On Sunday night my phone rang at 10:30 pm. I had the sound off since it was past my bedtime, but I wasn’t asleep yet and I saw the phone light up with a call. It was my adorable baby brother Matt Matt. He was at Whole Foods with his wife-to-be Mallories and they were picking up ingredients for a recipe. “Can you go to foodsubs.com and look up piquillo pepper? They don’t have it at Whole Foods, we need to know what we could use instead.”

“This is why you need a smart phone, boy,” I said. Really, I just want him to get a BlackBerry so I can BBM him all day every day.

“I don’t need a smart phone,” the young one said. “I have a smart sister!”

I was about to go to the website they told me about — one I had never heard of because um, I am lazy and just make up what I might need in my head if I am not sure. I never actually thought to be resourceful if I didn’t have an ingredient I needed. But then I remembered that I was sent a book that I was supposed to review in June called Substituting Ingredients: The A to Z Kitchen Reference. Because it was around the same time I implemented Tuesday Blags, I had too much to write about to get a chance to discuss this book. And I kept forgetting about it. And really, I can be pretty irresponsible sometimes. I apologize, Sourcebooks.

[Source: Sourcebooks (hehe)]

But now I thought of it!

So I got out the book and there were so many categories of peppers: peppers, chili and peppers, chili, milder and peppers, gold (also known as yellow peppers) and peppers, red sweet and peppers, green or bell. I never knew there were so many types of peppers. I gave Mallory some options and she ended up using a blend of red bell pepper, anaheim pepper and fiesta pepper to make their pressed burgers with prosciutto and piquillo-paprika aioli. Uh, yeah, my brother is marrying well, wouldn’t you say? Especially considering the most I ever made him was eggs.

So the book came in handy! The book is better for more than just peppers though. As someone who doesn’t have many ingredients at home because (1) I share a 320 square foot apartment with no closets with a roommate, and our kitchen is a narrow entryway between our bedrooms and (2) I am not a cook and don’t really want to be (sorry future husbands), I have to say that even I find this book helpful.

Substituting Ingredients would be so handy in the kitchen for anyone who needs a quick substitute! As I open this randomly, I can tell you right now that you can substitute currants, fresh for gooseberries. You can also substitute jaggery, whatever that is, for 1/2 cup white sugar plus 1/2 cup brown sugar. Woo hoo! Or in baking, substitute nuts with bran. Who knew? Not I.

There is a section of cheeses split into groups, and you can substitute any other cheese in each group for another! CHEESE! What I find most helpful in this book is the oil section. I am pretty picky about the oils I cook with and want to make sure I am using the right substitutes. You can find easy substitutions for vegetables, fruits, grains, meat, fish, and baking ingredients as well as measurement equivalents (I NEED THIS. I can barely add let alone figure that stuff out), baking pan sizes, household ingredients that can also be cleaning products, remedies for kitchen disasters and quick substitutions for herbs and spices.

All in all a good book for people who need this kind of thing.

I have some really great product reviews coming in the next few weeks, including a new open patella knee sleeve, an eco friendly yoga mat, a Magic Bullet and the brand new Core Fusion Yoga Energy Flow DVD!

And a BIG thank you to everyone who signed up for the free Core Fusion class for Dori’s Shiny Blog readers. The response was outstanding and the class filled up in less than seven hours. We have a wait list too! I’m excited to meet everyone on August 12!

Happy Fourth of July! Hope you all enjoyed your long weekends. I enjoyed mine, although I had to work a little each day, especially on Monday. For some reason I have to work over every long holiday weekend — what is up with that?! I did get to spend a good amount of time out in the sun, so being sun-tired combined with stressed from work means Tuesday blags is late tonight. But worth it.

As you might know I’ve tried Blueprint Cleanse twice and Organic Avenue once. What I haven’t had a chance to discuss yet is that last month I tried the new kid in town in the world of the juice fast — Cooler Cleanse. A collaboration between Salma Hayek and Eric Helms (founder of Juice Generation in NYC), Cooler Cleanse officially launched earlier this year. Their history, from their website:

Since 1999, Eric Helms, founder of Juice Generation, has offered the ultimate juicing experience in New York City. In 2008, he received a very specific challenge from friend and fellow juicing devotee Salma Hayek. She asked him to custom-blend the perfect detoxifying drinks: raw, nutrition-packed juices that would improve her cleanses to make them as effective—and enjoyable—as possible.

