This was my first official 10K and honestly it was the race that made me fall in love with the distance.
Seeing as it was in NYC and I'm about a 2 hour commute away, I decided the week of the race to go in and pick up my packet as the race organizers recommended the Thursday before the race. This ended up being very beneficial: since I'd already tested out my travel plans for packet pickup, I knew exactly where to go to get to the starting line on time. It was pure fun! The only downside to that though was the added cost of additional train tickets for a second trip into the city. Worth it to calm those pre-race jitters in my opinion!
I ran this Ladies-Only race with my cousin, which was a lot of fun. We got off the subway at Columbus Circle and practically walked right into our corral, killed an hour or so hanging out at the start, and off we went! As we fought our way up the street, I got caught up in the excitement and went out too fast - it was mostly flat but I remembered my experience on the Central Park Hills during the NYC Half back in March and so I saved some in the tank for the second mile as we got into the park, where the fun really started.
The spectators and volunteers lining the course made a huge difference – it’s hard not to feel energized when there’s a bunch of shirtless November Project dudes in tutus hanging off the streetlight poles banging cowbells for you! The hills were tough, as hills tend to be, so I walked them and didn't care to pay too much attention to my time. I was more interested in having fun at this race than setting an unbelievable PR, especially with the heat and hills.
This is where I passed one or two women laid out on the grass with medics elevating their feet and icing them down – the heat was really no joke! But when I glanced down to see that I’d been running for just over an hour, I was shocked at how good I still felt. Once I spotted the 800 meters sign, I resisted the urge to take off so that I could finish strong. Soon the 400 meters sign was in sight and that’s when I gunned it past about a dozen or so women, smiling the whole way. The crowds lining the course were unbelievably happy and loud, so I gave it everything I had for a super strong finish – and crossed the line with an average pace of 12:29, which is pretty sweet considering the heat and hills!
I smiled the whole way through the finisher’s chute, got my medal and my flower (how cute is it that they give you a flower??), downed a cup of Gatorade and a cup of water, then snapped a victory selfie to remember that moment.
Once I met up with my cousin and husband, we made our way to the after party, where there were lines pretty much everywhere. This was the only downside to the whole race - the massages, snacks, photo ops in front of signs, free sunglass cleanings, etc - everything there was to do in the party was at the end of a line of about 50+ people, so we hung out for a minute and left.
Ultimately this is an awesome race that I highly recommend to my female running friends. There's nothing like running in Central Park, and NYRR knows their stuff when organizing a race so you're always going to have a great experience (even if it is a little crowded). A+!
Like I said before, this race has officially kicked off my love affair with the 10K distance, and I’m already searching for more to do in the next few months! It’s just long enough to be challenging but not so intense that the training cuts into my life and drains me. Plus you get medals at a lot of them, what’s not to love about that?!

I love running. And I love wine. So an event that combines these two things? Yeah, that’s pretty much a guaranteed must do. So when I spotted the Run the Vineyards 5K Series, I laced up my sneakers and dusted off my wine-drinking shorts (full disclosure: every pair of shorts can be wine-drinking shorts when you’re me).
The races take place at vineyards in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and this one was at the Hopewell Valley Vineyards in Pennington, NJ. Sign up was super easy (all online), and on the morning of the race, traffic was light and we arrived 15 minutes earlier than planned. We were so early in fact that I got to use the vineyard’s gorgeous restrooms (instead of the quickly-getting-more-crowded port-a-johns)!
Overall it was super easy to find the place, and the parking lot was set up just steps away from the starting line in a big open lot, which was great. We popped the trunk of our SUV, had a seat, and relaxed while the crowd got thicker and the sun got warmer. After about a half hour or so I met up with a few co-worker friends, pinned on my number, and we made our way to the starting area.
It looked like it was going to be a small race – the results say there were less than 350 runners - and it was a little chaotic at the start. The actual starting line was also the finish line, which was a tiny little area that we all had to squeeze into. Not the worst, but also not really well-thought out. But once the gun went off we cleared out of there and took off up a slight gravel hill onto the main road outside the vineyard. It was a gorgeous place: hills and mountains, lots of trees lining perfectly paved roads, big farm houses dotting the landscape – if they were to ever hold a longer race in that area I’d jump right on it!
We started off down the main road under nice bright sunshine and a cloudless sky, and as we made the first and second turn through the first mile I realized that we were going almost explicitly downhill. Not by a huge amount, but still enough to know that I didn’t look forward to going back up them at the end of the race!
By mile 1.2, the speedier folks at the front of the pack had already turned and were making their way past us, so I grabbed a big cup of water at the turnaround (thank god for that!), sipped and walked, tossed the cup in the trash, and took off again up the rolling hills I’d just run down.
The hills weren’t as hard as I thought they’d be though, so I alternated between walking and running when the sun was too hot. By this point it was already in the 80’s! The downside of spring racing I suppose!
At mile 2.5 I saw the entrance to the vineyard again and started to crank it a little harder. We turned the corner and ran back down the hill we scaled at the start, past the finish line, around the vineyard building, and back up through the vineyard for the final .25 mile or so.
That’s when I hit a wall – literally, the ladies in front of me stopped to WALK!! And the course itself, now that it had gone INTO the actual vineyards, was SUPER small - single-file!! There were wires holding up the vines on either side of us – so I couldn’t pass them without being a huge jerk and literally nudging them away! I walked for a little bit behind them but soon heard the footsteps of other runners surging behind me, and that’s when I finally said screw it and dropped the hammer to pass them.
Another downside to the actual running IN the vineyards was the uneven terrain! I hadn't expected that. Being a road-runner primarily (I train on trails sometimes but haven't actually raced on them yet!). I felt my ankles rolling on the uneven dirt and prayed I wouldn't twist anything as I pushed past those walkers and crossed the finish line.
Afterwards we went back to the car where I changed into flip flops (ah the benefits of having the car right there!), then we all met up for some post-race chatting, delicious wine in our commemorative race glasses, and live music in the courtyard. We even went inside to explore the winery, which was beautiful!
I would definitely consider doing this again next year. It was very well organized, on a beautiful course, and the post-race festivities were awesome.

