Category Archives: UES

Could I Become a Yogi?

Posted on February 11, 2012 | 1 Comment

Happy weekend! I cannot tell you how happy I am that the weekend is finally here. I had a very stressful week and found myself basically passing out at 9:30 p.m. both Wednesday and Thursday nights. I was completely drained and needed to rest.

And after all my big talk about sticking to my marathon training plan “to the T” this time around, I failed big time as the week progressed. I didn’t run five miles on Thursday night or Friday morning. I had to take Mr. Murph to the vet Thursday night (he’s okay), and then was way t0o tired to get my lazy butt out of bed on Friday morning.

So now it’s Saturday, and I just finished my long run (saw Ali in the park running too), and typically Sunday would be a lovely rest day. Not for me – I have to squeeze in four miles at some point tomorrow. Darn it! Oh well, I’ll just suck it up.

This week was actually a cut-back week in training. So I only had an 8-mile run on the schedule for a long run. I headed out to Central Park around 11:00 a.m. with some light snow falling for a full loop. I went out with a few co-workers for drinks on Friday night, and after about four beers, I wasn’t feeling all that fast and furious this morning. But I knew that I would probably feel decent by the end.

I ran my loop and was actually kind of surprised by my splits:

I ran 8.8 miles in 1:16:20 and was averaging a pretty decent pace. I definitely think the 7:02 pace is totally wrong, but the 8:11 might be right, and that’s pretty good for mile 6 into a long run. Dare I say that I MIGHT be getting back in shape finally?!!

I stopped on my way home at the post office to pick up a pretty exciting little package:

Yes, I am officially addicted to nuun. I will finally admit it. I tried it for the first time before the 2011 Mohawk Hudson River Marathon, and while I can’t say that it was the only reason I was able to finish, I do think it played a part. So as I creep along into week four of my spring training, I was getting nervous to see my nuun tubes disappearing. Drastic action needed to be taken. And now that it is here again, I feel much better.

Ok – so what is it right? I’m sure a lot of other runners out there know about nuun and this is nothing new, but for others here’s the gist:

“Nuun’s special formulation of electrolytes helps increase the amount of water that’s absorbed into the blood stream. That means more of the water you drink is actually used to hydrate you instead of being eliminated because the electrolyte balance wasn’t right. Nuun is not energy. We designed Nuun just for hydration. “

That is the very basic idea from the nuun website – which you should check out if you want more info.

And no, nuun hasn’t asked me to blog about their product or anything like that. I simply really like these little tablets.

Giving Yoga a Shot
I recently got a LivingSocial deal for New York Yoga, which has a location right near our apartment, so I decided today was as good a day as any to go check out their Vinyasa Basics class.

And away I went…

I hate being the newbie to a gym or class and having no clue where to go or what to do. But everyone was very nice and pointed me in the right direction. I found the locker room, put my stuff away, found the room and unrolled my mat. Then a lady next to me said that I should pick up two blocks, a blanket, and a rope thing. Thanks random lady for being so nice to the clearly clueless new chic. Check, check, and check – I was ready to get my yoga on.

The instructor was really great. He was very calming and took things really slow for us. There were only a few poses here and there where my legs or arms would start to shake a bit. But otherwise, I felt like I was pretty in control for it being really only my second classes ever – and the first was YEARS ago. There were a lot of people, but we managed to all find a place.

I REALLY enjoyed the class. Especially after my run in the morning, I could feel my legs and muscles just completely stretching out and breathing. I think it will be good for me to add one or two yoga classes a week to my training to keep my muscles loose.

So, it looks like maybe, just maybe, I could be converted into a Yogi (is that even a term, the right term?).

What about you – do you take yoga? What kinds? Who does the hot yoga?

As part of my deal, I have access to the yoga place on 86th and Lex that has hot yoga – but that is totally intimidating me. Should I give it a shot?

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Fabulous Weekend and Superbowl Win!

Posted on February 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

So yes, I know it’s already mid-week and this post is pretty late, but I’ve been a busy woman the past few days. How it is already the END of Wednesday is truly beyond me.

