Monday Morning Marathon Meet-Up: Week 9

I gave myself written permission to slack last week, and to some extent, I did.  But it wasn’t just wine or laziness that prompted a few skipped runs.  I experienced a familiar, stabbing knee pain during Tuesday’s run and figured I’d better not mess with it.  By Sunday, things seemed to have worked themselves out, and perhaps I have laziness and wine to thank.  But no more room for that this week: we have a 17 mile run scheduled, and it only goes up from there.

Scheduled mileage: 28.1 miles
Actual mileage: 19.5 miles

Long Run Summary:
I had no expectations for this long run since I’d given myself permission to play it by ear or even skip it entirely.  When I finally dragged myself off of the couch and set out, I thought “maybe I’ll make it to the Lincoln” (6 miles, round trip).  So I was surprised to find I felt strong.  My phone died around mile 12, but I’d guess we did about 12.5.  I totally could have gone further, but we were right by our house… and really needed to use the bathroom.

Pre-run dinner:  Courtney just pointed out that we didn’t really eat dinner Saturday night.  Unless you count chips and salsa, hummus and pita, beer, champagne and vodka punch… and some frozen sandwich things from Trader Joe’s as a 2:00am snack.
Pre-run breakfast: Stack of blue bucks from Eastern Market.  With butter and syrup.  Yum. 
Hours of sleep: 4-5
Start time: 2:00PM
Weather: 55 and super foggy
Route: Down the mall to the Lincoln, across the memorial bridge, down to the trail and past Roosevelt Island, across the Key bridge and onto the Canal Trail in Georgetown, past the Kennedy Center, back up the Mall, over to Lincoln Park and home.
How I felt: Strong the whole time, other than the stomach ache.
Highlight of run: The high five from the random man on the Mall with a fake mustache.
Injuries, aches or pains: None.  I was afraid the knee was starting to act up a bit, but it seems ok.
Post-run treat: So I ate my dessert before dinner this week, so to speak.  I made a 1:30 brunch reservation for Jana and I on Saturday, the plan being for it to be a post-run brunch, like old times.  But Friday night had different plans in mind.  Plans that involved tequila.   So while Saturdays’ “post-brunch run” may have been sans run, we still checked the Tabard Inn off my 2013 D.C. Dining to-do list.  The dining room is cozy and the decor is right up my alley… black and white checkerboard tiles and a big rooster painting directly across from the table.  It’s not really a drinking brunch — mimosas weren’t even listed on the menu — but that was just fine with us.  Our coffees were always full and the service good.

The complimentary bread basket, complete with mini lemon poppy seed muffins, was a nice touch.  I always appreciate when restaurants do this well.
Of course we tried their famed donuts.  I think they have been hyped so much that no donut was going to live up to the expectations, but I can’t say there was a crumb left on the plate.  There were a number of dishes on the menu that caught my eye, but I finally settled on the savory tart with bacon, caramelized onions, spinach and gruyere, which was good (not great).  Jana went off the beaten brunch path with the cubano sandwich with plaintain chips — an excellent choice.

Johanna