Austin eating (and one lonely run)

How long will it take me to fully recover from four full days of eating amazement in Austin? However long, it was worth it. I officially have a new favorite food city.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and went to lunch with Aaron's mom, sister and niece (!) who was a riot. She was a little chunkola!

After eating we set out for our apartment for the weekend. We thought we were going to stay with his aunt the whole trip, but it turns out she recently bought an apartment and has been working on making it fully furnished and updated to rent out. What a glorious surprise!

 

 

 

After we dropped our stuff off we went down the street for an iced coffee and hung out before heading to his sister's house in Buda, about 25 minutes away.

 

(Tio AV!)

 

 

I was full from my gigantic salad and airport breakfast burrito, but when we stopped by Torchy's to pick up food that night I couldn't resist an "Independent" taco ("Hand-battered and fried portobello mushroom strips with refried black beans, roasted corn, escabeche carrots, queso fresco, cilantro and avocado" COME ON!) and lots of sampling the green chile queso blanco. Ridiculous.

 

The next morning I was determined to get a least one work out for the trip in, so I set off in our apartment's neighborhood to try my best. The temperature was perfect (around 67°) but the humidity crept up on me! Still, it was neat to see the neighborhood wake up (tons of pups!) and run some hills for once. Splits were in at 11:10, 10:23 and 10:29 for 3.15 in 33:49. A nice little vacation workout, which sadly wouldn't happen again for the rest of the trip. Whoops.

 

Once I got home and we got ready, AV's aunt and uncle took us to breakfast. We stopped at this tiny little Mexican restaurant and I tried my hand a migas and breakfast potatoes. Completely stupidly delicioius. You know it's legit when nothing is in English.

 

After that we drove through all these little side and back streets to check out some amazing houses in the neighborhood. The architecture in the small spaces was insane. The whole thing reminded me of Lawrence on steroids. (Which you know I loved.)

 

A little later AV's sister and her husband came to pick us up and we headed down to Congress Street (again, Mass. St. times ten) for lunch and walking around. We had lunch at Snack Bar. Anything with "snack" in the name means I'm in love. AV and I split the black bean dip to start and I had a side of mac and cheese for my meal. A "side" because it was decievingly filling and AWESOME. (My Yelp here.)

 

 

(Dip of dreams.)

 

After lunch we were in desperate need of walking it off. Congress Street is awesome. The weather was perfect--sunshiney and not too hot.  So much people watching, so many tiny little shops.

 

(Shopping included weird anti-drug posters from India)

 

 

(We're the first people in the history of the world to pose with this, right?)

They dropped us back off after a few hours and we got ready to head BACK to Congress Street with his aunt and uncle for dinner. PIZZA! There was about a 45 minute wait so we grabbed some drinks and headed to their cute back deck that was decked out in twinkle lights, patio chairs, and ping pong tables.

 

 

The food was outstanding. (I haven't Yelped, but I'm sure I will.) We all split a Pear Gorgonzola salad and AV and I split a "Medium" (Huge.) pie with spinach, roasted red pepper, green olives, and onions. It was fantastic. The fresh spinach and green olives were the kicker for me. We had to bring home leftovers because we couldn't possibly eat more.

 

...buuuuuut once we got home we decided maybe we could possibly eat more. Enter the glowing sign of Gourdough's right down the street. How could we say no to dessert?

 

 

 

What you're looking at (thanks to photo editing, because ti was dark out on their patio and I didn't want to be the a-hole taking a flash picture of her doughnut) is their Nutty Valentine: freshly fried doughnut (almost tasted like a funnel cake) topped with Nutella, cinnamon, sugar and fresh strawberries. If you're wondering if this was out of controle, it was. I decided to pair it with more sugar: I drank a Ragtime, including "Absolute Citron & Ginger Puree With Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice & Basil. Topped With Blood Orange Soda." It was delicious, although I could have stood more ginger puree as I like to get punched in the face with ginger tasting things.

 

I slept the sleep of a thousand sugar-induced fever dreams that night, but it was worth it!

 

 

Saturday was Elia's birthday party (although her actual birthday was Thursday) so we headed over there after the world's most amazing breakfast tacos, conveniently just down the street from us.