I've done this race two years in a row and really like it. It's true, there's a total lack of stations for a few miles at a time - but you just need to know that and be prepared with your own water/fuel. Overall it's beautiful scenery and very well organized, with super easy-to-access parking and a great post-race party (not to mention a cool medal), I'd definitely recommend it to others!

One of the best, well-organized races I've ever run, especially for an event of its size! I was so nervous going into it, with the unexpectedness of the possible lines, security issues, crowds - but all of my fears were for nothing. Everyone was super friendly and very efficient; even he cops at the metal detectors to get into the race could tell I was anxious and even joked around with me!

Once we started (nearly exactly on time), there were awesome, friendly volunteers about every quarter mile clapping and offering high-fives, which I found really encouraging. For a back of the packer like me, it really means a lot to see smiling faces and hear real enthusiasm. And in Central Park, the hills are really no joke - but it was a good kind of challenging. After the first 6 or so miles through the park, however, you get to the really fun part of the race: running through the city streets!

Once I got out of the park I heard a cheer go up – It really was a whole mess of people lining the streets on either side of me, cheering us on and taking pictures! I can’t lie – I cried a bit here. This was the part of the race that made it all worth it: running through the crowded streets of NYC, stopping traffic in Times Square and taking over the pavement while crowds cheer you on… it was surreal. Seriously, in every one of my race photos from the Times Square part of the race, I look like a fresh off the boat immigrant, marveling at the wonders of this place they call New York City.

Except for the wall of wind once we got to the West Side Highway, the course was totally smooth sailing from miles 8-12. Yes, it was a pretty straight, boring shot along the water, but the fuel/cheering station support was like no other race. Seriously, each stop was like its own little town, with coordinated costumes, signs, wigs, big cardboard hands for high fives, and music. One guy gave me the biggest fist bump of my life and screamed out “We have a BAAAAD ASSSS HERE!” which I laughed at for a good quarter mile!

In my race prep, I received lots of good advice from folks who ran this race before me, including this: the last stretch along the highway can get pretty boring if you let it, so tie a mental lasso around the Freedom Tower and pull yourself towards it for those 4 miles. It really worked for me.

Once you get close to the finish, you can see the crowds getting thicker again, and the enthusiasm is so encouraging. They do say that there's a "little underpass” and small hill right before the finish - the underpass is more like “the length of the Lincoln Tunnel, surprise!” but the hill isn't as scary, and it's really nothing once you realize how close you are to the pot of gold at the end of the tunnel. Once you get to the final turn, it's all adrenaline and crowds once again - just in time for your gorgeous medal, fantastically smooth finisher's chute experience, a shiny new superhero cape, and a bag with water, an apple, pretzels, and gatorade.

All in all, thank you for a great race, NYRR! I can’t wait to see you guys again soon!

We runners are a bunch of nutbars. Even though we’re in the throes of winter, that doesn’t mean we can’t get our race on, right? Well that's my attitude when it comes to the Manasquan Mid-Winter Beach Run!
It's a very low-key race - no timing mat or chips or anything, just good frozen fun. It's to benefit the local first aid squad, and filled with locals who just want to have fun (and an excuse to party at the beach bar in February after the race is over)! The start is a bit slow - between snow and ice on the road and a ton of people trying to squeeze through a narrow street, it can be frustrating.
For the first mile you wind around a few streets in town, and the second mile take you up on the beach. Not the boardwalk, but the ACTUAL beach, as in you're running in sand. This is a totally weird experience, especially when the sand is covered in a layer of snow like it was this year! This turned already tough sand-running into an ankle-twisting nightmare when I had to bob and weave around everyone!
In all honesty, while it was frustrating, this is where I feel like I gained the most ground in the race. As a solid back-of-the-packer, I so rarely get to experience the awesome feeling of picking people off in a race. Since I was feeling good and only had another mile to go, I made it a point to pass as many people as I could, and I loved it! I lost count after 10 or 20, and just kept going. I was actually “racing”, and it felt awesome!
After a quarter mile of sand, we turned slightly onto the boardwalk for the next quarter mile, then turned back onto the street in a straight line for the home stretch for an uneventful finish.
The overall experience is great - the race "shirt" is a cool hoodie that changes designs each year, so that's fun, and the party at Legetts is great. There's something fun about jamming into a beach bar on a weekend morning with a bunch of other runners that just makes me smile. Overall it was another great race!