Using his top-of-the-line hydraulic press, Eric created a rich array of nutritious concoctions from organic, sustainably grown produce. Salma taste-tested and reviewed them all. The process took months as what started as a friendly challenge evolved into a dynamic collaboration to create their dream line-up of detox drinks.

The result of their efforts is a cleansing program that is easy to accomplish, ultra-fresh and absolutely delicious. To complete the cleansing experience, they worked with some of the best nutritionists and vegan chefs in Manhattan to develop additional raw-food menus, always using the premium-grade ingredients on which Eric built the success of his stores.

So it sounds great, but Blueprint Cleanse also sounded great and well, I really disliked their green juice. I drink green juice every day but BPC’s was just too sickly sweet. I think it is the apple. Organic Avenue was okay but the delivery was annoying and expensive. I was excited to try Cooler Cleanse to see if it was any better, since it is very helpful to me to have a juice fast that I like because of my GI illness.

Even though my stomach has been feeling much better than the last few years, sometimes I still feel really badly. A  juice fast helps get me on track again. In fact, right before I had four months of feeling almost completely better, I did a juice fast. I really believe it is a good tool for resetting and getting back on track to a better stomach and healthier habits.

For those of you not familiar, the hydraulic press used to make these juices retains the most vitamins, minerals and enzymes so you are essentially drinking vitamins and nutrition and health and rainbows and unicorns. Drinking your meals also gives your digestive system a break so your body can use less energy digesting and more energy absorbing nutrients and healing. Check out the reasons you might want to try a juice fast.

While on a juice fast, you will miss the act of eating but you will probably not feel hungry. There are SO many vegetables in these juices and they are just so filling. Sometimes I am not able to finish a whole day. I do recommend getting the advice of a professional before starting any cleanse and following the instructions on easing into the fast — and out of it. And please read the SIX BIG QUESTIONS, which has valuable information on who should — and shouldn’t — cleanse.

So last month I checked out the Cooler Cleanse website and decided that instead of the standard 3-Day Cooler Cleanse, I would instead go with something I thought was a fantastic idea — the Custom Cooler. In the Custom Cooler, you can choose exactly which juices you want from their menu. If it is your first time cleansing, I would absolutely recommend going with their 3-Day Cooler Cleanse because the juices (and the order) are carefully selected for the purpose of, well, cleansing. In my case, I’ve been around the juice fast block a few times and I know what I like and I know what I need for my specific stomach problems. And that is why I ordered three days worth of Custom Cooler.

Before I go on I just want to say that I receieved no discount or free cleanse to try. I paid in full because I wanted to try this out.

And . . . I loved it.

Seriously, their Essential Green juice. SO GOOD. Like real green juice. Not sickly sweet or overwhelming or very veggie-tasting even. I read that Salma Hayek went through many green juice taste trials before they perfected their green juice recipe. (The secret ingredient is pear!) I also tried some other juices from their menu.

I really loved the Pineapple & Ginger juice. I drank it on my first of three days and wished I had ordered it for all three. But then I also loved the fruit juices I ordered for the other two days — the Pineapple Mint and Waterlemon Lime. Uh, yeah, how could I not? The Essential Red was all right, not my favorite. I tried the Almond Milk and the Brazil Nut Milk. Both were good and sweetened with dates only, so they weren’t as sweet as other cleanse’s  nut milks I’ve tried on cleanses that contain agave. There is a debate going on about whether agave is good or bad for you so it was nice to avoid that whole issue and stick with a true natural sweetener. That said, these nut milks really are not as sweet as you might be used to, so prepare yourself. While they were a great treat at the end of a long fast day, the “dessert” feeling was a little lost. But I still thoroughly looked forward to and enjoyed the nut milks.

Would I do Cooler Cleanse again? Definitely. Would I choose them over their competitors? Yep.

