I’m now on the final stretch with less than a week before the Dublin Marathon.  After running 19 miles at the end of September, I’ve taken an “extreme taper” approach to the rest of my training. Letting niggles rest and keeping my strength up has been more important than fitting in the miles on the training plan.

That being said I’ve still had the standard panics over not running what the paper says I’m supposed to. It feels weird to rest more than I run and even though I am confident in my body’s ability, the unknown of the marathon distance is still pretty scary.

Rather than bang on about the running I haven’t been doing, let’s focus on the eating I have been doing. I was invited to try out and review the gastropub The Only Running Footman in Mayfair and probably said yes much too quickly giving away my desperation when it comes to free food during taper.  The pub offered Alex and I free reign on the menu in their lovely upstairs dining room on a Friday night.  The name of the pub has a very cool history and (of course) involves a race between the Footmen of the Duke of Richmond and the Duke of York.

We started with the table bread & butter (a basket each duh)  and then had the Mussels (me) & Squid (Alex to start). The mussels were so so so so yummy and the broth was perfect for some extra bread soakers. The squid was really nice with a bit of spice too. I wanted both to be honest.

We both had the steak frites special on the menu that night. Again, perfectly delicious cooked exactly to my taste and was gobbled up in seconds. I tried to be a good food blogger and take some photos but in the dark dining room they didn’t turn out great.

The service was really good and I don’t say that lightly. The waitress was friendly and funny and had some really good suggestions for wine (even though we were nursing our allowed 1 precious glass each so close to the marathon) and puddings.

It was the perfect Friday night out for two crazy runners who don’t go out too late but still want to feel like they’re not total nerds for being in bed by 11 on a Friday.

The Only Running Footman offered to cover reasonable expenses on our meal in exchange for my honest opinions in a review. We actually ended up putting our own money down for extra gratuity as the service was so good.