 



 

 

She was wearing a fancy first birthday outfit and we watched her open gifts while we ate lunch and a glorious pink cake.

 

Afterwards we set out to get Aaron a BBQ Snack before heading home to rest up. He said it was easily one of the best barbecue he's ever had. ATX protip!

 

That night we met up with his sister and husband again at the Alamo Drafthouse for dinner and to see The Equalizer which was good Denzel actiony fun. I'd say the alternative title could have been "How to Kill Someone 100 Different Ways in Home Depot." The Alamo in KC opened up right around the time I left, so I was excited to finally give it a try. I loved it! I'm planning a visit when we go back to KC for Christmas. I had a really surprisingly amazing Greek salad and of course AV ordered bottomless popcorn. (We couldn't even finish the first round, although I tried really hard by stress eating.)

 

Sunday morning we woke up and knew we were meeting Aaron's sister for lunch at Bouldin Creek, so we attempted to go light on the food for breakfast. We'd seen Soup Peddler down the street so deicded to head there for smoothies. I ordered the "Business Time," which includes "cold-brewed espresso, banana, peanut butter, raw local honey, cacao, rice milk." It was everything I've ever wanted in life. We sat out on their sunny patio and it was a perfect start to the day.

 

 

We decided to fit in one more Austin discovery and parked ourselves at Radio Coffee & Beer's patio. Of course, Aarond had to sample a single taco truck taco while we drank some amazing cold-brewed coffee.

 

 

We headed back to pack up and meet up for lunch. There's not much I can say about Bouldin Creek that hasn't already been said (Although I tried) It was basically one of my favorite places on the planet.

 



Our flight home was fine, although half an hour late. We watched football at the airport and finally made it on home. Thankfully, my car parked in economy parking was fine. I officially love Austin and can't wait to return for more funtimes! I just have to prepare myself for FEASTING!

 

 

Workouts this week:

 

Yesterday's 4.16 run was supposed to be 5, but at least it was speedy. For me. (I feel like I always have to put a "for me" at the end of statements like that. I don't want someone thinking I'm an elite racer when I'm...struggling on a 4 mile run. Right?) 4.16 in 41:13 for a 9:54 min/mi pace. Carbo loading for four days straight works!

 

This morning's 5 miles felt great. So great that I accidentally turned it into 5.62. Whoops! 10:29 min/mi pace. Felt strong.

 

Tomrrow is yoga. THANK YOU INFANT JESUS.

 

Friday is another run. I'll try to get a "longish" run in before work because I leave a few hours early to go back to KC for BABY BLUEB'S SHOWER!

 

I leave you with this:

 

 

 

Quickie Update

Whoa! It's been a while. Sorry. I'm sure you were all waiting with baited breath.

Here's what's been going on:

Last Tuesday's 5 miler was amazing. All splits were negative and glorious: 10:47, 10:34, 10:29, 10:25, 10:08.

Ran Wednesday's treadmill 5K in 30:40, followed by weights. Standard.

Thursday yoga = great start to the morning, as per usual.

Friday's 5K somehow didn't turn out. I had wine Thursday night. *cough* Sowhatwhocares!

Saturday's 10 miles actually ended up feeling pretty great. I think I've figured out the Shot Blok puzzle for my long runs. I ate 9 blocks total (3 at 3 different times) dispersed throughout the run and I know when I'll add the last 3 for the actual race.

Sunday afternoon yoga was perfect. I felt strong and stretchy and yes...sweaty. I could have wrung some sweat out of my towel. Delightful!

Tuesday's 5 miles also did not happen. I'm not sure what happened that morning, but my alarm went off at 5:10 a.m. and I felt completely exhausted. I decided to listen to my body and just sleep. 

I had to make up for it this morning because my workout schedule will be a little off this week. We head to Austin, TX tomorrow morning to visit AV's family and meet his niece (whose 1st birthday is tomorrow!) early in the morning, so a workout definitely won't be happening then. I hope to squeeze in a couple runs while we're there, but I'm not looking for anything too intense. Thus, 7 miles this morning.

The good: IT WAS COOL THIS MORNING! When my alarm went off at 5:00 I saw the temp was 75° and perfect. I think I danced the first few minutes of the run.