I really enjoyed their juices, the convenience of their delivery and the fact that they offer a Custom Cooler ($60/day — but think about buying a few margaritas and dinner!).The typical 3-Day Cooler Cleanse ($58/day) contains six juices a day. This is the sample menu.  They also have a 5-Day Cooler Cleanse for the more ambitious of you and a Raw Cooler ($62/day), which delivers a full day of delicious raw-food meals and drinks. And if you do the Raw Cooler you get SMOOTHIES. They look so good. You can read about the different types of cleanses here.

Want to try Cooler Cleanse for free?

Enter for a chance to win a FREE 3-day Cooler Cleanse.

Here’s how:

• Leave a comment here telling us why you deserve a 3-day Cooler Cleanse (one entry)
• Leave a note on Cooler Cleanse’s Facebook wall telling us why you deserve a 3-day Cooler Cleanse (two additional entries) – don’t forget to Like them!

Be creative! Or be honest. Or be . . . something. There is no random number generator at work here —  I will work with the Cooler Cleanse team to select a winner (your extra entries mean your answer gets has more weight) and I will announce the winner here on Tuesday, July 13. You must be a US Resident to enter, and if you are selected as a winner and live outside the NYC area, you will have to select a cleanse date beginning after July 19 when nationwide shipping begins.

In NYC and want to try a juice fast and save some cash? Get 10% off your Cooler Cleanse with the discount code ESSENTIALGREEN. This code is valid through July 19 for NYC local delivery only. I’ll be using that code for myself.

Okay, so remember — leave a comment here and on Facebook for a total of three entries to win a free 3-day Cooler Cleanse! This prize is worth $189 with delivery or $174 with pickup. Good luck!

[All photos taken from the Cooler Cleanse website]

The night before the NYC Half Marathon, I enjoyed a delicious pasta dinner at Serafina with some bloggers I love – Lindsay , Katherine and Leslie ! This was my first time meeting Leslie and I was so excited. My friend Melissa, a blog reader who I trained with for the half also came to din.

I kept it simple and healthy at dinner by ordering the Whole Wheat Penne dish and I requested it be served without garlic. Garlic taste can stay in the mouth for an entire day no matter how many times I brush my teeth, and I needed perfect mouth conditions for the race.

I had a hard time falling asleep that night, as expected. But I woke up before my 5:30 am alarm time and my first thought was “It’s half marathon day!” A few seconds later, I had another thought: “It’s my birthday!”

I got up and took a shower. I’ve never showered before a race, but I read in Runner’s World that a warm shower will loosen up the muscles. Anything that could help me run stronger and prevent pain sounds good to me.

I got dressed in my brand new Lululemon outfit, my new Bondi Band headband that I bought at the expo, my knee sleeves, compression sleeves and birthday crown.

Happy birthday to me!

Since it was going to be cold before the race started, Melissa and I bought matching I <3 NY sweatshirts. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Melissa before the race to take a picture together. I had a little fun on mine with some fabric markers I bought when I was going to make a race shirt that said “wish me a happy birthday”, that I decided not to wear.

Melissa and me at the expo:

I packed up my Spibelt and put that on, and I drank my Organic Avenue green juice, stretched and pinned on my race number. Then I was out the door and in a taxi headed for Central Park.

I found my section for bag check and there was no line, it all went quickly and easily. I walked into the park and waited on a very long line for a portapotty and then headed over to my corral. I started at the start line and walked past corral after corral. After corral. After corral. How far back was I?? I kept walking and walking. Eventually I spotted a corral that had a lot of room, and even though it was a couple of corrals before my designated one, I went in. I knew I could run between a 10 and 11 minute mile and decided there was no reason to be all the way in the very back.

While I was waiting, I got a BBM from Leslie and told her where I was. I loved being able to have my phone with me thanks to my Spibelt! She made her way alllll the way back to me from her much closer-to-the-start corral and we talked and took a picture.

I loved passing the time before the race with Leslie. When she had to go back to her own corral, I turned around and there was Catherine – my Core Fusion health counselor and teacher! She was in the same corral with me! It was so nice seeing her.

As I waited for the race to start, I looked to my left and noticed a row of portapottys right next to me with NO line. I decided to take advantage of this sign from above and use one. So glad I did! I still had plenty of time before the race started.

