Next week we are planning a run around the strip, starting at the parking lot right above Liberty Ave. at 21st. St. and criss-crossing a few bridges. We will hope to end with warm almond meles at La Prima - I wonder if we can call in an order? If I think of it this week, I'll try.
This week we headed from Regent Square to the top of Pt. Breeze, and back through the cemetery, a cold grey quiet Pittsburgh morning that our group tore through making it sweaty, colorful, and raucous - that's our job! But where were the deer and that tubby little groundhog?
Was there some talk of a run through Braddock? Sarah and Wendy say there are some murals we can't miss, and perhaps we can get Mayor Fetterman to come along, since he seems to be available for PR ops. Most of the group peeled off before coffee at the newly configured and still cute Biddle's Escape - now they have a table just for us! Four of us still covered a lot of verbal territory, all of which escapes me since I forgot to use the napkin technique. We welcomed back Michelle (!), who recalled the origin of our sainted coffee hours, which she started with Karen and Virginia in the olden times, hugely increasing our happiness quotient.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Feb. 24 Run: Tennis Court parking lot on Braddock across from Biddle for Regent Square run
For those lucky enough to have tomorrow off (ahem) - don't forget the usual 7:30 a.m. holiday run starting at Commonplace.
Next week we only know where we are starting, not where we are going - how philosophical is that? We'll begin in the tennis court parking lot on Braddock Ave., and figure out where to go according to the weather. OK, so maybe not that deep. Will probably end up at Biddle's Escape (a new favorite) for coffee.
Today's slippiness (!) took us both ways through Chatham, whose well-heeled neighbors really know how to keep their streets pristine, and over through Shadyside, whose equally posh residents rely on Public Works unfortunately, but whose mansions were just as gorgeous in the snow. (I'm deliberately using "posh" to try to get PtB back.) But the best words today were Virginia's: "I'm not leading the run, I'm just out front." This has so many mind-melding interpretations that we will be deconstructing it for years, but suffice it to say that it has already become a RG slogan.
On the topic of lingo, back at Commonplace, we pondered the café lingo laid out in the NYT article much of which has to do with what the baristas call the customers - ummm, not going there. Especially after we spent the first half hour standing around treating the place like a cocktail-party. Chat-wise, as usual food reigned: first Teri discovered the Urbanist Guides to extremely hip dining etc. in the back (I can't believe we missed the launch party!), which led to Burgatory (worth 2 hour waits) and the defunct Minutello's (food was awful but the murals were adorable.) A natural segue then, from those temples of ground beef and pepperoni to veganism in various forms: in-house-only, before 6, by marriage, etc. A surge of enthusiasm for turning RG's treasure trove of food advice into a blog of its own: "Eat 'N Run" - let's do it!
Endorsed:
Next week we only know where we are starting, not where we are going - how philosophical is that? We'll begin in the tennis court parking lot on Braddock Ave., and figure out where to go according to the weather. OK, so maybe not that deep. Will probably end up at Biddle's Escape (a new favorite) for coffee.
Today's slippiness (!) took us both ways through Chatham, whose well-heeled neighbors really know how to keep their streets pristine, and over through Shadyside, whose equally posh residents rely on Public Works unfortunately, but whose mansions were just as gorgeous in the snow. (I'm deliberately using "posh" to try to get PtB back.) But the best words today were Virginia's: "I'm not leading the run, I'm just out front." This has so many mind-melding interpretations that we will be deconstructing it for years, but suffice it to say that it has already become a RG slogan.
On the topic of lingo, back at Commonplace, we pondered the café lingo laid out in the NYT article much of which has to do with what the baristas call the customers - ummm, not going there. Especially after we spent the first half hour standing around treating the place like a cocktail-party. Chat-wise, as usual food reigned: first Teri discovered the Urbanist Guides to extremely hip dining etc. in the back (I can't believe we missed the launch party!), which led to Burgatory (worth 2 hour waits) and the defunct Minutello's (food was awful but the murals were adorable.) A natural segue then, from those temples of ground beef and pepperoni to veganism in various forms: in-house-only, before 6, by marriage, etc. A surge of enthusiasm for turning RG's treasure trove of food advice into a blog of its own: "Eat 'N Run" - let's do it!
Endorsed:
- Fabulous trail running shoes (great for snow) modeled by Teri
- Snacking at the Strip: the eggplant-parmesan sandwich of Lainy's life; beans & greens at Colangelo's; the mung bean pancake outside Sam Bok(?), the Vietnamese sandwiches from the lady under the umbrella
- Trader Joe's soup in cartons: butternut squash, red pepper
- Smart Balance, not to be tampered with
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Feb 17 Run: CommonPlace
Meet at CommonPlace Coffee in Squirrel Hill for a TBD local run. Lots of other places were suggested but none felt quite right so we went for the comfortable option - a good one for mid-February.
