Over the Long Weekend: Feasting and Streaking

Over the past few days I have indulged. I've slept in. I've lounged in pjs. I've consumed extra cups of coffee in the morning and beers with friends in the afternoons and evenings. M. and I have had two Thanksgiving dinners. The first was a delicious meal hosted by some friends. There were about twenty people there, including our two closest friends in Anchorage. My friend and I were both attired in outfits that involved oxblood, as you can sort of see from the photo below. It was a fun evening spent chatting and eating. There was an array of dishes: ham, turkey, mushroom and rice dressing, cranberry ambrosia, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, and roasted root vegetables. My contribution was a sweet potato casserole. The selection of desserts was also impressive with pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheese cake, almond cake, a caramel tart, sweet potato ice cream with candied pecans, and chocolates. I tried a little of everything, including the dreaded brussel sprouts. I found out that roasting them is definitely the way to go. While I don't see them becoming a staple in our household, as M. doesn't like them, I enjoyed them and was able to cross an item off my 32 in 32 list.

Thanksgiving Dinner Take 1

I also wanted to make my own dinner since I knew that some of the dishes that I associate with Thanksgiving would not be on the table at dinner on Thursday evening. We had initially thought about doing our second meal on Friday, but we decided to meet up with some friends at Midnight Sun Brewery for a late lunch and a couple of beers and then to acquire our Christmas tree instead. So on Saturday I cooked a smaller scale meal at home including my favorite cornbread dressing as well as green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and some more sweet potato casserole.

Thanksgiving Dinner Take 2

Tree 2012

Although I've been indulging more than usual, I've also been continuing to hit my yoga mat and logging the miles. I have practiced yoga for 25 consecutive days now, and I have noticed that I'm making some gains in upper body strength. I'm still not as strong as I would like to be, but I can hold plank for a bit longer now and downward facing dog is becoming less intense for me -- though it is still not the resting pose that it is for more advanced practitioners. I've also noticed some minor gains in flexibility and that I'm becoming a little less Monty Burns-ish in my posture. A friend back in the Midwest convinced me to attempt the 2012 Holiday Running Streak that Runner's World is challenging readers to do from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. Initially I wasn't sure about starting a running streak while in the middle of attempting to maintain a daily yoga practice for a whole month, but at four days into running at least a mile a day I'm feeling relatively optimistic.

Are you participating in the holiday running streak? What is your favorite dish at Thanksgiving?

Reasons to Smile

Although some of the troubling issues that I posted about a couple of weeks ago still persist, I have been feeling a lot more positive the past week. My life isn't perfect, but I do have reasons to smile. Here are just a few.

I picked out a paint color for my home office and our awesome handyman (or possibly his son) is coming to paint it this week. A furniture repair place is coming out soon to give me a bid on my desk. With a little bit of luck, I might have a good workspace at home by the end of the month.

One of my nieces, Norah, just turned two years old - though she insisted to us the other day on Google hangout that is now three. It is so much fun to see her and interact with her over Skype or Google now because she is really talkative and is learning new phrases and things all the time. (I also have to say that I love how much these technologies have improved since I started using them a few years ago when I lived in Spain.) My other niece, Isla, who was born in January, is starting to stand and walk and jabber. I can't wait to see her again soon - hopefully during winter break!

Isla sports her fall colors!

I'm headed to a conference in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to hang out with some far-flung early modernist friends, hear some interesting panels, and get some feedback on some of my own research. I'm also hoping that I'll get to see some beautiful fall foliage and enjoy some warmer temperatures for a few days.

I have awesome new rain boots and have been getting quite a few chances to wear them. However, this week the forecast is calling for some dry days and possibly even a bright and sunny one.

M. and I've been continuing to explore our new city. We initiated our Costco membership, which was both terrifying and thrilling at the same time. We had dinner and drinks out with new friends a few nights ago. I may have discovered the best skillet of mac & cheese in the state at Subzero. We have date plans to go to a concert at a local venue and check out another new-to-us restaurant later in the month, as well.