I was getting a little upset because no one seemed to care that it was my birthday. I was wearing the crown and lots of people saw me on the portapotty lines, in the corrals, and no one said a word. Finally, someone wished me a happy birthday. And then someone else told me it was her birthday too. I felt a little better about my ridiculous crown once it was acknowledged.

And then the race started and so began the 15 minute walk to the start. You heard me right. I started the race exactly 15 minutes after it officially started according to the digital clock at the start line. Crazy! There was one small problem. During the walk to the start. . . my body decided another portapotty trip needed to happen. Why do I have to pee SO MUCH when I am nervous? This has happened before. I drink the exact same thing before training runs and races, yet I only have this issue during races and other events that make me nervous or anxious. Is this my body’s fight or flight defense? Because if it is, it’s stupid.

I was so excited to start the race, I wasn’t about to try and find a portapotty. I was no longer near the ones by my corral. I decided to just start running and hope it was all in my head. I turned my music on and I was off!

Loved the spectators in the park cheering as I started. Woo hoo! I did cry a little bit as I crossed the start. Who cries at the start??! When did I become so emotional? I quickly tossed my sexy sweatshirt to someone on the side and got into my music. The weather was gorgeous, the conditions were all ideal except for that nagging pressure on my bladder. Ugh! I avoided water stations. Every time I passed portapotties, there were long lines. Dashing in and out is one thing, but I was not about to start waiting on lines! I worked too hard for this race. So I kept running. At each mile clock, I saw that my time had moved by exactly 10 minutes. 10 minute miles, yay! That made me happy, although I tried not to focus on the time and remind myself I would still come in under my goal if I started running slower.

When I crossed over the 5K time tracker thing my face broke into a big smile – I knew that pretty soon, all the people who signed up for email alerts would get an email with my first time! As it turned out, they started sending my results after 10K, but I didn’t know that at the time.

The full loop of Central Park is 6 miles, which means that shortly before mile 6 I was by the part where the race started. By then I had been running for an hour while having to pee and I was not comfortable. So at that spot I saw the long row of portapotties for use before the race and since there were so many, there was no line. This was my opportunity! While running, I yanked down my Spibelt and lifted up my shirt. I was not wasting ANY time in there!

I used the bathroom and ran out and was back in the race. I was upset that I lost some time, but I tried to accept that these things happen and you can’t always control them. And above all – I felt SO MUCH BETTER. What a relief!

And then I saw Catherine again! I started screaming her name and ran over to her. How funny to run into her mid-race. I separated from her shortly after saying hi to make my way over to the water station. Now I was ready to drink!

I took Gatorade by accident, but I liked it. I ended up switching between water and Gatorade at most stations after that.

I crossed the 10K mark in 1:05, which is only 2 minutes slower than my 10K race PR of 1:03, so it doesn’t look like my bathroom stop hurt too much!

I was still feeling really great at this time, too. Even with the bladder discomfort, the first 6 miles went very easily for me. I never thought a day would come where I’d utter those words! But yes, 6 miles – NOT BAD!

After we passed 7 miles I got excited because it was my last mile in the park. Everyone told me how great it is when you can finally leave the park and run down 7th Avenue. Mile 7 felt so long! I just wanted to get to the next leg of the race and every time I thought I was close I would recognize something around me that showed me just how far from the 7th Avenue exit I actually was. I ate a shot block.  I also started feeling some minor chafing. I had never experienced this before, but my left arm rubbing against the side of my back was creating some uncomfortable friction. I passed some people handing out sticks of vaseline a few miles back but didn’t see any more. Now I know for next time!

Finally I got to Mile 8 and smiled as I left the park.I paused the music on my iPod since I heard I’d want to hear all the people cheering for the runners. And then . . . nothing. There were very few spectators along the sides of 7th Ave and it was very quiet. After a minute I put my music back on because it was boring.

I looked at the spectators I did see, but none of them shouted Happy Birthday as I’d hoped. Oh well!

There were a couple of bands on 7th Ave, so I would pause my music to hear them, which was nice. There was a cheerleading team, but they were facing AWAY from the runners and cheering for people watching them on the sidewalk. Wtf?

I know everyone says running through Times Square is the most amazing part of the race, but I don’t know. I found it kind of blah. I think this was a combination of there being so few spectators and the fact that the runners were able to spread out on 7th Ave and I felt like there were no runners around me except for the slow stragglers at the back. Of course I was not a straggler in the back, but it did feel that way.

