Racing through NYC - Part I

This past weekend I took a whirlwind trip to the east coast to run the More | Fitness Magazine Women's Half Marathon with my sister. 

See, about a year and a half ago (maybe 2?), sister asked me how she could get into running and I directed her to the best newbie resource I knew of: Couch-to-5k. Next thing you know, she's running her first 5k and nerding out about running and then the half marathon seed was planted. Muahahaaaa!

Y'all should know by now that I loooove sucking people into the world of running. It's a hobby of mine. Imagine how amazing it was to hear that my (older) sister was getting psyched to run a half marathon?? It's like double the fun. 

She settled on the More | Fitness Half because it was an all women's race (unlike Nike, this race is completely closed to men) and pretty close to home. At first I thought about flying out and cheering, then I realized the race fell in perfectly with my training schedule and felt compelled to register. In my haste, I failed to recognize how rough traveling would be (on the bank account and body) and debated just eating the registration fee and cheering from afar...very far.

Apparently the airfare gods were on my side as I found reasonable last minute airfare and my 36 hour trip to the east coast was in the works. Here's how it all went down...

Saturday

7:45am EST

Wheels down Newark. Delayed. Did not pack for 37 degree weather. Begin worrying about my sparse packing job and how I plan on surviving on 2 hours sleep. 

9:00am EST

WARMTH! Choux Factory breakfast with friend and her friend. Loopy and plane infested. I do not recommend meeting new people in that state.

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Itty bitty spot near the UN that serves tasty creme puffs (I recommend the original) at all hours. I opted for a chocolate choux (that I did not enjoy), an egg white veggie omelet (blah), and a massive coffee. It can get a little claustrophobic in there since it's a super narrow space with room for 2 small tables. Definitely get your choux to go!

9:45am EST

Bright idea to kill time by getting manicures/pedicures/massages. While this seemed like a great idea at the time, we soon realized that we didn't know of nail salons in the area. Ah well. Found one eventually. I love massage chairs.

12:30pm EST

Meet up with sister and race packets. Race swag was pretty good. Reusable drawstring bag, delicious smelling Lady Speedstick, nifty 34-oz water bottle w/ice insert, cotton t-shirt, calcium vitamin chew, lady products, and a kazoo. Hm. 

2:00pm EST

Wandering the streets of NYC. Checking out weird bear sculptures.

Late lunch with friend #2 at Chop't. 

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I miss Chop't. Full review here. My fave: Santa Fe Salad - fried onions + turkey (or grilled chicken), Tex-Mex ranch on the side. *drool* 

3:30pm EST

Trek to hotel to check in. Stock up on water, snacks, caffeine. Veg to horrible late afternoon hotel TV. No sleeping allowed!

6:45pm EST

Dinner with friend #3 that trekked in all the way from NJ even after a monster lunch (hooray!). 

Tasty sushi at Nomado 33 (full review here).

9:00pm EST

Race prep begins! Lots of pinning, outfit laying out, D-tag attaching and water drinking. Still not as tired as I should be. Wruh-wroh!

10:45pm EST

Eyes begin to close. Who knows if they actually stay shut.

Sunday

5:45am EST

Sister up and perky. Eyes pop open for some reason. Begin long wake up period. Snack on pretzel breakfast. Take 10 minute pauses between putting on items of clothing. 

6:30am EST

Freak out. Temps in mid-30s. Do not have enough clothes. No throw away clothes. Wind. It's official. Packing/planning fail. 

7:30am EST

Arrive at Central Park. Greeted by hoards of ladies decked out in pink and blue. Sister and I are in black/lilac and yellow/blue. 

Wonder how we will stand out for our cheerleaders. Cold. I moved to California for a reason. 

8:15am EST

Aaannnd we're off! It took about 10-15 minutes for us to actually cross the start line and it was CROWDED. Once we got moving, the cold and wind didn't feel so bad. Game plan - run together for first couple miles. Meet up after race.

8:40(ish)am EST

Spotted: our cheering section - nephews and brother-in-law equipped with signs around Mile 2! Wish I had gotten a picture :(

8:45(ish)am EST

Weather is now perfect for just sleeves...though I do look like a fool now that I see the picture.  

Zoom. Rocked headphones for the first time and they definitely helped me charge through the hills, which weren't as bad as I remember them being! I still wish other people didn't rock the headphones since I found myself saying 'excuse me' really loud and no one budged. Meh.

The crowds didn't let up at all during this race and there were even walkers and runners that would run/walk 3 abreast and some would hold hands! So frustrating, especially when we got to the bottleneck-y parts of the course. Also, the finish chute was literally a chute. I do appreciate all the spectators cheering on, but they spilled out into the course and made the narrow lane even narrower. Plus, I found myself zigzagging a lot during that last stretch to the finish. 

I know, I know, this was supposed to be an easy long run, but it's hard to not get all fired up at the end!

11:30am EST

Post-race glow.

I wanted to cocoon in the pile of mylar blankets it was so cold. Not sure how I'm awake at this point...must be the proud (running) momma in me! Nothing like seeing a newbie excited about finishing!

