I ran in another race this weekend. I really enjoy racing - daily runs by myself, not so much, but I do them so I can race. The race this weekend was the Ho Ho Ho Holiday 5k run in Bethpage hosted by the Greater Long Island Running Club. It was so much fun. This was the first race that I've attended with the Alley Pond Striders. What a difference it makes to have a group of friends there to run with, to shout support and to hang around with after the race. It was beautiful day - sunny, not too windy and above freezing by a degree or two. I wasn't sure what to wear. I didn't want to be too warm, but I didn't want to freeze my patootie. I think I got it about right. Tights, light coolmax hiking socks, a base layer top and a technical 1/4 zip top. I also wore light gloves and a headband to cover my ears. There were people there in shorts, but a 5k doesn't warm me up that much. The free shirt was a nice blue sweatshirt - I needed a sweatshirt for my wardrobe, but I didn't wear it in the race.
The race start was a bit confusing. This race attracted a good size crowd, including a number of people in unique costumes, and we had to start on a fairly small local road. There was much milling around and then the starting horn went off. I wasn't even sure in which direction we were supposed to be running, but I just got dragged along with the mob. An immediate turn onto an even smaller roadway caused a bit of a bottleneck and I had to be careful not to get body-slammed into a parked car. My left foot cramped for about the first quarter of a mile, it's been doing that lately and I'm not sure why, but otherwise, it was a comfortable race. I finished in 29:20. Much faster than I expected to go, only 25 seconds off of my PR. The postrace food had the usual bagels and bananas, but since Whole Foods was a sponsor, it also included some natural sodas, juices and pudding. The pudding was a big hit. I think I ate about three of them. After the awards were announced (the prize for the first three people in each award category were 4 glasses engraved with the race info and were very nice) the race organizers also put together a door prize raffle. Everyone who ran was entered and they had some nice stuff. The two big prizes were a digital camera worth about $1000 and two airline tickets anywhere JetBlue flies. I already had my vacation planned, but I didn't win the tickets.
Today, the Striders had its annual holiday party and elections. After our morning run(I did six miles, which was a little hard after the race yesterday), we partook of a big spread in the parkhouse. I ate way too many sweets, but there were homemade brownies. I baked a marble banana bread from a recipe I found in Cooking Light magazine. It turned out well and was completely gone before the end of the party.
Now I should be off finishing my shopping, so have a great week!.
I had a really hectic weekend. First, I went to see Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe with Chelly and Mel Friday night. I liked it, but wasn't as blown away as I hoped to be. The story was as I remembered it, but the effects were a bit lacking. Certain things were done well and then it was like the effects people ran out of money for other things. I guess I've been spoiled by the recent blockbusters with astronomical budgets.
We went out for dinner at a new restaurant, Piola. Pizza, primarily, in all different and unique permutations. Kind of a hip downtown vibe. The food was pretty good and we hung out there for quite some time. I didn't get home until after midnight.
Saturday morning I got woken up way too early by a Jack Russell Terror who insisted that I be up and about at 7am. One plus was I had ample time to run around and get some errands taken care of before the annual MetroStitcher holiday party at Jenny's.
The ladies arrived in their holiday finery, tiaras firmly on their heads, to partake of a great deal of sugar, chocolate and alcohol. Stitching took place, but I'm sure that I am not the only one who is just going to frog everything I did at the party.
Jenny had to push the party out the door at 7pm to get ready for her show. A few of us were going to be attending the play, so we decided to grab dinner near the theater, beforehand. We got Indian food at HaveliAfter such a long day and after allowing myself to eat too many cookies and other sweets, I couldn't fully appreciate dinner, although the food was really good.
The show Jenny was appearing in was The 8: Reindeer Monologues An interesting play, which takes quite a different look at the Christmas tale. I've enjoyed all the shows that I've attended by this acting company, but because I was so tired, the theater was a little overwarm and I was a tad overfed, I had a hard time paying attention so quite a bit of the show is hazy. The show let out after midnight and due to the capricious nature of the NYC Subway system heading out of Manhattan late night on weekends I didn't get home until almost 2am. I think this holiday season is going to do me in.
Name: DebbieJRT Home: Bellerose, New York, United States About Me: crotchety cross stitcher, trying to channel my inner athlete See my complete profile
