Hello my friends! As you know, I was in Pittsburgh this weekend for the half marathon with Matt and my brother! I’ll be back tomorrow with a full recap of the race, but for now, I wanted to share some pictures from our big pre-race dinner at Matt’s parent’s place on Saturday night.
How cute is that menu that Matt’s dad made? Matt’s parents hosted a huge group of our friends and their families at their place – nearly 25 people – the night before the Pittsburgh half marathon for a fueling up feast to end all feasts. I worked with his dad to come up with the menu, making sure we had our nutritional bases covered! The plan: some good protein (salmon + chicken) and lots of carbohydrates (pasta bar + quinoa salads + garlic bread). Plus some veggies for good measure, of course, and nothing too heavy or greasy (didn’t want GI issues the day of)!
It was such a fun dinner – a big group of our DC friends that are also from Pittsburgh (Matt grew up there) were also home for the race, so we had quite the crew, and my brother joined us, too! I neglected a big group shot but got one with my two main men. 🙂
Everyone came over around 6 for some appetizers and Kentucky Derby watching. Plus fun cocktails for the non-runners, water for the runners!
Meanwhile, Matt’s dad prepped the food. How beautiful is this salmon?
He marinated one piece of salmon in a lemon juice/oil/garlic/parsley mixture, and the other got a dijon mustard + brown sugar topping. A little while later, they went onto the grill!
Have you guys ever made cedar plank salmon before? I haven’t, but I’d heard of it. Essentially, you cook the salmon on a grill on a piece of cedar, and the wood imparts a nice smoky flavor to the fish since it basically catches on fire. It was SO good!
Also on the menu was some grilled chicken, which was also delicious:
Plus some salads and roasted veggies!
On the quinoa front, we had a spring quinoa salad (which was like this Mediterranean Quinoa Salad) and a quinoa trail mix salad (based off the Quinoa Salad with Pecans & Cranberries that was served at our wedding).
One of the guests brought two yummy green salads, too. Delicious!
Can’t forget about the pasta bar! There were two options – spaghetti or penne. I went penne. 🙂 I prefer the chewy texture!
As for the sauce options, there was a basic marinara and a Bolognese. I <3 Bolognese.
I’m kind of surprised the table didn’t collapse! We also had some garlic bread in the mix, which you can see on the bottom right.
I decided to have a little bit of everything! Here was my plate. Everything was SO good!
As for dessert, Matt’s mom made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! I forgot to get a photo of them but don’t worry, I remembered to eat one. 😉 Such a fun evening! All the guests left with full bellies and glycogen stores for the race, that’s for sure.
As for today, Matt is finishing up a work call and then we’re hitting the road back to DC. Catch you tomorrow from our Nation’s Capital!
What do you eat the night before a big race?
