After the Race and the Rest of San Francisco

(See these three posts before: The Day Before, The Morning Of, The Race)

After JW and I finally found a way to walk out (complete with watching someone puke), and I flipped my space blanket around to the correct way, we connected with Cecelia and Steve who were conveniently near the finish line. I got to sit in a warm car with heated seats (Cecelia let me sit in the front, score!) for about 45 minutes while we tried to navigate through San Francisco along with 30,000 other cars trying to get away from the area. It wasn't a bad time; we chatted and I was warm, so I wasn't complaining.

We finally arrived at their apartment around 1:00, where Steve made us some delicious waffles as my first official post-race meal.

Waffles and Chocolate Milk, a winning combination

In my Finisher's shirt and holding my Tiffany necklace

Just reverse the image in your head, but this is a close up of the necklace.

Resting.

We spent the next couple of hours just lounging around and watching football before we decided to go to dinner at Tacolicious, a WONDERFUL Mexican restaurant about 5 minutes away. We drove because I was in no shape to walk down the hill by their apartment, let alone any other hill we may have encountered.

Hopefully you can tell by the picture  but the hill leading up to their apartment was steep.

We waited about 40 minutes for a table, but it was worth it. We ended up having 10 tacos - 5 for JW and I, 3 for Steve and 2 for Cecelia. JW and I split everything and it was AMAZING.

Taken from their website

If you're ever in the San Francisco area, and you want some DELICIOUS tacos and/or margaritas, go to Tacolicious. SO GOOD.

A well-deserved margarita

We had a great time - we even ended up ordering another pitcher of margaritas and two desserts to share. Of course I didn't take any pictures... :) We had the Choco-taco (exactly what it sounds like) and the Pumpkin Flan. SO GOOD!

Back at their apartment, we watched the new episode of Homeland and then I passed out around midnight with no solid plans of what we would do the next day, our last in San Francisco.

I woke up around 9 and spent most of the morning like this:

Curled up on the couch, with two blankets and a shawl. I was cold.

It was a glorious couple of hours. I was feeling okay standing up and sitting down but still very stiff and sore. I figured it would do me good to walk around some, so I got dressed and looked up a place to have brunch on Haight street.

The Haight/Ashbury neighborhood is definitely extremely eclectic - lots of costume shops and people asking for money. But hey, we found this restaurant - Squat and Gobble - and we are so glad we did.

Mimosas - average, with pulp (?!)

The best brunch I have had in a looong time.

We ordered the Eggs Benedict and the Buttermilk Pancakes (so we had savory and sweet!), split everything down the middle, and consumed it all within 5 minutes. Literally 5 minutes. Again, if you're in San Francisco... go to this restaurant!! It was amazing. We sat there for another hour and just chatted and let our food digest, it was a really nice atmosphere. They had a s'mores crepe that we were dying to try, if only we hadn't eaten so much. Next time, next time!

I'm looking rough, but here's a picture of us with sunny skies.

The stairs I was forced to walk up to get to their apartment.

Beautiful view of San Francisco from the top of the hill

Trying to demonstrate the slope of the street and failing.

I made the same picture 7 years ago when I visited San Francisco with my mom and sister that was much better....

My favorite.

We only had a couple more hours to kill before our flight at 8:30pm, so we decided to go ahead and go to the airport. This is where our trip stopped being fun. Using Uber again was great, but as soon as we got to the SFO airport we quickly realized that we should have gotten something to eat in the city before we left, because the choices were dismal. We ended up going to Firewood Cafe and splitting the chicken fettuccine alfredo, but the chicken tasted like it was cooked on a dirty grill and the alfredo sauce was just bland. Bleh.

The only cool thing about the airport was this sculpture:

JW thought it was pretty good and is convinced we need a set-up like this in our apartment.

We finally boarded the plane and got lucky with just the two of us in the 3 person row. The flight was uneventful, except for some crazy fog as we got into Seattle. I seriously didn't know where the ground was while we were descending, and it seemed like all of a sudden, there was the runway and we were landing 2 seconds later! I mean, way to go, pilots.

Coming up: My thoughts, post-marathon.

7 Early Miles and the Longest Day Ever

Friday was KILLER.

My day started at 5:15am, waking up early so I could conquer a 7 mile run before I had to teach a tap workshop at 9am. I didn't eat anything beforehand, but I brought the Clif Shot Blok's with me to eat during the run. I got to the park so early that the police car was still parked doing overnight duty...! I passed a lot of bikers, so I wasn't alone, but it felt a little surreal that I was doing physical activity at 5:57am.

I saw exactly 4 cottontail bunnies and like, 20 geese. I'm actually getting kind of scared now that the geese will start to charge at me as I run towards them - they're known to be not very nice animals. I didn't see any deer today, and was a little disappointed but accepted it as a rare occurrence.

