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February 21, 2005
I'm a Cheap Date
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge consumer of alcoholic beverages. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them - the taste is just fine. On the rare occasions that I do imbibe, I get buzzed/drunk at the drop of a hat, fall asleep, and wake up with a huge headache. This weekend I had a few too many drinks for my no tolerance system. Friday was girls’ night with the runners (including Jessie) at Lauriol Plaza in DC. I was glad that I didn’t have to walk from the Metro to the restaurant a few days earlier, when my legs were still quite stiff. The frozen margaritas lived up to the hype (I had only one), and the warm salsa and chips were absolutely addicting - both better than dinner, though my ceviche appetizer was scrumptious too. It was great to catch up on all the gossip.
I didn’t intend for Saturday to be all fun and no work, but refer back to my title, and you’ll see. I woke up ~7am to run easy for 30 minutes (brrr, it was cold!), bike for 10 minutes on the trainer, stretch and foam roller, and tool around the house until it was time to leave for cooking class/lunch. I think I did a couple of productive things like dishes and folding laundry, or maybe that was Sunday? The Portuguese cooking class/lunch was amazing. It was held at a hidden secret of a restaurant called Caravella in nearly the Tenleytown section of DC. We learned how to make kale soup with chorizo, meat croquettes, salt cod with eggs, potatoes and onions, and passion fruit mousse. The lunch also included seven types of wine, only four of which I tasted. The best part of it all was that the chef talked a lot about the history of the Portuguese food/wine and provided other excellent non-related cooking tips; it made it more of a well-rounded experience, even if I did walk out a bit tipsy. The wine made me so drowsy and headachy (I know, that's not a word) that I had to nap for a couple hours. So much for that afternoon lifting session and study time.
Sunday was a little more productive. I got up early to run and bike before church - another 30 minutes and 20 minutes, respectively. The effort was easier and my hip didn’t hurt while running, though the pain returned once I stopped. It was a few degrees warmer (27) and wind-free, so I didn’t need the biking jacket that I wore the day before. I borrowed a great layering trick from Blondie, I think, where I wore a pair of thick Thorlo hiking socks over my fleece mittens. My hands were warmer than ever! After church, we ended up wasting a lot of time and not being able to attend the Chinese New Year celebration for L. because my car had a flat tire. It took a couple hours to get fixed, but that put me in a better mood because we made it to my swim class at 4 and I didn’t have to cancel my chiropractor appointment this morning. When we finally got home last night, I got a bunch of school work done - exercise questions on how the back end of an operating system works. And R. made gizzards and cheesy pasta for dinner, as promised. Yea!
I felt like I got in some good exercise tonight. I jumped back into my hip exercises, lifted arms, and went to my first spin class in a couple years. I realized that I'm seriously out of bike shape. I forgot my bike shoes, and at one point, my feet were spinning so fast that my foot flew out of the cage while we were standing and I racked my knee against one of the knobs. Yowzers! That'll be a nice bruise tomorrow.
Time for dinner. We have leftover chicken, but I'm craving ramen noodles tonight.
Posted by Leilani at February 21, 2005 02:22 PM
Comments
It sounds like you had a really fun weekend! Tis better to be all fun and no work! I want to find a cooking class like that, but given my pickiness it'll be hard to find one that I want to eat the food I prepare.
Here's to continuing recovery!
Blondie
Posted by: www.eliterunning.com/blondie at February 21, 2005 08:28 PM
I love, love, love ramen noodles! And I too am a very cheap date. I had 3/4 a glass of wine last night and I was toasted :)
I hope your hip feels better soon!
Posted by: Barb at February 23, 2005 11:39 AM
In reference to:
“It was great to catch up on all the gossip and gripe about how all the runner boys in our group seem to be more like girls…they’re overly emotional, cry instantly, hold grudges for years, yadda yadda yadda….”
Lei, I’m glad to hear the DCRRC ladies go out together. Nothing wrong with that. Also, nothing wrong with a little bit of gossip. Shit, the boys and I do that all the time too. We at least talk smack right in front of you, or have the decency to do it entirely behind your back. One thing we don’t do is slap that shit talk on a website, where you (unlike me) aren’t totally anonymous. Now you know a few us check out your blog from time to time, maybe because we were interested reading about your experience with the Austin Marathon – I know, what an insensitive asshole of me.. However, I will admit I did get pretty emotional, which lead to some crying, and yadda, yadda, yadda….
Don’t worry I won’t even hold a grudge for one minute on this one. Just try to be more careful next time.
Posted by: Anonymous DCRRC Boy at February 25, 2005 09:11 PM