The "uh-oh": I knew I had to be "speedy" in order to get back home with enough time to get ready for work. I became a little too enthused too early in the game and thus:

Mile 1-11:00 (not sure on the exact time, since I couldn't hear the beep over traffic)
Mile 2-10:45
Mile 3-10:25
Mile 4-10:10 (me: "crap")
Mile 5-10:50
Mile 6-10:55
Mile 7-11:38

The Ugly: I've not gotten such a TERRIBLE side stitch in my life. I think it was a combination of being to fast for my britches (get it) and needing another shot blok at the 10K point, which is usually when I take it. At least I've learned.

All in all, it felt good until the end. Now I'm STARVING!

9 Miles? Check. Hula Hoop? Check.

The weekend went by in approximately 38 seconds. Seems about right.

The forecast for Saturday morning seemed dismal. 60% humidity, mid-80's at 5:00 a.m., etc. etc. Pair that with a terrible stuffy nose on Friday night (and waking up during the night ON FIRE thinking I'd caught the flu or something. I hadn't, so who knows what that was.), and I cautiously set out for my scheduled 9 miles with no goal or or expectations. I just wanted to survive.

To be honest, I ended up feeling pretty dang good. It was the first long run I'd ever attempted with Nuun and I'm officially a disciple and fangirl. I do think I probably should have brought 9 ShotBloks rather than 6, as mile 8 felt pretty disastrous and weak, but overall this run went much better than I ever thought it would.

Not sure on my splits, but I think they were close to:

11:04
10:44
10:45
10:30
10:37
10:50
10:55
11:18 (crash and burn)
11:01

I finished 9.05 miles in 1:38:17 for a 10:52/mi pace. Was it fast enough for my 2:20 goal? No. Did it restore some of my confidence? Yes.

After brizza (obviously not my pic, but it's what I ordered and it was glorious) and nap one of the day, we set out to Sur La Table for the James Beard Taste America event that I'd RSVP'd to forever ago. We watched a cooking demo by Chris Bianco and got to sample some amazing homemade pasta, made right in front of our eyeballs.

(I spy tiny James Beard. Do you?)

(Cavatelli with Sweet 100 tomatoes, garlic, and basil. Topped with chive-mixed ricotta. This was amazing.)

I loved this presentation and what he had to say about working with locally-sourced food and cooking for other people. We also sampled some local crusty bread with olive oil made at St. Anthony's Monastery in Florence, AZ. I will now be planning a road trip up there and buying enough olive oil to last me a lifetime. It was outstanding.

After eating lunch at the ol' standby we came home and I took nap two for the day. I'm an infant.

Yesterday morning I tried to new-to-me class because I knew I wasn't going to make it to my regular 2:45 Sunday afternoon yoga. (Why, you ask? Well, the Chiefs game was actually being shown on TV here for once. Let's not talk about it.) 

I saw that the Gainey Village location of my gym was offering an 8:00 a.m. class of something called "FXP Coreflow," which I thought might be similar to a power yoga class:

"Fun, Xcessible, Portable! Meet us for the FXP CoreFlow Pilates/Yoga fusion class that will keep you challenged and motivated utilizing small props and your own body weight. The FXP CoreFlow class will provide a calorie burning, total body workout with a high energy, low impact, flowing sequence of moves set to music. The props utilized will deepen your core engagement, improve strength and coordination and increase flexibility. All levels welcome! Bring your yoga mat. Towels and small props will be provided."

It was more of a barre/core-strengthening class, which I'm fine with, but it had a huge emphasis on hula hoops! Holy crap. Have you ever hula hooped for two songs straight? I feel weirdly sore all around my waist in a way I've never felt before. To be honest, this was a great workout. It helped with my current desire to start barre classes again, which is how I know I've gotten a little bored with running. I just never really thought I'd use a hula hoop as part of a (decent) workout. The instructor was great and said they hooping for an hour can burn 600+ calories. What! I just might put this class in the ol' rotation. 

10 miles next Saturday. Already tired.

Nunnya biznass

After I quit wallowing in my self pity on Monday, I actually had a pretty good week of workouts.