Can you spot me?

We turned onto 42nd street and that was pretty dead too. And by this point I was really starting to struggle. My knees were both hurting, my old familiar sharp pain on the outside of the knees. My quads were hurting too and felt very heavy. I ate another shot block. I thought maybe if my energy improved the pain in my knees wouldn’t be so bad. Blah. Running, running. Going through the motions. Mile 9, hello.

I crossed the 15K tracker and again thought of the people getting emails about me who actually cared, which did help push me through. It was like having virtual fans.

Onto the West Side Highway. There was a band playing so I paused my iPod to hear them and then when I pressed play, I lost my playlist! I somehow moved from Half Marathon playlist to Florence + the Machine album. How did that happen? I pressed a couple buttons without looking and somehow was able to get back to my race playlist. I did lose my place though and had to start over.

I didn’t let this little snag get me down. I loved my songs in the beginning and it was actually pretty awesome to hear them again! I put my least favorites towards the end of the playlist anyway.

Here was my full playlist:

I didn’t get to hear any songs from the Heaven on. Once I restarted, I simply skipped over songs I didn’t think would pump me up enough at this point in the race. But I LOVED the songs I got to hear twice (cough, I’d Rather, couch) and the song I ended the race to (Bounce That — Girl Talk).

Mile 10. Just 5K left. My first race was a 5K. But during my first race I didn’t have this pain in my knees and heaviness in my legs. I was running but I was going so slowly. There was a woman in a white top and she was walking. And I could NOT pass her. For a long time, she was walking, I was running, I could not pass her.

That took a little out of my confidence.

At this point, I just wanted to be finished. I knew I would finish, but I decided to let go of any plans on meeting my time goal (more on that later). I was barely moving, I was in pain, I was feeling pretty crappy and I knew I would not finish strong, but I would finish. This was the longest mile of my life. Both my knees hurt. My quads hurt. No one was wishing my happy birthday. FInally, Mile 11. Just 2 miles left. What’s 2 miles? It’s an easy 20 minute run. I could do this. I was still struggling though. It took me over half a mile to realize I was PDRing, 11 being the longest I’d ran while training. Woo. Hoo. Yeah.

The mile 12 marker was nowhere in sight and I was getting frustrated. I finally saw mile 12 in the distance and felt relieved. Finally, I made it to mile 12. Shortly after, I looked to my left and THERE WAS SARA!!!! My friend Sara, who just started a really great blog about restaurants in Manhattan, was cheering for me! I screamed. Seriously, I just screamed, not caring what the other runners around me thought. I was so happy to see my friend!!! I waved at Sara and she took a couple photos of me. You can’t see me in the first picture she took because I’m behind a huge guy (I don’t remember him being there at all), but Sara did manage to get this awesome picture of me that I am obsessed with and stare at all day long at my desk at work:

Yayyyy! You can’t tell I was struggling at all, right? Neither could Sara. She thought I looked strong and happy. Well, it is crazy how mental running is, because as soon as I saw Sara, my struggles ended and I WAS happy. I felt amazing! The pain in my knees didn’t seem so bad and I was able to speed up. I had a new burst of energy and I ran faster and stronger. I cried a teeny bit and smiled while I ran. 800 meters to go. I got this! 400 meters to go. Well I just did 400 since that last sign, so I could do that again! I ran and ran. I saw the finish line and I guess my body was too beat to sprint, but I kept running strong and crossed the finish line with my arms in the air and tears in my eyes. Okay, I lied. Full on sobs. What is wrong with me!!!

I was so overwhelmed with emotion and so happy and I just finished the NYC Half Marathon, my first half marathon!

I cried some more and then waited on line to have my picture taken, since I was wearing a crown and all! And now that I see the picture, I understand why no one wished me a happy birthday — no one saw the crown! It got pushed back!

I had a secret time goal of 2:20. After my bathroom stop I knew it would be harder but still possible. After my difficult miles 9-12 and not being able to pass a walker, I decided to let go of my time goal and just enjoy myself.

So what was my time?

2:18:53!!!!

