Random Friday word vomit AKA where I fell asleep while making dinner {2}

My Daad was super awesome to come up to Chicago and keep CB company while we were away. It was especially awesome because CB avoided being boarded where he could have come into contact with the nasty dog flu that is going around. They had a lot of fun taking walks and sharing french fries.

It was also very nice to see my Daad for a few days. We must go to Tampa soon to visit him and his pup Bella.


Yay Spring! I love all the tulips blooming, but hate the pollen. Not sure if it was being up for 27 hours and 3 flights for 15+ hours in a plane on Monday or just a cold, but my sinuses have been so stuffy this week. I'm happy it happened after the beer festival so I could enjoy the full flavor of all the beers. BUT, feeling crappy has diminished my desire to run. So I've been cycling until I feel better. Oh well...

One of the things that blew my mind in Copenhagen was how seemingly safe it was. People didn't lock up their bikes when going to the bar or even over night at their apartment. I know my bike would be gone in 10 minutes flat if I left it unlocked/chained outside of my apartment. People also left their baby strollers complete with baby outside when stepping into a store. Which makes sense because strollers take up a huge amount of space. It's just interesting to see such stark cultural differences in different parts of the world.


CB went to his first bar last night- Kasey's tavern. While he looked super excited in the photo he was freaked the eff out from the surroundings. We will definitely be bringing him to patio seating at restaurants again this year now that the weather is nice.


I haven't run at all this week due to the sinus crap. I've cycled a bunch, but between that and the jet lag I'm just worn out.

I was making dinner last night and passed out on the couch while the food was cooking. When it finally finished cooking, L and I both agreed to call it a night and just go to bed and eat the food today instead. The whole jet lag thing is so weird. I would wake up at 3-4am wide awake and starving but feel great through the day. Around 7:30pm I would get hit with an insane wave of tiredness and would just fall asleep. Today I woke up at a more reasonable 6am so hopefully the jet lag is behind me now.

I'm looking forward to getting back on a more normal schedule for sleeping and eating and working out. I should also start looking for some 5k's to try in good conditions Read: no excessive drinking alcohol or eating the days before, and no long plane rides, and maybe a half if I start running more miles- which shouldn't be a problem now that the weather is more to my liking.


TGIF

Copenhagen Days 1-2, in which we ate all the things and drank all the beers.

And now going out of order for this trip recap:

We took a taxi to CDG and waited for our flight to Copenhagen. They were very strict with carry on baggage and made us weigh our carry on bags before going through security. Each person cannot have more than 12kg of carry on combined. My bag and my small suitcase clocked in at 16kg (although my suitcase was less than 12kg) so we had to go pay 30 euros and check both of our suitcases.


Once we got checked into our hotel (Hotel Adina apartments) we went near Tivoli to get some shawarma that L had raved about from his last trip to CPH. The stuffed grape leaves and chicken shawarma were out of this world delicious.


Our next logical stop was the original Mikkeller Bar where I started with a SpontanCassis beer. It was so cool to finally be at the bar of one of my favorite beer makers.


I loved the vibe of the bar and it was buzzing with loads of people taking part in CBC and Mikkeller beer week.


Our next stop was the brand new Warpigs bar. It is a collaboration between Mikkeller and 3 Floyd's and is a bar, brewery and legit American BBQ joint.


Warpigs has an insane tap list. We started with Barrel Aged Vanilla Dark Lord from 3 Floyd's. It's so funny how it is impossible to get this beer in Chicago- 40 min away from FFF, but it was on tap in CPH.


Warpigs was packed solid every time we went there. It was amazing seeing so many people enjoying great beer and amazing BBQ.


Thursday morning I ran around Kastellet park. Originally the forecast called for rain, but it was clear when I went out to run.


The park is a military fort and is absolutely gorgeous. There's churches, all sorts of statues and a higher and lower level to run on.


I also stopped to see the famous "little mermaid" statue. Story made famous by Hans Christian Andersen.


I also saw the windmill in the park. It was so beautiful and peaceful to run here.


