Jugtown Jog 5k Race Review

On Sunday morning I headed off to Asbury, NJ to run the Jugtown Jog 5k.  This was the 1st Jog and they also head a 1.5 mile walk at the same time.  The race starts at 10am and is held at Heritage Park.

Packet pickup was easy and you could also register for the race that morning. I got to the race site around 915am, so I decided to take a little walk around the area.

I picked up a Dunkin Donuts hazelnut iced coffee on the way to the race and was sipping it before the run.  So delicious!

The race site was pretty rural so I visited some cows at a local farm.

Isn’t the little calf so cute?

There were also so train tracks close by and since the road was so rural, there weren’t any train crossing lights.

Look both ways before you drive!!!

The start area had some ballons and after some quick instructions from the race director, we were off.  The course started on a gravel path but quickly moved to a grass tractor path.

The course went past some farm houses, through some woods and then into a corn field area.  The whole time the race was on a tractor path, you could see the tire marks!

We were told by the race director at the beginning that even though this was a 5k, the race course was a little long.  I crossed the finish line at the 3.26 mile mark and in 34:38.  My first mile was 9:46, second as in 12:07 (hills, ughh), third mile in 10:17 and the final .26 in 2:28 (9:43 mile pace).

I felt good for most of the race and I think this was my fastest 5k trail run time.  The footing on the trail was a little tough and there were a bunch of hills.  The other problem on race day was the weather.  At 10am, the temp was at 81 degrees with about a zillion percent humidity.  Last Sunday, the weather for the Run with the Owls 5k was in the low 50s, no humidity and overcast.  What a difference a week can make!  Needless to say, my body hasn’t quite adapted to the heat and humidity yet and I could really feel it.

Post-race food had bagels, granola bars, water, bananas, oranges, gatorade and Capri Suns.  Definitely a good spread for such a small race.  Race swag was a cotton t-shirt and a water bottle.

I really enjoyed running the Jugtown Jog 5k and would definitely be back next year.  The race directors did an awesome job.  The course was well marked, there was an aid station at the half way mark and the post race food was great!  They even had a Facebook page to give you updates.

Ridgewood Run Race Review

Memorial Day in my hometown of Ridgewood, NJ means the annual Ridgewood Run.  You can choose to run the 10k, the 5k or do a family fun run.  I always run the 10k and have done so for the past 3 years.

I woke up bright and early on race morning to loud thunder and lightning storms.  I quickly consulted the local weather station and saw that they were quickly passing through the area.  I got dressed to run then headed out the door for the drive to my parents’ house.

My parents and I headed down to the start line around 8:15 for an 8:45 start. Packet pickup was easy and this year’s shirts were tech.  Nice!  There was a little bit of an expo in the field and my parents and I looked around.

There was a tent to show the race history and all the t-shirts they have given out.

Zico coconut water was there and giving out free samples.  My parents and I grabbed some and then I did some awesome poses with the coconut water.

Honest Tea was also there and I snagged some a Cranberry Lemonade.  I had it after the run and it was delicious!!!!  I had never had it before and it was awesome.

It was finally time to head to the start line.  I hammed it up a bit for my parents while we waited.

and yet again continued to act my age.

and finally posed nicely for the camera.

With a singing of the National Anthem, the gun sounded and we were off!  The course takes you through a 2 mile loop, back by the start, then a final 4.2 mile loop to the finish.  This morning’s weather was disgusting.  It was 75 degrees and about a zillion percent humidity at 7:30am.  Humidity equals sweaty me.

My garmin decided to run out of juice before the race, so I went without.  It actually didn’t decide to die, I totally forgot to charge it. Ooopsy.  I went by the mile 1 marker in about 9 min and got the mile 2 marker 9 minutes after that.  Here I am at mile 2.

I was already so hot by mile 2 and the 1st water station wasn’t till mile 2.5.  Not good 😦  I passed the mile 3 marker at about 9:50 for the mile.  I had to slow down a bit because I was kind of hot and there were some hills.  Mile 4 went by in about 9:45 and mile 5 in about 9:40.  I picked it up for mile 6, mostly because I wanted to be done but also because it was flat.

Here I am coming into the mile 6 marker.

See me yet?  The dude to my left was totally getting in the way of my dad taking photos.  Guess he just wanted some close up action.