But anyway, last weekend after my long-ish run, the Hubby and I met up with some of this family who were in town. We checked out their fabulous room at the Waldorf Astoria, then walked to Central Park to check out the iceskating, and finally headed to P.J. Clarke’s for a relaxed quick bite to eat. I had a very delicious turkey burger and the tater tots. If you are ever at P.J. Clarke’s, the tater tots are a must. So good.

After dinner we walked just a few blocks downtown to O’Neill’s, an Irish pub that was having live Irish music playing. I enjoyed a Blue Moon and a Smithwicks, and we all had a really good time.

Here we are, I’m in the pink…

And suddenly it was Sunday and it was the Superbowl! Hubby and I decided we wanted to stay home this year and just have some appetizers and snacks while we watched the game.

We started with a fruit and veggie platter – yum!

And we also snacked on crackers and cheese with pepperoni.

And then for the main event – homemade nachos! I have a serious nacho obsession…

At first I had shrimp cocktail on our menu as well, but the store Hubby went to was all out of shrimp, so we scrapped that plan and we were both worried about having enough food. It was MORE than enough. We feasted.

And then just as suddenly it was Monday (don’t you hate how that happens) and it was back to the grind. And back to training. I was able to squeeze in 3.3 miles on Monday night outside, 5 miles last night outside, and 3 miles on the treadmill tonight at the gym. Somehow, I need to get in 5 miles tomorrow morning, which pretty much means I need to plan a very early morning run – it’s going to be painful. But, knock on wood, I’ve stuck to the training plan almost to the “T” this time around.

What about you – do you TRY to stick to your marathon training plans or really just use them for overall weekly mileage?

I like being able to log my numbers and see them match what was planned…or even exceed it…which is rare. And then again, it feels like every training session is different. Things one is feeling particularly hard – even though I’m managing to stick with it.

One new twist is that I’m going to start adding in Yoga! I got a LivingSocial deal at the Yoga place right down the block, so I hope to take two classes this weekend. I think I’ve taken only one yoga class in my life (more a Pilates gal), so it should be interesting. I will be that girl in the back who is completely lost and falls all over the place. At least I’ll be entertaining. :-)

What about you? Yoga, pilates, hot yoga – do you take any of these classes? What’s your favorite?

Happy hump day!

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Oh What a Productive Sunday

Posted on January 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Happy Sunday all! I wish the weekend wasn’t over already. It really flew by. Hubby and I both got our long runs in yesterday, I got a hair cut, and then we went to dinner and a movie.

We tried out a new place about a block away from our house called Felice 83. It’s a new wine bar located in a very tiny space. I felt kind of cramped right away when we sat down. I hate feeling like I can’t really have a conversation with my husband when we’re at a restaurant because the people next to us are basically eating with us.

I got over the tight quarters and checked out the menu. There were some pretty interesting selections on the menu, and I finally settled on the quinoa dish. Hubby and I started off by sharing a salad (overpriced at $15), and we each had a glass of Cabernet. The negative was that, for a wine bar, our glasses of wine were very small. And at $8 and $15 a glass, we were expecting a decent-sized goblet. Not so.

The salad was very good, and my quinoa was delicious. I tried some of Hubby’s dish and it was good too. Overall, I’ll say the place is decent. It offers organic and local selections, so I guess I can see why the prices may be a bit more. However, I think we will be trying some other local places before we go back to this one again.

After dinner, we went to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

(Source)

I was a little hesitant about this movie because I knew it would be tough subject. But it wasn’t focused solely on 9/11 – it was really more of a close look at a family who lost a father/husband in one of the buildings. The boy in the movie was so good. He was pretty amazing. It was a very emotional and heart-wrenching movie, and I probably cried for most of it. But I certainly wasn’t the only one – I heard people all around me sniffling too. It was a good movie, but you have to be prepared for it, and in the right frame of mind to watch it.

Sunday
So after our busy Saturday, one might think Sunday would be a relaxed day. Not so. Before I got down to business, I fueled up with a delicious french toast breakfast.

With both of us in training now, we have more stinking (literally) laundry than ever before. It was overflowing and I knew it was going to be a big project. Four loads of laundry (up and down five flights of stairs about 20 times), and it was all finally gone.  So now we can start our second week of training off with clean clothes and an empty laundry basket.

