time to catch up

Phew it’s been a fun, long weekend. I left for Durham on Thursday night to spend time with my boyfriend’s family for his sister’s graduation. We celebrated with beers, delish meals, and thankfully, great weather. On Thursday night I met everyone at King’s Daughters Inn, a cutesy inn right near Duke’s East Campus. The inn offered thoughtfully prepared breakfasts in the morning, bottomless coffee all day (necessary), and the rooms were so spacious and beautifully decorated.

On Thursday night we went to Motorco for beers and dinner – I was famished and inhaled a veggie bahn mi (awesome) and an edamame salad (also awesome for only being a couple bucks). I washed down dinner with a Kolsch from some local brewery that I forgot to note, and I still saved plenty room for more beers at Fullsteam Brewery across the street.

I love love ginger, so I started off with the Cackalacky, a ginger pale ale. There was a generous amount of ginger, and I loved how the spiciness and subtle bitterness danced around in my mouth with every sip. I tried the sweet potato lager, while also tasty, was a little too sweet for my liking.

I rounded out the night with their witbier: it was heavy on the coriander; and on top of that I was enormously full, so I didn’t come close to finishing that last pint.

On to the next day: After chugging three to four cups of coffee at breakfast, my bf and I romped around Duke’s lemur exhibit for a few hours. All I could think about during the hour and a half walking tour was how much I wanted to pet a lemur, but somehow I retained a ton of facts about the lemurs’ lifestyle and habitat…if you’re curious about what’s up with these little critters, just ask!

The rest of the weekend we drank tall boys in the hotel room, enjoyed meals at a variety of Durham restaurants, and sat in the traditional graduation ceremonies.

By Sunday afternoon I was exhausted and ready to get back to Richmond to veg out with my mom for Mother’s Day. I suggested we go to my old high school watering hole in Chester for margs and ‘dillas, and my mom was more than happy with that.

After a jumbo marg and a shrimp quesadilla, we waddled out of there, and I went home to sleep off the indulgent weekend. All I need now is a kale salad and infinity glasses of water and I’m good to go this week!

sore shoulders, tired legs

Yesterday was my favorite day of the entire year, and to my surprise, it had nothing to do with the fact that it was Cinco de Mayo. I barely embraced the holiday: I ended up making lunch at home instead of getting tacos AND I got a TAKE OUT quesadilla from Continental Divide. The dilla was good, but it was no taco. I did have a Corona but to say I enjoyed it is an overstatement – I merely chugged it out of pure dehydration while waiting at the bar for my quesadilla.

So let me explain what went down yesterday. Tuesday morning I knocked out my hilly 7-miler, worked all day, and then went out on the River for my first ever kayaking excursion. My shoulders and hip flexors are SO sore, but I was probably not paddling in the most efficient way possible. My fearless leaders took me out at Pony Pasture and we kayaked down to the 14th street take out. Highlights included: kayaking down a 14 ft. drop, rolling out of my kayak three (maybe four) different times, surviving a multitude of rapids, and actually, surviving altogether. I didn’t take any pictures, and at times I probably looked terrified, but overall I am so proud I made the three hour trek down the James and I can’t wait to do it again.

Once we got off the river we drank a much needed Z Dam Ale (Legend’s new brew named after a dam on the James River, how appropriate) and then I went home, ordered that quesadilla, and fell asleep minutes after inhaling my dinner.

My hip flexors are pret-ty sore today, so I don’t know if I’ll make it out for a run…

i love tacos

Well, my alarm went off at 5:02am this morning. I jumped out of bed; threw on a tank, shorts, and a head lamp; and ran out the door in my old, crummy running shoes since my Asics were still soaking wet from yesterday’s run. This morning’s 7 mile run started out at a 7:50min/mi pace. We dipped down into the 7:40s, and on more hilly parts, hovered right around 8:00min/mi. UNTIL we approached the hills from hell. I didn’t know the route in advance (and I’m glad I didn’t know what I was in for, or I would have bailed at mile 5), so I was way surprised when we ran an entire mile DOWN the steepest hill of all time, only to have to run back UP it to finish. Hoooooos achy from that run right now? This guy.

So back to yesterday: my shoes are soaked because we ran around Belle Isle along the pipeline, and I guess that water level was high as the sky. We were ankle deep in water at mile four and had to run the last 1.6 miles with heavy, wet feet. After that adventure, a few of us hopped over to Alamo BBQ for a beer and dinner, where I appropriately celebrated pre-Cinco de Mayo with a fish taco.

Just so everyone is aware, I love love love tacos, thus today marks one of my favorite holidays (next to my birthday and Christmas). While I deem it appropriate to eat tacos for every meal of the day, in celebration of this occasion, I’ll be getting tacos for both lunch and dinner. If you’re in Richmond and you’re looking to celebrate, here’s a list of places where I get my taco fix: Continental Divide, Don’t Look Back, The Daily, & Union Market (they only have tacs on Mondays though, ugh). Oh, and when I’m itching to get a margarita, it’s Continental Divide or die.

friends at a farm house

This past weekend I hung out with my favorite pals, drank some favorite beers, and ran a few favorite miles. On Friday and Saturday I hung out in Delaplane, VA with my best girlfriends from college. We had pizza, drank wine, ate all the cheese and crackers, and when given the chance, I threw a beer or two in the mix. Yeah, there’s nothing like a fresh wheel of brie that’ll bring the girls together.

