Happy Halloween!

Treats for this day:

• Oiselle added new stuff to their "sale" section including their awesome shorts: distance, roga, game day. Additional 25% off with code FLYFALL. I ordered distance shorts and arm warmers. Shipping is additional.
• Lululemon adds new sale items in their "We Made Too Much" section every Thursday. I love their Run: Swiftly Tech shirts and there are a couple of color options on sale now for $39. Shipping is free. I didn't order anything today because I just bought Bliss Break Sweatpant last week (LOVED IT!)
• Gap has 31% off today all sale styles with code GAPBOO. Online only.
• Athleta does not seem to be offering special discount sale for today.

Restaurant Review - GBD Chicken & Donuts

Fried Chicken and Donuts - Together!

Fried chicken and donuts together is a thing. Like Sonny & Cher. Edward and Bella. Bill and Ted. Jack and Rose. I know of two places in DC that specialize in these two - together. And why not? It's genius!

GBD which stands for Golden Brown Delicious is located along Connecticut Avenue in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, DC. Family and I ate brunch there one fine Saturday morning in October. There was a short wait when arrived (10 minutes max) while we perused their very short menu and ogled their donut case.

I ordered the chicken and waffles (chicken thigh, slaw) while hubs and kids each got their chicken box (thigh, drumstick, biscuit, slaw, 1 side and choice of sauce).

Waffles were good - crispy where it should be crispy and lightly dusted with powdered sugar.
Fried chicken - good, crispy, tasty. Portion size was good as well.
Slaw - meh!
Sauce - I tried the Frankenbutter. Good, spicy. Hubs liked the Mumbo sauce.
Biscuit - oh lawd, one of best biscuits we've had. Everyone on the table agreed!
Mac n Cheese - with pimento. Bland. Waste of calories.

Donuts - in a span of two days, tried the following varieties:
PB&J - glazed with peanut butter and filled with jelly on the inside. So good!
Maple and Bacon - son asked, "is this breakfast?"
Nutella Crunch - if you're a fan, this is super! Glazed with Nutella & topped with chopped hazelnut.
Chocolate pudding filled - with chocolate glaze and cocoa krispies topping
Dough-Reo - filled with vanilla cream and topped with Oreo. Didn't try but hubs loved it.

VERDICT:  Chicken and donuts are obviously their specialty and GBD does a really (really!) job with both.

Donuts of the Day

Restaurant with take-out counter in front

HUGE donut sampling

Food Truck Review - Korean BBQ

Food Truck Review - Korean BBQ Box Truck

I love Food Trucks! And I am really glad that workers in Arlington, VA have many options for lunch other than the brick and mortar stores.  I follow many of the food trucks on Twitter so I know that there are many lunchtime options at the Rosslyn area today. I've enjoyed many meals from many food trucks but this is the first time I'd ever thought of writing a review (duh!)

Today, I tried a new truck (new to me), the Korean BBQ Box truck. I’ve seen it many times before so they’ve been around for a couple of months at least.  Each Korean bbq box meal come with salad (with  ginger dressing), Korean side dishes (1 spicy chicken wing, 2 pcs fried cheese roll) and an Asian yogurt drink (I call it Yakult. Every Asian person I know grew up drinking this stuff. This was our Go-Gurt in the ‘80s!)

I wish I'd taken a picture of their menu but they have beef bulgogi with rice, chicken teriyaki with rice, spicy pork with rice, plus taco versions of those and spicy wings box. Prices are from $7.99 to $9.99. I picked bulgogi taco which is one 8" flour tortilla filled with bulgogi (sauteed with sliced onions), shredded lettuce and sauce. Base price was $7.99 plus tax.

Salad - nothing special. Iceberg Lettuce, some carrot strings but dressing was good.

Spicy wing - crunchy, sauce was tasty but not too spicy

Yogurt drink - I've always loved it

Fried cheese roll - don't know what to make of it. It's okay. It's breaded on the outside for crunch with a mayo based sauce on top.  It didn't taste overly cheesy which was nice.

Taco - omg so messy. And I don't like messy food especially when eating on my office desk. But the bulgogi was good and tasty.

Verdict: Not my favorite Asian taco but I enjoyed the extras they include in the meal. Maybe the rice box option would have been better. If I really want Asian fusion taco, I'd choose TaKorean or Lemongrass.

Follow Korean BBQ Box on Twitter at @koreanbbq_2011 and/or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dckbbqbox 

l

#8 Bulgogi Taco Meal

Bright yellow truck (pic from their Twitter account)

2013 Running Year in Review

2013 Running Year in Review

2013 is the race-iest year for me yet. Here are the races I participated in which netted me a couple of nice new blings. The best is, of course, the Tiffany necklace from Nike!

March 2013   Rock n Roll USA 1/2 Marathon
April 2013     CU Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run
April 2013     Nike Women's Half Marathon Washington DC
October 2013 Army Ten Miler
October 2013 MCM 10K

Rock n Roll USA 1/2 Marathon medal

NWM Finisher shirt and Tiffany necklace medal

No medals at the ATM, only coins

Finish line at the Army Ten Miler

Pose-hard at CU Cherry Blossom post race

As you can see, summer is a snooze-fest but not run free. I traveled a lot over the summer but had lovely training runs in new places (Las Vegas, Carlsbad and Maui).

