Restaurants, Races and Running Recap!

Good afternoon (I mean evening) according to this day light savings thing. I have much to tell you all. First off, I had a lovely evening last night at Pigalle in the theater district if Boston. I set out in my new outfit:

to meet Laura and Matt for drinks. I started with a Petite Syrah, which actually got better as it sat.

We chatted for about an hour and then headed over to Pigalle for our 9pm reservations.

The restaurant was super, super cute and small. It had a very romantic feel and it was kinda hidden, so it felt (in Laura's words) like a hidden jewel. The menu was traditional French fare and included all the favorites like Beef Bourguignon. The table started with a bottle of wine:

I actually liked this better than my first glass and wondered if the atmosphere or the storage had to do with the better taste?


First course was a field green salad with grapefruit and goat cheese. It was very, very good and the grapefruit added a hint of sourness that was a nice change of pace from my normal salad.

My entree was a tough decision, but I ended up going with the Salmon with beets, green beans, and lentils with a port reduction sauce. I am SO glad I did!!!

WOW, it was SO good. I am not a huge fan of beets, but boy was it a nice complement to the other flavors going on in the meal. The salmon was cooked medium and it tasted fresh and not fishy at all. SO, so, so good. I really loved it!


However, I would have to say that Evan's meal was the star of the evening.

This was a Cassoulet of Confit Duck Leg, Braised Lamb Shank and House-made Pork sausage. There were also a hefty amount of white beans on the bottom. I don't care so much for all the different meats, but the flavor and sauce was out of this world!


Unfortunately we were let down with the ending of meal, when Evan and I split: 

Coffee Neapolitan

Apple pop over

Sorry the pictures came out blurry, I am not really sure what happened with my camera. Anyways, like I was saying, both Evan and I said how disappointed we were with this dessert, especially after such an amazing first two courses. We felt that they went to the super market, went to the frozen section and bought these desserts to heat up. They just weren't great, but that didn't stop us for eating them.


Minus the dessert we all had a great evening and give Pigalle an 8 overall. I would highly suggest dining at Pigalle, but maybe skip the dessert.

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I woke up this morning feeling energized for the race ahead. Evan and I arrived in Davis Square at 10:30  just as lots of green fitted outfits were also arriving.

There were some pretty crazy outfits. As Evan, our friend Matt and I lined up at the starting line I could feel the pre-race jitters starting. However, they were quickly pushed away as I had to push and fight my way to even start the race (there were 6,000 runners). It was kinda an unorganized race and it was difficult to run for the first 1/2 mile, but I still felt I worked hard and had a good race. Here are my stats according to the Garmin:

Distance: 3.13

Duration: 22:24

Mile 1.02: 7:21

Mile .98: 7:03

Mile 3: 7:04

Mile .13: :56

The good news is that I got faster with each mile, which usually doesn't happen for me. My splits, usually, get slower as I get tired, but today I had lots of energy and felt like I could even go faster. It also helped that the crowd thinned out as the race progressed which made it easier to navigate the road. The bad news is I wish I could have gone faster; this is a little slower than my last 5K, but I guess every race is unique. 

Congratulations on Evan's first 5K finishing in about 28 minutes! He did a great job!

After the race the four of us (Laura joined us) attempted to find a bar to celebrate the race and watch March Madness. However, every bar had a line that looked like this:

We finally got into the Foundry 

And enjoyed a few beers and lunch. Fun day and a great way to celebrate Saint Patty's day!!

On our way home we were all feeling kinda tired, but not as tired as this lovely couple.

I guess they had a tough race! Anyways hope you all had a good weekend and if you ran a St. Patty's day race hope you had a great race!

Attempt #2

Yesterday was another amazing day here in Boston, I think the temps reached close to 60!!! I took advantage of the nice weather by going on a run with Evan. I guess everyone else had a similar idea because the streets were packed! It was actually kinda annoying at points, but I still managed to get in a good run. 


Evan stayed with me for the first 2 miles and then headed home, while I continued to run for 6.2 miles. Here are the splits:


Distance: 6.2
Duration: 54:30
Mile 1: 9:49
Mile 2: 9:13
Mile 3: 8:22
Mile 4: 8:37
Mile 5: 7:52
Mile 6: 8:53
Mile .2: 1:40


Running these past two days have regained my love for running ( I was getting a little burnt out with all this cold/snowy running and treadmill running). It was nice to be sweating for once outside on a run. I cannot wait for this spring!!!


