Black and Tan sushi love

My latest obsession, besides my new running shoes (hi shoes, love ya!), is sushi.

We stayed overnight in Madison on our trip back home last week and went to the best sushi bar ever. It was called Sushi Muramoto and it was totally awesome.

Here's a shot of the bar.




Our first round was the chef's choice 9-piece nagiri sushi meal. I forget which types of fish there were, but among others there was salmon, two types of tuna, red snapper and shrimp. We also got a seaweed roll (maki sushi). Mmmm, yummy. I had nice glass of chardonnay and Josh had a Sapporo (Japanese beer).




Next, we had a plate of tuna and avocado California rolls and scallion and yelllow tail tuna maki sushi rolls. The difference between the two types of rolls is that the California rolls have the rice on the outside, maki sushi has the ride inside the roll.




The rolls were surprisingly filling so we decided not to get dessert. :-(

We headed back to the hotel and then to the Irish Pub next to the hotel. I thought we were going to get a traditional dessert, but we ended up getting fried calamari instead. I was amused by the baby calamari - all those legs! so cute! - and almost felt guilty eating them. Until I had one, then they were done for. They were way too tasty to feel guilty about.




After that, I had my first ever Black and Tan. Holy love. The picture does not do it justice.




I liked my B&T so much that I had at least four of them. That I remember, anyway. All I know is that our bar tab was over $50. Whoops! Oh well, we were on vacation!

We had nice greasy breakfast at McDonald's the next morning (the best hangover cure ever) and we bade Madison, sushi and B&Ts farewell.

I still haven't gone running in my lovely new shoes. I'm afraid to get them dirty! I think I'm insane.

.......all good things must come to an end.

My affair with Mizuno Wave Creation 8 neutral running shoes is over. *sniff*

I've suspected for a few months that my running gait had changed and my beloved Mizunos were causing my lower leg issues rather than helping them. When I found out there was a specialty running store near Waterloo that offered video gait analysis, I knew that it was now or never. So, off we went to the Runner's Flat in Cedar Falls.

The result? I've developed a nice, little over-pronation issue. That means my ankles roll inward. Excessive ankle roll = lower leg pain.

Behold the Asics Gel-Kayano 14.




It's a stability shoe and it cost me a boat-load of money. But, it works. I witnessed it, thanks to video gait analysis.

Old shoes: ankles roll inward badly.
New shoes: no ankle roll at all.

No ankle roll = no lower leg pain.

When the shoe dude showed me the two videos side-by-side, my response was...."Oh wow. I'll take them."

Did I mention they were expensive? They cost me just about as much as the whole-house humidifier I bought last week.

So, good bye, my dear, sweet Mizunos.  You were the first shoe I ever got professionally fitted for.  You helped me go from 13 minute miles to 9:30 miles.  You carried me through all my personal records and running firsts, my first half marathon and my first winter running season.  But, as my title says.......

They said it was a meal in a glass...

...and they were so right.

- two dill pickles
- one cherry tomato
- one green olive
- one pearl onion
- one celery stalk
- spicy Bloody Mary mix
- and Smirnoff vodka, enough to make me forget that I had a nasty headache

So good.

Also, so necessary after braving evil Walmart at peak shopping time.

It's my cat in a box

When I get packages, it becomes Christmastime in Spencerville.  It doesn't matter what shape or size the box is, he wants in.  I barely had the stuff in the box out before he had hopped in.




I have a picture of him squished into my sink somewhere.  The sink is small, he's big so my sink looked like it had a white, furry muffin top.

Silly kitteh.

Snow, snow, snow

The white stuff is here and it's probably here to stay.  As a result, I've run approximately zero miles this week.  But it sure hasn't been from lack of trying!  Every day this week I planned on going but I either had to work late or it was too stormy to go.  So frustrating!

We're heading down to Iowa to visit Josh's grandma next week.  While we're there, I'm planning on visiting a specialty running store to see if I need to change shoes.  I'm still experiencing some mild discomfort in the lower calf/Achilles area and I'm thinking that my shoes might be too firm in the heel.  They say have video gait analysis, so I'll run for them on the treadmill and see what they have to say.  It's supposed to be nice in the area next week, so I'm also hoping to get some runs in, too.

On the way back, we're going to stay the night in Madison, WI and visit the New Glarus Brewery, which is located just South of Madison.  New Glarus's beer is not sold in Michigan (BOO) and we're only able to get it when we go to Wisconsin or Minnesota.  So, being able to visit the brewery is a real treat.

In home improvement news, I bought a whole-house humidifier which arrived today.  It'll attach to the furnace and, in theory, bring the humidity level in my house up to a normal level.  I have forced air heat and it's so drying in the winter.  My skin is itchy, my plants need constant watering and everything is staticy, including my cats!

In new website news, Josh finally got everything moved on to the new feep.org server and he's looking into installing my blogging software.  Maybe I'll actually have my domain up & running by the end of the year.  If I do, you, my loyal reader(s), will be the first to know!

Ooof

I think I might be dying. Or dead, I'm sure sure which. 

After a 4-ish mile run, I decided to finish it off by tackling Sixth Street again.  Man, that hill is tough.  My goal was to not stop when I reached the top of each block, but rather do a little recovery jog down the street until my heart felt like it wasn't going to explode.  On Tuesday, I made it up three blocks, but stopped between for 30 seconds or so.  Today, I made it two blocks using a recovery jog and then I had to switch to stopping and did two more blocks before finishing up with a half-mile recovery jog back home to give me a five mile total for the day. 

I walked into the kitchen dripping in sweat, face beet red and utterly exhausted.  Josh looked at me and said "Holy cow, how far did you go?" or something like that.  What I suspect he really wanted to say was "Holy cow, you look like death.  What the hell did you do?" but he values his life too much.

Ugh, I'm exhausted and my legs are throbbing.  Time for drugs and sleep.

A whole lotta nuthin' going on

I haven't had much going on lately, with running or life.  I've been trying to run three times per week, but the weather hasn't been cooperating so I've only been getting in two.  Oh well, I guess it's better than nothing.

Last week I set new PRs for 3 miles - 29:37 (first mile 9:25!) and 4 miles (40:41).  When my run was over I checked my watch and thought..how the hell did I do that?  Crazy, but I'll take it!

We got snow over the weekend.  I don't know what the official accumulation was, maybe a couple of inches.  Either way, it was enough to make my running path very slick for my Tuesday run.  I must have looked like a drunken goofball slipping and sliding down the trail.  Since I took it slow, I decided to throw in a little hill work at the end.  I usually finish my run with a cool-down walk up Sixth Street in my neighborhood.  It's three steep blocks up to my street.  So, I figured I'd try running a block at a time and see how far I'd get.  I really wasn't expecting to make it all the way up, but I did!  I felt like my lungs and head were going to explode at one point, but I did it.

Until next time..

The weather hates me

How come it only rains when I want to run, not when I have to run?

Stupid weather.