As advertised, Karen led a Chinese New Years run. It did include a climb up Serpentine Drive (appropriate for the year of the snake) but she also had us run backward around the CMU track as a New Years challenge. Back at CommonPlace Yi fed us dumplings. Maybe this is our second chance at starting the year!
We also looked ahead to Valentine's Day thanks to Wendy who brought a wide variety of cards to share - some came withe sounds and vibrating eyes.
Recommendations:
After Hours at the Library - The next one is on May 17 in Lawrenceville
Kind Bars - a Leslie Bonci recommended snack
Prezi - presentation software suggested by Elaine Mormer
As advertised, Karen led a Chinese New Years run. It did include a climb up Serpentine Drive (appropriate for the year of the snake) but she also had us run backward around the CMU track as a New Years challenge. Back at CommonPlace Yi fed us dumplings. Maybe this is our second chance at starting the year!
We also looked ahead to Valentine's Day thanks to Wendy who brought a wide variety of cards to share - some came withe sounds and vibrating eyes.
Recommendations:
After Hours at the Library - The next one is on May 17 in Lawrenceville
Kind Bars - a Leslie Bonci recommended snack
Prezi - presentation software suggested by Elaine Mormer
Monday, February 04, 2013
Feb. 10 Run: Start at Commonplace Coffee for Chinese New Year's Run
Karen reminded us that next Sunday begins the Chinese New
Year 4711, the year of the snake, and she will lead a run, natch, down the
Serpentine, starting at Commonplace Coffee on Forbes. Don't forget to
wear something red. We hope Yi will come and explain everything.
I did my usual run to the run - which unlike you all I only do when I don't actually do the run itself - so I missed the revelation of Tom's mysterious Sunday whereabouts, except that it tends in the Oakland direction. It was a somewhat snowy slog, but winter still has charms, one of which is the miracle of sweating in 15 degrees. Immediately on sitting down to coffee we returned to the topic of local writer David Gershon-Harris and his fascinating profile by Virginia in the PG (scooped here first, please note) and his prize-winning Moth story (as promised) combining trolling for sex and canvassing for votes - no wonder Obama won. Telling funny stories led us to Wendy's recollections of the Squirrel Hill Lapiduss family - with two famous and famously gay sisters continuing to tell them to Hollywood and the world. Continuing down memory lane, we reminisced about our adolescent musical discovery - why always in the basement? - and the ways we all arrived in Pittsburgh, the best of all possible worlds, where things that are not there anymore are still there.
And vat else? Related endorsements:
Restaurants: Ramen Bar, Mongolian Grill, the soon-to-open French Bakery only steps away on Forbes (mouth-watering pastel macarons pictured outside), e2 and its Sunday Sauce event (RG to go in April?)
Movie: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Songs we still know the lyrics to: Rocky Raccoon, American Pie, Age of Aquarius
Yoga: Inner Hearth (on Reynolds), Mookshi Wellness Center (above Biddle's Escape), and to prove that the whole yoga world has arrived in Pittsburgh - a Yoga Expo on the 17th.
Future re-opening of the Fountain at the Point, closed since 2009!, at the 3 Rivers Arts Festival this summer
I did my usual run to the run - which unlike you all I only do when I don't actually do the run itself - so I missed the revelation of Tom's mysterious Sunday whereabouts, except that it tends in the Oakland direction. It was a somewhat snowy slog, but winter still has charms, one of which is the miracle of sweating in 15 degrees. Immediately on sitting down to coffee we returned to the topic of local writer David Gershon-Harris and his fascinating profile by Virginia in the PG (scooped here first, please note) and his prize-winning Moth story (as promised) combining trolling for sex and canvassing for votes - no wonder Obama won. Telling funny stories led us to Wendy's recollections of the Squirrel Hill Lapiduss family - with two famous and famously gay sisters continuing to tell them to Hollywood and the world. Continuing down memory lane, we reminisced about our adolescent musical discovery - why always in the basement? - and the ways we all arrived in Pittsburgh, the best of all possible worlds, where things that are not there anymore are still there.
And vat else? Related endorsements:
Restaurants: Ramen Bar, Mongolian Grill, the soon-to-open French Bakery only steps away on Forbes (mouth-watering pastel macarons pictured outside), e2 and its Sunday Sauce event (RG to go in April?)
Movie: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Songs we still know the lyrics to: Rocky Raccoon, American Pie, Age of Aquarius
Yoga: Inner Hearth (on Reynolds), Mookshi Wellness Center (above Biddle's Escape), and to prove that the whole yoga world has arrived in Pittsburgh - a Yoga Expo on the 17th.
Future re-opening of the Fountain at the Point, closed since 2009!, at the 3 Rivers Arts Festival this summer
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