For lunch, we went back to Warpigs again. The food is on point and delicious. We had pulled pork shoulder, brisket, cole slaw and the most delicious Mac n cheese ever.


We also picked up our Trooper and Lieutenant swag for supporting the bar and got to take part of a tour of the facility.


After Warpigs, we went to Mikropolis bar. Mikropolis is another bar owned by Mikkeller which serves beer and also their special on tap cocktails (which are amazing!) we had the Mikkeller SpontanBasil beer here and it was so good and sour and refreshing. (I'm a huge fan of the Spontan series by Mikkeller)


By now we needed more food so we asked the bartenders at Mikropolis for a suggestion for dinner and they re commended Gorm's Pizza in the local market. We got a pizza with spicy salami, blue cheese and spinach. It was delicious.


We continued walking around and thought we would be caught in a rain storm but luckily it passed over.


All this walking was making us hungry so we went to the famous John's Hot Dog Deli near Tivoli. We first had his hot dogs during the hot dog battle at Northdown last year and were impressed. I had the hot dog of the month which had miso sauce, wasabi mayo, and pickled ginger. It hit the spot hard.


All the walking left us thirsty so we went back to Warpigs again. I freaking loved the energy at this place.


So we had another beer before calling it a night.

Mikkeller Beer Run 5k

May 3 was the inaugural Mikkeller Beer run 5k. It was the perfect capstone to the Copenhagen Beer Celebration and Mikkeller Beer week in Copenhagen. (And if you haven't heard of Mikkeller running club, click here to find a chapter near you! We meet every first Saturday.)

L and I having fun pre-race! Photo Cred

The Mikkeller beer run started and ended at Warpigs- the new bar/restaurant/brewery collab between Mikkeller and 3 Floyd's and ran a nice out and back course along the streets surrounding the bar.

The main perk for this run was the beer. The runners got an amazing choice of on course and post race beer to quench their thirst. Yes. On course refreshment. the aid station at Km4 was well stocked with beer and runners were encouraged to hang out and have a few.

The logistics for this race were a dream. Register online and pick up your bib the morning of the race (with the race starting at 11am). L and I arrived at 9:15 to collect our bibs thinking it would be busy and a cluster Fu#k like many races in the USA, and we were wrong. We had our bibs within 10 seconds and went to a cafe to chill before the race started.
Before the race I ran around the parking lot a few times and did some strides to see where I was at- previously I hadn't run much in the past 2 weeks, plus I've been eating and drinking all the things.
Once my warm up was complete, I lined up for the start and soon we were off. Mikkel and some fast guys took off and I was left in their dust. I was feeling pretty good considering all the beer intake over the past 2 days but let out a loud "oh shit" when I hit the 1km in 4:00. I tried to keep an even effort after that even though my stomach was sloshy and I felt heavy and sloth like.

Drew and Kasper sprinting it out to the finish 

Running on cobblestones is tough. There were some spectators cheering along the course, but mainly folks on bikes who had stopped to see what the commotion was. I seriously considered stopping at the 4km to get a beer but just decided to keep going and continue having fun.

SIDE 5!

I ended up 1st woman of 91, and 28th of 351 starters with a time of 21:48 which would be my 3rd fastest 5k ever! And I had a blast! Everyone was so friendly and encouraging- just like our MRC fun runs and there were many high 5's and cheers to be had.

First and Second place with our prizes! Photo Cred

 I saw L finish strong and cheered on the 18th Street brewer, Drew to an epic sprint finish.

L, Jan and I post race. We rocked it!

We found our friend Jan and got some beer from Firestarter and then got our last meal at Warpigs.
For being 1st woman, I got 2 sweet bottles of beer from 8 Wired brewing and a gift certificate to a local running store.
I have to say this was one of my favorite races ever- it was such a fun relaxed atmosphere and every single person was smiling, drinking beer, and having a blast.

L and I with Kasper at the Mikkeller Bar post race

We made so many new friends on this trip it was amazing!

I really hope we can return next year for Mikkeller beer run 2.0.