1 hour, 51 minutes of pain

Last time I braved the Nice semi-marathon was about 8 years ago, when I managed to complete the ordeal with a respectable time of 1:59 (what bugged me at the time was the fact that the official time was 2:01). I haven't dared to give it a go since, but this year, I decide to give it another go. I was quite hopeful about beating my time from 8 years ago, since I've been training quite hard for the past year or so.

Things started off rather badly, when I realized on Saturday evening that the only people allowed to get their bibs on race day are the ones travelling from outside the Department. But, I decided try my luck and show up in the morning before the race anyway, hoping they would make an exception. Turns out it wasn't a problem at all - loads of people picked up their bibs just before the race. So no excuse not to participate then ;-).

Conditions were pretty good for the race, meaning it wasn't too hot (the sun was hiding behind a rather dense cloud cover). I started off at a pretty good pace, heading towards a time of something like 1:45. I managed to maintain the pace for about 8km down in the port of Nice, which is when I hit the first wall, I started to feel the lactic acids, so I slowed down a bit. Thankfully, I managed to keep things under control, and maintain a pretty decent pace.

By the we arrived at the Promenade des Anglais, around the 10km mark (which is when the more reasonable people ended the race, whereas some of us fools continued towards the 21km mark), I was still on pace for a sub-1:50 finish, which was about the best I figured I could do. Then, around the 12km mark, running down the Promenade, things started to get tough, fatigue was hitting me pretty badly. And in addition, the sun decided to come out from behind the clouds (something I'm normally very happy about, but this time around, I'd rather have preferred it stayed behind the clouds).

Things got progressively tougher, but somehow I managed to maintain my pace. Around the 18km mark, I got a big boost as Mathilde arrived on her bike! That boost, I'd like to think, is what allowed me to make it to the finish line! And how about the time? 1:51 - something I'm more than happy about! Definitely about as good a time as I was going to get in my current condition, and a big positive surprise to me, given the difficulties that started at the 8km mark already.

Marathon next, then ? I don't think so... This was hard enough, can't imagine doing twice the distance! But never say never...

Night out at Aurore and Chris' place

This Friday evening, we'd been invited over to "hang out" at Chris and Aurore's place! We happily accepted, and sped down to Nice, picked up Marie, and sped on to Chris and Aurore's place, located near the airport in Western Nice. They have a very nice place indeed - a kind of hybrid house/appartment setup - I'm sure the place is going to be marvellous once they finish their renovation works.

We had really good fun. Not sure if the highlight was Taboo with the boys playing the girls, or the "Brookie". What's a Brookie, you may ask ? It's a rather decadent desert - a hybrid between a brownie and a cookie. A true delight for the tastebuds, but don't have too much of it if you're on a diet... (I'm not, so I had rather too much... Great way to prepare for the semi-marathon on Sunday, eh?). Anyway, Since me and Chris lost miserably at Taboo, the Brookie has the honour of being the highlight of the evening (apart from the fantastic company, of course!).

 Excellent way to spend a Friday evening - merci Chris & Aurore!

Weekend in the West of France

Mathilde headed off to the west of France last weekend, and after a week of debauchery at home, alone (that's obviously a joke), it was time for me to join Mathilde at La Rochelle. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to get to La Rochelle from Nice, this time around I ended up flying to Bordeaux, from where I went to La Rochelle by Bla Bla car (a car pooling service that works pretty well, at least here in France). Well, usually works well, this time around, my young driver, busy chatting to her girlfriend, missed the La Rochelle motorway exit. To cut a long story short, I arrived about 1 hour late, sadly missing the big family dinner (but a tete to tete dinner with Mathilde is, of course, even better!).

The next day, we started off with a run in the neighbourhood of Puilbureau (where Mathilde's dad's house is located). Need to prepare for that upcoming semi-marathon! And then, of course, there was the mandatory Scrabble session with Mathilde and Joel (needless to say, I lost miserably to these two pros). And then, a great French traditional beef stew for the family lunch, cooked by Etienette. And for desert, a real treat and surprise - flowers fried in batter! A real delight!

That actually put an end to my brief visit at La Rochelle, as the plan was for us to spend Saturday night and Sunday with our good friends Aude and Magaye (not to forget about young Olympe!) over in Nantes. So, bla bla car it was again, this time we arrived in Nantes in a timely manner, without any hassle or nasty surprises.

Great to meet up with Aude and Magaye again, and seeing how little Olympe is growing up to be a really cute little girl. Aude and Magaye had gotten a baby sitter for the night, so we could go and paint the town red. Well, actually, these days, a night out is more a relaxed dinner, rather than painting the town or anything else red! We did make it out to L.U. for a couple of drinks afterwards. L.U, or Lieu Unique, is a cultural centre, based in the old factory building where the famous LU biscuits used to be made. A pretty cool place.

We started off the next day with a visit to a nearby farmer's market, which is apparently famous for having one of the last proper "buvettes" in France. What's a buvette ? Well, basically it's a ramshackle bar, serving cheap wine and other beverage to the punters visiting the market. I liked the concept very much - it all had a down-to-earth feel to it (much helped by the rather reasonable 1 Euro price tag for a glass of white wine).