I still beat my goal!!! I signed up for my own tracking emails so I knew my time as soon as I checked my phone after the race. I am so so so so SO happy with my time!!!! That averages to 10:37 miles, which is really awesome.

I picked up my baggage (easy smooth process!) and saw Leslie right away! Leslie PRd and qualified for a special corral in the Chicago Marathon from this race!

Then I went to find my best friend and I ran into my good friend Jackie (from the following: Jewish day camp, high school, grad school and old job) and then I ran into Katie! I saw so many people I knew randomly!

I know this post has been about me, but I actually ran the race for charity. And if it wasn’t for all of you, I wouldn’t have even had the opportunity to run the NYC Half Marathon. I cannot thank you enough. Your generosity, support and willingness to help me run a charity auction to fundraise for Think Pink Rocks was beyond what I ever could have expected. I raised $1,671 for Think Pink Rocks, and the money goes to breast cancer research and prevention. My mom is a breast cancer survivor, so this charity was important to me and I am so honored to have run for this amazing cause.

Cool shirt, right?

My best friend and I went to brunch at Landmarc where I ordered my favorite food, french toast. This french toast was special and came inside a hard french toast bread shell. Then I went home and enjoyed my post long-run 2 hour deepest nap ever. Also, I worked. People don’t talk much about post half marathon pain by the way. My quads were burning for days. I could barely walk. Subway stairs were brutal. Trying to sit down was unbearable. You never really think about the muscles you use while trying to sit but wow do we use muscle! My knees were also bothering me. After two yoga classes and some ice, I am doing much better! It took a few days though. Also, my toe situation is pretty gross and very black. Will discuss in a future post.

Just like that, I ran 13.1 miles. Last year I was running maybe 20 minutes and now I am running over 2 hours and feeling great. I LOVE RUNNING! It is so amazing because anyone can improve.

My next half marathon is the 13.1 Marathon NY in my hometown of Flushing, Queens on Saturday, April 3. As I said, I try not to make time goals . . . but if all goes well with the bladder, I think I can beat my time. I am so excited!

March 21, 2010 was the most rewarding birthday I could have ever imagined! Welcome to my 27th year!

A few weeks ago I got to tour a company I think is fantastic — The Lite Choice! I took the tour with Katie from Lil Veggie Patch and was happy to have a friend with me. I went to the tour right after a 9 mile training run, which included the NYRR Run for Haiti! Needless to say, I was starving. I also only had 5 minutes to change clothes, so please excuse my appearance.

The Lite Choice seems like frozen yogurt or ice cream, but really they are considered soft serve. They don’t contain the cultures necessary to be called yogurt and they don’t contain NEARLY enough fat to be called ice cream! A few years ago, I noticed that many Tasti Delite locations turned into The Lite Choice. I assumed it was the same thing but did not realize that The Lite Choice (TLC) started as a healthier alternative to Tasti Delite, which uses artificial flavors and fake sugars. Blech to that.

The Lite Choice (to take Katie’s well written explanation), has 70 readily available flavors, 51 of which are USDA-certified organic.  64 flavors are gluten-free, and they’re working on improving those last 6 flavors.  The soft serve is sweetened with beet and cane sugars; no extra sugar is added.  (You can find the nutritional information for each flavor online.) They have 30 locations, with 16 of them being in NYC.

I do want to make a note that I try not to eat dairy much. I generally purchase coconut based ice creams, but I will have dairy every now and again. And of course for this tour, it was no question!

I always thought that the only flavors I could get at TLC were the ones on the board each day:

But really, you can get any flavor at any time! They use natural almond and peanut butters, which they grind right in the stores, for flavoring. They also have a selection of organic and natural syrups. Everything is low in calories as well. Even better? They use green (environmentally friendly) cleaning practices!

And they are certified Kosher for all you religious Dori’s Shiny Blog readers.

In addition to soft serve, you can get milkshakes (OBSESSED with my oreo milkshake), Vitamin B shakes, Protein shakes (made with whey protein, a dairy protein) and coffee freezes. I seriously plan to get an oreo milkshake next time I am there again, it was THAT good.

They make yummy hot fudge sundaes and hot chocolate as well. LOVE the hot chocolate, especially one that is so low calorie and tastes chocolatey and amazing. I’d get this more often if I passed a TLC on my commute.