The rest of my Sunday was filled with cleaning, running errands, and then making a delicious veggie lasagna.

Here is the recipe:

Vegetable Lasagna (6 servings)

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 3/4 cup chopped zucchini
  • 1/2 cup sliced carrots
  • 1/2 chopped red bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped red onion
  • 3/4 of a bottle of tomato basil pasta sauce
  • 1 (15 oz.) carton of part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 6 hot cooked lasagna noodles (halved)
  • 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used skim)

Pre-heat the over to 374 degrees. Cook the noodles and then saute the mushrooms through the red onion for 5 minutes. Then add the sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Then spray an 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Line the bottom with 1/2 cup of the tomato mixture, then lay 4 noodles on top. On top of the noodles place 1/2 of the ricotta cheese and then 1 cup of the tomato mixture on top of it. Repeat the layers and end with noodles. Then put the last remaining tomato mixture in a thin layer over the noodles and sprinkle it with mozzarella cheese.

Then bake it covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake it for another 20 minutes. Then take it out and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

This is the second time I made this lasagna and it has come out really well both time. And I now have lunch for about four days this week. I love leftovers!

Okay – time to watch the rest of the SAG Awards and head to bed. Week two of training starts tomorrow!

How was your weekend? Anyone training for a spring marathon too?! What races?

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Restaurant Review: V-Note (Vegan)

Posted on September 30, 2011 | 1 Comment

I remember that about a year ago I was very excited to try the new Blossom Restaurant that had opened up on the UES. But my plans kept changing and I kept pushing things back, so that finally when I had a day figured out, the restaurant was CLOSED!! Sadness. I still plan to make it to one of the other Blossom sites in NYC, but imagine my excitement when I found out that another vegan restaurant was opening on the UES. V-Note!

And as fate would have, this new restaurant is owned by the same owners of Blossom. Who knows what happened to the one on the UES and why it left so quickly, all I care about is that they brought in a new place!

And then a few months back, I happened to see a Groupon for V-Note and I pretty much HAD to buy it. Last weekend I was finally able to use the Groupon when I went with a few friends to V-Note for the first time. I made a reservation the day before – yes, they do accept them. And we arrived at 7 p.m.

We were seated pretty much right at the front in a nice little booth spot, but I wish I had explored the location a little more. The three of us ordered the Roasted Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Gnocchi for an appetizer, along with a bottle of the Pizzolato Cabernet, while we waited for our fourth.

She arrived just as our appetizer and wine arrive and we all dug in. The appetizer was delicious, as was the wine. I forgot to snap a photo of our app. We were all very excited for the next course.

For my main meal, I ordered the Chile Relleno - a baked poblano pepper stuffed with vegetable ratatouille and cheese, spinach citrus rice, tomato coconut cream, and pineapple salsa. It was seriously AMAZING!! I was thrilled with my choice and think if (and when) I go back again, I may order it again!

Everyone else also enjoyed their meals – I believe they ordered the Mushroom Walnut Ravioli, Medallione Au Poivre, and I can’t recall the last one. But I had a taste of each one and they were all good! Here is mine: 

As we were eating our dinner, we saw a couple order a delicious looking dessert and we all decided we had to have it.

Mmmm Dark Chocolate Fondue – very nice!! The dipping choices were mainly fruit. Surprisingly, I really like the pineapple with the dark chocolate, but not the melon. Overall they were ALL yummy!

All in all, this restaurant was delicious. The service was a little bit slow, but we weren’t in a rush, so it didn’t really matter. The atmosphere is also posh and more upscale than I expected. I’ve been to a few vegan restaurants, so I was expecting a more casual mish-mosh of design. I would completely recommend this restaurant to vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters. It was that good! Enjoy!!

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My First Fifth Avenue Mile – Race Recap

Posted on September 24, 2011 | 1 Comment

I’ve never been a sprinter, never had much speed, never liked the pressure. And as I toed the line of the Fifth Avenue Mile start today (okay, well quite a ways back from the line really), these thoughts circled through my head and I asked myself again why I decided to sign up for this race.

