bridge running

A Weekend in Cleveland: Revisited

- Mel

Before it gets too far away from me, I wanted to post about my return weekend to Cleveland in July. Now that we’ve been gone for five years, it’s still surreal to go back and see all the changes — and we both cannot get over how weird it is that we don’t recognize anyone anymore! I went back two years ago as part of a blogger trip with Visit CLE, and I have to say that being in downtown Cleveland still feels strange to me. It’s quickly obvious that it doesn’t have quite the life to it as downtown Pittsburgh… but it still makes for a wonderful weekend getaway.

One thing’s for sure, we will NEVER stay at the Doubletree downtown again. That hotel is just the worst, free points or not.

Friday:
We started off with drinks on the roof of The 9. Initially, we were supposed to meet friends for dinner, but they had an emergency and couldn’t make it out. This is another place that I don’t ever have to go to in my lifetime. Lame and not my scene. Too bad, considering the amazing views.

Rooftop, the Flats, and a running tour of CLE stadiums.
Rooftop, the Flats, and a running tour of CLE stadiums.

But Heinen’s in the old Ameritrust rotunda building is DEFINITELY for me! Those wine vending machines? I hope that inventor won a Nobel or something. I loaded up a card and sampled plenty (including a cab that was $7 for 1-oz taster… yeah, it was perfect), and we enjoyed a wonderful cheese plate (with gluten-free crackers!). Heinen’s, if you’re not from Northeast Ohio, is a local chain grocery store, and MAN do I wish it existed when we lived on East 4th Street! I lived in the suburbs for many of my Cleveland years though, and Heinen’s is even better than Wegman’s in my book.

Heinen's in downtown Cleveland is incredible.
Heinen’s in downtown Cleveland is incredible.

We followed up our cheese with Dinner at the Greenhouse Tavern. The chef’s course is still one of the best deals in town, and we both left plenty full. While we people-watched in the front window, I noticed Sinbad was listed on the marquee at Pickwick & Frolic.

HECK YEAH, WE WENT TO SEE SINBAD! That guy made us laugh for over two hours. Totally spontaneous decision, and after being a fan of his for decades, I can finally say that I saw him live!

Saturday:
I like when I can wake up refreshed and early when traveling — and to beat the brunch crowd. We went to Urban Farmer where a former derby teammate works, and HEY-YO TO THE GLUTEN-FREE GODS, I enjoyed my breakfast immensely. I had eggs benedict (on gf toast) and a large bowl of fruit. Also, the coffee was crazy good.

Afterward, we walked to the West Side Market for snacking and people-watching; meat sticks from Czuraj were a must. On the way, we stopped into Nano Brew (for the boyfriend). After meeting up with my sister for a bit, we continued our “drinking tour” at Great Lakes Brewery (again, for the boyfriend). Considering that I came of age in the hey-day of the Flats party scene, it was interesting to walk through and see all the development on both the West and East banks. Was disappointed to see all the bars and restaurants closed on the East Bank near the Aloft Hotel though — we did go in and check out that building a bit. A cool space for Cleveland! On our climb back out of the Flats, we found Portside and HOLY RUM. The drinks were amazing! What a treat on our self-guided tour.

Drinking and walking tours of CLE.
Drinking and walking tours of CLE.

After a few drinks at Portside, we DEFINITELY needed dinner. I’m glad that we read online about Townhall before our visit because this choice was perfection (and quite busy). I was really impressed by their different options for gluten-free (and other dietary restrictions) and my burger (with gluten-free bun!) was delicious. We also ordered this veggie crudo appetizer, which was insanely gigantic but a good starter to share.

For dessert, we Uber-ed over to the Tremont neighborhood for ice cream at Tremont Scoops — our friends own it and they have gluten-free cones! We also walked over to Lilly’s Chocolate to bring a couple boxes home. We really wanted to check out the New Orleans-style bar (its name escapes me right now) but upon experiencing some weird power outage, they weren’t letting anyone in. Alas, we had a drink at Edison’s by the koi pond out back — a must-visit place for pizza and beer (if you can have both of those things) if you’re in the neighborhood. Really random Cleveland trivia: I almost rented an apartment in my mid-20s above Edison’s. It’s always weird to remember that.

Short night for these two ol’ fogies. But I guess the day was plenty exciting.