TLC also has a wonderful toppings bar with pretty much anything you might want. Katie even got Puffins on hers! I opted for my favorite topping, peanut butter chips. Mmmmm…

In their freezer section we sampled bars, ice cream cakes, flying saucers and pints of soft serve. Yes, we sampled EVERYTHING. I particularly loved the almond butter flavor, which was made by blending vanilla soft serve and their freshly ground (right in front of me!) almond butter. Heaven.

You can follow TLC on Twitter for daily discounts and promotions. I do!

Oh — Hi Missy!

Here I am with the founder, Ron and the operations manager, Claudia, and of course Katie:

It was a really great tour. So great I stayed and sampled and learned for 2 hours! Everything tastes so good, fresh and REAL. Which of course cannot be said for all of their “low calorie” competitors. If you’re in NYC I definitely suggest you try out The Lite Choice!

After my 10K in December, I swore off cold weather races. And then Meghann, who was coming to NYC for an event, tweeted that she signed up for the Gridiron 4 Mile race during her time here. Knowing a meetup was looming, I bit the bullet and signed up as well.

Yesterday, I met Meghann and her mom and brother for lunch at Alice’s Tea Cup. If you can believe it, I’ve lived a few blocks away from there for 4 years and never went inside! So happy Meghann invited me because I absolutely loved it and I’m already itching to go back!

[Stolen from Meghann]

We shared scones to starts – Pumpkin and White Chocolate Cranberry. I actually preferred the White Chocolate one to the Pumpkin! I ate the majority of it since everyone else seemed to like the Pumpkin better. Fine by me!

[Stolen from Meghann]

I’d been salivating over this french toast on the menu: Alice’s Curious French Toast – French toast bites infused with apricot brandy tea, baked bread-pudding style and attacjed with fruit coulis, vanilla creme anglaise and sweet syrupy stuffs.

I don’t know what sweey syrupy stuffs are but whatever it is, I want it.

In the end I decided to go with a half sandwich and soup. I was so cold from my walk there and wanted to be warmed up by Tomato Basil soup, plus this sandwich sounded like the perfect thing to order at a tea house!

Cucumber And Watercress with lemon chive butter on whole wheat

It was wonderful! The lemon chive butter was especially amazing. I felt so dainty. I also ordered a pot of Organic Ginger tea. It was fantastic as well and didn’t taste too gingery at all!

Tea! Both these pics from Meghann’s camera as well. I felt like an amateur taking out my point & shoot when she had her fancy camera.

So this morning I was up before my alarm excited for the race! I was tweeting with Heather, Meghann and Ashley while getting ready. We were all so excited!

At my last cold weather race I wasn’t dressed warmly enough. During the race I was fine, but standing around before the race was unbearable. I planned better this time. I wore (all items are for running/workout) a long tank top, long sleeved top, jacket, wind stopping vest and a (not running) fleece. I wore running fleece gloves and big regular fleece gloves over them. I wore 2 pairs of running socks. I wore an ear covering headband and a hat over that.

I left my apartment at 8 and walked to the race. I found Meghann and Ashley standing in front of baggage check. I shedded a layer of warmth, my winter coat, and checked it with my bag. We met up with some other bloggers but they left because they were trying to PR and we were running for fun. We wanted to find Melissa and Heather (with Mark!) to run with but couldn’t find either of them.

All bundled up: Jesse along with Meghann, Ashley and me

We headed over to our corral. Well, mine and Ashley’s corral. Meghann is much faster but decided to run with us for a leisurely (for her) race and the fun that comes with talking the entire time. Ashley and I both run 10 minute miles during races.

Pink Corral. For girly runners:

We still had 20 minutes so we . . . bounced! The 3 of us just bounced up and down while talking. The sun was out and before the race started I was able to remove my fleece and tie it around my race so I could display my number and *maybe* actually appear in a race photo. I would probably have felt silly bouncing like that along but I loved doing it with friends! It warmed us up, except for our hands.

