Owen's Fish Camp

We really like food! and on the flip side, I am not a very good cook.  Even though I have MANY issues with food, I still like it and appreciate a great meal. My husband knows this and he has been finding some very interesting restaurants for us to try out on date night. This week we had an impromptu date night to a place in downtown Sarasota called Owen's Fish Camp. Do not let the name fool you- it isn't a dive- but I will get to that.

 We got to the restaurant around 5:30...I know, I know- but I like to eat early and this place doesn't take reservations except for parties of six or more. There is not a lot of parking near it either but we did snag a spot only a couple of streets over on Oak and it was a gorgeous night so a slight walk with my hubs was nice. We were seated right away (yes i know it was 5:30) and immediately approached by our waiter, who got our drinks on the table right away. Then we had the hard task of choosing what we were going to eat.

Honestly, it was a very hard choice. They had about 20 different items that I would have loved to try out and they all looked good. Dave and I discussed and ended up with...

Bloody Mary Oyster Shooters- these were so good. They come in orders of 2 so of course we had 3 orders but they were worth it. The bloody mary was just spicy enough but not too spicy that I wouldn't want to eat about 10 more of these.

I knew going in that I was going to order the cheesy grits...the issue I had was that what I wanted to eat for dinner really didn't pair well with grits. I went back and forth between fried catfish, seafood cobb salad, and the fried green tomato salad and that is what won out.  Their fried green tomato salad with goat cheese and ham crisps was AMAZING!!! I really could have done without the actual salad part and just had the tomatoes, cheese, and crisps. The cheese went great with the fried green tomatoes and I  still got my grits. The grits were nice and creamy and worth every calorie!!!!

Dave got the fried oyster po boy with shoe string fries- and being a fry connoisseur these were really good!!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE DESSERT!!!! I like things sweet and usually chocolate- they did have a chocolate special but I thought I would try somethings different (gasp!) Dave and I decided to share (not something I usually do) Bourbon Pecan Pie with Fresh Cream and Ice Cream. This may be a little crazy but I have never actually had Pecan Pie so this was my first taste, and I was not disappointed. It was so gooey and the homemade whipped cream was delish!! I may have to try this somewhere else but it was a great ending to our meal.
During dessert, I noticed that there wasn't a seat available and I am sure that during season, it must be hard to get a table. The food was excellent and the service was great. Would definitely recommend this place and I will be going back- they have fried pickles that I still need to try.

It was a good thing that I had 14 miles to run the next morning (I told you, I have issues!!)

I give this place a 3.5 out of 5 :) and if you need someone to go with you- I'm your girl!!

One Step at a Time,

"Crazy"? Aptly Titled

Long runs? Yes, I am the crazy person who enjoys running longer (not actually faster). I would rather run 10 miles than 3. I like spending hours rather than minutes...but 13 miles was my long run this week right? Isn't that the distance people sign up for races and pay good money for a tshirt and medal? Yes, that is how far my long was this week.
Did I also mention that this run was going to be done on the treadmill because I have 3 children who can not be left home alone for 2 hours? What does one do when running 2 hours or so, my advice watch TV shows or movies that will keep your focus off of what you are doing. I have said before I swear by my iPad - love it!!! I watch many different shows from Downton Abbey to Real Housewives of New Jersey. It really helps when having to run indoors. After I ran my 13 on Sunday, my running partner for the WDW Marathon and sister in law Becky came to visit. Her training plan called for 11 miles and being the crazy person that I am, I volunteered to run with her since she didn't know the area or distances.
Yes my friends, you read that correctly, after 13 on Sunday, I ran 11 yesterday. WE left around 7:30 p.m. (learned my lesson about running during the day from the infamous 15 mile epic failure) and the first street was well lit. Now, I wasn't 100% sure of the route we were going to run but I did know that a portion of it was not on streets with ANY lights ...hmmmm... maybe I should have remembered the headlamp, maybe next time. Ran down my favorite street where it was probably a good idea that I couldn't see anything because usually I see an alligator or two, so it was much better for me that I pretend there weren't any. When we got to the crossroad, I thought we were going right (down the lighted streets) but Dave had told Becky to go left, so that is they way in which we went. There were a few lights on this road as well as many runners which we had to avoid on the narrow sidewalk. We got to SR70 and oops I forgot, no lights on this street either. Becky used her iPhone flashlight app which apparently drains your battery :( Running in the dark takes a lot of focus, and at this point I was trying to do math (not my strong suit) while trying to avoid bumping into Becky and the wall I was running next to. We made it back to Lorraine but we still had about 4 miles left to go and once again these road are not very well lit (come on Lakewood Ranch, we need better lighting) when we got back to Greenbrook and started to go straight, I figured out the distance that we needed could be done on Loraine (in the dark) or on Greenbrook ( well lit path), which would you choose? We chose the later and had a interesting (avoiding cars) run down and back for a solid 11 miles ( 24 in 2 days furthest for me yet!). It was so much fun running with my sister in law but I think next time I need to plan a bit better (the story of my life). Next week is 14 miles and this week I am a single parent most of the week. I'm sure there will be some great things to share...and I really am a bit crazy.