Monday afternoon AV ended up getting tickets to the Cardinal's game from a "secret source." Seeing as it was the first game of the season and a Monday Night Football game, parking at the stadium was a goat-rodeo nightmare. 

The game was fun and Arizona eked out a last-minute win so at least we had that to comfort us while waiting an HOUR to get out of the parking lot. Woof!

Because of AZ's massive storm dump this week, there was no way I could run my scheduled 5 miles outside in Tuesday morning's swamp-like conditions. I busted out 5 treadmill miles in 50:30 (10:06/mi pace) and was bored outta my gourd, but at least I felt pretty good.

Wednesday's treadmill 5K came in at 31:20 (another 10:06/mi pace...would be nice if that could ever translate into real life. It shall not.) and I followed it with upper body weights. 

Yesterday's yoga was amazing, per usual. We did a lot of twisting and opening around the spine. We also set my quads on fire while holding Chair for approximately 53 hours while hooking our elbows to each side. 

This morning I tried some Tri-Berry Nuun in my water bottle for my first-of-the-week outside run. I wanted to try these out to see if the electrolytes have any effect on me. I'm going to use it in my water for tomorrow's 9 miles (gulp), but thought I'd test drive them today. Not sure if it was placebo effect or if these babies really work (I'm leaning towards the latter, since I've read a lot about them), but I felt great on this run. 3.22 with splits of 10:41, 10:04 and 9:44 for 3.22 in 32:16 (10:01/mi). It felt great! I'm looking forward to see how they effect me tomorrow. I finished up with a 10 minute ab video from Blogilates. It was one of her older clips, so she wasn't as "peppy" (read: annoying).

I tried to capture my before/after shots to sufficiently show a typical sweat-drench.

(Didn't mean to have the flash in that first pic. Nice faces, dork.)

Tomorrow's forecast has a 63% humidity rate at 5:00 a.m., only getting worse from there. I'm just going to force myself to be positive and do my best. And that's what matters.

Discouragement/Encouragement

I'll just say this right now: the 8 miles I ran on Saturday morning were not the best. I think one of the worst feelings ever is getting up early (alarm went off at 4:55 a.m.), eating breakfast, foam rolling (AV showed me some awesome moves that really loosened up my legs), getting completely set up and pumped to go run and then stepping outside into heat and humidity. Half a mile in I had to give into the sinking feeling that the run was not going to be speedy. I had to be OK with that, because I really didn't have any other choice. Not sure what my splits were, although I know my fastest mile was somewhere around 10:37. 8.03 at 1:27:44 for a 10:56/mi pace. Bleh. Blah. Puke.

I'm trying not to get into the "I hate running" mode that I got sucked into last year. Last week I actually considered rejoining my barre studio (even though my free gym offers barre classes), so I know I'm right on the edge of getting bored with it. Yoga helps. Yesterday's afternoon class was HARD. Yogitoes mat? DRENCHED. It was awesome. What discouragement I felt Saturday ended up floating away at the end of the sweaty hour.

I have 6 weeks until the half, and some days I'm pretty positive I'm not going to hit this 2:20 goal. Other days I feel like the fastest woman alive. (Probably delusional exhaustion talking) I am clearly not a natural runner and sometimes that makes me ask myself why the heck I signed up for this thing in the first place. But the feeling I get after a long run--even a crappy slow one like Saturday--almost always makes me forget the negative. 

If anything, I'm praying this morning's rain dump took care of some of the humidity. Please, baby Jesus!

Oops

Yesterday I had a "oh, crap" moment. For some reason I had the wrong pace time in my head for my 2:20 half goal. It's 10:41/mi, not 10:46. And yes, I know 5 seconds seems pretty measly, but to someone who isn't exactly the most natural runner, it means I need to get my act together!

Thursday morning yoga was necessary and awesome. After warming up with about 15 minutes of flow we spent the majority of the rest of class in various down-dog positions and deeeeeeeep lunges working out hamstrings and hips. Also! I learned that some people called Flipped Dog "Wild Thing," which is basically my new favorite term of life.

Another "crap" moment this morning: I babied out on core work. It was humid (no comments from the peanut gallery, mom) and I was DRENCHED in sweat when I came back from my 3.12 miles. All I could think about was a shower. I'm sure Sunday afternoon yoga will involve core work somehow.

