do (run) while (date < 20071029)

October 22 through 28:

MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOTAL
7 mi	7 mi	4 mi		xt1	18 mi		36 mi

xt1 = one hour (14 miles) on the bike

J's Bistro

When I read the September review of J's Bistro in the Houston Chronicle I knew that this was one restaurant I wanted to try. A place that bills itself as "Euro-Asian fusion" that's not inside the Loop or a touristy area like Kemah . . . but smack-dab in the middle of the bland, non-descript strip shopping centers of Bear Creek ( 4502 Highway 6 North near Aspenglen to be exact)? The owner is definitely a risk-taker!

Was it what I was hoping for? On the one hand, the food was a celebration of sights, smells and tastes. The bratwurst appetizer that we got to sample definitely had a kick to it. The cream of mushroom soup was OK, although I like my mushroom chunks a bit bigger. The duck breast with fig sauce, served over mashed sweet potato was fantastic.

The bad part was that despite the restaurant being half empty on Saturday night, they were still understaffed and it took nearly an hour and a half for our dinner entrees to arrive. I
got a complimentary dessert -- the key lime cake rocks -- but let's just say that it's a good thing my dinner partner and I were able to keep conversation going.

Would I go back? Yes, I'm hoping that the staff had an off night and that the positive reviews on B4-U-EAT are more typical. That area of town could really use a shot of fine dining and I'd like them to succeed. It took three visits before I saw the service at Studio Movie Grill finally "click" and I'm glad I didn't fully give up on them....

do (run) while (date < 20071022)

October 15 through 22:

MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOTAL
	8 mi	8 mi			16 mi		32 mi

New weekly mileage PR!

Harris County Fair and Rodeo

My little digicam was struggling under the fluorescent lights and fast action.

People in marathon training do it longer.

I just realized that I haven't officially announced this in the blog yet: I'm registered for the 2008 Chevron Houston Marathon. Yup, I got in before the cap got reached. We're going for it. Woohoo! And so the training begins to ramp up.

I'm back from this morning's long run. I logged 16 miles on the Garmin in 3:07:58. I even managed a negative split! (For the lay folks, that's running the second half faster than the first.) The first eight were done in 1:34:01, and the last eight were done in 1:33:57.

It was in the sixties Fahrenheit when I woke up this morning, and I think I really took advantage of the weather. It's so much nicer to be invigorated by the air instead of feeling sapped by the heat and humidity.

Naturally, I celebrated afterwards with a stop at Sonic Jog-In....



On the return leg, I passed this water meter cover. I want to think this is a good sign somehow:

Where did all the brown sugar go?

We'll make do with the white stuff I suppose. I'm usually in such a rush in the morning that I never take the time for any food that requires more than grab-n-go time. Since I'm home with a head cold, I'm going to actually put a wee bit of TLC into breakfast today.

do (run) while (date < 20071015)

October 8 through 14:

MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOTAL
	7 mi	5 mi		4 mi	3 mi xt1		19 mi

xt1 = 6 miles on bicycle

do (run) while date < (20071008)

October 1 through 7:

MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOTAL
5 mi	5 mi			xt1	13 mi	4 mi	27 mi

xt1 = 1 hour biking on Cullen Park trail

do (run) while (date < 20071001)

September 24 through 30:

MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOTAL
	6 mi	4 mi	5 mi		13 mi		28 mi

Looks like a total of 83 miles for the month of September.