Tag Archives: dogfish head

Race for Hope 5K

Last night I stayed in while Scott ventured to South Philly to go to the Flyers game with one of his buddies from high school.  Since I have the 5K today, I didn’t plan anything crazy, just some window e-shopping, a beer, some snacking, and kitty cuddles.

Still have quite a few of these left.  Mmm!  Those curtains came with the house, btw.

 The jelly is from the Farmers’ Market food swap I did with Anastasia.  It’s sweet and delish!

I decided to set up a new playlist for my iPod and realized I have never posted music I listen to when running/working out on here.  Here’s a sample of the type of songs that get my butt moving.

5Kplaylist

I consumed a lot of snacky stuff for dinner besides the bagel, but you all know what steamed veggies, or soup, or popcorn, or granola all look like, so I spared you that.  Hah.  I went to bed a little after Scott got back from the 9-2 victory the Flyers had (woo!).

When I woke up, I had to change my pants plan twice as I realized it was not sunny and way colder than I anticipated.  I stuck with my New Balance sneakers, an Under Armour mock neck long sleeve (love Cold Gear), and went with a pair of Lucy yoga pants.  They covered my legs, but were a little too long.  I remedied this by pinning up the backs so I didn’t drag them while running.  Classy.  I managed to get to the race with 30 min to spare before the start and snagged a spot right by the Art Museum. 

I bounced around to try to keep warm and texted Nicole to let her know what I was wearing.  We planned to meet up after the finish since there would likely be too much confusion before the race, and there was.  The announcer said the start was by the green and white balloon arch.  What he should have said was the cluster of green and white balloons near a metal arch.  I found my way there and the crowd did some pre-race stretching and soon we were off!

I definitely do not enjoy cold running as much as early spring running, but I think I can force myself to get used to it somewhat.  I like running outside on occasion and don’t want to spend all of winter in the gym.  I made a point to slow myself down a little the first mile, and as I was approaching a slight hill my fricken BIC band flew off my head.  That’s never happened.  Since I paid $10 for it I doubled back and got it, I was just not willing to donate it to another racer right now, haha.  It spent the rest of the race wrapped around my wrist.

The run went pretty well.  The first mile went pretty fast and the second mile took us over a bridge and onto West River Drive.  I basically re-ran the last 1.1 miles of the ING Half.  Even the lovely little hill to the finish.  I knew I ran mile 3 the slowest, but managed to pick up the pace to cross the finish.  I have no idea what my final chip time was as I cannot find where they might get posted, but if we go by my Garmin, I PRed by one second.  Or, I ran the second fastest 5K.  Either way I was happy with how it went.  My ham has no pain and feels fine hours later.  Here’s the Garmin splits:

raceforhopesplits

Almost negative splits.  Almost.  I think with more running/proper training those times will be a lot tighter.  I got a hold of Nicole and we met up and chatted while her boyfriend and her sister were finishing their walk.

I’m kind of giant hence why I squatted a little.  I am also sporting the lovely post-race, tomato face.  No shame!  It was awesome to meet her and talk about running.  This was her first 5K and I told her she did amazing since my first I was hungover and probably finished well after 40 min.  She’s incredibly sweet and it great we got to hang out a little after the run!  I had to part shortly after as I didn’t want to get a parking ticket (2 hour limit), but I hope to maybe organize a meet-up of some kind with some local Philly bloggers for a low key dinner or happy hour?  If you’re interested shoot me an email!

Driving home on Kelly Drive was an absolute treat as all the trees are beautiful colors now.  I love Philadelphia, cannot say that enough.  I tried to snap a pic, but this does not do Fairmount Park any justice at all.

My after race treat came thanks to the giveaway I won a while ago from CJ.  Great Harvest pancakes, ftw!

 

Belly full I passed out on the couch for most of the 1:00pm football games.  I’d say it was a pretty successful Sunday so far.  :)   Congrats to all the participants of the run/walk, they raised almost $800K for brain tumor research.  Also, congrats to anyone that ran the NYC marathon today!  When I was sort of hating my lungs during mile 3 I reminded myself others were running way more a mere few hours away.

Happy Sunday!

Dogfish Dash 2011

This weekend held my absolute favorite road race, the 2011 Dogfish Dash 5K/10K!  I ran it last year as my first 10K and returned to take on the 10K distance again.  The race is held in the town of Milton where the brewery is located and the proceeds benefit the Delaware chapter of the Nature Conservancy.  The race this year was increased to 1750 runners and it is now the biggest 5K/10K combo race in Delaware!

Scott and I loaded up the car yesterday and once we crossed state lines into Delaware, I cracked open a “road beer” (this is legal in DE for passengers).  Don’t worry, I was discreet!  Festina Peche in a Phillies koozie.

We got down to Rehoboth a little after 6pm and I checked in and got my race stuff.  Scott went over and bought a wrist band for the after party as non-racers can pay $10 to enjoy the brews.  I ducked into the brewpub to see how long the wait was and as expected it was at least 2.5 hours (the wait was much less earlier in the day).  No biggie, though, and we went next door to Finbar’s and got a seat at a bar table after about five to six minutes.  While waiting for a table to clear, we ordered an Evolution Jaques Au Lantern.  It has a major kick of spices without really any sweetness, we liked this change of pace from the usual pumpkin beers.  It was delicious!

I played it safe with dinner and ordered a chicken sandwich with red peppers and brie and paired that with a simple side salad with ranch dressing.  Happy to report the meal was a success for my tummy and I had NO heartburn this time around!

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Sunday we got up around 6:30am and partook in the free breakfast at the hotel.  I got a mini western omelet and a bagel with PB.

