It’s been a long time coming! As I said at 4am this morning, “26.2 or bust.” Little did I know that that would be literal.

But, before I get to the race recap, I’ll recap the fabulous weekend we’ve had with our good friends Jay and Lindsay.

Joe and I flew into LAX on Thursday night and got picked up by Lindsay (thanks girl!). That evening, once Jay got home, we proceeded to hit up a place we’ve gone to in Playa del Rey called The Tripel, a really great place for solid beer and food. J+L are total regulars.

Their lubrication sign. I couldn’t help but snap a picture:

I didn’t take any pictures of the food at The Tripel, but I highly recommend their amazing beer selection. For food, go for their little bite-sized biscuits with seasonal pairing (this time it was red curry clotted cream). Yum. Don’t let the name “clotted cream” dissuade you. It’s essentially just like butter, just a different type of cream concoction. In addition to sharing these delightful bites, we shared their sweet potato tots and shoestring fries. Holy yum. Also, if you enjoy artichokes, they have a wonderful artichoke with crab butter and warm potato salad dish. They also have great hearty sandwiches which the boys got.

The next day, Jay had to work so Lindsay, Joe, and I ventured off to Manhattan Beach to seek out some tasty brunch. We had seen a joint called the North End Caffe which had been featured on an episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. With over 300 reviews on Yelp with overall 4 stars, we were down.

I decided to go all out and kickstart my carbo-loading by ordering their famously-featured Fettuccine Carbonara. This dish was SO rich and so good. The dish itself is made fresh to order and the lunch portion is huge! But don’t worry, I finished the whole thing. Couldn’t let it go to waste. A bit of a mistake as I paid for it later (tmi).

Lindsay got a great-looking breakfast sandwich that had egg, cheese, avo, and some special mayo. Joe got quite the masterpiece — the Big Jim featuring “TURKEY, MOZZARELLA, TOMATO & CREOLE MOJO TOPPED WITH 2 EGGS OVER EASY, APPLE WOOD
BACON.” The sandwich was bigger than my face. Joe recommends it. 🙂

After brunch, we decided to head down to the beach just a couple blocks away. I absolutely love the area. The beaches are gorgeous.

Afterwards, Lindsay dropped us off at Hermosa Beach to hang out for a few hours. Shape Magazine was in the process of setting up a huge fitness day on the beach. We couldn’t go since we were going down to San Diego for the race.

We decided to do a little happy hour at Watermans, a “safe haven for surfers.” We’ve gone there before and decided to partake in their half off all drinks special from 3pm-7pm. Great drinks and wonderful view of the beach, perfect for people-watching.

That evening, we decided to hit up In-N-Out burger on our way out to San Diego. No picture, but it was delish as always. 🙂

We got to San Diego Friday night to an amazing 2br/2ba condo in the heart of the Gaslamp District.

View from our condo:

I’ve yet to upload pictures from my camera to the computer, so Part 2 including our San Diego adventures and the race itself (including the horrific aftermath from the fall) will come next.

Can you believe I’ve been blogging from the iPhone? Crazy!