Fit Foodie 5k Race Review – I got full on fun

The marketing and branding surrounding this event, or shall we say simply, the HYPE made me think that I wasn’t going to enjoy this race that much because it wasn’t “serious” enough about the running.

There was a VIP cocktail hour, Kate Hudson’s fitness brand Fabletics was a sponsor, and celebrity fitness instructors and chefs were touted as post-race entertainment.

Cate + Kate, Beet salad shooters and WINE.

And sure, it wasn’t the Olympic Trials, but that wasn’t the point. What I can tell you is I had a blast out there, start to finish, including the racing part. It was a great experience being a race ambassador for this event.

I hadn’t run much since my last race at the Music City Distance Fest in Nashville on June 6, instead taking a short “down time” from running where I was letting myself off the hook from 6 a.m. alarms and gym sessions. The result is that I got to the starting line of the race fresh and excited to run, with relatively low expectations for myself – which I think is exactly how you want to go into a race (especially after a particularly high pressure race like the one before).

And once the gun went off, I just ran for pure fun. I ran 5:14 for the first mile (what?! Spicy), 5:30 for mile 2 and 6:00 to finish up (there was some gravel trail and sidewalks thrown in). But get this, it wasn’t even hard. I felt great!  For going into this race with only with the expectation of enjoying myself, slowing down that much from mile to mile was a great strategy. Foolproof, I might venture! Start fast and feel good, then slow down when the going gets hard…? Just don’t actually follow that advice for trying to set any PRs. That’s what’s happened to me in a lot of races in my life and it sucks. Don’t be like me.

Anyway, I took first place for the women, and my friend Kate sailed into the finish soon after. We enjoyed a chatty cooldown, and then set out for the post-race expo. This blew your normal post-race bananas and bagel halves out of the water. Living up to the foodie name, there were local and national foodie brands with vendors set up in two huge areas. There were a ton of samples to snack and sip, with everything from a maple bacon granola to beet salad and steak fajitas, and then even more packaged treats to take home like chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and black bean pasta. I had a Tito’s + green juice mini cocktail as well as some red wine … all before 10 a.m.

The food and fitness celebrities were there as promised (there was a plank challenge I did not attempt, for those who did, good work), there was a photo booth, and everyone just seemed to be having a great time. 

Look out, other races, the STEAKS have been raised

So now I’m sitting at home sipping from my bright blue, double-walled insulation mason jar tumbler with a flavor infuser (this was another post-race prize, and it was filled with cold water, watermelon and fresh mint!) and I’m thinking that this is precisely the type of product I would have despised before for its seeming uselessness and tackiness … but actually, I love it. Sometimes it’s good to let the hair down and try new things, like the Fit Foodie 5k, that you think you might be above. Because they’re a lot of freaking fun.

drink up, y’all

 There will be other races when it’s time to get serious, and that’s great. But I have to hand it to the Fit Foodie for creating a well-rounded, well-run event with simply a ton of energy and fun. It was a completely approachable event for experienced and newbie runners alike, as well as a rewarding foodie experience. Win-win. Thanks for everything, Fit Foodie Run!

Fried Rice

Fried rice: further proof for the phenomena that anything tastes better when you add salt, oil and heat (through cooking). In this dish, day-old rice and fresh veggies get the treatment. What’s not to love? This was my first time making it and I loved it.

This was also my first time making a fried egg. I ended up doing it over easy because while soft, runny yolks = nomz, soft uncooked whites = gross. I learned a nice distinction about eggs as well. Observe.

• Fried egg / sunny side up: Egg is cooked on one side only. Yolk is runny and whites are mostly but not fully set
• Egg “over easy:” Egg is cooked mostly on one side but flipped near the end of cooking time. You still get the delicious salty runny yolk but the white is fully cooked.

Tutorial: how to fry an egg. You’re welcome.

Recipe from Foodie at Fifteen

Spicy caramel popcorn

spicy caramel popcorn | smitten kitchen.

My first crack at making caramel. It was surprisingly easy. Hmmmmm. Plus, this recipe gets a little naughtier with an addition of cayenne powder.

Sic ‘Em, Oatmeal Cookies

Combining three of my favorite things: oatmeal cookies, school spirit and Nutella. How could this go wrong?

Well, actually … these were better in theory than execution. The oatmeal roll-out batter worked alright but when it came to cutting out the paw shapes the oats didn’t really cut, yielding misshapen cookies. Further, the cookie cutter I bought for the occasion from Sur La Table just didn’t make defined paw shapes. Un-iced and misshapen the cookies were at their lowest point. They were very plain. Between the flavor and shape they made me think of dog treats.

But the Nutella frosting was a creative triumph. I wanted an icing that would harden, but I only saw recipes for fluffy cake-style Nutella frostings. I combined one of those with a recipe for regular cookie icing (basically just added corn syrup and powdered sugar to the Nutella- sugary Nutella plus more sugar!). It hardened nicely and worked out just the way I wanted it to.

I added almonds for “claws” and we were set.

The school spirit part worked out fine. I shared them with the team on the bus ride to Regionals. They weren’t a huge hit, but they got nods for their cuteness.

Still, I’m glad I tried. Probably wouldn’t make them again but it was fun for one time.

Sic ’em!

RECIPE: Nutella Cookie Icing

• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• 5 T milk
• 1 T corn syrup

Combine all ingredients and blend with hand mixer until very smooth. Spread with offset spatula. Icing will harden after 5 hours.

Knock You Naked Brownies / The PW Cooking Show

Pioneer Woman doesn’t give much background on these babies, except that the first time she tried them, they were so good she had to ration them.

Layers of brownies, studded with pecans, sandwiching a soft caramel center, topped with powdered sugar. Observe.

After having made them, I’ll take that “ration” concept one step further — they are good, even fantastic, but you have to ration them because they are so toothaching-ly sweet and rich. And coming from me, a girl who polished off probably a full jar cumulative between two new flavors of Peanut Butter & Co. in the last TWO DAYS (oof), that’s saying a lot.

Go ahead, knock yourself out, Knock You Naked Brownies won’t let you down. They were a hit last summer at my internship, and at my friend’s 4th of July party.

I posted this recipe for two reasons 1. a friend told me today I only posted healthy recipes. Ha. I’ll show her. and 2. I finally got to watch Pioneer Woman’s cooking show today.

The show started airing months ago, and despite the fact that I’m a big PW fan I’d never gotten to watch it because it airs at 8:30 a.m. on Saturdays. I’m always running a long run or at a meet at that time, but this weekend the stars aligned… I saw “The Big Game,” the episode where The Pioneer Woman herself (Ree Drummond) preps wings, guac and pico, and Knock You Naked brownies for her husband Ladd and his out-of-town friends. The show focused a good couple of minutes (a lot for a 30 min slot that includes commercials) on a subplot of Ladd taking the guys around doing some cattle herding ranch work while Ree stays home and cooks. Really? We know Ree is the ranch wife. Wanna rub it in?

Another impression from the show: watching Pioneer Woman come to life from her blog to TV is just odd. It’s like seeing a photo of your favorite radio host and having them look completely different than you imagined. Of course, I knew how she looked before, but never how she sounded. She doesn’t act very comfortable on-screen, and she’s a lot less funny.

Anyway, the recipe I found most interesting on the episode was the brownies, hence the post. Please tell me if you would like to eat these brownies. I’d be delighted to make them and unload them on you so I don’t eat too many.