Weekend Happenings

Friday night:

Friday was pretty low key! I made some home made pizza for Chris and myself, complete with some cheese from the Cheese Traveler.

It was DELICIOUS and one of the best pizzas I’ve made so far! The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was the fake sausage–the lightlife brand. It didn’t even taste like sausage–just like fake meat product. At least it added a bit of a protein, but the rest of the pizza was really good. The cheese we used was mostly mozzarella but also some slices of Havarti from Demark. Chris went to the Cheese Traveler to pick up some. It was pretty fantastic on our pizza.

Perfect pre-long run dinner, if you ask me!

Saturday:

Saturday morning I finally did my 12 mile long run…after getting up early and just laying around until about 10am, I went out. I drank a few glasses of wine on Friday night so I wasn’t sure how the run was going to go. Fortunately, it went GREAT. I tackled most of the hills (only walked a few times and only for a minute or two), and powered up the tough ones. I finished 12 miles at a 10:06 pace, which is one of the fastest times I’ve done that route. One of the hills is about 2 miles long, too, so it was tough! I was pretty proud of myself. I stopped at mile 10 for some water, decided I didn’t need a Gu and ran the last two miles home.

Long Run Stats

Distance – 12 miles
Time – 2:01:30
Average Pace – 10:07/mile

For the first time I wore my Pro-Compresson socks during my run. I’ve been having a lot of tightness and a little twinge in my left calf lately, so I figured wearing them couldn’t hurt. I actually really loved wearing them! I got them on sale a few months ago in the hot pink color, they’ve just been waiting in my drawer for marathon training to finally amp up.

Needless to say, I was a fan! Just hoping my calf starts to feel 100% soon!

Anyway, after devouring some leftover pizza for lunch, I spent most of the afternoon on the couch watching Dateline: Real Life Mystery. Man, that show sucks you in!

Saturday was also my friend Lyndsay’s birthday! We had reservations at the Ginger Man in Albany on Western Ave. I lived down the street from this restaurant for four years during and after college and had never been. Finally Saturday was the night! My sister and I each got a class of the Pino Grigio, which was pretty tasty.

Once our party got there we sat in the back with our group. My friend Melissa and I shared the cheese board for an appetizer. We chose the following cheeses: the Dublin Irish Cheddar, the House Blend, and the Boursin, which was blended goat and cream cheeses. The board came with crackers, fruit and some dried cranberries. All of the cheese was delicious.

For my meal I got the veggie sausages, with quinoa and cous cous, which was $22. For that price I was expecting a tasty entree.

However, I was not a fan of this meal. I didn’t like the sauce that it was served with. I couldn’t put my finger on the flavor but it just wasn’t great. The beet sausage tasted like beets, but not really much else. I like beets, but lets be honest, they do taste like dirt. My favorite part was the curry carrot sausage because it had a sweet flavor, but the butternut squash one was so spicy it left my mouth burning and I couldn’t eat it. The quinoa was so bland that I didn’t finish it–I’ve made qunioa myself tastier than that. There was absolutely no seasoning to it, which was very disappointing. The cabbage on the side was pretty good because at least it had some flavor. Overall, a very sad entree. Normally I love the meals I order and I never complain, but this one was just bad.

My sister was kind of let down by her dinner too (the paella, she said, tasted like Uncle Ben’s rice) so for dessert we split the carrot cake. We needed redemption.

The cake was thick and moist, but the portion was small. For $7 I was expecting little bit bigger ( I can get a huge slice at the Spectrum, of all places for like $4 and something). I would have liked a few layers of cake with some cream cheese frosting in between. The flavor was good, but I guess since I’m obsessed with the carrot cake from the Spectrum (which I found out comes from J&S Watkins), I compare it all to that.

Despite my disappointing entree, everything else was pretty good at Ginger Man. The cheese board was great, and the ambiance of the restaurant was really nice and the service was good. I’d go back for drinks and desserts, and for the cheese board. 😀

Sunday:

Sunday morning I got up pretty early–my sister and I ended up taking a Body Pump class at my gym, since it is Bring a Guest Free Month. She’s used to crossfit, so it was fun to take her to Body Pump. She liked it!

Now that the Winter Series races are over with, I can do my long run on Saturdays and Sundays can be devoted to strength training. I’m hoping that body pump helps with marathon training in the long run! (no pun intended).

I’m sad the weekend is over–but I’m currently watching the Oscar Red Carpet. Anyone else think Argo is going to take over the Oscars? It was such an intense movie!