The Color Run New Jersey Recap #Happiest5K

Today, the teenie and I got up wayyyyy too early and drove 45 minutes to Englishtown Race Track (they call it Old Bridge Race Track now, but it will always be Englishtown to me) for The Color Run!
***I was given free entries to the race in exchange for my review! As always, all opinions are my own!***

The last time I did The Color Run here, traffic was horrendous and we were late, so I made sure to get the opening wave and leave the house very early. SO smart! We cruised right in to the park. As soon as I saw the people directing us to the parking lot, I panicked! NO cash to pay for parking! No worries, though, because there was no charge. That's awesome!

The road to the parking lot was filled with these planes:

We got super lucky with parking, and we were two rows away from the entrance! Score! The Check-In line was super short, another bonus! We got our bibs, and then our swag bag (A messenger bag, tee, sweat band, bracelet, and tattoos). The teenie wanted knee socks and shades, so we hopped over to the merch tent next door. Oh, and a fanny pack, because I forgot to bring one of the 8 different ones I have at home!

Back to the car to dump our swag, change into our knee socks, and take the first of many selfies! Look at us, sporting our awesome sweat bands!

 We met up with Eileen and her niece, and went to hit the bathrooms before the race. The port potties were so neat and clean and the lines moved so fast! On our way to take our "before" pics, we saw the mascot pass us by, leading the conga line to the start.

It is the kaleidoscope tour, so we had to take some pics! They had a giant kaleidoscope with directions on how to take your pics!

Eileen

Teenie

 Before........

how much do you love our chevron socks?

 Because we stopped to take before pics, we started a little late. Maybe 8:15 or 8:20, but no biggie, we were in no rush!

Bubbles at the Starting Line

First color: Pink! This is the only color where I missed the sign beforehand!

Next up, yellow:

Blue! I told them I wanted to look like cookie monster!

Purple! We asked a spectator to take our pic, but he stood really far back!

Teenie thought she looked like Sully!

selfie!

my favorite! Just before the finish!

 Time to finish! They had confetti shooting out, and it covered the ground! Super cool!

After pics:

finish line seflie

Eileen's niece getting her with our bonus dye

 I loved that we got the dye as we crossed the finish line. We didn't have to carry it throughout the race, which was nice. At the finish we were given water bottles and KIND bars, coconut almond, which I am excited to try.  They also had some kind of ice cream bars, but you had to wait on line and fill something out, so we passed it by so that we could buy some funnel cake, the post race food of champions.

 more kaleidoscopes:

me!

teenie

I have to say, this was the perfect race from start to finish. Everything ran smoothly, there was nothing that annoyed me at any time. The emcee at the start kept everyone engaged while they waited, there were no bottlenecks at any of the color stations, plenty of water on the course, great swag, the list goes on and on! I look forward to future events!

Did you race this weekend?

Flat Mama Friday

Tomorrow, the teenie and I will be running The Color Run with my friend and her niece! I am so excited! I spent part of the day making white tutus for us to wear!

I cut the tulle while I watched Big Brother!  I bought it on a spool so that I only had to cut the length! Soooo much easier! Probably a little more expensive, but it only came out to about $7 each! 

I make the tutus on the dining room chairs. It keeps them nice and taut while I work!

The tanks came from Target! I think they were $8 each. So excited!!!

Have you done the Color Run?

Chickie's and Pete's 5K Race Recap

Last weekend, the hubs and I travelled about an hour south to Atlantic City to run the Chickie's and Pete's 5K. The hubs rarely actually runs with me, so this was a special treat! The sun rising as we approached Atlantic City, I couldn't resist a pic, anyone who follows me on Instagram knows I love sunrises and sunsets!

After we parked, we wandered around the Tropicana trying to find the restaurant. We didn't realize we needed to enter from the boardwalk, and the signage wasn't great, so we wandered for about 15 minutes! We finally figured it out and got our bibs, tees, and plastic cups. We went back to the car to stash our stuff and pin on our bibs.

Time for a selfie. The hubs kissed me at the last minute, so cute!

On our way back to the race start, we saw this sign. Can you think of a better way to celebrate chocolate? Yum! We will be there the week before for the half marathon, too bad the timing wasn't better!

Time for another selfie!

We walked out onto the boardwalk just in time to run the race! My email said 8:30, but the race actually started at 8:00! We walked right out into the second wave, and basically got pushed into starting early! NO problem! The entire course was an out and back on the boardwalk, which was nice. It wasn't too hot and the crowd thinned out almost immediately!

The water on the course was spaced perfectly, and we were totally hydrated enough, which was great! The hubs stayed with me the whole time, but pulled ahead for the last quarter mile and sprinted in. Jerk. He doers that every darn time, you would think I would learn! He beat me by about a minute!
I didn't have any foot pain, and I took it pretty easy and finished in just over 35 minutes!

We were given bottled water right away, which was nice, since it was pretty warm out. They also had mini Uber bars in a variety of flavors.

After we grabbed our water we headed down to the beach for some photos. The beer garden was down there, so it worked out well. My friend had me pick up her bag since she couldn't make it, so we had three beers! The hubs only wanted one so we passed the other two on to some people who were already in the garden. There was also a coupon for crab fries, so we gave them one of those as well. They were pretty happy!

Boat selfie.....

The hubs loves Yuengling, so he was happy with his free beer! The garden was set up for fun! They had live music, corn hole, frisbees, and beach balls scattered around.

I run 4 Bryce

 I am not a beer drinker, so while the hubs stood on the long line for our free crab fries, I went back into the Trop for some Starbucks Iced Tea Lemonade. LOVE! I cannot get enough, and this one was my twelfth, so my next one is free. Party!

I have never had crab fries, so I was interested in trying them out. You can get them with sauce, but it looked cream based, so I passed. The hubs got it with sauce, and loved it! I liked the fries a lot, but they were spicy, and it was about 9:00 in the morning, so I only ate about half. 

It was a fun way to start the weekend! We gambled a bit, I actually won a bit at the Beetlejuice Slot Machine, but I never know when to quit and basically ended up donating $20.  I love me some slot machines! We went back to the car, where I changed into my PJ pants and race tee for the drive home. I am becoming the master at quick changing under a towel! 

Yes, these are Christmas PJ pants, I wear them all year round, don't judge me ;)

This weekend will be a crazy fun race weekend! The teenie and I are doing the Color Run, and then on Sunday I might be doing a 14.2 mile "training run" in NYC. This will be the true test for my foot, to see if the Fall races are going to go well. I am hoping that my foot holds up well! I am still not running much between races, although I did do a three mile run the other day! I am excited to be easing back in!

Are you racing this weekend?