Afternoon all.
So today was my final race this year, the Watford Joggers Autumn challenge. I found it via the runners world website, and as I had not done a 5 miler before I fancied it. The route was 1 mile in a park, 3 miles in some woods (clue there) and the last mile back in the park. My trainers, by the way, started out off-white. Now they are various shades of brown!
The race was really good- it was very small; no chip timing or anything like that. On the start line we had a minutes’ silence for rememberance Sunday, and instead of tannoy systems they had a whistle and an air horn. The first bit was so muddy- like running across a rugby pitch! I found it tricky to keep up my pace, and the first mile took me 11 minutes (I was aiming for ten min miles). Then there was a crazily steep hill (I ran the whole way but loads walked as it was really steep- steeper than a steep road), and some really steep downhill bits. The woods were nice (the rain held off which I was so pleased about), and there were lots of marshalls cheering everyone on. Several steep hills (up and down), muddy bogs and downhill steps later I emerged back into the park (4 miles in 41 minutes so I had managed my ten min miles in the woods even with the crazy hills). Then, bliss, a 30 metre run on tarmac (how bouncy the tarmac felt- I was alsmost flying) and then back to the rugby pitch. By this time it was hard to get any grip and I was slipping all over the place. I still managed to overtake a few runners, and boy was I grinning when I caught sight of the finish line. There was no official time (there was a man with a clipboard and stopwatch so I will have a look on the website later) and I didn’t stop my Nike+ right away, but I finished in about 52 minutes which for a cross country race was pretty good. Instead of a medal (which I love but are useless!) everyone got a shoe bag;
Pretty smart right? And more useful than a medal 🙂 I actually really enjoyed it, although I found it very hard to run through all the mud (it sucks your feet down into the mud, or it is hard to get any traction)- I think that is partly why I felt so pleased, because it was a challenge. Although I do not think I am converted to cross country running, I am glad I did it, as if I had known what it had been like (eg if it was called the cross country challenge) I probably would not have even entered.
Once home I had some nesquick with coconut milk (mmmmm) and after a hot shower I have spent the rest of the day baking, and watching the grand prix.
I made chocolate brownies with a peanut butter swirl;
Pretty swirl 🙂
I also attempted mince pie cookies. I had a fun shopping trip yesterday with some friends (another outing for my new boots 🙂 ), and saw Millies cookies had all sorts of Christmas cookies, including mince pie cookies. So I thought about it and have adapted an oatmeal raisin cookie recipe;
Put 110g mixed dried fruits (including mixed peel) in a bowl and add 1tbs brandy- leave to soak for around an hour. In a bowl cream together 130g butter (or pure dairy free) with 80g caster sugar and 80g brown sugar. Add in one egg and 1tsp vanilla (although orange would be nice if you had it). Then mix in 150g flour (I used white spelt) and 40g ground almonds, some mixed spice, cinnamon and 1/2 tsp bicarb. Then stir in 50g oats and the dried fruit mix.
Put blobs of it onto baking tray and bake, 170C for about 15 minutes.
Voila:
Ok, so they look just like oatmeal raisin cookies but I am hoping they are a bit amped up and taste more like a mince pie 🙂
Onto other things- after my trial of rude health cereals I decided to buy another box, this one has seeds in it and a few other grains (quinoa, barley, some other ones);
Close up of the seeds;
It is tasty, but more savoury than the other ones. I tried the top banana one as it was on offer, and although it was ok, I prefer the fruity date one. I think I like a bit of sweetness with my porridge 🙂
And finally (well done for reading this far)- entries to the Teapigs giveaway end midnight tonight- leave a link to your fave recipe on the comments section of the giveaway post.
My post race treat is going to be some of my baking 🙂 alongside some Whitards Christmas Tea (loose black tea with orange peel and spices).
What is your fave post race treat?
Hmmm, not sure about post race treat but after my long runs I tend to have a 12 minute ice cold bath and as a post run treat to get me through the cold ordeal I normally have a hot milky coffee. Today I had a milky coffee and a small bar of Dairy Milk. That was goooood.
Its good to get different race ‘prizes’. Generally I’m not much of a medal fan unless for a marathon and even then I tend to lose them within a week but the ‘standard’ offering nowadays seems to be a technical running shirt which is fairly useful. Best one was a 10k lat year where the prize was a bath towel – useful for the gym – and the ladies all got bunches of flowers too.
Love the sound of those prizes. Actually last year I randomly won some pot-pouri at a very local 5k race- they had on the spot prizes for people having fun etc. But the towel I love. I have never got a technical t-shirt- only cotton t-s which end up being used for decorating 🙂
Dairy milk sounds good too 🙂 Not sure about the ice bath!
Ooh so going to make those cookies! i love mince pie anything!
My favourite post run treat is always a smoothie, green monster or protein shake etc And I’m quite partial to a bottle of yazoo milkshake too!
That runs sounds like it must have been fun, well done 🙂 And just have to say your chocolate brownies with a peanut butter swirl looks absolutely DIVINE, hope you enjoyed. laraxx
I have to say, as cool and as useful as that race bag is, I think I’m still a medal person 🙂 Well done! That does sounds like fun actually! 😀
My favourite post-run treat is a Chocolaty Green Monster. Or basically anything chocolaty. Or sweet in general! 😛
My favorite post-race/workout treat is definitely baking as well. And as much as I work out, imagine how much baking goes on here!! haha
Sounds like a tough race. I’ll admit, hills make me curse in my head quite a bit during races. I love them while running for exercise..but they’re not the most fun things to tackle when racing. :/
Becky – I had a cookie and they were pretty good. Next time I might add chopped dried cherries or something too.
Lara- it was fun 🙂 The swirl was good but hard to slice- made a bit of a mess as the PB went all crumbly!
Emma- I still do love a good medal. But it makes a nice change. I have never tried a green monster, but I do like oats in a jar when the pb is running low!
Mary- the hills were crazy steep- I was telling myself “discomfort is temporary, achivement is forever” as I did them (I could not remember the proper quote!).
🙂
Great race! I love the idea of x-country. I guess your experience goes to show that having the right shoes can be important in winter though!
I have just bookmarked this recipe for mincepie cookies too, they look great. And can be veganized. Hello mince pie alternatives! 😀
Yeah totally- just swap out the egg and they would be fine. Glad you like the look of it 🙂
I think the right shoes would have made a big difference (as would have been knowing about all the super steep hills!)
It was fun though
Well done on your run, so awesome! Your baking looks fab too, I worked for millies cookies while I was studying, I wish they did xmas flavours while I was working for them!
If I had worked for Millies cookies I would have been in heaven! Either that or got sick of the sight of them (I used to work in a bakery and I got fed up with the smell of croisants and french bread!)- also I would have tried to steal the recipes!!
Your baking looks delicious. I want to go and bake some cookies NOW!
Aw glad you like the look of them 🙂
Love the shoe bag momento! That’s a classy idea.
I love that feeling when the tarmac feels bouncy, it just makes you realise that you’ve been working REALLY hard on the wet stuff!
Oh and running shoes were made to be brown…whatever colour they started out!
Rosexx
Yeah I think I have to accept that brown is the colour my my shoes now!
I did like the shoe bag (last year they got a mug apparently)- it is nice to have something to actually use. 🙂