Apparently I’m an extremist. And never really knew it (or admitted it to myself?).
I rarely have “one piece” of chocolate or “one cookie” or “one glass” of wine. I have 5. Of each (normal behavior?).
And when sites like Groupon and Living Social shower me with “deals” I scoop up every one in sight. Which is how the JD and I ended up out on the town yet again last night. A little diddy from BuyWithMe (purchased about 3 months ago) was on the verge of expiring…and by verge, I mean it was done-zo after midnight last night. So after his very long yet successful first day on the job (yay! he likes it), we met up back in my stomping grounds in Midtown east for dinner at Gyu-Kaku. We had been to the east village location a few years ago while visiting the JD’s sister, but I had forgotten how delicious and FUN this place is.
Anywho, Gyu-Kaku is a Japanese BBQ restaurant where you do all of your own barbecuing on a mini grill built right into the table! Not bad for a charcoal-loving couple that doesn’t even have access to a patio, much less a grill. After starting off with a massive bowl of edamame, we ordered steak, sausage and shrimp, alongside some zucchini, asparagus and garlic fried rice. A superbly satisfying meal that rang up at just $6. Thank you BuyWithMe.
I actually pretended to be a foodie blogger and took pictures. Here’s a little diddy, just so you get the idea:
why hello, meat lovers paradise. i promise veggies came later.
Chocolate, cookies, wine and coupons aside, I’m apparently also an extremist when it comes to running (I ran one…read it, ONE, half marathon and automatically decided to sign up for a full).
That, or I’m just a big bully (or billy…if Corky and Squiggs are reading this). To myself.
I met the RB at our usual spot to cover about 5 miles in the park this a.m. (the outer loop minus Harlem hills = lovely). Hal said to do 3, but as I’ve mentioned, the idea of back-tracking hurts me.
So I set out for 5. I think we actually covered a lot of that 5 at a really good pace. Not sure if it was the nicer weather or what, but we both thought we were cranking things out a little (a lot?) faster than usual. The RB felt so good she wanted to take on a bit more mileage at the end of the run by hitting up the reservoir (yes, this is the same RB who had just ran 8 miles the night before. She is hardcore). But since one of my biggest fears with marathon training is burning out too early, I “smartly” declined and peeled off for home.
And during my [considerably slower] mile run home, I bullied myself. And told myself I was a weenie for having left my RB.
So when I hit my corner I did not head back to the apartment. I continued on. For an extra mile. And ended up covering a smidge over 8 miles this morning. Oops. I’m just so antsy to finally hit some reallll long runs I think. Que sera, sera though. It felt good and I had plenty of time to stretch afterwards. When I made it back to the apartment the nice man who does a lot of maintenance work on our street told me I “have good condition” and I “do not need to worry.” I told him for now I might, but in a few months I am running 26.2 miles. And he just chuckled…haha.
Do I need to think about toning it down a bit and sync up with Hal’s plan rather than wait for it to catch up to me? Or can I chalk it all up to taking advantage of nice weather? Not sure, we shall see.
In other news. My dress for one of my oldest, bestest friend’s wedding finally arrived yesterday! Woohoo! And speaking of old friends, I’m meeting up with one after work tonight for the first time in aggeeeesss and I can’t wait!
*A very happy birthday to our fake-leo roommate who did not even ANNOUNCE that it was his birthday. But a little bird told me anyway. Hope its a great one!
And to all of my nonexistent followers:
– What do you recommend for a first-time marathoner: doing what feels right or doing what the “coach” says? When you are surrounded by seasoned runners in Central Park or addicted to blogs about badass athletes, it can be hard to figure out whats right for you.
– What are YOU looking forward to today?
Marathon Winer 
Oh hey, stalking you now thanks to facebook. So, when I was training for a race a few years ago, I was also further ahead than my training plan had me, so I stuck with the mileage I was at, and tried to work on speed. Then I got hurt, and was in physical therapy for four months. So I’m more of the stick to the plan and do what it says mindset now, because not being able to run for four months sucked.
holy crap, im sorry to hear that. i have been considering doing the shorter runs “prescribed” by my fake coach and making them more like intervals (something else that frightens me), so perhaps i will def. tone it down a bit.
and p.s. i was totally fb-stalking your blog when you were writing about training for the half last fall (i did philly too!) but didnt know you still had it going. woohoo smadddies!