Hello! Well that was a fairly rubbish weekend. OK, not all of it was rubbish but pretty much 70%. I was not a well bunny 🙁
Friday Ben and me had the day off. We both slept in which was just divine (for us this is just before 9am – normally we’re up 7.30am-8am if we don’t have anything going on ). I then had my final running school session. I started this ages ago in November but had to stop going because I got injured (ironic really – I started doing the running school to stop getting injured).
Anyway, in my first session the coach filmed my running to see where my problem areas were. I dropped my hip, I bounced up and down unnecessarily, my leg flicked out…not great. Though I haven’t been to the running school in months I have been doing lots of specifically running-focused strength work to target my weakness: my glutes and hamstrings. Lots of bridges, single leg squats, clams…twice a week at least.
He videoed me against this time to see if I’d improved. Thankfully I had! He put both videos next to each other and the improvement was clear. I no longer bounce but use that energy to propel forward. My leg doesn’t flick out excessively. My pelvis and hips are more level. And the whole running motion just looks like a smooth and natural forward propulsion. I was very pleased.
Unfortunately after the appointment I started feeling a bit dodge. My tummy didn’t feel great but I could ignore it. Anyway Ben and me had a nice meal to go to that I was excited about.
We went to a lovely rustic pub in Basingstoke called The Purefoy Arms.
And it was lovely. The service was impeccable; our waiter knew the menu inside out and everything was sustainable, local and fresh.
We both decided to have scallops to start, and, unusually for both of us, the butcher’s steak (rare) with a duck’s eggs and dripping cooked chips. For pudding I had a brownie with a scoop of ice cream.
The brownie was dark chocolate with crumble crumbs and chocolate covered nuts alongside. The ice cream is in the jar.
Ben enjoyed a rhubarb panacotta with a side of rhubarb infused gin!
We were pleasantly full afterwards as the portion sizes weren’t huge.
Sadly though I just felt worse after the meal and basically just had to go to bed when I got in. I really enjoyed the meal but my stomach was just not happy.
I had a fairly rough evening and didn’t sleep a huge amount, so Saturday’s Parkrun was off the cards for me. Instead I slept in and read my book. I was quite depressed by this point. And sadly I had to call off going to Karen’s 30th birthday afternoon tea celebration in the afternoon (*sobs*). Not great to be ill around a pregnant lady! Ben stayed at home and played on the Xbox looked after me. On the plus side, we did watch a lot of Game of Thrones.
Sunday, thankfully, I was feeling better but still shattered. And not well enough to run my planned 18 miler. CUE PANIC. Postponed until next weekend now. Let’s just not talk about my marathon rubbish training shall we??
But we had a meal planned for 2pm to celebrate Ben’s birthday. So I actually got dressed and looked presentable for the first time of the weekend.
The meal unfortunately didn’t go as planned. We were slightly late (*cough* parent’s fault) and we rung the restaurant to tell them we’d be 10 minutes late. They were quite rude on the phone and told us to get there ASAP as they stop serving food at 2.30pm.
When we did arrive at 2.15pm no one served us and when we hurriedly tried to get notice of someone (because we were running out of time!) they either ignored us or said rather tersely “I’m with a customer”. Finally we managed to get the attention of a waiter and he vaguely pointed at a table and told us “well, there’s your table” and then said “you have nine minutes to order”. Oh right. Well we told them no thank you and left. It was just terrible. Yes we were late, but we had rung and if it was so much of an issue they should have told us on the phone. And then to be treated really rudely and in an off-hand way. Hello, we’re paying customers.
FYI, that’s The Plough in Winchester. I’d walk on by that one in future.
Well, in the end we found a lovely restaurant called The White Horse in Otterbourne. Lovely service, lovely food.
I had an orange, chicory and goat’s cheese salad to start and then my favourite, Caesar Salad with a side portion of braised red cabbage (yep I am that strange).
Absolutely delicious! Ben forced me to order a pudding at the end. Not for me, I’ll hasten to add as I was quite full, but so he wouldn’t look greedy as he wanted two. Yep that’s Mr Two Puddings Smith.
Ginger cake with caramelised bananas followed by pear and apple crumble with salted caramel ice cream. He had run 16.5miles in the morning so I’ll let him off 😉
And then we got home where I promptly collapsed on the sofa exhausted.
So a strange weekend of lovely peaks (good food, family time) and depressing troughs (sickness, no running and no cake).
What are your highs and lows of this weekend?
Have you ever ordered two puddings at a restaurant?
What’s the worst service you’ve ever had?
I love your outfit for Ben’s birthday meal, you look lovely. Sorry to hear you’ve been under the weather – but I think you did the right thing rather than forcing yourself to do a long run that you weren’t well enough for
Aw thanks, it’s usually a summer dress but with tights and a cardi it works well for the colder days.
So sorry to hear you were feeling poorly! It does sound like your weekend had some lovely high points though, those meals look fabulous! I hate bad service like that, I’ve walked out of a couple of places that haven’t served us and have been horrible. I’m now craving ginger cake looking at Ben’s desserts, yum! Hope you are feeling better today x
I feel much better thankfully! Yes his desserts looked amazing. I had a small bite of the ginger cake and it was very moist and tasty. He felt quite sick afterwards haha!
