BIL with our dogs, the pup, Pepe, Belle and their hunting dog, Leroy- or as we like to call him, Leh-roy(accent on leh).  We didn't do anything too extensive. It was cold and Pepe has short little legs, but he was a trooper and did really well, we even let him off leash.  

BTW I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of Turkey and family and friends.  The only thing I was not thankful for was the amount of traffic we hit going up to the in-laws.  In boredom, we let Pepe drive. He'd be great, if only his legs would reach the peddles.  

After our cold and longish hike we went home and had lunch.  Then we went to play Turkey Tackle, AKA football.  Boys could tackle boys and girls could tackle girls.  Unfortunately there weren't that many girls playing maybe one on each team. There were four teams, which meant we had to play several games and of course it started to flurry whilest we played.  Let's just say, when the QB did actually did throw to a girl, me, I sucked and had super buttery fingers.  Bumming, at least I'm ok at defense, mostly. I missed a tackle on my SIL. Our last game that we played I was to guard some guy named "Big Country." Yes, it's exactly how it sounds and man could he run and cut all over. Fortunately I didn't have to tackle him, just two-hand touch him.  But let me tell you, I was SORE afterwards for a few days which is crazy because I wasn't tackled and no one tackled me.  I felt like I had run a 1/2 marathon.  Oh, my old age!

Attempting to outrun Sandy

First of all, sooo thankful that Hurricane Sandy didn't rear her ugly wetness until later yesterday evening!  

I was praying that we wouldn't be running in a torrential downpour.  I am pretty sure that the other 2 people running "with" me would have dropped out.  They would have however been forced to be a spectator and would have gotten soaked anyway.  

I figured if it was raining, maybe, just maybe it would make me run faster.  You know because I was so miserable from the rain and or coldness.  Thankfully we didn't have to find out if it would have made me run faster.  

Meg and I picked up our packets kinda late on Saturday.  Usually I like to get to the Expos earlier, a few more freebies and what not.  But she couldn't make it down until Saturday and I was pretty busy the last few days.

I actually didn't buy much.  I know right, shocking!! I did however purchase a new running skirt.  It's super cute, has all the different runs that a person can do, 10K, 13.1, 70.3....most of them I will never do, but one can dream right?!

No one wanted to wake up yesterday morning and Gary is super grumpy pants early in the morning, especially when he doesn't get his coffee.  Thankfully the race was here in DC so we didn't have to get up so early I couldn't function.  

Last year Gary and I signed up for the MCM 10K, this was our first "long" race and from there we've done the 10 miler and half marathon.  I think that the 10K is one of my favorites. I always get teary eyed during this race.  People's shirts are just so touching and the people running the race are quite inspiring.  If veterans can accomplish amazing feats, than I can do a measly 6.2 miles. I also admire marathoners. I often think "I could do it."  and sure, I "could" do it, but I'm not sure I want to do it.  Not to mention that both after and during a 1/2 marathon I do not feel that I could do a full. LOL!

Since we've moved to our new place (which, so far is water proof) the metro is much closer and thankfully the metro line by us ran us straight to the starting line.  This year was not as cold as it was last year, thankfully.  Last year Gary and I had to buy extra clothing as it snowed the day before and we were not "experienced" runners. And yes people, it is true, bridges do freeze before the roads.  We slipped and slid around last year.  I ran in leggings, gloves, head ear warmer thing.  This time, I wore a new skirt, from running skirts.  They were at the Expo and my green Northface long sleeve shirt.  I also wore my my Fit Approach pink shoe laces!

Does anyone else always have to go to the bathroom when you get to a race?! I do!  It's annoying and despite going multiple times at home when I see those green rectangle boxes my bladder goes, "take me there!"  However, yesterday, when I saw the lines....I told myself I could suck it up, that there would be other potties along the way.  HA! That's one complaint.  There were not enough port-o-potties.  At mile 5 there were tons, but I think only because that was around where the marathon began.  So I took a little detour which included opening the door on some poor unsuspecting victim,  though I do say it was his own fault since he didn't even lock it! Positive: Love having the Marines out supporting all the runners "Ooorah!"