Of course, it started raining about 2 minutes into my run. I quickly shoved my iPhone holder under my sleeve so it wouldn't get wet - it was pure luck that I had decided to wear long sleeves. It soon started pouring, and really didn't let up until about Mile 4. Being in Seattle, I'm used to the rain- but lately we've had the most gorgeous weather, so I was a little bitter. I don't think I'm ready for summer to end just yet!

Obviously I didn't burn 1 Nike Fuel point. Fail, Nike.

I decided to run 2 miles out, 2 miles back one way; and 1.5 miles out, 1.5 miles back the other way. I did this to further split the 7 miles into something a little more manageable so early in the morning. After I ran 2 miles and turned around, I was feeling so unmotivated - I still saw, in my mind's eye, how far I still had to run (plus I knew I ruined my chances of all negative splits) and wanted to stop as soon as I passed my car, around Mile 4. But I didn't - I ate some Shot Bok's and kept going, looking for more wildlife (this is why I love running outside- so much to see!) and making up choreography to go with the music I was listening to (something else I do to keep my mind off of the running itself).

Other than that, the run was quite uneventful- just wet. It was a bittersweet end- I was happy that it was done with, but the run being finished with just meant that my day had just begun.

Damn 3rd mile.

I got home at 7:15, hopped in the shower, and was out by 7:30. I did about 30 minutes of work, and then started gathering my materials and food to pack for my day. I’d be out of our apartment and busy until late that night, so I needed to be prepared so I wouldn't be starving all day.

I packed: 1 banana, a cup of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt, 4 Belvita Apple Cinnamon Biscuits, 40g of pitted prunes, and 1 Power Crunch Bar (Vanilla flavor).

My tried-and-true breakfast!

The most delicious protein bar I've ever tasted. Source.

While I packed, I fixed myself some breakfast: a fried egg in between a toasted whole wheat English muffin that was spread with Laughing Cow Light White Cheddar cheese. I suppose I made my own little Egg McMuffin, minus the meat, and about 70 less calories.

YUM.

I was out the door by 8:45, and arrived at my tap workshop 15 minutes later. I taught three one hour classes to ages 5-10, and ate everything I packed except for the Power Crunch Bar.

Four hours later, I left to go to After Care. I set up everything and ate my Power Crunch Bar while I waited for the kids to show up. Four hours later, I was leaving again.

I left camp, driving home in the rain, and came home and ate the last of the homemade pizza (264 calories a slice) we had made the previous night- delicious! We quickly left our apartment to go to downtown Seattle to see Pirates of Penzance at 5^th Avenue Theatre.

We got there earlier than expected, and JW hadn't eaten yet, so we decided to go to Qdoba. Even though I had already eaten, everything smelled too good to pass up. 

I ended up getting a Naked Taco Salad (45 calories) and 2 Tacos (430 calories), along with a few bites of chips, queso, and guacamole. FINALLY feeling full, we went back to the theatre and thoroughly enjoyed the show! We've had a great time subscribing to the 5th and will definitely do so next season.

We got back to our apartment around 11, and I was about ready to DIE from exhaustion. I slept so good that night! I thought I certainly deserved a restful weekend. :)

July 4th Indulgences

Anyone else recovering from July 4th indulgences? I certainly am. Not even drinking - just eating a ton. Burgers, pizza, more burgers, ice cream, pies, chips, popcorn, and not to mention various alcoholic beverages have entered my system in the past week.

our grill full of MEAT (and corn)

Mini-beer flights at Rock Bottom Grill

The best pizza I have ever tasted

Devoured treats at Cupcake Royale

Technically not from the week's festivities - last week in Portland, we ate this monstrosity. No regrets.

The boyfriend's parents are in town, which is why we've been eating out so much. I'm not gonna lie... I'm almost looking forward to their departure on Sunday morning so I can get some regular, healthy nutrition in me! I kid, I kid! I've LOVED having his parents here, and I've seen more of Seattle and the surrounding areas than I ever thought I would see in one week. I'm so grateful they were able to come and really see the Seattle area! Thanks to their planning, this is what I've done, all for the first time:

• Rode the monorail
• Saw the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit
• Saw Pike Place Market 
• Rode a ferry (yes... I had never ridden a ferry before in my life.)
• Visited Bainbridge Island 
• Rode a clipper 
• Visited Victoria, BC (my first journey into Canada!)
• Visited Butchart Gardents 

Tonight, we're going to be taking a Dinner Cruise around Lake Washington, which I've also never done before. Of course, all of these events have been peppered (hah) with new restaurants and dining experiences. For example, in Victoria at Butchart Gardens, I had quinoa with grapes, raisins, and peppers..? It was the strangest combination of sweet and spicy, but really tasty! I had also never had chowder before...? Some people may think I was a deprived child. :P

Wonderful views of Seattle from a rooftop!

Fortunately, the marathon training doesn't start until Monday, which I will expound upon later!