Specifically, I really hate the pre-fast-race-feeling. You know it. It screams that you need to bolt out of the gate and push your hardest because this race is too short not to. Oh the pressure. And I knew I wasn’t alone in feeling this as I eavesdropped on other conversations where girls talked about nerves and tightness in their legs. It leaves me asking the same question I did in high school: Who the heck wants to be a sprinter?! Not this girl!

But I tried to push those thoughts aside as I readied myself for the race ahead of me. And then it was go time. There was a slight pause at the start and it took a few seconds to get “out of the gate” but then the crowds pretty much dispersed. This was probably because I’m so OCD that I showed up to the start super early and was pretty close to the front. So all the speedy ladies around me took off.

To be fair, I wasn’t holding anyone back. I got going at a pretty good clip right from the start. I propelled myself forward by some unknown force and told myself it wouldn’t be so bad. And the first few hundred feet weren’t!

And then I think just before the half mile point my body realized how fast I was asking it to go and abruptly went into revolt. I glanced at my watch to see a 6:20 pace!! Holy crap.

Just keep going I told myself. Thankfully, there was a slight decline that helped a little. But then it was back to pain. I actually think I started to get dizzy at one point. And then I felt like I was going to pee my pants. This people, is why I’m not a sprinter.

But I didn’t pee or faint. I pressed on and finally saw the end ahead of me. I’d like to tell you that my pain faded away and I was able to really kick it in at the end.

Not so. I finished and it wasn’t pretty. My watch tells me I ran that one atrocious mile in 6:28. Fine by me. I was shooting for 7 minutes and I didn’t pee myself. All in all, I’ll call it a good race.

What about you – are you a sprinter or more of a long-run, endurance runner?

Now it’s decision time. I signed up a LONG time ago for the 18 mile tune-up tomorrow. Dare I do it? My last long run was 15 miles…3 weeks ago. It would be nice to run a long run tomorrow with water stops along the way. I could always drop out at any time – it’s not really a race…

Mmm – did I just talk myself into it?

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Just My Kind of Weekend

Posted on August 15, 2011 | 12 Comments

Welcome to Monday. Admittedly, there is nothing welcoming about it. My only saving grace this week is that it’s a short one for me. We will be heading to Maine on Thursday morning and I could not be more excited!! I am in need of a vacay and this past weekend was so great that I really did not want it to end.

Friday wasn’t at all exciting – we were cleaning and generally wrapping up some business. We called it quits pretty early in preparation for the busy weekend ahead.

On Saturday I managed to squeeze in a 9-mile run in the morning in Central Park.

Look there’s me! The park was super crowded. I was going for an easy run, so I didn’t mind it being a little hard to maneuver. My splits weren’t bad overall…

After my run, I snacked some and then got ready to head to NJ for the Kenny Chesney concert!! Hubby is a huge country fan and I will admit that the music has grown on me. Our first dance song  at our wedding was actually a song by Kenny Chesney called “Me and You.” I was hoping he would play it (sadness he didn’t).

We arrived at the  new Meadowlands Stadium pretty early so we could spend some time relaxing and tailgating beforehand.

There’s us tailgating . Car = proof. The concert actually began around 4:15 and I had no clue how many people were on the lineup.  It was like we got to see four concerts in one! It started with Uncle Kracker at 4:15, then Billy Currington came on and finally Zac Brown Band hit the stage right before Kenny.

The photo above shows where we were sitting. We were pretty close – it was pretty cool. And actually, when Kenny came on later that night, he came out of the big gray thing to the left. A seat came out from the middle of the roof of the gray tent and he flew right above our heads. Apparently, he does some crazy entrance at all his concerts.

There we are cheesing it up! Right after Zac Brown Band finished playing it started raining.  At first, we were worried that it was going to start pouring, but it really only sprinkled for the rest of the night. And right around that time, Kenny started playing!

This is one of our last photos from the night. They seriously played forever. I think Kenny came on at about 8:20 and played until almost 11! The whole concert was really good – I’m glad I’ve given country music a chance. (I know my husband is saying “I told you so” right about now.)

