Moon in June 10K Race Recap

On Saturday June 8th we ran the Moon and June 10K road race. It raises money for the Halton Trauma Centre for the prevention of all forms of child maltreatment and neglect.

Most Saturday nights we get babysitters. It's our date night and has been for quite a while. I mentioned in this post how I really don't like going out on Friday nights because of being tired from the long week, having to get up for a long run the next morning, etc. It was quite rare that a couple of weeks ago when someone mentioned running a race on a Saturday night that I knew we were free. We usually have something planned with someone - I know we sound like we are the "it" thing with our social life - but I will refer back to the "me only wanting to go out on Saturday nights" and it limits how often we get together with people. 

My view at the night time start

There were lots of first with this date-night-race. The very first is that I have never ran a race at 9:00 at night before. I'm pretty sure I have never started a run after 7:00 at night so I knew this was going to be interesting. The day was pretty clear, but as the night went on there was a dark cloud that started hanging over us. I think a night race like this would have been really neat if there was a pretty sunset as we started. Unfortunately there was a dark rain cloud instead.

The cutest thing was a 1k race for the kids. They were all wearing matching blue shirts and were so excited to get started! 

Future Marathoners!

Have I mentioned I run and train with an amazing group of people? I have? Well I've said it again. Here's our group of runners from Canada Get Fit at the start of the race. Most of us ran the 10k but there was a 5k as well. 

Here's a shot of the Hubby and me at the start of the race. I say we "ran a race together" but that really isn't true. What I should say is we kiss at the starting line, both run a race, and he waits for me to finish. He's stinkin' fast! He ran this 10k in 43:39, placed 20th overall and was 14th in his age group! I ran it in 57:22. 

That's where my other first comes in. I realized when I finished the race that I have never "raced" a 10k before. Which really astonishes me! Really? I've ran a marathon and many half marathons but never a 10k. Strange. . . but I'll take another Personal Best time! It may be my first recorded 10k race time, but that still makes it a personal best!

Here's my training and running partner. He was good and got up on Saturday morning instead of sleeping in like I did (really when will I be able to sleep in on a Saturday again before the marathon in October?!?!) and ran 8k. 

He said to me at the beginning of the race "Since I ran this morning I'm just doing this for fun." 

Part way through the race he said "Feel free to go ahead at any time, I'm not pushing it." 

At the pub when we were enjoying a pint of beer and looking up our results he said "I beat you by 2 seconds!" 

Gee, Thanks Jim! Ha! :-) He said he was feeling really good and pushed us to the finish line in a great time! 

Not that this is a requirement for a race you run at night, but it really is an added perk: We were given beverage tickets to use once we finish the race! There was a lovely tent offering us beer & wine for our accomplishment! Yes please! 

Notice how the hubs has much more gone than I do? That's because he is super fast and was drinking while the rest of us finished! :-)

If we are still living here at this time next year we will do the race again for sure! The boys will be a bit over 4 so we may think about having them participate in the kids run - but as my hubby said when we got home that night "That was a really fun date night" we may keep it a kid free event! 

Have you ever ran a night race? Do you integrate physical fitness with your date nights with your partner?

Appetizer & Drinks Party

A couple times a year we like to have the hubby's work team over for a social event with their spouse/significant other. As a spouse to someone who works long hours and travels I enjoy to meet the people he spends more time with than me! :-) I also like to celebrate the other spouses/significant others who hold down their side of the family like I do.

Friday evening we had the team over for a Spring Social. I don't care for doing much of anything on Friday nights - I always do my long runs on Saturday mornings and that is sacred to me. It is really hard for me to get out and do a 1.5/2+ hour run by myself. I need to the support of my running group for the route and company to be out running that long. We meet at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings so I try to keep Friday nights low key so that I can get up the next morning. As the summer goes on that will be more and more important. Not only because we will be going longer and longer each Saturday but also because with the warmth of the summer we will be meeting earlier in the morning.

I wanted to keep things easy for myself with preparing for a Friday party. I did all appetizers and tried to prepare as much as possible Thursday night. Below are the recipes I made with notes about what I prepared when.

therightrecipe.org

I made this layered hummus dip a couple of times when my Mom was visiting and it's a big hit so I made it again. See my recipe here. I chopped the olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion the night before. Stored them in a container in the refrigerator and right before guests arrived I assembled and sprinkled the cheese & dill on top. Worked out great!

