Will Run for Boston

How is it already Monday again? I was sooo not ready for my alarm to go off this morning, but 8.5 miles and 30 minutes of strength training later I’m ready to attack this week head-on!

I know I seems like I’ve been missing around the blogosphere these past few days but I promise I HAVE been working hard on some behind the scenes blogging work the whole time! I’m in the process of making the move to self-hosted site (yay!) and there’s even a name change in the works for the bloggy (<– so so excited). I didn’t realize how much work all of this is, and since I’m determined to do it all on my own it I definitely have my work cut out for me.

This week will be very busy. Posts will probably be few and far between (if there are any at all) but you can totally check me out on Instagram and Twitter as per usual! The plan is to have everything up and running next Monday so when you’re celebrating Labor Day – relaxing by the pool and enjoying the last bit of summer make sure to stop by for some very fun and exciting changes! 😀

See you soon!

p.s. Buddy says hi :b

Training Summary – 8/18/14-8/24/14

Monday – AM: 7.03 miles @ 7:42 pace + core work and push-ups PM: NTC Marathon Prep Workout

Tuesday – 8.02 miles @ 7:50 pace + NTC Arm Definer workout

Wednesday – rest day – 2 mile walk w/ dogs + core work

Thursday – 8.15 miles @ 7:50

Friday – 7.02 miles @ 7:43 pace + core work

Saturday – 10.14 mile workout [2 mile warm-up, 2 mile tempo @ 6:18 pace, 3 min jogging rest, 6x 250m hill repeats, 3 min jogging rest, 2 mile tempo @ 6:06 pace, 2 mile cool-down] average pace – 6:48

I LOVE my new neon laces!

Sunday – 13 mile long run @ 7:39 pace

Total Mileage: 55.42 Average Weekly Pace: 7:35 Total 2014 miles: 1,732.7/3,000

Any guesses on the new name for the blog??

Other bloggers – Have you made the move to self-hosting? How complicated did you find it??

Hi there, I hope that your Wednesday if off to a great start. Just think, there are only 2 more wake-ups until the weekend! 🙂

Ever since I started training with NB Boston about a month ago my weekly running schedule has been shifted around from the normal. Pre-NBB a normal training week looked like this…

Monday – workout
Tuesday – easy run
Wednesday – easy run
Thursday – workout
Friday – easy run
Saturday – long run
Sunday – rest day

… but for the past month my weekly training has looked more like this.

Monday – easy run
Tuesday – workout with the team
Wednesday – rest day
Thursday – long run
Friday – easy run
Saturday – workout with the team
Sunday – easy run

Its definitely been a bit of an adjustment but overall I like the switch. Since I’m no longer training for marathons my long runs aren’t nearly as long as they used to be (hello 12-15 miles instead of 20-22!) so they are much easier to fit in on a week day. I also really like having a rest day in the middle of the week because I get to catch up on a little bit of sleep on Wednesday morning and it’s like a little mini weekend in the middle of my week.

This morning the pups and I were even able to go on a morning walk! I’m always wanting to take them for more walks because they just have so.much.energy. but it is always hard to do when I’m running early in the morning. I think they had fun. 🙂

Like my training recently we’re going to switch things up a little today on Will Run for Boston so please bear with me. 🙂

If you follow me on Instagram or have read the blog for awhile I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I kinda like food. Like, a lot. So when Henri and I were at the grocery store last weekend and this magazine was on the shelf at check-out I HAD to buy it!
While we do our fair share of eating at places like Cheesecake Factory and Cafe Rio (miss that place 😦 ) we prefer checking out unique places. Our favorites are restaurants with interesting menus, fresh ingredients, good service and a fun atmosphere. In California these types are restaurants were all over the place and we probably could have walked to about 5 from our apartment. Oh how times have changed! Yes, there are lots of awesome restaurants in Boston but since we are in the suburbs it’s hard to find good ones nearby and when we go all the way into the city for dinner we want to be sure that the restaurant we pick is worth the drive and finding/paying for parking.

I can’t wait to try as many of the restaurants that made the Best of Boston list as possible. And as we eat our way through all these tasty meals I’m excited to share with you as well, starting with this past weekend’s adventure, Picco.
Picco was recommended not only for their well-done pizzas (my favorite kind of pizza) but also for their ice cream so I knew it had to be the first place we tried out!

We arrived around 5:30, and while parking was a little difficult to find we ended up finding a free meter and only paid about $2.00 in quarters to a meter for the night.

While we perused the menu we saw other tables with tasty looking bread and olive oil so we asked our server if we could have some as well (they don’t bring it out unless you ask). This is probably the only restaurant bread that I don’t mind it being cold. It is made from such tasty dough and is light and airy but has a night crispy crunch, yum! The olive oil was also outstanding, you could tell that it was really high quality because of its green color and olive-y taste.
We munched on our bread while mulling over which of the amazing pizzas we wanted to order and opted to get two small pizzas and share them instead of getting one large, that way we could taste more than one! Henri went with the Alsatian (pizza topped with sautéed onions, shallots, garlic, crème fraîche, bacon and gruyere) and I stuck to the classic margarita.

While we waited for our pizzas to come out we shared the Summer Salad. Our waiter was so nice and split the salad on two plates for us (without a splitting fee). The salad had arugula, watermelon, cucumbers, red onions, mint, basil, ricotta salata & red wine vinaigrette. The watermelon was diced up into small pieces which I loved, the cheese was perfect, and the basil and mint added another dimension of freshness. If you haven’t tried putting herbs in a salad yet, it’s a must try!
When our pizza came I think I was literally drooling! The crust was well done and bubbly just like they said in the Best of Boston review!

Margherita

Alsatian

I had a slice of each and they were both so so good. I liked the simplicity of the Margherita, you could tell that everything was homemade from quality ingredients, the tomato sauce was chunky and the mozzarella was so fresh! The Alsatian was so unique, the bacon on it was so thick and crispy at the same time and the gruyere complimented all of the other flavors on it really well. I would definitely order both of them again!

We couldn’t turn down dessert after we found out that it is all homemade so we ordered the ice cream trio sampler to end the meal. The three flavors we chose to try were dark chocolate, honey, and raspberry chip. When it comes to the dessert I am speechless, seriously it is some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted! That’s all I can say besides urging you to go try it yourself! 🙂

In Summary: Picco Restaurant
Location: 513 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116
Website: www.piccorestaurant.com
Phone: (617) 927-0066
Atmosphere: The inside of the restaurant is small, quaint and dimly lit. I would definitely describe it as rustic. Since the weather was so nice we sat at a table outside and the atmosphere out there is great as well. Its on a pretty busy street so there is some pretty great people watching (one of my and Henri’s favorite pastimes) but it’s not so busy that you are distracted from your meal by the traffic driving by.
Menu: The menu is pretty limited, but focusing on the things they do best, ie pizza and ice cream, allows Picco to continue to turn out amazing food! We went with our minds set on ordering pizza but if you are looking for a menu that offers many options you won’t really find that here. You can see an online version of the menu here.
Food: A+
Service: A
Price: $$ (for the two of us we paid around $40 dollars, which I consider a great deal for a really high quality three course meal)