I look like the pink sweat monster…made it easy for my parents to spot me.  Well, anyone to spot me.

I finished in 58:55 for an average pace of 9:28 a mile.  It was my slowest Ridgewood Run time but not my slowest 10k.  This was my farthest distance run or raced since before I got married in March.  A definite win.

Here’s the race shirt.

This run is always well-managed, has good shirts and a fun local hometown feel.  This is always in my Memorial Day plans.

Annual Memorial Day Run

Hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day Monday off from work!  I know I am 🙂  This morning I am off to run the 2011 Fred D’Elia Ridgewood Run in my hometown of Ridgewood, NJ.  This will be my third year running this race and every year I sign up for the 10k. 

The race is held on Memorial Day and takes you through the streets of the town.  I always seem to run my best 10k times at this race.  Don’t know why.  It’s not that flat and last year it was really hot. 

My 2009 time: 53:39 (still my 10k PR)

My 2010 time: 56:05

Wonder what this year holds but I do know it’s not going to be a PR.  I haven’t run over 6 miles since March. 

Wish me luck!

Out For a Jog

Last night’s workout: 2 miles on the treadmill/20 min elliptical

It was a last minute decision but I am off to run the Jugtown Jog 5k this morning.

It’s a 5k trail run through a rural part of New Jersey. I heard that it is more of a cross country run than a true trail run, so that’s good.  We all know my history with trail runs 😦  Last year one ended in stitches for me.

I’ll be back later with a full recap!  Enjoy your Sunday!

Yesterday I baked up Smitten Kitchen’s Strawberry Summer Cake and it was delicous. 

Here’s the recipe:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour (can swap 3/4 cup or 94 grams all-purpose flour with 3/4 cup or 75 grams of barley flour, see Note)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup (200 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup (118 ml) milk
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 pound (450 grams) strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan (what I used). I did not test this with a standard 9-inch pie plate but looking at the margin of space leftover in my deep-dish pan after baking the cake, I suspect you’d be safe. This cake would also work in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake than pictured.

Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually,
mixing until just smooth.

 

Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream.

 

A Little Bit of NYC

Last night’s workout: 2.5 miles on the treadmill at 10 min mile recovery pace.  I wanted to run more, but had to keep the mileage low because I don’t want an injury.  Next week, I am going for 20+ total. 

My office closed yesterday at 1pm and since I knew I had to wait for the hubby to commute home, I brought my new camera with me to work.  I had a couple of hours to kill before he could leave so I headed around Manhattan to take some photos.  Here are my favorites.

A Little Bit of Times Square

A Little Bit of Fleet Week

A Little Bit of 42nd Street

A Little Bit of Empire State Building

A Little Bit of Penn Station Area

Just have to point out that the homeless man had a vacuum cleaner. One of the more interesting things I have seen a homeless person have.

A Little Bit of Delivery Guy Bikes

A Little Bit of Chelsea

A Little Bit of Market…where I ate my lunch

and a Little Bit of a Crowded and Crazy Holiday Commute Home

Do you have any favorite bits of NYC? Or your home city?

Holiday Weekend Jersey Confessions

It’s here! It’s here!  It’s the Friday of a long holiday weekend.  Can you tell I’m excited it’s finally here?  Memorial Day weekend always means the official kick-off to summer in the northeast and that means the Jersey Shore is now chock full of bodies.  I grew up going down the Jersey Shore and still love it even though I don’t go as much anymore.  It’s true though, all us Jersey folk do call the beach “the shore”.  Even the state road signs call it the shore.

Photo Source

Weird, right?  My Staten Island raised husband even comments about it everytime he sees a Shore Points sign.

So, I guess this whole post will be about my New Jersey confessions.  New Jersey does get some bad press sometimes.

Thank you Jersey Shore!!!!  Ughh

 – When you grow up in NJ and want to know where someone is from you ask them: What’s your exit?  Totally nutty, I know.  Growing up I was exit 163 now I am 142.  I confess that if you tell me your exit, I will know where you are from. 

– I didn’t pump my own gas till I went to college.  In NJ, it’s against the law to pump your own gas and I’m totally ok with that.  Nothing is better that cracking the window to give the guy a $20 while it’s pouring out.  And yes, my roommate had to give me a “how to pump your own gas” tutorial.