Annie's Eats

I first had this strawberry bruschetta at a neighbors house (Hi Maria!) and loved it. It's the perfect summer appetizer! I have used this recipe from annies-eats.com. I chopped up the strawberries & basil and sliced the bread the night before. All stored nicely in a baggie & plastic container until right before the guests arrived. 

bevcooks.com

These crostini's are really tasty! I love the combination of the sweet from the honey and peach & the pop you get in your mouth from the blue cheese. I toasted the bread the night before - really all I could do a head of time. It doesn't take too much time to assemble and melt the cheese before the party, but I started with these first when I was getting everything together.

Fresh Catering

Asparagus is in season so I thought these phyllo wraps would be a good appetizer to have and they were perfect because I could prepare the entire recipe the night before minus the baking. I lined them up on the cookie sheet, covered with plastic wrap, and popped in the refrigerator until about 30 mins before guests were scheduled to arrive. 

I of course had to make my "famous" guacamole. Honestly this is a winner every time. The hubby complained the next morning that while he was cleaning up from the party there was no guacamole to snack on or save for the next day. I guess next time I should put a bit away for him in case he doesn't get his fill during the party. I don't have a "pretty" picture of my guacamole so I found this one on the web from Jinie's Kitchen. Click here for my guacamole recipe.

Glorious Treats

I wanted to serve something sweet, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time baking something. I found this recipe for Caramel Cream Cheese Apple Dip on Pinterest and thought it would be great to give a try! I followed the recipe exactly keeping in mind that it works out best if the cream cheese is completely at room temperature. I sprinkled the top with Skor Chip Its because they are a Hershey product and that was the crowd I was entertaining! I made the entire recipe the night before, covered with plastic wrap and kept in the refrigerator until about 30 mins before the party. I wanted the cream cheese to soften a bit to make it easier to dip the apples in. 

Erin's Food Files

And last but not least the signature drink for the party Pineapple Sangria. This unfortunately can't be made ahead of time. I put this all together within the hour of the guests arriving. It was really good! I made small stir skewers of fruit and served it in mason jar mugs! It was a bit sweet, but really good!

I hope you are able to enjoy some of these recipes for your next get together!

Long Weekend Fun = Sad Goodbye

My Mom was visiting this last week. It was a Holiday Weekend (Victoria Day - celebrating Queen Victoria's Birthday) here in Canada. We had beautiful weather, great food, really good drinks & fun adventures all with my Mom here with us. She and I went on 4 runs together over the 8 days she was here! That was a lot of fun for me! 

It was really sad to take her to the airport yesterday. Each visit the twins are older and more aware of how much fun it is to have their Grandparents around and more and more devastated when they leave. It really breaks my heart. More on my feelings on this "assignment" we are on in a later post - I want to keep this one up beat!

A few other blogs I follow of friends I have met here in Canada did a recap of their long weekends in photos. Seems like a good way for me to sum up our fun time with Nana as well! Thanks La Dauphine  and Cherry Pie Twins for the idea!

Planting a Vegetable Garden with Nana!

I'll write more soon about the vegetable garden and our unexpected guests munching on it! Argh!

Taking Nana out on her first "treasure hunt" aka Geocaching

See my post on Geocaching here. This find was called "Dude, I lost my car"! Super fun!

Finding the Cache in the lost car!

When we are not using Saturday night as our date night we often entertain at home and always have Saturday Night Steak. I tried a few new and really good recipes. We invited some of the running friends my Mom has gotten to know on her visits here. See the recipe for the layered hummus dip here and I'll post about the others (Strawberry White Chocolate Tiramisu & Blue Cheese & Pear Crostini & Strawberry Margaritas) soon! 

Saturday night steak with running friends!

Another Geocaching adventure in our friends new neighborhood of Bronte Harbor. We didn't find the first one, but luckily there was another nearby!

Geocaching, beach walk, & lunch at the Fire Hall

We ended the long weekend and my Mom's visit with a Victoria Day BBQ and invited over my cousin (actually my Mom's first cousin, my 2nd cousin) and his partner. 

Mike, Nana & Logan playing a game on the iPad

I hope you had a fabulous long Victoria weekend if you are Canadian - it was wonderful weather here. If you are American do you have fun plans for the upcoming Memorial Weekend? I wish safe weather for everyone this weekend after the recent devastation!