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Archive for November 2010

Turkey Trot and Skreet!

by Gabriela
November 25th, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!!When I woke up this morning, I was excited to see that the weather was cooperating for the Turkey Trot 5K!
My brother, dad and I arrived at the Turkey Trot around 7:45. I was surprised by how many runners were there! Maybe about 200? We posed for a pre-race shot:
Wrong holiday colors, Luke :)
Crossing the start line:
The course was far hillier than I had anticipated, and my legs aren’t 100% recovered from my half-marathon, but we managed to keep a decent pace. Mile 1 clocked in at 8:13, Mile 2 at 8:27 and Mile 3 at 8:23. I forgot to stop my watch for a few minutes post-race, but we sprinted the last .1 miles and I believe it took about 40 seconds. Our final time was probably close to 25:40.
Approaching the finish line…
And tired smiles post-race.
Afterwards, we stopped by my brother and sister-in-law’s place to see the brand-new addition to his little family: Skreet. (Interesting name choice, no? You have to know my brother.)
He’s a 6-month-old rescue pup from Tennessee, and they guess him to be half Min-Pin and half Chihuahua. So cute!
Dr. Dad, the dog whisperer.
Skreet terrorizing his older brother Sheen.
Off to finish my sweet potato casserole and get ready for a day of feasting!! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!
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Philadelphia Half Marathon

by Gabriela
November 21st, 2010
I did it!!
In 1:56:01, with an average pace of 8:51. It’s not quite the pace I was hoping for, but I did manage to cut 13 seconds off my 9:04 average from April!
The morning began with a 5 am wakeup call. I got dressed, strapped on my Garmin, and inhaled a massive bowl of Cheerios, blueberries and almond milk before hopping in the car with mom and dad.
Last night, I found this card on my desk- a good luck note from Lizzy that had arrived in my absence and gotten lost in the piles my parents leave there when I’m gone. It was the perfect mental boost.
Favorite running quote!
We got to the race site, where I used the porta potties, bid my mom farewell and headed to the gray corral to line up. I crossed the start line about 20 minutes after the gun.
Running through the streets of center city was amazing. It was packed with spectators and runners alike, and the energy was just incredible. I loved running a race in my home city!!
My splits:
  • Mile 1- 9:05
  • Mile 2- 8:30
  • Mile 3- 8:34
  • Mile 4- 8:34
  • Mile 5- 8:36
  • Mile 6- 8:55
  • Mile 7- 8:30
  • Mile 8- 9:07
  • Mile 9- 9:00
  • Mile 10- 9:09
  • Mile 11- 9:04
  • Mile 12- 8:57
  • Mile 13- 9:05
  • Mile 13.1- :52 seconds
Overall, I maintained a pretty steady pace, staying between 8:30 and 9:09. It was hard to run hard for the first few miles with so many runners, which ended up being a blessing in disguise- I’m glad I saved that energy! Mile 8 was where I started to feel the distance, and, incidentally, also where one of my toenails started to hurt. It’s now fallen off. I’ll spare you the details.
I crossed the official finish line at 2:16-ish, right in time to watch the marathon winner go by. Hard to believe he ran twice as far as me in only twenty more minutes!
In front of the famous Philadelphia Art Museum, home of the “Rocky steps.”
The medals are gorgeous! I love that City Hall is on both the ribbon and the medal itself- complete with Billy Penn, cursing us all J

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Pure Food Baby

by Gabriela
November 15th, 2010
To say that I am with food child right now would be an understatement. Food septuplets? Much more like it J
This evening, I had without a doubt one of the best meals of my life at Pure Food and Wine, accompanied by the lovely Gina, Diana and Katie.
As an appetizer, we split a plate of assorted Dr. Cow tree nut cheeses with rosemary crisps (better known as quackers).
After finally trying these much-hyped crackers, I fell in love. They were the tiniest bit sweet with a pleasant crunch that paired perfectly with the cheeses. My favorite was the one on the far right, which had a noticeable nutritional yeast flavor.
Deciding on what I want is always such a challenge at vegan restaurants! After perusing the menu, Gina and I both decided to order the famous S&M salad:
A massive pile of greens, avocado, hemp seeds, dulse, quackers and pumpkinseed lemon dressing. It was a salad party in my mouth.
Gina and I also split the sweet corn and cashew tamales with chili spiced portabella, which came with salsa verde, cashew coconut sour cream, avocado and raw cocoa mole.
Can you believe I’d actually never had a tamale before?! This version was a great introduction- creamy with just the right amount of spice. Even the portobellas were good!
Then it was time for the piece de resistance: dessert. I’d been dreaming about the raw chocolate mint sundae since I was last there in June, and though it was no longer on the menu, our awesome waiter told us he could have them made for our table. Um, yes please?!
Chocolate, fresh mint and mint chip ice cream with vanilla cream, chocolate sauce and mint chocolate cookies. One of the best foods that has ever passed my lips, I kid you not.
We ended up spending three hours at the restaurant, chatting about blogging, life and food. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again- I really feel like bloggers are kindred spirits. I just feel like I’ve found my people J

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