Tired yet? Yeah, now you know how I felt! There's more to come in Part II!

NYC Bound

Hey all! I'm headed east for the weekend to run this with the sister:

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A smidge over 2 laps through Central Park...eek. I plan on taking this as an easy run, but I have a feeling that will be tough. Part of me feels like I should show Central Park who's boss since last time I ran through there (NYC Half Marathon 2008), I was totally crushed. Stay tuned for a race recap, fun eats, and 36 hours in photos!

Happy Friday :)

What's on your weekend agenda??

Atlantic Grill lunch and more NYC!

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone is enjoying the weather!

Thought I'd take a few minutes to fill you in on Atlantic Grill, a restaurant on the Upper East Side where we had lunch yesterday afternoon. We met up with a friend from college that had heard a bunch of good things about this restaurant so we decided to check it out.

Friend and I split two sushi rolls, a Crunch Spicy Tuna Roll (Crab, Avocado, Scallion) and a BBQ Eel Avocado Roll.
Both rolls were delicious! We obviously didn't read the description for the crunchy spicy tuna roll because neither of us expected the crab meat...but we didn't mind it at all! It was a great blend of flavors! The sauce on the bbq eel roll was a little tangy - didn't expect that either, but in the hot afternoon sun, I actually didn't mind it.

In addition to the rolls, we each got appetizer sized salads. I did the Atlantic Chopped Salad (Cucumber, Feta, Capers, Tomatoes, Olives, Roasted Peppers, Onions, Chick Peas, Fresh Basil, Croutons, Parmesan Cheese, Balsamic Vinaigrette), which was tasty, but not anything too exciting. I think it could have used some avocado ;p
Friend got the Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad (Frisée, Candied Walnuts, Champagne Vinaigrette). It looked excellent with the golden and red beets...plus, can't go wrong with goat cheese and greens!
Jamie got what might have been the big winner of the table - Crab Cake BLT (Avocado, Beef Steak Tomatoes, Applewood Bacon, Chipotle Remoulade, Toasted Brioche & Homemade Potato Chips). This looked AMAZING. I only tried the potato chips, which were cooked to crispy perfection, but Jamie said the sandwich was awesome.
How yummy does that look??? The roll was perfectly molded to the stuff inside!

Overall, it was a delicious lunch, but a little on the pricey side. The portions were pretty large considering I was pleasantly full from my appetizer salad and sushi roll. I'd say check it out if you're in the area, but don't make a special trip just to eat there.

After lunch we walked 20 blocks or so to digest and shop. I saw a couple cute bags and skirts at Pookie & Sebastian. Any time I go shopping with Friend, we manage to wander in this store and it's rare I ever find anything to try on because there are a ton of super girly, floofy shirts...not really my style. I was shocked at how much I wanted to try on this time around! I refrained from buying anything though.

We did dessert at...SURPRISE, Pinkberry. Man, this blog is turning into how many times can Karena eat frozen yogurt in a month! We stopped in and OH MY GOD there was something STANKY in that place. I don't know if it was the trash or what, but it smelled so wrong. We all really wanted yogurt so we stood there for a second and decided ok, if everyone else is still ordering yogurt, then whatever, we'll take it to go. So we did. Can you guess what I got? haha.
We walked a few more blocks with our yogurts when we decided to stop at Redemption Bar for a bathroom/sit down/drink break while we waited for college friend numero dos. I've been to Redemption a few times, but I never realize what it is until someone brings it to my attention. We sat down and Jamie and I each got a drink while waiting. I didn't realize that it wasn't happy hour and that I was staring at the specialty cocktail list so here's a picture of my TWELVE DOLLAR MOJITO. Ugh.

Ridiculous, right? It was a really tasty mojito, but I guess I had sticker shock for a second there. I secretly was hoping it was going to come in a pint glass :\
We hung out at friend numero dos's apartment for a little while as we waited for our train back to the jerz and then walked over to Buttercup Bake Shop to pick up some cupcakes for my nephews.
I was in a rush (since we had about 20 minutes to order, pay and get over to Penn Station - poor planning, I know) so I frantically picked out 6 different cupcakes to bring home. We got 2 Red Velvet, 2 Devil Dog, 1 Buttercup Golden with Vanilla Icing and 1 Buttercup Golden with Chocolate Icing.
I liked how they added the tissue paper so they wouldn't fly around. It's like they KNEW we were rushing to get somewhere and would probably jostle the cupcakes! Genius!

As soon as we got back to the house, my mom had a whole dinner spread ready for us. TONS of food! Jamie put in a special request for grilled sardines:
My mom made these one of the first times Jamie came up to visit and apparently they were so good, he was hooked on them. I tried them this time around and really liked them. They were just drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and thrown on the grill. My mom served them with a soy sauce/vinegar/lime sort of sauce. (I needed Jamie to cut the head off before I was willing to eat one of these).