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– I love pork roll.  What is pork roll you ask?  I actually have no idea, it’s kind of a cross between taylor ham and bacon.  I think it’s a local thing but nothing is better than egg, cheese and pork roll on a hardroll.

–  I also confess that I was raised in North Jersey but I wasn’t born here.  I don’t have a NJ accent at all, most people think it is more Midwestern (where I was born).  I can turn on a bit of Jerz now and then though 🙂

– I do love Bruce.  I have been to a couple of his concerts at the Meadowlands and absolutely sing along to Jersey Girl. 

Photo Source 

The movie poster has nothing to do with the song but it’s cute and filmed in NJ

– and finally…I am an expert parallel parker, love subs, scenes from the Sopranos were filmed in my town and I love diners.

I took a rest day yesterday from working out.  I ran two days in a row and my body was tired.  I didn’t realize that my body had quickly forgotten what it’s like to work out daily.  Ughh, it’s hard work getting back to where I was.

Work lets us out at 1pm today and I’m running out the door.  Can’t wait to start the weekend.  Husband and I are hitting a BBQ, hanging out in Staten Island and then I’m headed to my hometown on Monday.  Any good weekend plans out there?

On a totally unrelated note, I am obsessed with watching the Casey Anthony trial.  It’s nuts!!!  How messed up would it be to have dated someone and bam, they are arrested for murder.  I feel bad for her ex-bf who had to take the stand.  Anyone else watching?

Pre-Race Rituals

Last night’s workout: 4.2 miles on the treadmill at 9:40 min mile pace

All you runners out there know you have them.  It’s those pre-race rituals that help us stay calm before a big run.  Do you have a specific breakfast choice?  Do you drink the same thing before each race or eat the same dinner the night before?

Well, my pre-race rituals can sometimes vary depending on the distance.  For a 5k, I just roll out of bed and go. I don’t wear any special clothes and have been known to run with the race shirt tied around my waist.  I’ve also run in a big irish knit sweater or a fleece during the winter months.

Before the Run with the Owls 5k last Sunday…love the sleepy one eye closed look

A 10k, for me, is a bit different.  Even though the distance isn’t that long, I am a little more organized in my prep.  I have to eat something before I run a 10k and I like to pick out my race outfit before I get up that morning.

Any race with a distance of 15k or over, I have the same pre-race rituals.  Husband comments how this is the only thing I am ever anal about in my life.

For starters, I always organize my race outfit the night before a run.

I make sure the ipod and Garmin are charged.

I also make sure I have safety pins already attached to the bib and the timing chip on my shoe.

The morning of the race, I like to take a quick shower to wake myself up.  I get dressed and do a little stretching.  Food comes next usually in the form of toast, english muffin or a luna bar (or whatever bar is in the cabinet).

I also always have some water and coffee.

I head out to my car with directions to the race in hand and like to get to the site at least 45 min before the gun.

What are your pre-race rituals?  If something changes, does it throw you off your game?

Wine and Train Saturday

Last night’s workout: 6.25 miles on the treadmill in 60 minutes.  It’s the 1st time I have gone over 4 miles since March..YAY!

After all the madness that happened in the runbakerace household the past couple of weeks, the husband and I decided a day trip was in order.  We headed to Bucks County, PA to do a little wine tasting and an old-fashioned train ride.  I took along my new camera and snapped so many photos.

First stop was at Crossing Vineyards in Washingtons Crossing, PA.  The tasting room was beautiful and for $8 you were able to taste 10-16 of their wines!

The husband and I favor reds over whites and we enjoyed their Cabernet and Merlot.

But, I walked out of the vineyard with a bottle of Red Sangria in hand.

As we were walking out, we ran into a Bachelorette Party.  The girls were all dressed up and little did we know that they were being driven around in the sweetest ride…

Um, yeah…you aren’t seeing things, that’s a pink hummer limo.  I just had to snap a photo of it.

Next stop was at Buckingham Valley Vineyards in Buckingham, PA.  The vineyard was beautiful and we even encountered some friends.

The black one was so territorial that it started to chase the hubby a bit.  I couldn’t stop laughing.

This winery was busy and super friendly.  The tasting was free and self-serve.  Of course, the hubby and I tried all the reds and all the whites but skipped the dessert wines.  Our favorites were the Merlot and Vidal Blanc.