We headed home looking like drowned rats after the concert ended – we were exhausted and crashed almost as soon as we got in the door.

But there’s no rest for the weary when you have a jam-packed weekend in NYC planned. We slept in as much as possible on Sunday, but then headed out for a day of fun at the American Natural History Museum on the Upper West Side. It was a rainy and dreary day – so a museum trip was a no-brainer for us… and about a gazillion other tourists and New Yorkers.

So five years after moving to NYC, I finally made it to this museum. It took a long time, but I think it was worth it. I really enjoyed the hours we spent there…despite the herds of people we had to contend with. And of course, I couldn’t help comparing it to the movie “Night at the Museum.” I felt like a kid doing it, but I couldn’t help it.

I kept waiting for the little miniature model people to come to life and attack me.  Or for a zebra to jump out of the glass box enclosure. Didn’t happen, but it was fun to imagine.

We stayed until they started kicking people out and then headed back out into the rain. The weekend ended with a some laundry, a pathetic dinner (too tired to cook) and True Blood of course.

And now it’s Monday and I’m kind of exhausted. I have a lot to get done before our mini-vacation and it feels like I have hardly any time to do it. Not to mention that I need everyone to do a “no rain dance” for us because I really don’t want my first trip to Maine to be completely dreary and cold. :-( So dance if you can!!

How was your weekend!? If you live in NYC, what are some of the best “touristy” things you’ve done during your time here? What would you say is a MUST?! 

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Two Posts in One Day – Who Am I?

Posted on July 22, 2011 | 3 Comments

Well, I guess getting back into blogging really struck a cord with me, because this will be my second post in one day. It’s either that, or the fact that I don’t have any exciting plans for the night. Ok – so maybe it’s the latter.

Regardless, I am back in the blog world and oh how I’ve missed it. I started catching up on a few of my favorites today: Carrots N’ Cake; A Healthier, Happier Bear; Runners Kitchen, Legally Fit, Meals for Miles and Dori’s Shiny Blog, to name just a few. And then I stumbled upon Run, Lindsay, Run; What Kelly Said; and Nurse on the Run and I remembered exactly why I love blogging so much – so many different, interesting people to connect with and learn about!

But this isn’t what I wanted to post about at all! I wanted post about my first trip to Fairway. Fairway opened this week on the UES and it has been pure mayhem. But as I left work today, I figured I’d stop in to check it out….

…and I fell immediately in love. In love with the mounds of fresh, bulk produce; in love with the endless aisles and rows of health-inspired foods; in love with the very nice people who kept asking if I needed help and plying me with free samples. I could go on, but it might start to get obscene. So you get my point. It was a little healthy haven (well actually, it’s pretty big) right in my neighborhood. I am smitten.

However, I wanted to play hard to get at first. Afterall, it was my first trip. I wasn’t about to walk in there and drop my cash willy nilly. This was just supposed to be a reconnaissance trip. So I quickly and quietly gathered myself together and performed a careful perusal. After a solid 20-minute exploration, I finally left with only a few things…

I am very proud of my controlled purchase of snap peas, a cucumber, pumpkin ravioli and some night-time tea. I could have gone nuts, I could have rolled out of there with armloads. But I maintained my composure.

I know my purchases appear seemingly random, but there is some sanity to these items. I love cucumbers (okay so still kind of weird, but overlook it) and was planning to stop to buy one anyway, who can resist snap peas (come on), I needed some carbs (ravioli) to fuel for a run tomorrow (plus they sounded delish) and I’ve been tossing and turning lately at night and thought a nice soothing tea might help (I apologize Hubby for buying more tea – I will take some of the others to work). You see–deeply thought-out purchases indeed. :-)

Ok – I’m signing off now to enjoy my ravioli and sooth myself with some tea. Then I’ll end the night with David Sedaris and Me Talk Pretty One Day. I need to find out when he’s doing another book signing in NYC – cuz he is just the cats pajamas. Have a nice Friday all. Maybe I’ll spot some of you more hard-core NYC bloggers/runners in the park tomorrow morning if anyone is as crazy as me!

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