(Sweet, another Garmin pic where it looks like you took a dip in a pool of sweat. 

Well, maybe I did.)

Tomorrow calls for another 8 miles. I might try to extend it to 8.5 to build upon last week, but we'll just see how I feel. 

I'm v. excited because in one month I will be celebrating the impending birth of Blueberry with my ex-wife. HOORAY!

No labor, but running, eating, shopping and NAPPING

Welcome to Wednesday, which feels like Tuesday but is awesomely not. Yoga already tomorrow morning, whatwhat!

Backtracking to the long weekend...

Friday was spent eating pizza (Spinatos. If you have access to it, DO IT.), which is basically my favorite way to spend a Friday night lately. I woke up in darkness of early Saturday morning and felt strangely calm and ready for 8 miles. I took my time getting ready and eating, made sure I had enough sunscreen/chapstick on, readied my Shot Bloks in my water bottle's little sleeve and took off.

This run felt pretty good. I needed some positivity after the week before. My first mile came in a little bit slow, but I can't complain about anything else. Splits were (I'm doing this from memory but this is pretty darn accurate): 11:18, 10:48, 10:45, 10:45, 10:43, 10:35, 10:49, 10:22. I knew I had to make up some time from that 10:49 that slipped in at mile 7 and really pushed myself. I ended with 8.01 at 1:26:23 with a 10:47 min/mi. One MEASLY second away from the 10:46 pace I'll need for 2:20. I will gladly take it. Everything about this run felt easy and fun. Yes, I just said running 8 miles was fun. I think it had to do with all the pups on the trail.

I swear, if I could bottle and sell the high that came with mile 5 I'd be a bzillionaire.

I came home and made a quick breakfast before we headed for our Labor Day weekend adventure to Out Of Africa. Seriously people. Safari adventures!

(Delicious celery treats)

We went to Out of Africa as kids visiting AZ, but apparently they've changed locations and all I remember is a gigantic snake being hoisted around by a bunch of people. The entire park had trams running through it every 20 minutes, or you could just walk to each destination. We chose the walking option, and got to see a whole lot of animal craziness. We watched the "Tiger Splash" show, which really stressed me out. No one got eaten, in case you were worried.

 

(Kitteh!)

 

(So sleepies)

(Hello.)

We were there for three and a half hours and decided to then set off to Flagstaff for a late lunch/early dinner. We wound our way through the scenic route that took us through Sedona, which was freaking beautiful.

 

 

However, soon hangry levels were approaching *DANGER* warning levels for both of us. I pulled up Yelp and made the executive decision that we were going to eat at Diablo Burger. It was holy, and all was right in the world. I had their veggie burger topped with pepperjack and green chiles and I think I saw God when I ate it. Paired with their amazingly herby frites and an open patio, it was everything I could have wanted at that moment. We walked around the downtown area a little bit more (really cute and Lawrence-esque) before heading back home.

 

Then I slept for 9 hours straight. Like a dead person.

 

Sunday afternoon yoga didn't happen. I took two naps that day. I am officially old.

 

Monday my gym had an abbreviated class schedule due to the holiday, so I opted for the 7:30 Yoga Flow Basic class. And basic it was, but she gave us options for more challenges. The pigeon was a godsend. It was a glorious hour.

 

We decided to be masochists at go to Ikea on a holiday. It wasn't that bad! We got there right as they opened and sped through in about an hour and a half. Picked up a new rug, coffee table and ottoman. The ottoman was in the wrong area (I know I probably should have looked more closely but come on!) and ended up being a dark green color verses the dark tan/brown we thought we picked up. It actually looks fine. Good decision on our part to spruce up the living room a bit, on the cheap.

 

Then I took a two hour nap. What was that thing about being old again?

 

Yesterday's 4-miler was a bit rough to wake up to, but I made the most of it.

 

(How badly did I want to get home?)

 

This morning's run broke the 30 minute 5K mark! Don't get too excited, the treadmill is basically the only time this will ever happen in life. Ever. Part of it was I was doing minute intervals at 6.5 and somehow forgot to take myself off that speed. I didn't know how I got so winded after about 5 minutes and then looked down. D'oh. 3.1 in 29:50. Heyo!