Speaking of M., he gives me a lot of reasons to smile. Only occasionally, such as when I think of things like my spouse's apple juice hoarding tendencies or the iPhone 5 debacle*, is my smile more of a smirk.

I love my cooky family!

What's been making you smile here lately? I'd love to hear about something positive that's been happening in your life!

* This incident refers to the time that my spouse usurped my yoga class time in order to trade in the phone I was perfectly happy with so that he could get himself the iPhone 5 and give me his iPhone 4. It ended in much shaming and compensatory Mexican food. 

My Last Day in NYC

Saturday was my last day in NYC, and it was full of lovely things. Although it was raining heavily when I woke up, I really wanted to go for a last run in Central Park and to prove to myself that I could do 6 miles as half-marathon training was about to be underway. I pulled on my running clothes and splashed my way around the loop for 6 miles. Near the midway point of my run, a woman passed me going the other direction and said, "Good job! Keep going!" This was the first time a runner in the park had spoken words of greeting or encouragement to me, and it was really nice. Call me corny, but it felt symbolic to be urged to "keep going!"

Later, I met up with a good friend of mine who moved to Manhattan about a year ago. We had brunch at Fig and Olive in the Meatpacking District. We lingered over our meal, sharing a piece of marzipan cake for dessert. Then we went for a walk along the High Line. As my friend Ash pointed out, it gives you that sweetheart view: you can see far more than you can on the ground but you can see it much closer than you can from way up above. And with my obsession with green spaces tucked into urban ones, I highly approve of turning a dilapidated rail line into a park. I definitely recommend going, even though it is highly probable that it will be overrun with tourists when you go.

At the end of the High Line, I said goodbye to Ash and headed to Brooklyn to do some exploring there. My tour guide was the awesome woman known to some as Rad in Brooklyn. We have been blog and internet friends for a few years and we were able to meet up when I was in NY in July. I wanted to spend a bit of time in Brooklyn, as I hadn't ventured beyond the borders of Manhattan during my time in the city this summer. She took me on a walk through Prospect Park and then we had some delightful and locally-made ice cream at Ample Hills Creamery. I tried the Peanut Butter Chocolate Flake and the Toffee Bar Crunch before settling on the Salted Crack Caramel, which was excellent, but not as good as some of the other salty caramel renditions I've had.

I had planned to meet up with my Airbnb hostess for a drink when I got back from Brooklyn, but we had a miscommunication, so I ended up grabbing some quick dinner and then heading back and packing up my suitcase to fly home the next day. I'm glad that I got to spend time in New York and that I got to experience it as both a tourist and, to some extent, more like a local. I hope that I get back there soon.

Race Report: Get Lucky 21K

On Friday M. and I headed to the Cities for a weekend of half-marathon and birthday fun. We also had a an expensive meeting with an attorney because we have to file a petition for his continued permanent residency. After our meeting, we headed to the Mall of America to scout some tops that aren't covered in stains for me to wear this summer and to have dinner with my running and blogging friend Lisa and an academic friend in the area, who brought a friend of hers who was visiting from Boston. We ate at Tucci Bennuch in the MoA. I was actually quite impressed with the food. I had a delicious risotto and between that and the bread I felt sufficiently carbed up for my race the next day.

Lisa and Me

After a night of relatively fitful sleep, I woke up a little after 6am, downed some water, coffee, and toast, got dressed, brushed my teeth, got the plumbing going, pinned on my bib, checked the FB birthday greetings that were starting to come in, and woke up my wonderful spouse who drove me down to the race start sight. Once we arrived, I got in line for the port-a-potties. By the time I came out, the race was just about to start. I gave M. my hoodie and joined the crowd funneling into the start line.

