April's Been Ca-razy...

Holy crap, I'm pretty sure my head hasn't stopped spinning since this month started. I've been super swamped but I'm finally having a slower day so I thought I'd write a quick update. Life has been tremendous but I'm running on fumes right about now. I'm looking so very forward to this much needed three day Easter weekend ahead.

Most importantly, I got my MRI results back and there is no serious damage to my knee. It looks like my pain is consistent with ITBS, or 'runner's knee', which I was afraid of in addition to something more serious. It's manageable but chronic pain which is difficult to contend with but, above all, I am truly grateful that I don't need surgery or anything like that. The orthopedist said I need physical therapy and to continue taking these anti-inflammatory meds. I'll go back for a follow up in a couple of weeks to see how that's all going. I really am thrilled with this news overall. I know several people (especially Allison!) who suffer from ITBS and it's super painful. I've never struggled with it before and I just know that darn 15K I did in the wrong shoes back in December aggravated this. It's tough not to get mad at myself for making a dumb decision but whatever, onward and upward.

I've started trailing regularly in the kitchen at Hearth and it's been absolutely awesome. It's such hard work, especially after the long bikes rides I've been doing each weekend, but it's so worth it to me. The guys in the kitchen have been wonderful to me and so welcoming. I've primarily worked with Adam who has really had great patience in explaining each thing he does quickly but in full detail. I've learned so much already and I cannot wait for the coming months to bring on even more education for me. With each day I go in, I feel a little more like I'm a part of the Hearth family and that's so special. It'll be awesome to see how things unfold as I continue to gain the staff's trust. I'm so excited to continue this 'internship'!

It's hard to believe Easter is already here! I love thinking back on this time last year when I was up in the beautiful Finger Lakes area sipping wine at the vineyards and relaxing at the lovely Mirbeau Spa. What a fabulous weekend that was! This Easter is more low key for me (albeit not nearly as relaxing without my pinot noir body scrub :P) and I do look forward to that. I have a three day weekend ahead and I intend on enjoying every aspect of it. A day trip to Cold Spring might be in the works for Friday but we haven't finalized that just yet. Regardless, I'm really looking forward to Easter Sunday service at church and to finally being able to indulge in bread and pasta once again. I can't even believe I gave up both of those for lent especially when I'm riding my bike so intensely on the weekends. (A bagel with peanut butter is my go-to fuel for running or cycling so it's been tough improvising!) Anyway, I'm kind of thinking Easter dinner should simply be a double baguette with Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam triple cream buttery, earthy delicious cheese. Oh, the gloriousness. I'm pretty sure that and some of my expensive Napa wine club cabernet would make for one of the better Easter meals I've had, ha!

Speaking of cycling, what a tremendous ride we had on Sunday. It was such a gorgeous day! We rode out to Piermont and it was just beautiful. There's this adorable little town that we stopped in for lunch and sat along the water to eat which was wonderful. Hooray for the sunshine:

Another fun thing to note is that I booked tickets to Denver in August with Colleen! Me, her and Allison are heading out to visit her sister, Christina, and I'm SO pumped about it. I think we're actually gonna see Yonder Mountain at Red Rocks too which is just so awesome. I've heard about how amazing Red Rocks is for years from Brant so finally I think I'll see it for myself. :) I've also never seen Yonder Mountain live so that will just kick ass if we end up doing that. I've got Vermont coming up in May and then hopefully West Palm Beach in June so lots of upcoming fun to be had!

Other than what's mentioned above, I've continued on in my brunching and restaurant hopping shenanigans which is always spectacular. I've had a couple of belated birthday dinners and I was also able to make it to the tail end of lovely Suzanne's birthday celebration a couple of weekends ago. I had to miss eating at Momofuku with the crew (SO sad!) but I was able to meet them at Zum Schneider after which was awesome. Later on, we went back to Jeff and Suzanne's and I was lucky enough for them to share some of their leftovers from Momofuku which was freaking delicious. Jeff may or may not have actually gotten into some of them while we were at Zum:

Yeah, I don't blame him. That pork is outrageously good.

All in all, life has been fabulous. I hope everyone is doing great and that Spring really decides to show up and stay for a while for goodness sake. Fingers crossed...

SIG Training Begins!

I think I'll take a break from talking about chefs, food and restaurants for a bit and turn instead to another passion of mine - cycling! Back in 2009, I got a fabulous road bike complete with clipless pedals and the whole nine. At that point, I'd never been on a road bike, much less while being clipped in, so my first few rides were most certainly very rocky. I may or may not have fallen down within the first 5 minutes of being on. I'm really lucky to live just a few blocks from Central Park so I can easily get up there to ride but it's honestly become so annoying. There are so many people in the park these days and now it's a law in NYC that all cyclists must stop at red lights. There are probably 10 or so lights around the 6 mile circumference of the park so that gets incredibly annoying to stop, clip out, wait and resume. The fine is something like $275 though so I would just be pissed off if I had to pay this city another dime than I already do. Sooo, needless to say, riding in the city has become extra aggravating but I'm just not advanced enough quite yet to go out of the city on my own.

I've written about NY Cycle Club before but I'll just mention again what a tremendous group of people lead it. I've been to a couple of meetings and met some really wonderful folks who are so welcoming and sweet. Last year, I had read about their SIG program, short for Special Interest Group, and it's basically like a cycling college, if you will. There are three levels and it's designed to take a solo rider from the ground up and train them in group riding along with all the tiny details of bike maintenance and the like. I'm solid on the bike now and my fitness level is high but I know nothing about changing a flat, fixing a dropped chain, riding in a group; any of the nitty gritty stuff that makes up the cycling world. While I'm a runner at heart, I absolutely love being on the bike and I've conquered some personal hurdles because of it. There's a different relationship you have with the road when you're a runner vs. cyclist and I feel pretty lucky to see both worlds. Anyway, I'd missed the deadline to sign up for the SIG last year but I was sure to be one of the first to do so this year.

I decided to do the lowest level so I could be a part of learning all the small details of what I mentioned above. It's a rather large committment of 8 straight weeks every Saturday but I'm very excited to do this! Last Saturday morning was the classification ride for our group which was really so fun. It was just three laps of Central Park (a little over 18 miles) and then you wait a couple of weeks to hear which group you'll be in. I appreciate that they do this even amongst the lowest level because there are a fair amount of people who have a great fitness level but feel the same as I do. Basically, it'll be nice to ride with people at the same pace as you even in a lower level group. I got my bike all tuned up and was so excited to get back out on the road:

I had a fantastic ride and I definitely think my training sessions with Jimmy the past few months have boosted my endurance level big time. I'd been sick last week and that, coupled with not having been on the bike since last fall, I thought for sure I'd do some major huffing and puffing (especially up Harlem Hill!). That actually wasn't the case and I had a really strong ride. I surprised myself! Thanks for kicking my behind each and every week, Jimmy. ;)

I haven't heard what group I'm in yet but I look forward to getting that info soon. We officially start on Saturday, 3/26. Woooo! Hopefully, I'll have some fun adventures to share as we finally ride out of this crazy damn city. I can't wait to ride into some beautiful areas of Jersey and upstate NY, soon!