One step at a time,

Tower of Terror 10 miler

I LOVE Disney! I love running! So, what could be better than running at Disney right? I have done a couple Princess Half's, I am going to do my first (and probably only) marathon at Disney in January, I did the Tower of Terror 13K and the Wine and Dine half a couple of times as well. I have to say though, I was extremely disappointed in this race. Not because of the actual run. I ran this race with my husband (he isn't a runner, only did it with me for my birthday) and we didn't have grand plans for PR's , we just really wanted to have a good time. The race started at 10 pm and usually they start at Wide World of Sports or Epcot, well this race started and ended at Hollywood Studios. Dave and I (being the Disney freaks that we are) had the very bright idea to park at the Swan and Dolphin and walk over to the race...best decision ever!!! If I do this race again (it is a Disney race even if it wasn't the best), I would totally recommend doing this. Not only do you not have to take the buses with all those stinky runners afterwards but you don't have to get there 3 hours ahead of time either. We were meeting up with some of my running peeps, so we did get there early BUT we could have gotten there at 9:15 and still been totally fine. The positive things I have to say is the pre-race. Disney did an excellent job at changing things after last years Princess (almost couldn't get to the corral because there were so many people), They had the corrals right there where everyone was hanging out. You walked into the corral and were grouped together to walk to the start. This made things so much easier and a lot less chaotic. They also had porta potties in the corrals and some at the starting line as well (great job Disney!) We lined up- really really close to the starting line (huge mistake for us!)

We started and I really wasn't trying to run very fast, apparently though I was. I usually use Runkeeper but since the Princess where my phone died at mile 12 I decided not to use it, another mistake. In the past Disney races, there have been character stops within the first mile or right past it- not so with this race (and we were planning to stop at them). We went up the on ramp (sorry Tracy) and once we got to mile 1 I started looking for characters - ummmmm didn't have any. This race took you to Animal Kingdom, where we did see stilt characters from the Lion King (I think) this was at almost mile 3, then you run around the parking lot (not into the park) circle around and head toward Wide World of Sports. Now, technically this was an inaugural race because they added a bit of distance to the 13K- but the course was extremely similar, so I KNEW we were going to be running down a trail and I still disliked it. I did see the witch doctor from The Princess and the Frog between Animal Kingdom and Wide World of Sports, but I didn't think that was a character I was willing to stop for. The trail road was decorated "Halloweeny" but nothing too spectacular. We ran through WWS and ran around a baseball field and a track (woot woot) and then we were headed back to Hollywood Studios. On our way back we saw the Big Bad Wolf (what movie was he in?!?!?!) Running into Hollywood Studios (or any Disney park) is always a very special time. The music was good and running through the back lot and having our pictures on the Jumbo Tron was okay, but once again, there were NO characters out!!! When I did the 13K the finish was up the hill behind Tower of Terror,  they took that hill out for this race and before I knew it the finish was ahead of me and we were finished.  Not one EVIL QUEEN to be seen!! This was advertised as a race with villains and I was very disappointed to not see any!

I would have to say that it was nothing like the Princess, so I if you are thinking that it may be the same, it isn't. I still love runDisney, but I may have to save my money for a race with a little more. More what? More everything. My next race is the WDW Marathon and to say I can't wait is an understatement. 

RunDisney, if you are listening next year, please have some Evil Queens or Pirates- please ??