Also on the menu - Teriyaki Ginger Glazed Salmon. My mom makes this all the time and it's a pretty safe bet. The sweetness of the teryiaki sauce is great with the ginger. This one had a ton of freshly grated ginger and was a nice surprise.
As if that wasn't enough food, my mom also made two of these:
She and my dad each ate one of those little sections on the left and Jamie and I split one of those long pieces on the right. Pardon my lack of steak cut knowledge! Needless to say, we had mountains of leftovers!

The eating continued this afternoon after a brief morning run. I'll get into the details later - gotta break away from the blogging and hang with the fam. Movie time with the nephews!! Hope everyone is eating well :)

Engine engine number nine

On the New York Transit Line...
That's what got stuck in my head after I saw this sucker at the 14th Street subway exit. There were all these little subway trolls all over the place!

Today was a crazy full day of food and walking! We started off with a large breakfast spread at the house and hopped on a train into NYC. Our plan was to explore the shops at Chelsea Market, meet up w/a friend for lunch and High Line Park and brave the crowds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Of course, an adventure isn't complete without straying from the plan!

We got into the city a little before noon and walked over to Chelsea Market. How fun does this building look? I like how it has this basket weavy looking thing going on.
For those who don't know, Chelsea Market is an enclosed food court/shopping mall that is also home to the Food Network and other fun broadcasting companies. There are a ton of cafes, groceries with tons of fresh produce and a seafood place with insanely fresh fish. I really wish I had a reason to shop for food while we were there!
Looks like we managed to beat the crowds this morning too! I envisioned a huge mess of people like when we went to the Ferry Building, but not the case. It was a lot quieter than I thought it would be, but it was nice being able to do a leisurely stroll through the market.

First place we stopped in was the Fat Witch Bakery - I definitely wanted to introduce Jamie to the Blonde Baby! I grabbed one of these the last time I was in town for work and was immediately hooked. It was the perfect size, texture and flavor! They had a small bowl full of these babies and I decided to grab one of each:
Next, we stopped by The Lobster Place to stare at all the seafood. Is it weird that I liked the way it smelled? It smelled like really fresh seafood - not fishy - and it made me happy :) There were these GORGEOUS Blue Shrimp (it was called blue-something or other) that I wanted to take home so badly. I usually freak out about things with heads, but these shrimp were SO fresh and SO large they were just screaming to be skewered and grilled with just some olive oil and salt. If only we had a place to grill them on the spot :(

After getting all sad about not buying fish, we wandered around and ended up at my new favorite place EVER...the Manhattan Fruit Exchange. Oh my goodness...there were so many fun ingredients at this place - BEAUTIFUL produce. Best looking stuff I've seen in AGES. I wanted to pick this place up and plop it in the middle of DC. That good.

The pretty produce and treats ended up being fairly expensive so I only walked out with a bag of this:
I decided to finally try some goji berries! I broke into this pack after dinner and I think they're pretty good. The texture is a little weird...I'm thinking they would be better not by themselves?

After sensory overload at that store, we mosied over to Chelsea Market Baskets to see what fun stuff they had to offer. They had a ton of cute foodie gifts - seasoned salts, sauces, dips, baskets, housewares, weird roasted lamb flavored potato chips? I refrained from purchasing anything large or heavy since I really don't have a reason to and chose to buy these two small bags of salty treats:
These were NOT good, btw. The nuts tasted like someone took spices straight from the spice rack and dumped them on some peanuts...like eating a spoonful of powdered spice. Weird. The Sweet and Spicy mix was SUPER SPICY. Plus it had raisins in it, which made me like it even less. Ah well. At least they were less than $2 each.

Jamie ended his market experience at L'Arte Del Gelato where he got a small cup of Passion Fruit Gelato with a free taste test of Green Apple:
Both the Passion Fruit and Green Apple were really tart - almost like eating a sorbet. I was kinda hoping he'd go with a creamy flavor instead. Btw, I really liked the lighting in this one spot at Chelsea Market...it was where I took this shot of the melty gelato.

Chelsea Market...CHECK! Next up, High Line Park.
High Line Park is a new public park located on 10th Avenue between Gansevoort Street and 20th Street (at least that's the section that just opened in June). It makes use of the elevated rail that hasn't been in use for years and creates an oasis for city dwellers above the street. It's a great change from your standard street level parks ;)
We only accessed the park starting at 14th Street, but we had great views of the city and water!
The original tracks remain in tact and the overgrown greens totally look like the overgrown weeds you see on the side of an unused train track.
One thing I thought was really cool (but failed to get a picture of) was the movable bench. While most of the seating was stationary, there were a few benches that were on wheels that could be moved along the train track. AWESOME!

They also had this fun stadium seating sort of thing where you could watch the cars go by on the street below. You can check out more on the design here.
I also snapped a picture of this b/c I'm a weird photo nerd sometimes. Yes, I missed the 'A' ;p
Ok, I'm going to leave you guys with that for now. I'm EXHAUSTED from today's events and I've got a long run tomorrow morning! Yeesh, I've only posted half of our day! I'll be back tomorrow with details on our yummy lunch and the dinner feast my mom made. Nite :)