Back into the swing of things

Happy Saturday everyone!

The day started a bit foggy/cloudy/chilly, but is slowly turning into a gorgeous sunny day!

Things have gotten a little better since my last post. I think I just needed to load my plate a little more. I'm really bad with downtime, but I'm also really bad with stress...hm. Can't win. I also got cozy with my latest book - Under the Table: Saucy Tales from Culinary School:

What can I say, getting lost in a book makes me happy and calm. Love it so far...it's a really easy and entertaining read. Will keep you posted.

After a nutty day at work on Thursday I met up with Selin and a couple of her friends for some Thai food in North Beach. Super easy to get to via bus (have I mentioned my new love of busses??), I met everyone at King of Thai Noodle on Grant Avenue.

(photo courtesy of the Yelp page)

Selin promised a cheap and delicious meal, but I didn't expect dirt cheap!

I kicked things off with a pint of Fat Tire...for TWO DOLLARS. Awesome. That was (eventually) followed by some Chicken Pad Ke Mao (stir fried dal rice noodles with green long bean, bell pepper, thai chili and basil). No picture because I was SO hungry and devoured it before thinking to take a picture. Service was S-L-O-W and I swear our waitress forgot about us a bunch of times. Annoying, but the food was tasty. Another round of beers and then the bill came. We split things 4 ways...$10 meal. I was full for $10. AMAZING. Next time I think I'll give takeout a shot. Boo slow service.

By the time Friday rolled around, I was looking forward to a half day at work. Unfortunately I was so busy that half day Friday didn't happen. Ugh. To remedy things, I did a little retail therapy (only for things I actually needed, plus a cute shirt I didn't really need) and promptly vegged/passed out on the couch. I figured I'd take it easy since I had my first training run in the morning.

I started my Saturday around 9am when I popped out of bed realizing I overslept and had to rush out the door to make it to the run on time. Yeesh. As I mentioned the other day, I decided to check out The City 13.1 - the half marathon training program affiliated with Fleet Feet San Francisco. I figured I should test the waters a bit before committing to the program...I wanted to make sure it would be a good fit for me and my summer/fall training schedule.

The first run started at 9:30am on the Marina Green. 9:30?! That's late for me! haha. Whatever. I'll take it considering I won't have to battle heat and humidity - SCORE!

I got there at exactly 9:30 and didn't miss a thing. We got a quick rundown of what to expect with the program followed by a 4 minute yog to loosen up the sleepy muscles. Then we did something a little wacky - range of motion drills (penguin walks, walking leg lifts, swimming movements, knee lifts). As weird as it felt to do them, I definitely felt looser at the start.

The plan for the day was a 2 mile run to get an idea of our pace. God, I can't remember the last time I only ran 2 miles...it was weird. I knocked it out in 18:15, which I'm pretty sure is one of my fastest 2 mile runs to date. Hurrah! Afterward I chatted with a few runners and then headed over to the complimentary breakfast at the store. More mingling and snacking took place and I officially registered for the program! I'm really excited to get into a structured training program and meet new people :)

After breakfast, I made a trip to Sports Basement in the Presidio. I figured I'd check it out since I wanted to stock up on some Nuun. I had no idea what I was getting into. O my goodness. This place is insane - lots of stuff to choose from and pretty low prices. I snagged a North Face fleece for $26! Ok, it's a kid's fleece, but the women's small was $35 or something...um, I'm going to go with the one that's $10 cheaper. I also grabbed a bunch of fun nutritionals and I'm pretty sure I wandered around for a good 40 minutes. Eek. When I got home, I made sure to photograph all my goodies just for you guys haha

Check out the training shirt (right) we get with the program. Super cute, right? I don't even like purple! O yes, I also grabbed another pair of my Nike capris, since the training program also comes with a $25 coupon. The Feetures are for my sister since they were ridiculously cheap at $8.50 for a pack of 3. I was also psyched to see that they carried the Clif Shot Espresso Gels...I like these on occasion but they are really hard to come by. It was an exciting day :)

I closed out the morning with a visit to Citizen Chain to chat about bikes. I'm in the market for one and have been pretty intimidated by the reviews I've read about bike shops. Citizen Chain seemed to be the most down to earth option so I decided to give it a shot. I walked in, said I was in the market for a bike, but I hadn't owned a bike since I was 12 and didn't have a clue what to do. The guy immediately commented on my pullover (yes, I was a tool and wore my PRR pullover to the Fleet Feet run...whatever, it's my fave) and turns out he's from Bethesda. Yay East Coaster!

He was really helpful, knowledgeable and willing to help me look at not so fancy/expensive bikes. I chatted for awhile trying to figure out what sort of prices I'd be looking at and what other essential items I'd need. I'm excited to go back this week to test out some bikes!

Again, I've rambled on about a ton of different things. Sorry! More to come this evening!