Ran 20-miles today! Literally the longest run of my life. Week 13 of marathon training is officially over. Only five more weeks to the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon. I cannot wait to go! We’re renting a sweet house with our good friends Jay and Lindsay and will for sure have an amazing epic time.

One of the great things about marathon training is all of the calories burnt during the week and on the long run. Why? Because it allows me to indulge in delicious foods! In the past week, we’ve gone to several great places in Capitol Hill.

Tonight we dined at 8 Oz Burger Bar with our friends Kevin and Katie. We’ve been there several times in the past couple of months. They make this delicious Fillet of Fish sandwich which reminds me of McD’s but, of course, way better ingredients and more scrumptious. I had that tonight with bacon brussels sprouts. We shared a plate of candied bacon and potato skins which were quite good!

The other night Joe and I dined with Skillet Diner with our friend Becky who had driven up all the way from Portland to go meet Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman! She had a book signing up in Lake Forest Park at Third Place Books. I kid you not… there must’ve been 600+ women in the room listening to Ree’s presentation and waiting in line for the book signing. 3.5 hours — that’s how long it took for us to meet her and get our books signed. By the way, Skillet makes an amazing mac and cheese. Mmm.

Two nights later, I went with my friend Erin to the Williams-Sonoma in Bellevue Square Mall to meet one of my food idols, Giada Delaurentiis. She was so sweet in person and absolutely beautiful!! She even tweeted back to me. 😉

And last but not least, regarding delish meals recently, we went to Cuoco last night for their Festival of Gnocchi. My gnocchi was absolutely amazing! Carmelized bits of pancetta and hazelnuts complemented the fresh gnocchi. The fried artichoke was decent and the bread service was great. Out waitress was really great! Due to the long wait, she filled our wine glasses a little extra. 😉 Oh, and great tiramisu!

All in all, this week has been super busy but great. I look forward to blogging more frequently an giving insight into the past several months of marathon training!