At the start

I ran the first few miles with the 2:25 pace group. The pacer was a great guy named Tom who said he was pacing 36 events this year and had run something like 212 marathons. Incredible. I always love chatting with the pacers. At a water stop around mile 5 I lost the group. I was struggling a little bit with the humidity and my lack of conditioning. 65F felt hot after months of running in temps in the teens and 20s. I slowed my pace down a little bit and tried to find a comfortable zone. This and the fact that a lot of the faster runners had reached the turn around point and there was a lot of cheering on both sides kept me pepped up until I had reached the turnaround myself just after mile 6.5.

The mile or so after I turned around went well. I was feeling pretty good. At the next water stop, I walked for a couple of minutes to take a GU and drink some water with it so that it would settle. I felt pretty good for the next mile or so. The GU had given me some calories and was helping me to deal with the fatigue that was starting to set in. However, at mile 10 I could definitely feel the difference between my current conditioning and my conditioning this past autumn even as I was dealing with injury. My chest was hurting a little bit and part of me just wanted to lay down and take a nap. I pressed on, though, mostly running and occasionally walking. At the last water stop, I noticed that the 2:30 pacer wasn't behind me anymore. I was irritated with myself about that a little bit. I had wanted to stay ahead of that group, but I hadn't even noticed them passing me. Clearly, that was a sign that I was just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

I was really happy when I hit the last mile. I knew I was a little bit off my time goal, but I was glad to be out there on a beautiful day with lots of other runners. I thought a little bit about some of the other races I'd run and how much I love running. I finished with a time of 2:31:25.

Finishing. Yay!

All in all, I'm glad that I did the race. It was a festive atmosphere among the runners at least. For the most part things like crowd support and music on the course were pretty minimal. I do think Team Ortho could have put a couple more water stops along the course. It seemed like other than at the start/finish line, there were only a couple of biffies at each of the water stops. The course itself was an out and back and consisted of mostly sort of gently rolling hills. There was a nice view of the skyline for a couple of miles. However, it wasn't the most scenic of races. The St. Paddy's day madness was pretty much what carried this off as an event.

After the race, M. met me, while I stretched and downed a bottle of water. I ran into a couple of running friends and chatted with them for a few minutes. Then I was off to shower, have a birthday brunch, and enjoy a day in the Cities which included a stroll around Lake Calhoun and a delicious Coo Coo for Coconut birthday cupcake from Sweet Retreat.

Cupcake Porn

I have 7 weeks between now and the time that I toe the line at the Capital City Half-Marathon in Columbus. This week will be a low mileage week, as I'm recovering and headed to Boston for a conference and other academic activities. Post-recovery, though, I'm looking forward to some speed work outs and some more double digit long runs. I aim to be in better shape that first weekend in May and to run a faster race than I did on Saturday.

Mad for Mozart

I mentioned in my recent race report that M. and I went to the Minnesota Opera on Saturday to see Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti.  Normally, I would avoid a late night the night before a race (and normally I would watch college football on a fall Saturday), but I love the opera and only get to go once or twice a year.

We had dinner at PazzaLuna in St. Paul, and it was delicious. We didn't have a reservation and it was packed with other opera-goers, but we were able to sit at the bar overlooking the chefs' station and eat tasty salads, pizza, and pasta before our night of Mozart. After dinner, we walked the couple of blocks over to the Ordway Theater and indulged in some people watching before the performance. Although I saw opera-goers in jeans and more casual outfits, it was fun to see a number of elegant ball gowns and tuxedos. I wore a fun dress and took the opportunity to wear a pair of Fluevog boots that I purchased during my trip to Seattle last month.

The performance was fantastic. In the past few years, I have seen some very minimalist set designs and costuming - no doubt as a result of the fact that the arts have been slammed during this recession. This was not the case with this performance. It involved stage machinery that created paths and streams and lavish costumes. The soprano, Jacquelyn Wagner, has one of the strongest voices that I've heard. Though I enjoyed the faux tragic elements, M. and I both agreed that the comedic elements were done especially well. If you happen to be in Minneapolis this coming weekend and you like opera or have ever wanted to go, I highly recommend catching the Saturday night performance.