Ok, on to the questions.....


Where and when were you happiest?
I can think of two times; the day Evan asked me to marry him and the summer after my senior year in high school when my 10 best girlfriends rented a house on the beach in Cape Cod. That was one CRAZY week!!!


If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would change my hair because it is SO thick and frizzy. I wish it could be straight and silky.


What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Finishing grad school!


What is your most treasured possession?
My computer!!! haha


What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Being stuck in the house for a LONG period of time.


Where would you like to live?
California


What is your most marked characteristic?
Friendly/outgoing


What is your greatest extravagance?
Going out to fancy dinners!!!


What are the qualities you most like in a man?
Funny, good looking, kind, caring and sensitive


How would you like to die?
In my sleep as an old, old women


Who are your favorite writers?
J.K. Rowling, and a variety of others...currently loving the book "Sarah's Key"by Titiana De Rosnay and "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen, but I haven't read any other books by those authors.....


Who are your heroes  in real life?
I would say a mix between Jackie Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. Someone who has the grace, beauty and style of Jackie, but the brains and drive of Hillary!


What is your motto?
"Live like you are dying." I know it is corny, but I think it is important to think about every day!


I would like to hear from:
Taking Back My Twenties
Runner's Kitchen
Early Morning Run


I leave you with some pictures of last night's second attempt at bowling at Sacco's Bowl Heaven and Flatbreads Pizza in Davis Square. A few weeks ago I went there with my family, but was really bad at bowling. I am happy to report I had a comeback last night and actually beat Evan in a game! Afterwards we went to a local bar to hear some music and dance. What a fun night with friends (and good food and beer!).

Ommegang: AMAZING!!!

Flatbread's pizza!!!

Fun night!

Off to pack for San Fran!!! Not sure what my blogging will be like this week, but I will be sure to get a few good runs in and take lots of pictures of amazing food, wine and beer!! Have a great week!!!

Beer and Bowling!

We are experiencing some wet weather here in Boston (at least it isn't snow!). Since it was raining, I decided to head back to my old pal Mr. Treadmill. I went back on the Woodway and ran a quick 6 miles in 53 minutes. Man, was it fast! I was sweating and huffing and puffing, but it was a good workout and I even sustained an 8.0 mph pace for a while! It was good to work up a sweat for the first time all week!

I am dealing with a little issue that I hope you guys can help out with....My training hasn't been going exactly as planned with all this snow and wedding stuff. So, I was kinda revisiting my race schedule for the spring. I noticed that a lot of bloggers are running a "Run to Remember" in Boston at the end of May. However, if I run the Providence marathon (with the DreamFar team) at the beginning of May it might be too much running in one month for my legs. However, I noticed that the The Cox marathon (Providence marathon) also offers a half marathon option at the same time/day/and place as the full marathon. So, I was thinking of running both the Cox half marathon at the beginning of May (instead of the full marathon) and then the "Run to Remember" half marathon at the end of May. There is also the New York marathon in the Fall or the Lowell marathon, and it would be SO much nicer training for my first marathon in the summer months........

What do you guys think? Do you think that would be too much running in the month of May? Would it be a bad thing not to run a marathon this spring and wait till the Fall of next year? Thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!


In other news, I had a lovely afternoon of beer and bowling today! Evan, unfortunately, had to work so I met my mom and brother for a little bowling. I had heard of this new bowling alley that opened up in Davis Square, so when we were thinking of something to do on a rainy winter afternoon I suggested checking it out!

The place was called Sacco's Bowl Haven and man was it cool! It is owned by Flatbread's, a pizza company, that offers a 10 lane bowling alley with a pizza restaurant attached. Flatbread's is an organic, locally grown minded restaurant that features unique pizzas and local beers. Also most of the tables and the bar were made from recycled bowling lanes.

VERY COOL!! We weren't hungry for pizza, but since there was a one to two hour wait we decided to sit at the bar and grab a beer! I started with a Ommegang Carranza-- Mmmm, yum!

After we finished our first round, our lane was ready and we started bowling! It was a LOT of fun, but I was not very good.....

As we bowled, I sipped on a glass of organic Cabernet Savigon that was dry and spicy and just how I like it!

Needless to say I lost both strings, but I had SUCH a fun time! I will definitely need to take Evan back, so I can practice for a future rematch!

Relaxing the rest of the night and getting ready for the big game tomorrow!

Any fun Super Bowl plans?