run, jane, run race report and food eats

So today I ran a race, and I'll explain the food and a little about the race itself after each picture.

Aromatic bundle for the lentils I cooked. Many of the more devoted readers might know (unless I never mentioned it..) how I like to eat a steak as a pre-race meal. I don't carbo-load, it's unnecessary for the distances I race, but something about a large source of protein has always affected the way I run the next day for the better, and I've noticed this particularly after a giant hamburger or steak. Well, I hadn't the latter, nor did I feel like getting one, and I have to be in the mood for burgers. I've been on a lentil kick, so I went with the lentil patties I made before.

The spices and herbs in the tea ball are a bay leaf, cloves, thyme, and peppercorns.

Lentil patties cooking up. This is seriously one of the best recipes for meatless patties I've made to date. I changed the flavoring from cumin and oregano to an Chinese flavors, adding sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic powder (I was out of fresh), ginger powder (I was lazy), hot chili sauce, kosher salt, and I think that was it.

Served atop a bed of brown basmati rice and drizzled with a creamy wasabi dressing. With tomato slices. Delicious.

For breakfast, another Dorie Greenspan recipe, Coffee Break Muffins. Delicious, includes a double shot of coffee in the form of instant espresso powder and a cup of coffee, these are winners. I added half a remaining banana from the black-and-white loaf I previously blogged about.

During the end of the race

As I did last year, this is Run, Jane, Run 2009. I entered the 10k again since you end up running more of the trail than the 5k, obviously. This is my favorite race course since a) it's rare to find a trail race here, and b) it's an incredible feeling to run under a canopy of branches with the sky peeping through.

So. I didn't have very many expectations going into this race, and I wasn't necessarily trying to beat last years' time on account of a few running issues I've been experiencing. My main goal was to enjoy being out there, run it without stopping, and go by how I felt.

While I finished just after one hour, my splits were 9.45 per mile and I'm pretty happy about that. One thing I've noticed about my running is that while I may not necessarily feel like I'm training well enough to accomplish what I'd like to get out of running, I never fail to "bring it" come race time.

Lo and behold, I placed third in my age group! It was an unexpected occurrence, but it's pretty cool considering I got third last year. I wasn't the last person in my age group, though I was 31 seconds from placing second. Ah well!

Besides the watermelon chunks, I just grabbed a bunch of the stuff they had. That's the 'coffee break muffin', which I thought was better. I like the sprinkly sugary top on that one muffin, though.

What irks me, really, is how perfect the crowns are on those muffins, whilst mine never really look like that. Sure, mine taste better, but I'd like to make perfect looking muffins every once in a while.

Afterwards, we breakfasted at a local restaurant called American Pancake House. That is one of the cutest cups I've seen in this type of restaurant, though I'm fairly certain it only holds 6 oz., which means I had fifty refills. That's a ballpark figure.

Complimentary fruit plate.

Freshly squeezed orange juice. They have this machine set up in view of the diners and it's cool to watch. So delicious, sweet, not tart, and a lovely color.

I ordered the "Hey Ricky" omelette, 4 eggs, chorizo, avocado, monterey jack cheese with salsa and sour cream. It came with hash browns and sourdough bread.

And that concludes this report.