Wednesday, January 1, 2014

First Day of 2014 Adventures [A Race, Noms, and Tradition]

Happy New Year!  I hope you had safe, wonderful New Year celebrations.  Harry and I hit up a very yummy "Modern Southwestern" restaurant called Masa Azul, near some of our friends in Logan Square. We were happy to have tacos for the last Taco Tuesday of 2013, for sure.  We were also very anxious to just get home and avoid some of the madness that can happen near midnight, so we took off pretty early.  After ringing in 2014 with a smooch, we hit the sack.

(I typed the last sentence of the above paragraph lamenting my younger days of staying out until four or five o'clock in the morning on New Year's.)

 This morning, we head out for a "fun" 5K.  Harry and I are both relatively quick runners, but neither one of us were expecting to PR today, especially when there were several inches of snow on the ground and more snow falling from the sky.  We hopped a couple of buses, and were at the Lincoln Park Zoo for the Chicago Special Events New Year's Day 5K.

I quickly learned that I needed:  Thicker socks; thicker gloves; and waterproof running shoes.  Also, I learned that I should over-prepare (a.k.a. over-dress), because sometimes there isn't a warm place to hang out!

Ah well, we had fun.  We decided to take it slow and steady.  There wasn't a clear path, so I was basically looking down the entire time.  I just didn't want to fall on my butt!

I did look up a few times to snap some pictures.




Snow-trudging the whole way!  My quads starting burning so much after the first mile.  Ugh.


This is what I got to stare at for most of the race.  I certainly didn't mind.  :)


Harry was gracious enough to take my phone from me and snap some photos.  This is my first one-legged race shot!

Needless to say, we did not stick around after for any of the post-race festivities.  IT WAS C-O-L-D.  We wanted C-O-F-F-E-E, and N-O-M-S.  After hitting up a Starbucks, grabbing a bus, and my clumsy butt stepping in two snow-slush puddles (my toes were officially pissed off at this point, and poor Harry had to hear me complain...a lot), we went to one of our favorite spots, Revolution brewpub.  


I had the Breakfastman Burger, with a Bean Gene (barrel-aged coffee porter).  DEE-LISH.


Harry's Pork Belly Sandwich, with his Blue Gene (barrel-aged porter with blueberry).  Again...DEE-LISH.


We hopped one more bus and finally got home around 3:00pm.  Since then, we have been lazy.  Just lazy.  That's a pretty good way to spend the afternoon of the first day of the year!  Speaking of which, it is a tradition in the south to enjoy some black-eyed peas with ham on January 1st for good luck.  There are several varieties of traditions and combinations out there, but this is one that has been in my family for a long time.  It's too easy to make in the slow cooker (which helped me embrace the lazy afternoon) for a few hours, and bam!  




Mmmmm, mmmmmm!  Edible luck!  Harry had never had them before, and had two helpings.  This made my heart smile.  =)  Y'all have a beautiful rest of the first day of 2014!

6 comments:

  1. Whoa.... that's a snowy race, but what a fun way to ring in the new year! Breakfast looks delicious and from one southern to another, I love the black-eyed-pea tradition!

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    Replies
    1. That burger was a monster. I couldn't finish it, and admittedly, I'm a little sad about that. =P

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  2. Reading about how you stepped in the puddles made me wince. Your poor toes. =(

    It was all worth it for those burgers, though. Sometimes in life, sacrifices must be made.

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    Replies
    1. This one was WELL worth* the sacrifice!

      *My toes disagree. They feel as though they did not see any benefit in it.

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  3. What a great start to the year! I LOVE Revolution. Such a great place to go post snowy race!

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  4. Awesome job! Congratulations. I'm a wimp when faced with cold weather. Good to know about over dressing, and waterproof shoes. Found you through Facebook and wondered what a Chi-Athlete is. Is that Chi=Chicago or Chi=Energy? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

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