We purchased both bottles, chatted up the sales girl and found out that a local farm sells fresh chocolate milk and eggs.  Off we went in the car to Farview Farms for our fresh eggs, milk and local honey.

Next up on our day trip was a 45 minute train ride in New Hope, PA.  I had bought tickets earlier in the week for the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad and our train left the station at 4pm.   The train is from the 1800s and is constantly being restored.

Here she comes around the bend

Pulling into the station

We boarded and sat in the open air car.

With a couple of whistles the train left the station and headed into the woods of Bucks County.  We saw some beautiful old stone homes and mills.

We spotted some deer.

And then on the return trip the husband and I sat in the first class parlor car.

The train ride was fun and the scenery was beautiful.  We were back in the station 45 minutes later and headed to dinner at a local brewery across the street.

After eating my way through a soft-shell crab salad we headed home.

Day trips are always so much fun and the husband remarked how he had forgotten all about his work stress.  Do you enjoy day trips?  Where do you go?

Weird Race Swag

After picking up my race bag last weekend at the Run with the Owls 5k, I headed back to the car and checked out the swag.  Any normal runner does this immediately, right?  I understand this race was really small but besides the typical shirt the only other item in the bag was this…

A Walgreens Walking Kit??!???  What the what?  That doesn’t make sense.  The kit included a walking journal/tip book, a pedometer and a bag to walk with.  We were there to RUN a race and don’t need tips and tricks on starting to walk. 

I understand that it’s probably there to promote a healthier lifestyle, etc.  I am all for that but I think they might have gone with the wrong target audience.  Just saying.  That was weird swag, right?

But, we all know that sometimes weird things are included in your race bag.  I have gotten toilet paper (well maybe not so weird but it was a 16 roll pack), rice, dream water, tooth paste and slap bracelets. 

What is the most random item that you have gotten in your race swag?

In other randomness, last night I stopped by the hubby’s office after my pottery class.  Yup, I take a pottery class on Monday nights.  I will review it one of these days but I actually throw on the wheel and everything.  Hubby was almost done with work for the day so I just waited for him so we could head home together.  Boredom soon ensued so I snapped some photos of the view.

Then he started taking longer than expected so I gave me the “this is annoying ” look

So, he told me to read my book and eat my cookie. 

Ahh the Levain Bakery Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip cookie how I love thee.  This made waiting for nearly two hours starting at 8pm so much better :).

Run with The Owls 5k Race Review

Sunday morning I woke up and headed to Cranford, NJ to run the Run with the Owls 5k. The race was put on and held at Union County College and I have no idea how many years this has been running.  The race is really small, I think there were only around 80 runners there.  Packet pickup was right in the college parking lot and you were able to use the indoor bathrooms.

All the runners lined up in the parking lot and the race took off at 9am.  Because this race was so small, there wasn’t any chip timing.  Just a gun and tearing off your bib # at the end.   I stood towards the back more to start with because I was a little nervous about my first race back.

We were off and the 1st mile was around the campus of the college.  I crossed the mile 1 marker at 9:13 and I felt pretty good.  After mile 1 we headed across the street and into Nomhegan Park.  The course then took us on the bike/running path all through the park.  It was really pretty and I enjoyed being off the roads for a bit.  I crossed the mile 2 market at 18:16 and still felt really good.  I was getting a bit tired but that was ok.  The nice thing about starting in the back is that I was able to pick off the runners in front of my one by one.  Always helps with motivation.

Around mile 2 the race had a quick water stop.  Nothing fancy, just water.  But that’s all you really need in a 5k.  The race then takes you out of the park for a bit and around the local streets.  After a quick uphill, you head back into park and around the lake.   You can see the finish line in the distance so I picked it up for the last quarter mile.  I crossed the finish in 27:57 for a pace of 9:00 min miles.  According to my garmin, I ran 3.15 miles for a pace of 8:55 a mile.   Post-race food was just a bottle of water.

I was actually shocked with how well I did.  I thought I would be finishing in the 30 min range but that didn’t happen.  I am still carrying some extra pounds from post-surgery bloat and I haven’t been training much at all.  It was great to realize that I hadn’t lost all my fitness over the past couple of months.  I walked away from this race enthusiastic about my running and not feeling like I’m never going to get back to where I was.  A definite win!

Any one run any good races this weekend?