A Nice Race-Free Weekend...

Yesterday, my girlfriend and I took my 90 year old Grandmother out for a nice dinner at a Spanish restaurant called "Salamanca". Located on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights, I was pleasantly suprised by the value for the quantity and taste. We ordered "tapas", a full bottle of Marques De Caceres Red Spanish Wine, a Caldo Gallego soup, and then for the main course, a Paella Valenciana for myself and Grandma, and a Chicken Villaroy for Ileana. All told, with tips and taxes was under $100! In New York, anything under a $100 for 2 is good, but for 3? Insane!

My grandmother turns 91 in September this year. She has remarkable stamina, is incredible quick-witted, and somehow talks even more than me! We had a really nice time as my Grandma talked a lot about her heritage in Sevilla. An oddball thought on the way to the restaurant: This was the first time, I drove her anywhere in a car. We took Ileana's CTS.

With a lot of unanswered requests gone by the wayside, I decided to foresake the good weather, listen to Ileana, and work out indoors at the Gym. The reasoning for this was simple. I needed some upperbody work. I've been noticing that I am doing very poorly on my uphills, and I read somewhere about how having strong abs, strengthens your core and better connects your arms to your legs (or something like that).

LA Fitness keeps getting busier. Parking there is becoming a nightmare. However, I may go back there a few more times this week and see how I do.

I have a new race this Sunday. The Forest Park 4 miler. It's through the park I've been running through a lot, but in this race, they are using the horse trails as part of the run. Sounds exciting, but I must exercise extreme vigilance while running, that I don't trip over anything foreign. I still remember Zola Budd & Mary Decker Slaney in the Olympics (uh oh....did I just date myself?) and would not want to end up on the ground screaming "Why Me? Why Me?" like whatsherface from the figure skating competition three olympics ago (or so).

My Mets pulled out a great come from behind win tonight after some real sloppy defense in the beginning. Let's Go Mets!

I am grateful that once this month is over that I just have about 1 race in the month of June to concern myself with. Too much racing = not enough training. And after all, my real race is the New York City Marathon. Although, and having had my father live there for about 8 years, I am really intrigued by the Chicago Marathon. If I am koo-koo enough, I might consider doing both next year, even though they are less than one month apart. Oh Boy! There I go again, biting off more than I can chew!

And speaking of chewing, my diet has been atrocious recently. Tonight I ate an entire large bag of Crunchy Cheetos. What is up with that? Oh sure, I had a broiled flounder with vegetables and a salad....but with Cheetos? Truth was, the Cheetos was a fantastic compliment to the fish.
Yes people, you've heard it here. I am a runner, and I eat CHEETOS. How I still get away with this, and soon to be at the age of 42, I have no clue.

When it comes to food, I think Fiorello LaGuardia (famous mayor of NYC in the 40's) said it best:

"The Devil is easy to identify. He appears when you're terribly tired and makes a very reasonable request which you know you shouldn't grant."

Oh no. It's 1 am. I will be sleep deprived tomorrow. Bah!!!!!