Sunday:
We didn’t plan to stay late or do anything tourist-y on Sunday, but I needed to get my 8 miles in. After some quickie room service, I took off to run towards the lake and over the two major bridge spans connecting downtown to Ohio City. The Lorain bridge itself is close to a mile across, and it was a good reason to check out my old stomping grounds at Cleveland State campus. Also, there is this super-old cemetery that I’ve always wanted to walk through on East 9th Street, so I ran through there as well as around Progressive Field (ahem, THE JAKE!) and Browns Stadium (GO BROWNS!).

It was a good trip back, and I’m glad I got a little bit of that lake-side humidity before my half marathon there in August.

Is there anything that I missed that I should do on my next visit?

Training Week 3: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

Worry about finishing my two classes resulted in my not really following along with this week’s Training Plan. For what it’s worth though, my scheduled long run this week felt amazing.

Monday: REST

Tuesday: REST DAY. I had the intention running before work, but I suffered from some serious insomnia the prior night. We had a baseball game after work, so oh well.

Wednesday: Lunchtime yoga, restorative and some trigger point therapy. This class was exactly what I needed! Unfortunately, I had a concert after work, so I had to miss run//yoga club (and my training run).

Thursday: Now it was time to catch up on work for my final papers and projects that are due this week…

Friday: I ran 3 miles at 6am with a friend! And it was a slow, heavy slog through those three miles — over 11:30/pace (that felt much faster). Gross. I took her over through the West End Bridge loop though, and there was a perfect fog resting over the tops of downtown Pittsburgh. Little things like that remind me of my adventures while running and keeps me coming back to “see the view,” so to speak.

Saturday: FINALS DUE! Another rest day.

Sunday: As part of Open Street PGH, I ran 6 miles in the AM with the Steel City Road Runners Club. It was rainy but cool, the course was fun (I mean, what’s not to love about running in the middle of the street?!) AND there were legit people out there cheering on our training run. What a blast! Most importantly, it felt GOOD to run. It was a great way to cap off Week 3.

Open Streets!
Open Streets!

Weekly Runs: 2
Weekly Miles: 9.02 miles
Total Training Miles: 23.95 miles

*Also walked 4.5 out of 5 days to/from work for another 10-ish extra miles, not included in the training total. I finally mapped my two different courses to work, and one is closer to 1.5 miles in one direction, and maybe that’s why I’m so tired every day? lol

Pittsburgh Half Marathon: Training Week 14

- Mel

So, we enter the last two weeks of this training cycle, with the Pittsburgh Half Marathon happening already NEXT SUNDAY. Won’t be a lot of heavy training for Week 15 with race week and all, but I’ll get a few miles in, and a couple long yoga and foam-rolling sessions. PLUS because I signed up for the Steel Challenge (have you seen the medal?!), I’ll be running the 5K on Saturday too. Should be a really fun week, and getting a long run in today helped to alleviate some of my pre-race jitters and race-worthiness.

I'm running for the National Aviary! (Click to donate!)
I’m running for the National Aviary! (Click to donate!)

With a week to race day, I want to talk about the organization for which I’m fundraising: The National Aviary!

Full disclosure: I’m a former employee, but with the bird zoo right in my neighborhood I am frequently walking and running past, and dropping in to visit my bird friends. It was an amazing place to work and is an amazing place in Pittsburgh for families and animal lovers of all ages. They promote a respect for nature through the appreciation of birds, and their conservation and education efforts are commendable. However you can support, it is immensely appreciated. DONATE NOW!

Monday: WOO, REST DAY!

Tuesday: I ran to my CrossFit gym to do a WOD that included some road sprints (yep, more running!) and deadlifts (ooh, more legs!). I haven’t done much of any sprinting in training for this race (save for finish line sprints), so it was fun to incorporate with four rounds of deadlifts. Mileage was 1.56 miles to the gym + 1.26 home (yes, I took a wrong turn and got lost on the way home which ended up being less miles, weird).

Wednesday: Run//yoga club at Urban Elements returned together on the same night and changed to Wednesday nights, which makes me so happy because I love mid-week workouts for some reason. We completed 3.6 miles on the North Shore Trail — sans headphones — and I got to test out my running-while-chatting skills meeting some of the other ladies in the group. The “club” ended with an AMAZING 75 minutes of hot yoga (which felt pretty terrible at times given my raised body temperature), but my body felt so good afterward.