                                                                                                       I did get a baby run in on Saturday morning with two of my avid runner friends, Amanda & Christine. The pic below sheds some light on the beautiful country scenery, which made 3-ish miles fly by.

We also got out for a morning hike and had a lovely lunch at Hunter’s Head Tavern before enjoying an extended happy hour in advance of our hostess’s homemade lasagna dinner (yum, omg, so yum).

I had to get back to Richmond for a 5K/beer release at Legend Brewing Co. on Sunday. So many friends came out for the run around Belle Isle (thanks friends!) and of course, to imbibe in some beers on Legend’s patio. I’ve reached lobster status at this point after being outside for approximately 48 hours straight.

Well, it’s another 80 degree day, so after I sweat my brains out during my PM run around Church Hill, I’ll probably shower and sleep for so many hours in an effort to recover from this weekend.

a week full of running and beer

Tuesday I was feeling pret-ty tired. I think the past two weeks caught up to me, and I just felt overall drained. I worked from home the latter half of the day, and then took a two hour nap (and I never nap so that was proof I was wiped). I considered taking another rest day (two in a row?!) but slowly and surely I put on my running shoes and got out the door in an effort to run AT LEAST five miles. Well, glad I got out there…I ran negative splits starting at 8:54 and ending with 7:43. My legs felt like a ton of bricks, but I guess I was cruising around at a normal pace. I finished off the day with a dinner date with my mom — we had some Hardywood beers at The Village before walking down the street to enjoy ramen at this new spot on VCU’s campus, Shoryuken Ramen.

Wednesday, I had full intentions of running with my afternoon running group, but then I remembered The Answer was releasing their first IPA release, so I put on my running shoes and ran the 4.6 miles over to the brew pub. I was obviously eager beaver to get a beer because I knocked out all those miles with 7:35min/mi splits, weeee! I figured I’d just Uber home or see someone I knew who would kindly give me a ride home; and luckily, I did see a few friendly faces and after two tasty IPAs, I got a ride back home no problem.

On Thursday, I finally felt back to my regular self/not so sleepy sally, and I woke up on my own at 5:20am. Any other day I would have been so happy to wake up that early on my own, ready to run out the door, but on Thursdays my running group meets at 5:30am so I completely missed out on that run. I hopped over to the gym to get a treadmill run in and then sped over to Ellwoods for my new favorite green smoothie that has so much ginger in it is almost too spicy, but in a good way…you know?

It’s like that one time I took a ginger shot at the Earth Day Fest…

At 6pm I met my PM running group at Isley Brewery for another 5 miles. As per every other night this week, I had two beers and called it a night. Next week I’ll probably try not to drink beers every night of the week, but we’ll see if I actually follow through…

It’s pretty chilly and rainy today, so I might just romp around for thirty minutes at a slow and steady pace and call it a day!

Carytown 10K + Hardywood 4-miler

This morning I woke up to my alarm at 7am and laid in bed listening to the rain patter on my window for a solid 20 minutes. I finally jumped out of bed and drove .3 miles up the street (could have walked/ran, but you know, it was raining…) to pick up my bib for the Carytown 10K. I ran into some friendly faces at the starting line, so then I decided to actually run the race with them instead of jog it. 45:59 mins later, 10K was done, and 10 min after that I was showered and in bed watching Veep.

I left my bed to grab lunch at Union Market (favorite) and grocery shop, and before I knew it, it was time to run again.

My best pal Ally and I were going to run the Hardywood 4-miler, but because we waited until day of to register, we decided to forego the $40 registration fee and just run to Hardywood to have a beer and cheer on the registered runners. After talking for hours and finishing off two Sidamo Coffee Stouts, we attempted to run home (we made it down the block), then ultimately just walked back to the Fan.

running the past few days

Tuesday morning I woke up bright an early to go run with my running group, however, I was feeling quite sluggish. Despite the beautiful 55 degree morning (low humidity, cool breeze), I drove to the gym and knocked out 7 miles on the treadmill in just shy of an hour. I would have cranked out those miles a little faster had I run with the group, but being at the gym allowed me to lift a weight and do a crunch or two before heading home to inhale some eggs, shower, and make my way to the brewery (work). Wednesday morning I was feeling exceptionally sluggish and woke up with sore hamstrings and hip flexors, ugh. I didn’t do much out of the norm yesterday, so I can only attribute my sore legs to the ten lunges I did at the gym after Tuesday’s run. Seriously, no matter how often I do a lunge, I’m always so sore after.

Yesterday, I went out for a run around the Fan after work. The weather was so nice when I stepped out the door, so I figured I’d get at least five miles in. Well, with three miles in (and 1.5 miles from home) the skies went from blue to black and it immediately started down pouring. My causal jog turned into a full sprint back home in the pouring rain and gusty wind. Running in the rain isn’t the worst, but when I got home I realized my nose was bleeding all over my white t-shirt, so I must have not only looked a) like a crazy human for running in the rain, but also b) insane with blood smeared all over my face and soaking wet torso.

This morning running assumed its regularly scheduled program, and I met up with my AM running group. I thought I’d go slow and steady because my legs were still fatigued from the lunge, but we cruised through 7 miles at about a 7:45/mi pace, phew.

           

I’m off to DC for work and hopefully I’ll get some city miles under my belt in the next few days. In the interim, I’m going to finish off this choco milk and make some plantains.