Looking ahead for 2014, here are the races that I'm hoping to participate in:

April 2014     CU Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run (lottery)
or
April 2014     GW Parkway Classic 10 Miler
April 2014     Nike Women's Half Marathon Washington DC (lottery)
October 2014 Army Ten Miler (last one before I become a legacy runner
October 2014 Marine Corp Marathon (lottery. My very first!)

If I don't get into the MCM, I'm going to try for the Philadelphia Marathon. Cross-fingers!

Barre Obsession Continues!

My newest fitness obsession is barre workout and my latest foray is the Physique 57 DVD set. The set comes with 3 DVDs and an inflatable exercise ball:

• Physique 57 Classic Full Body Workout
• Physique 57 30 Minute Express Full Body Workout
• Arm & Ab Booster 30 Minute Workout 

I've only had the chance to do the  57 minute full body workout and boy, does it kick butt. I've done it twice so far (2 days in a row) and I'm feeling the soreness. The first day, the back of my thighs were sore. Today, it's shoulders and upper back (must be from the all push-ups!)

 

For the Classic, 57 minute DVD, I used two kinds of hand weights (5 lbs and 3 lbs), yoga mat, our loft rail (or you can use a chair), a rolled up towel and the exercise ball.  The DVD is divided into 4 parts - warm-up, upper body (using the weights), legs and seat (using the rail or chair and excise ball) and abs (mat, exercise ball, rolled towel). 

I had to give my legs a break a couple of times and the ab work is the hardest I've encountered (DVD workouts and gym class combined!) 

They recommend doing the workout 3-4 times a week for maximum results and you can see visible results in only 8 workouts. Will it give me a dancer's body? We'll see.

Purchased my set from Amazon. They also sell the DVDs on the Physique 57 website. Both offer free 30 day trial.

Bend it in Bikram

I went back to Bikram yesterday after a 3.5 month hiatus. My #RWRunStreak over the summer didn't leave much room to do anything else but run. Then I went to the Philippines for two weeks. Then I had to fight jet-lag when I got back. Then it was too hot in August, etc, etc.

So many excuses. Truth was, I was afraid that I'd stayed away too long and I had to start from scratch. And that I had become a wimp and couldn't handle the heat anymore. Jim, the Bikram studio owner, said to me yesterday "well, its the same 26 postures so there's no surprise there."

And there really was no surprise. I still can't my toes to wrap around the standing leg in Eagle pose. I'm still able to kick out in Standing Head to Knee (but wobbly). I still really dislike Triangle pose. I still could only do Toe stand in one side. I still couldn't get my forehead to touch my knee in Rabbit pose. I still rock the Spine Twisting pose. And I still felt super after my class.

The body is a wonderful thing. The muscles remembers my practice. Being away for awhile, my mind was really present in class and in the "moment" (my mind used to wander sometimes when I was in class.)

Maybe absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Because I realized how much I miss sweating and stretching in Bikram.

My shoulders are sore today but I still plan to run later after work. But my yoga bag is packed and in the trunk of my car for tomorrow's class. May I be stronger than my excuses.

NAMASTE.

Rock n Roll VA Beach recap

Ran my first Rock n Roll race on Labor Day weekend!

My family have always tried to go to Virginia Beach during the last weekend before school starts so since we were already in town, I signed up for the mini marathon which is 5K in RnR's world. I knew I had not trained to run a half marathon plus I don't think I'm prepared enough for the humidity so I opted for a shorter race.

First, the Expo. One of the funnest Expo I've attended. Lots of goodies, freebies and I had time to talk to various vendors that were there. Packet pickup was smooth and each participant gets a Brooks technical shirt (green for 1/2 marathon and blue for mini) and a red swag bag. None of those see-thru plastic bags for this organizer. Swag bag included one chocolate GU, one Starkist tuna foil pack, one Smart Food cinnamon chips bag plus coupons and flyers for lots of other things.

On race day, I had an option to take the shuttle that takes runners from oceanfront hotels to the VA Beach Convention Center or to walk. Did not think it was worth it to wake up early just to take the shuttle so I walked. Along with hundreds of other runners who were walking so it felt safe.

Found my corral easy enough - first number/s on your bib corresponds to your assigned corral. My number was 13155 so I was on group #13. Loved the staggered start so when my group was "released" the road in front of us was pretty clear! Not too much weaving through slower runners.

It was hard to run in the humidity though. I was drenched after only 3.1 miles so I can't imagine running 10 more in that weather. Post race area was nice and clear too since only the 5K finishers were there when I finished. Lots of post-race give-aways (water, G2, banana, Snickers marathon bars, ice pop, fruit cup, chocolate milk, more Starkist tuna packets, Icee, etc. Unfortunately, they don't give plastic bags so I only grabbed what I could hold comfortably on both hands. Sat down on the boardwalk to eat banana, fruit cup and chocolate milk while chatting with other runners. Then walked about 10 blocks back to my hotel. Of course, hubs and kids were still sleeping when I got back.

Swaggin' Hard

Brooks technical t-shirt. Cool design.

Post race grub grab + medal

Official time was 33:35.