Really hope you are feeling better Anna. It looks like you had a lovely weekend, despite being ill though. Gorgeous looking food. 🙂 x
Thanks Jemma 🙂
So sorry to hear you were under the weather Anna, how rubbish. Also – how rude of that pub! I hate bad service and that sounds awful, particularly as it was for a special occasion and booked – it wasn’t as if you’d walked in nine minutes before service with no idea. Glad you had a lovely meal at the second place. And props to the birthday boy for his double dessert mission!
Bad service is just one of those horrible things. Thankfully the second place were so friendly and warm. Really it doesn’t take much.
I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been ill 🙁 Please try not to stress over the missed training run – I know how hard that is, because I would be doing the same thing, but the best thing you can do is get as much sleep as possible, shake whatever bug you have off then kill that 18 mile run this week-end. I’m really impressed at the double salad + cabbage combo though – salad is the last thing I can face when my stomach is a mess…I tend to faceplant into carbs in the form of jacket potatoes 😉
My weekend was mostly highs for a change – I had a great time at my race on Sunday, even though it was really tough at times. The gorgeous weather and the friendly atmosphere meant it was the first race I’ve really and truly enjoyed in a long time 🙂
xxx
Thank you Jess. I really hope I get the run in!
I think the idea of a fresh cold salad appealed a lot more to be than something heavy. And the red cabbage was just fantastic. Gotta have what you fancy!
Well done for the race – I look forward to hearing about it 🙂
Hope you are feeling a bit better now. That is absolutely rubbish about that restaurant, you totally made the right decision in leaving!
Thanks Lauren.
Aw sorry you felt rubbish this weekend! You look damn adorable in all the pics though even if you were starting to get sick in that first one. And what idiots! Glad you took your business somewhere else.
Thanks Jess. Exactly, they lost out not us. We had a nice meal and spent our money elsewhere.
Sorry to hear you have not been well (and had to miss an afternoon tea- noooo!). Please don’t panic about your marathon training- on marathon talk this week (and I am a bit behind) they were saying that if you have run 16 miles in training as your longest run you should be fine.
The service at that pub sounds awful too- like you say they should have told you on the phone. I had bad service at a coffee shop on Sunday so have emailed them, as the staff weren’t trained so I didn’t feel it was right to complain to them as it was not their fault, it is the companies fault.
I normally give places a second chance because everyone can have a bad day, but sometimes it is so bad I won’t ever try again.
When we went to a posh buffet restaurant (The Grove) with Andy’s parents I had two visits to the dessert trolley as they were so good, and I wanted to try a few, but at least they were only small. If Ben ran that far then fair enough for him to have two!
I suppose that’s true I should give them another chance but it was a fair distance for us to go so to be honest we probably won’t go back. The thing is we also heard them be rude to someone else who was sat at a table. They’d ordered something different to what the waiter brought them and when they told them the waiter got stroppy then stomped back and yelled really loudly into the kitchen “need a burger” which I thought was a bit unprofessional.
Sending an email is probably a good way to complain, I might think about it!
YAY for running improvements but sorry to hear you weren’t feeling the best. 🙁 It is amazing how much strengthening exercises help with improving running form! My hips used to be SO weak but they are a ton better thanks to leg lifts!
Leg lifts are a bore but they do work. Glad to hear you’re doing well 🙂
Both of those meals sound so good, glad you were feeling better by Sunday! My weekend was all highs to be honest work was good, relaxing was good and hanging with friends was good!
I’m glad you had a great weekend. Love it when weekends are just brilliant 🙂
Oh no! Hope you’re feeling tonnes better now. At least you managed to enjoy your meals out even if you had to miss a few other bits. Love your dress in that pic by the way.
I used to be manager of a restaurant before becoming a teacher and I really pick up on the quality of customer service when we go out to eat now as I know what should be done. Sometimes I end up annoying myself!
One time myself and a friend couldn’t decide what desserts to have so ended up ordering four and splitting them between us after starters. Good times! 🙂
Sorry you had an off stomach and had to miss out on that celebration 🙁 It sounds like you are feeling better though and hopefully it was just a one time thing!
That ice cream/brownie platter looks so artsy with its arrangement. Cute that they put the ice cream in the jar!
The restaurant you went to sounds absolutely horrible. I’m sure I’ve had bad service before, but it’s been awhile since I went to a restaurant so I can’t really remember 🙂 One time though we called a week ahead for a reservation because we were a big party, only to get there and have the hostess on staff tell us that they don’t accept reservations. Ever. Well then, who did we talk to?!
Sorry to hear that you are unwell. Eating 2 puddings sounds like something my husband would do. He is a sugarholic.
So sorry to hear you were feeling so rubbish (not a word, but I liked it when I read it above LOL) throughout the weekend. I must say though, you sure do carry yourself well and look fabulous! I’m loving your outfit you wore to that horrid restaurant (glad you guys went elsewhere). Btw, I cannot get over how long your hair has gotten… or is it just me? LOL