It really hit the spot.  I also had a small glass of apple juice, took a lemon sublime Gu, and had a small cup of coffee (caffeine really helps offset muscle fatigue and soreness for me).  We got to the race about 15 min before gun time and found parking with ease.

The weather was cloudy, a little warm, and the only precipitation we got was a little mist that went away quickly.  I found my spot behind the starting line and waited for the announcements.  Sam Calagione was there this year and spoke to the runners before doing the countdown and blowing the whistle to start!  I’m not going to lie, I’d probably get a little star struck if I met him.  ;)

 

At 8:00 am we were off and running through the town!  Miles 1-2 felt pretty good, but I could tell it was majorly humid and making it hard to get good breathing down.  I made sure to grab water at the first stop.  Energy felt pretty good.  At mile 3 I took a brief walk at the water station nearby to catch my breath.  Humidity was killing me!  Mile 4 was more pushing.  I forgot the small but still tough inclines Milton had, but my Garmin showed I was still making great time!  Mile 5 came and I was so happy we were nearly done.  I could almost taste the Punkin Ale waiting for me.  I walked one or two more times before the end then came in for the home stretch to the finish!

Smile!  You’re almost there!  :)

Phew!  I remember at one point during the race thinking, “You JUST ran a half, this should not feel hard!”  But, no matter how much energy you have, if you’re not getting good amount of oxygen in your system you’re going to feel it.  Instead of pre-packaged bottled water they handed us a cool reusable one already filled.  My official chip time was 55:32!  A new PR!  That’s twice in one week!  I felt pretty awesome although majorly out of breath!

dfhsplits2011

Not too bad on the splits.  You can see how the humidity really started to affect my times.  But, still majorly happy with it!  Once I cooled down we got in line to grab our first beer and of course went with the fan favorite Punkin Ale.

Cheers to beer!  Ignore my post-race tomato face.  ;)

As you can see in the background, there were major amounts of people at the after party.  They had a tent area with the sponsors and a live band, (Reedo and the Front Porch Offering) so we checked that out.

 

Prizes for the winners.  Sadly, I knew I wasn’t placing in the 20-29 age group.  Maybe one day I’ll place in one of the races I do.  After checking out the tent, we got back in line for another beer and never ended up getting one.  The setup looked pretty much the same size as last year, but they majorly increased the runners (which meant guest increase).  After about 20 min of the huge line going nowhere, we decided to hit the store instead.  I picked up a cute tee and got Scott a fitted cap.  We also took pics of the coolest treehouse ever.

 

We were a little bummed about not getting another beer.  The lines were just too much.  Luckily, DFH is a company full of great people who appreciate their fans to the nth degree.  I received this reply on Twitter.

dfhtweet

I just cannot say enough good things about this brewery and the people who work there.  I’m so happy our 10 year reunion is being held at the brewpub a couple months from now.  :D

We got home just in time to watch the Eagles make a total collapse.  Ugh.  We’re going to forget about that now.  Here’s the stuff I got from the race (like that distraction?).  We got a sweet crewneck tee.

The 19 oz reusable water bottle (that folds!).

A couple magazines.  One I may have to purchase a subscription.  Pretty sure you can guess which one.

We also got a couple writing utensils and a really awesome poster of the Chicory Stout artwork.  I’ll be getting that framed soon!  I’m so glad I was able to come back to this race and cannot wait for the next one.  Yes, the beer lines weren’t great, but the organizers have shown they are going to look into that for next year.  You can be sure I’ll be running it, lines or not!  Many, many thanks to the AMAZING people of Dogfish Head for planning such a great race!

End of Summer 2011

Yesterday was a successful and relaxing beach day.  My sister and I sat out and enjoyed the perfect weather until the sun started to dip and the breeze kicked up.  We made friends with another one of these little guys.  So cute.

 

After the beach, I went back and took a nap.  Then I made salmon cakes for my mom and I for dinner.  I absolutely love that recipe.

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Today I leisurely got up and decided to give myself a manicure that is doomed once I go back to work.

The color is Pacific Blue from Sally Hansen’s Xtreme Wear nail polish.  I’m quite diggin’ the shade.

Shortly after making plans to head to the beach again (such a hard life ;) ) with my sister and her hubs, my brother rolled in.  Perfect timing.  We made our way over to Sea Colony and enjoyed a somewhat cloudy but still nice beach day.


Are you sick of beach pictures?  Too bad.  :)   I didn’t think I’d feel a little sad that it’s the unofficial end of summer, but I kind of am.  It was cool that I was able to spend the “first” and “last” weekends of summer in the same spot.

Post-beach, I showered up and then we reconvened with my mom, my sister, my brother, and his longtime friend for some sushi at OC Wasabi.  It’s a great little spot and they recently expanded with a bar!

I started with water and some yummy green tea, but couldn’t help joining in on a few rounds of sake (on the house!).  ;)   For dinner, we ordered a bunch of rolls.  I had the spicy combo which included spicy tuna, spicy california, and spicy salmon rolls.

DSC03486 DSC03487 DSC03488

So so delish.  We had a lot of good food and good laughs tonight.  Made me a little sad again that Scott couldn’t be here to enjoy.  The last time I went to OC Wasabi was with him and my mom.

No shenanigans tonight after dinner.  I filled up the gas tank, picked up a couple six packs, and now Dave and I are just tinkering on our computers enjoying a couple of these.

Yup.  Pretty good end of the summer.  I’ll be heading back up to PA tomorrow.  I was bummed my other two sisters weren’t able to visit, but they go to school nearby and I hope to have them up again (the last time was pretty fun).  Hope everyone had an awesome Labor Day weekend!  Cheers!