After hanging out a bit at Aude's and Magaye's house (it's a very cool place to hang out indeed - Magaye is an architect and they've really created a cool place to live), we headed out into town a bit for a walk. We checked out the Château des ducs de Bretagne - the medieval castle that dominates Nantes town centre. It's my kind of castle - a proper medieval castle, one for fighting wars (the castle was built while Brittany was still trying to resist integration into France - all in vain of course as history would show).

After checking out the impressive cathedral, it was time to say bye bye to Nantes and head off to the airport. It was short, but so sweet!

Around Cap d'Antibes with dad and Berit

Berit had joined my dad in Antibes, to help out cleaning up the flat. Not an easy task, given that nobody's lived there for over a year, and the fact that there is a LOT of stuff there, still.

We decided to go for a walk around Cap d'Antibes, to give dad and Berit a bit of a break. So I took the train down to Antibes, where dad picked me up at the train station, and whisked us off to Plage de la Garoupe, where the walk starts. The walk around Cap d'Antibes is a really a great one, showcasing some of the gorgeous nature the French Riviera has to offer, just a stone's throw away from downtown Antibes.

We walked all the way from the beach, to the Eden Roc villa, which is where the coastal footpath ends. Apart from the beautiful views and the gorgeous nature, there are tantalizing views of villas, mostly hidden away behind high walls. Cap d'Antibes is probably the most coveted area to live on the French Riviera, which means you basically have to be a millionaire to afford even a modest abode here.

The coastal footpath done, we took the direct path back to the car, which gives you a bit more views of those over-the-top villas.

For lunch, we decided to try out a place in Juan-les-Pins called Le Petit Brunch. Finding parking was a real pain, we ended up parking quite far from the restaurant, which did give us the opportunity to show Juan-les-Pins to Berit, while we walked to the restaurant. Not that there is that much to show - I'm not such a big fan of Juan-les-Pins. The restaurant was good enough, we had a nice shared platter for a starter, and some good seafood for a main course.

All in all, a great day out!

How Man lost versus Food

Eating challenges are, of course, completely unreasonable in this day and age, for ecological reasons and otherwise. But, dear reader, should you be one of the rare regular readers of this blog, you may have noticed I do have what one might call a healthy appetite (or even an unhealthy appetite?). I'm also a bit of a fan of the TV show Man vs. Food.

So, when Chris mentioned a monster burger weighing 2kg when we went for dinner with him and Aurore, my curiosity was piqued. Mathilde, who is of a more reasonable nature than me, immediately stated that the best time to take part in this kind of Tomfoolery would be when she was not present.

So as she had just left to spend a week with her dad in La Rochelle, I immediately suggested to Chris, and some colleagues, that this could be a good time for a bit of a "light evening meal". I managed to recruit Chris, Aurore, Philippe and a mysterious colleague whom I shall name DB, in the end.

So off we drove to far-off La Motte in the Var Department, where this monstrosity was being served at a vineyard, called La Domaine de la Maurette. They have quite an extensive menu, actually, with some pretty good stuff (confirmed by those at the table that were intelligent enough not to go for the monster burger). But myself, Chris and DB went for the monster burger (we opted against the deluxe version, which adds 200 grams of foie gras!)

And how was it then ? Well, huge! But pretty tasty too! But it's just too damn big, one stops appreciating the taste about a quarter of a burger into the challenge. And did we succeed in finishing off the monster ? Did man vanquish food ? Sadly, no. Chris came closest (the remains of his meal weighed 584 grams against 660 grams for me, whereas DB smartly only had half of his). I blame my chosen tactic, to go at the beast at a slow pace. I think the only way to finish the monster is to go at it hard and fast (like Chris did).

So, a 3rd of my burger went into a doggy bag (a rare thing in France, the doggy bag, but in this case I think it's a necessity!). But, believe it or not, I shared a desert with Chris!

Apparently, we have to try again when our good friend JJ comes to the Cote d'Azur in September. So watch this space for a 2nd attempt!

Dinner with dad and Tutta

My dad was coming over for a couple of weeks - the objective being to tidy up his flat and prepare it for sale. We decided to welcome him by having him over for a nice family Sunday dinner - we also invited my aunt Tutta, who lives in nearby Villeneuve-Loubet.

We prepared spinach soup for a starter, and some lamb confit as a main course. And then finally, Mathilde's inimitable "invisible apple cake" for desert. I took care of the starter (a spinach soup is within my capacity as a chef...), and Mathilde thankfully agreed to take care of the rest.

All in all, I thought it was quite a success. The food was good, and more importantly, it was great catching up with Tutta and my dad again.

Night out in the Port of Nice

It's been a while since we've been out to the Port of Nice, which is possibly the best place (certainly the trendiest!) place to have a night out/a nice dinner. There are plenty of nice bistros to chose from for dinner, and quite a few good bars, too (including one of the three Ma Nolan's Irish pubs on the Cote d'Azur). So we were quite happy to accept the invitation to visit Vincent and Clemence in their new apartment.

Their apartment is just great. Love the way they've decorated the place. And of course the location is great. The plan was to catch up and have the apero at their place, and then leave Clemence with the kids and head off for dinner with Vincent (hmm, that sounds kind of awful doesn't it?).

The restaurant (the name of which I can't remember for the life of me - which is quite rare!) was great, typical Nice Port quality. An original menu, with quite few items on the menu (a good sign generally, means chances are they actually prepare the dishes themselves - not a given in this day and age, even here in culinary France!).

All in all, a great night out, good to meet up with everybody again!