Have you ever been to the opera? Do you get all gussied up to go to the opera or the theater?

Race Report: Women Run the Cities 10 Mile

This weekend M. and I headed to the Twin Cities for dinner, a night at the opera to see Cosi Fan Tutti, and so that I could participate in the Women Run the Cities 10 Miler. I had registered for this race several months ago and had envisioned it as a fun way to do a taper run heading into the countdown for Chicago. Regular readers know that due to the issues with my IT band, though, I won't be running the Chicago Marathon. The past week or so I've been struggling to come to terms with the fact that this 10 mile race was going to be my last of the fall and have been bouncing back and forth between acceptance and frustrated negativity. I have to admit that part of me secretly hoped that I would line up on race day and nail 10 pain-free miles and that I would be able to put Chicago back on the table. However, that was not the case.

Yesterday morning I woke up after a few hours of sleep, dressed, and downed a cup of coffee and some breakfast. M. and I headed down to Minnehaha Park, where I met up with Lisa of Lisa's Yarns and Kyria of Travel Spot. It was so nice to meet both of these awesome ladies. After a photo op, we lined up to start. A few weeks ago, Lisa and I had discussed running the first couple of miles together, but she has been smoking up the pavement lately and I am obviously not in top form. Kyria is also speedy, so we all wished each other luck and took off to run our separate races.

With Kyria and Lisa before the race

Hundreds of awesome women, ready to run

My hip felt tight from the start and had a dull ache going by mile 2. By mile 5, my hip was cramping. Knowing that I could finish the last 5 miles - having finished several long runs with similar hip pain - and knowing that this was my last race of the fall, I gutted this one out. I was mentally in the zone and, while I did do some walking and stretching to try to shake the hip out and reduce the cramping at various points, my conditioning and overall ability to run by feel are definitely positives to take away from this training season. I don't know what my splits were because my Garmin died earlier this week (RIP, old friend.), but I ran with the 10:30 pacer for a couple of miles and stayed ahead of the 11:00 min/mile pacer the entire time. My official time was 1:45:45, averaging out to a 10:34 min/mile.

With my arms raised in victory, but sadly mostly obscured by another runner

The course was beautiful - starting in Minnehaha Park, winding up to the Franklin Avenue Bridge, and coming back down the East River Parkway, before finishing back in the park. The sun was shining, the leaves were just beginning to change colors; it was cool but not too cold; and it was just an amazing experience to run 10 miles with over a thousand other women. The course had a few challenging inclines, but it felt very fast to me.  There was a beautiful view of the Minneapolis skyline from one of the bridges, and I wished that I had been able to snap a picture of it. Maybe it's because it was my first 10 mile race, maybe it was because I wasn't constantly checking my Garmin, but the miles just ticked by even with the hip pain. Probably, though, it was because the energy on the course was awesome. There weren't many spectators, but the volunteers were fantastic (no fingers in cups here!) and there was a lot of camaraderie among the participants, as a number of teams were running and many friends were running together and chatting away the miles. I would love to do this race again next year!

After the race, I felt good about my time but was hurting pretty badly. I spent a few minutes stretching and drank a bottle of water. Then, M. and I headed out to meet back up with Lisa and Kyria at Victor's 1959 Cafe for a delicious brunch. I refueled on the Cuban scramble and split a mango pancake with my husband. We chatted about running, jobs, travel, and languages. Not surprisingly, I failed to take any photos at brunch, but it was a great time. Afterwards, we headed our separate ways, and I came home to do some class prep for the week and some other work that I needed to get done.

How was your weekend? Any races? Any fantastic meals?

Travels: Montreal

First off, while I was in Montreal, the awesome Jodi featured me on her blog, so go check out my interview with her!