We briefly interrupted our bouncing to take photos:

And then the race started. I’m used to starting about 4 minutes after the race begins, by the time my corral gets to the start line, but today the wait was longer than usual for some reason and we started about 8 minutes after the start! Once we were off, things went smoothly. My hands eventually warmed up (I am definitely getting hand warmers for my half marathon)  and I started to feel my toes again. This was my first race without an iPod. We talked the entire time and we listened in on other people’s conversations. It is so interesting to hear what people discuss during a race — typically, other races! I really liked not wearing my iPod, although I would only do it again if I was running with a friend or the race provided entertainment.

Ashley and Meghann in action:

Butts:

I got a kick out of PINK scrawled across Meghann’s tush!

Best part about racing with friends? I finally get a RACING ACTION SHOT of myself! (You might know I rarely appear in official race photos). And yes, I realize how selfish I sound. But . . . pictures of ME! YAYYYY!

My awesome running vest in action. Love it.

During the 2nd mile, there were signs splitting up runners into which superbowl team they are rooting for. I don’t know or care about either team, so I asked which side we should run on. Ashley wanted the Colts to win, so we went on that side. We ran over the same type of tracking device at the start and finish lines, and that device tallied the percentage of runners for each team — how fun!

Apparently, we were in the minority:

Results from “Who will you root for?” split – SAINTS: 66% COLTS: 34%

I loved getting to know Meghann and Ashley more and the time really flew by. I know it was an easy pace for Meghann but for me it was basically my normal pace. I definitely got a nice workout but didn’t overdo it at all. I was worried because after my 5 mile run on Tuesday night, I woke up Wednesday with a foot injury. It hurt so much with every step I took. I have tendonitis. I am happy to say my foot felt great! It did not hurt one bit. I was so worried it would ruin my half marathon training, but I really think I will be fine.

Meghann took this gorgeous scenery picture. I feel bad taking all Meghann’s pics but I didn’t think to take these since I see the sites all the time. At my next race I think I will bring my camera again because I did have fun with it and it didn’t bother me while I was running like I thought it would.

Thanks Meghann!

Seeing the finish line is always an amazing thing, although we didn’t sprint. I was so focused on waving at this one race photographer that I didn’t notice 3 on the other side of me until too late! I just want to be in race photos!

My official time is 41:32 for 4 miles, with an average 10:23 pace. This was actually my slowest race ever! Not by much, though. I finished my last 4 mile race in exactly 40 minutes, and my 10K average was 10:13 miles.

After the race we met up with a big group at Arte Cafe for brunch! I finally got to catch up with Heather and Melissa. Heather was just a few minutes behind us in the race and Melissa was a few ahead. Too bad we missed them! Heather is hilarious, look at her “running” socks:

I also met new bloggers! I don’t have a list of people and their corresponding blogs although I might send out an email so I can get a list together, since they are NYC based like me, runners (like I attempt to be) and I had a great time talking to them all! Every was just so nice. I get intimidated in big groups but everyone was so welcoming today. The food was pretty good too, especially the muffins they gave out when we got there. So good and doughy. I was starving since all I had before the race was a green juice.

I might have taken 2 more muffins home.

I got a mushroom omelet, and it was pretty good. Ashley baked vegan macaroons for everyone and they were wonderful! They had the consistency of cookie dough and the taste of coconut custard pie. Yum!

And a group shot that Meghann took:

After brunch we stopped in at Alice’s Tea Cup (a different location than the day before) because Meghann loved her chocolate mint tea yesterday and wanted to buy some. I regret not trying hers when I had the chance! I was tempted to buy some tea but I don’t yet understand how to make loose leaf tea and I just want a better grasp before committing. Yes, I’m nutty and get nervous about strange things. But I live so close to Alice’s that I’ll just pop in when I am all set up to brew the tea at home.

I plan to go back to Alice’s Tea Cup soon anyway. I want to bring all my friends there. It’s just so cute and delicious. And I need to try that french toast. And a brownie.

Anyway, I took the bus back home and had the most amazing 2.5 hour nap. It was much needed!

I had such a great weekend! Racing with friends is so much fun, I hope I get to do that again. I skipped out on 7 am Core Fusion today (Monday) in favor of an extra hour of sleep and it was so worth it. Back this week with more Core Fusion recaps!

Click HERE for professional race photos from the Gridiron 4 Mile race!