Thursday: Rest Day! Necessary!

Friday: Welp, boyfriend talked me into hamburgers and cured meats for happy hour, so my additional short run for the week was canceled.

Saturday: Baby shower day, so another day of rest and awesomeness (and, um, some wine) with my friends. That’s OK because I plan to do a long run on Sunday.

Sunday: Completed 10.26 miles in the late afternoon. My pace was all over the place again but I was happy with it. I was really hot even at just 60 degrees, shedding my long-sleeve outer layer by the end of three miles, but I accomplished a little more of the course — adding another two more bridges to my count! Smithfield and Birmingham, for those keeping score. Unfortunately, I did experience some knee pain again around Mile 5, but I continued to run through it. I needed to know if it eventually stops hurting the more I run (I know, it’s a little insane, but bear with my thought process). Well, it DID stop hurting, so… then I finished my 10 miles and then-some. At one point, I was so hungry that I thought about eating a smashed hot dog bun on the road; good thing I’ve figured out my fueling strategies. *eye roll*

Sport Beans helped me not to bonk, thankfully; the water fountains in Point State Park helped me stay hydrated when my water bottle went dry.

IMG_0329

In any event, I’m proud of this week and wish for this kind of motivation again for my future training cycles.

Game on, Pittsburgh!
Total runs this week: 3
Weekly mileage: 16.68
Total training mileage: 104.15 miles

Pittsburgh Half Marathon: Training Week 13

- Mel

Have you made your own motivational post for the Pittsburgh Half Marathon? Tell UPMC what keeps you going for a chance to win the Reasons to Run 2.0 sweepstakes. Contest ends on April 24!

IMG_0236

This week proved to me a lot of what I am capable of — physically and especially mentally. Game On, Pittsburgh!

Monday: Much-needed day of rest (and cleaning my house). My foot really, really hurts from the Cherry Blossom race, but I’m also dealing with some knee soreness. No visible swelling, from what I can tell, but I’ve been icing both. Since both are on my left leg, I’m beginning to think something is up on that side — shoes? IT band? Tight glutes? Shut up and get a massage? (OK).

Need all three of these guys tonight. #recovery #cucb2015 #gameonpgh #foamrolling

A photo posted by Melinda (@melliesmel) on

I foam rolled for about an hour with all three of my apparatuses (apperati?), really focusing on my hips, IT band, and quads.

Tuesday: Emergency massage appointment activated! What’s that? My calves and hamstrings are super tight. Oh. This session felt and hurt so good. And, err… guess I’ll spend some additional time stretching and rolling my calves and hamstrings.

Wednesday: Still a little sore, so I decided to take another day to really stretch everything and ice my knee and foot. I feel mighty bruised from that massage too. Woof.

Thursday: 2 mile run… and I feel good again. I followed up that “good” with a couple sets of body strength workouts found in Runner’s World, push-ups, and a killer ab workout.

2.0 miles outside, 10:00/pace

Friday: Took a rest day, and went to an amazing Pittsburgh Ballet performance of La Bayadere (and I cheated and ate some tomato sauce on my gluten-free pizza).

Saturday: What a beautiful day! Left the house without my water bottle, so I ran to 7-Eleven and thank the lord because it was a LOT warmer than I anticipated! I accomplished the West End Bridge (both directions) and ran around the Point to get a nice mist of fountain water. More importantly, I. Felt. Good. First time that I felt really confident about running this half in a couple weeks. So, I’ll make sure that I eat an egg sandwich on race day. 🙂

First time running over the West End Bridge!
First time running over the West End Bridge!

They were setting up for Pirates fireworks on the Sixth Street Bridge when I ran over, and that was terrifying. Holy moly, that’s a lot of explosives for one bridge. I ran back on the Seventh Street Bridge — and look what I saw:

Game on!
Game on!

6.48 outside at 10:30 pace

Sunday: REST. A paper due, and group project assignment to compile (which I did outside on the patio and can all weekends in Pittsburgh be like this?!). I also played in my closet a bit — spring cleaning was necessary on this day of rest. And you know, since running is changing my former derby body, a clean-out was imminent.

Bonus about this Spring weather: walked to-from work four times this week for a total of 8 miles! 🙂

Total runs this week: 2
Weekly mileage: 8.48
Total training mileage: 87.47 miles!