After several days with my husband's family in Toronto, we took the train to Montreal to spend a day and a half there.  M. had been several times, but this was my first trip to Montreal.  It wasn't nearly long enough to explore such a truly excellent city.  Although I am very partial to Chicago, Puebla, New York, and Toronto, on first impressions, I would put Montreal up there as one of the best cities in North America.  It had an incredibly cosmopolitan kind of vibe and almost everyone that I saw of all genders, races, sizes, and ages was incredibly stylish.  If McGill wanted to hire me, I wouldn't hesitate to go.

At the quays

M. and I packed as much as we could into our time there.  Once we arrived and got checked into our hotel, we immediately set off to explore.  We walked around the quays of the Old Port, saw some street theater in the city's historic district, and had a delicious dinner at one of the many restaurants on Rue St. Denis, followed by dessert at Juliette & Chocolat, and a couple of microbrews on a bar patio.  I had the Dieu du Ciel Rosée d'Hibiscus, which was a lovely wheat beer with a very floral nose on it.

Street theater in the old city

M's brownie at Juliette & Chocolat

Tasty Microbrews

I had wanted to run in Montreal, but the weather forecast for the second day we were there was threatening thunderstorms.  I decided to forgo my run in order to head out earlier in the day and hopefully beat the rain for a hike up the mountain with M.  The views of the city from the mountain were incredible and well worth the trek.  I saw lots of runners out and felt a little bit guilty for having skipped my run.  I think I got in some decent exercise, though.  By the time M. and I made it down from Mont Royal, it was lunchtime and we were starving.  In order to be fair and scientific we decided to sample bagels from both Fairmount Bagel and St. Viateur Bagel.  Both were delicious, but I'm going to give St. Viateur a slight edge.  We spend the afternoon museum-ing and doing some shopping as the rain poured down.  In the evening we got all gussied up and went to a light show at the Basilica. Unfortunately, it was still raining so I didn't get any pictures.  Also it was a shame that the light show turned out to be mainly cheesy historical reenactments of important events in the building of Notre Dame and it was pretty underwhelming.  Our dinner made up for it, though.  We had an incredible meal at a restaurant in the old part of the city, called Aix Cuisine du Terroir.

From Mont-Royal

I would have loved to have spent another day in Montreal, but we were due in Boston on Friday evening so we woke up early the next day and picked up our rental car to drive to make our way down.

That's all for now.  I have a recap of my time in Boston and a race report to post soon.  I'm hoping to catch up on everyone's blogs later today and tomorrow.  We just got home from our vacation last night (delayed for a few extra hours due to the discovery of a leaky front tire while still in the airport parking garage), and I had to be up and on campus early this morning for a MA defense, as I was sitting on the committee.

What is your favorite city in North America?  What do you love about it?

Eating Local: Northstar is My Compass

One of my favorite restaurants in Columbus, OH is Northstar.  It was one of the places that I missed the most when I lived in Spain and one of the places that I'll greatly miss again when I move here in a few short weeks.  I love their coffee, their brunch menu, their sweet basil burrito, their mojitos, their commitment to local and organic food.  I usually eat there four or five times a month.  It has long been the default Sunday brunch place for my husband and me.  I often end up there for a dinner every few weeks with some of my girlfriends. 

Their customer service is excellent.  I've never encountered an unfriendly employee of the restaurant.  Once my husband and I ordered some carry-out and they messed up his order.  When he got home, he realized that instead of a burger they had given him a veggie burger.  A quick phone call and fifteen minutes later, and an employee was at our door with the correct order and a couple of vouchers for free entrees.  (I ate the veggie burger that they had accidentally given him for lunch the next day.)

While their menu isn't the most expansive, everything that I've had (and I've had pretty much everything after being a regular patron for years) is delicious, fresh, and arrives at the right temperature.  And that's why I'm going for breakfast there tomorrow.

Do you have a favorite restaurant in your city or town?  What keeps you going back to it over and over again?