So proud of my girl Meg! In May she and my other bestie T did their first run with me the Race for Hope 5K supporting brain tumor research. This was her first longish run and I am not trying to convince her to do that 1/2 in March.  If you are reading this, DO it! Sign up, here's the link for a little extra help:-) 

I enjoyed this run.  Tons of people, lots of energy.  I also enjoy running on the highway lol.  I did PR too. Pretty excited about that! And victory Sandy stayed away so that all marathoners an 10Kers could finish safely!

A few pictures from the day.
On your mark, get set, GO!  

Inspiration!

 Finished, there's my boo waiting for me!

 So proud of my girl!  You do it! Now get ready for our half marathon!

This is how I felt afterwards....too bad I couldn't do too much of that and instead had to prepare for Hurricane Sandy!
Looks like he just ran 6 miles haha, if only. The day will come my little friend when you will be my running buddy. Get ready!

Rock N' Roll Philly Half

Well, I just completed my 3rd half marathon.  Surprisingly it wasn't my worst time, considering.  My first was this past March and it was another Rock n' Roll 1/2 here in DC.  The hubs and I did pretty good training wise. It's also always helpful to have someone who runs with you.  I was really surprised with my time especially since we had some hills.  I think it was 2:19, no world record that's for sure.

In June I ran the Zooma Women's 1/2 and trained, but again not as well as I probably could have.  I ended up getting something like 2:35 or something along those lines.  There were a lot more hills than I had expected.

This last one was also a Rock n' Roll 1/2 and with summer's here being so hot and humid it made it difficult to run outside.  I have also quit the gym because I feel that it is a waste of money and if I want to take a class or go once in awhile it's cheaper to do it that way than to pay a monthly membership.  I only ran up to 7 miles while training for this 1/2 which is no where near what I wanted to get to.  My goal was to get to 10, maybe 11.  Thankfully we had BEAUTIFUL weather AND Philly is quite flat, HUGE blessing!

I didn't run with water this time just with my GU and iphone.  I did stop at every water station though.  I found that putting GU in my pocket makes it easier for me to take them because it warms them up and makes them a little easier to swallow.  They handed me an orange GU at around mile 9.  That was NOT good.  I have to stick to the chocolate and vanilla ones.  

 High School Friend, Abby, actually I've known her since 3rd grade! That's what like 22 years?!

 On your mark, get set....and major traffic jam

 Barefoot Runner

 Loving the run under bridges and along side the water.

Originally we planned on staying with my mother outside of Philly and then traveling in real early Sunday morning.  Thankfully Gary decided that staying in Philly in a hotel would be better for both of our sanities. We ended up staying at the Hilton Garden down on Arch and 11th right across the street from the convention center where packet pick up was and right next to Reading Market. There was also the added bonus of the Wawa right across the street.  It was prime location in my mind.  I also found a cheap manicure place right around the corner.  I got a $25 OPI gel manicure, usually in DC it costs $40. 

You could choose the comfort of your mattress....wish ours did that.

I didn't end up with the worst time in the world.  I got 2:26.  Next year I will definitely train harder.  I'm hoping that for the one in March next year I'll be much more ready, especially since I know the hubs will be running it with me.  

It was fun because I knew a few friends running it, all of whom are faster than I, but we didn't stick together.  My one friend from HS and I started together and ran a mile and then I told her just to go. This was also a special run because my mother was able to come with one of her best friends.  She's never seen me run and I thought it would be neat for her to experience a 1/2 marathon and all the participants.  

I felt good for the majority of my run.  I didn't hit a major wall until about mile 11. And...thankfully my feet didn't fall asleep as badly as they sometimes do.  It was really gorgeous running there along the river.