Ocean City 5K (OCNJ)

 When Don signed up for the 2014 MS City to the Shore ride, I decided to join him at the halfway point in Ocean City, NJ. Ashley made plans with a friend,so it was date night.

We walked about 6-7 miles around Ocean City, mostly up and down the boardwalk, talking pictures and enjoying the perfect Indian Summer evening. After riding 100 miles, Don enjoyed the chance to stretch his legs.

As serendipity would have it, I noticed a guy carrying a plastic bag with a race bib and a t-shirt inside of it. I asked him if there was a race tomorrow. He said there would be a half marathon the next day. I asked if there were shorter distances (I wasn't mentally or physically ready to do a half marathon the next day, plus there was the issue of checking out of the hotel room by 11 AM -- a challenge with a 9 AM race start).

This would be a short story if his answer was no, or that they were sold out. Instead he told me to go to the Sneaker Shop on Asbury to sign up. In addition to the half marathon there was a non-competitive 10 miler (new that year, I'm guessing there were no prizes for that one) and a 5K. My plan had been to run 5K after Don left for the second leg of the ride, so for $25 I got a t-shirt, a medal, and a group of people to run with. Otherwise, I would have been running on a crowded boardwalk against the flow of traffic and wishing I was racing.

There have been two other times when I should have run a race, but didn't because I found out about it too late or did not have my running gear with me. The first time was in Osaka, Japan in June 2013. The second time was in Portland, Oregon in June 2014. In Osaka I saw them setting up for the race, but my sneakers, etc. were in Tokyo. In Portland, I searched for a weekend race on Friday night, 15 minutes after a race started down the hill from our hotel. I was extra excited that this time I found out about the race in time and I was prepared.

The race itself was easy peasy -- 1.55 miles south on the boardwalk, turn around, 1.55 miles back to the finish line. My time was much better than the 5K I ran in the Pole Farm the day before. The race was a bit warmer than should be at 9 AM in late September in New Jersey (60 degrees, with very little breeze). The sun was shining. People were happy.

Speaking of people, it felt like A LOT of people. Looking at their website, though, there were only 366 in the 5K, 921 in the half marathon, and only 52 for the 10 miler. Looking at the results, I would have placed and possibly won my age group. Again, they said it was non-competitive, so I suspect that means no separate awards.

There was also a separate category for those who did the first leg of the MS Ride then did the half marathon. They would then need a ride back to Cherry Hill to get their cars as the start time for the ride back was before 8 AM.

Next time I should pack a sparkle skirt "just in case." 

Super excited this included a really nice medal!

A Night in the Village (Lawrenceville's Main Street)

In 2012, Lawrenceville Main Street kicked of a new event -- call it a movable feast, a taste of local restaurants, a walking restaurant tour, or it's official name "A Night in the Village," you get the idea.

The event is the biggest annual fundraiser for Lawrenceville Main Street (LMS). LMS is most famous around here for their Music in the Park summer series of Thursday night concerts in Weeden Park.

For each of the three years they have been blessed with absolutely perfect outdoor dining weather. The other two years I walked home from church, saw everyone enjoying their meals and wished I could join them. This year I talked Nancy into joining me (she, too, had been thinking about going). 

We went to the second seating (at 6:30) in order that I could attend worship at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville. I really like their WiNK (Worship in a New Key) 5 PM service and did not want to miss it.

The event was extremely well organized. We were to visit 11 places within a two block radius in 3 hours. Each place was slotted for a 15 minute window, but we were the only ones enforcing that. We knew we would have to hustle to enjoy every last morsel.

Personally I feel we had the best schedule. We were walking group F, meaning five other groups left before us.

Our first stop was Chamber's Walk Cafe for butternut squash soup and some other tiny appetizer (I knew I should have written this a week ago when it was all still fresh in my mind!).

A quick turn around to Enzo's, which is not located on Main Street. They set up a station in front of Wealth Strategies, a business on Gordon Street. Enzo's served us tiny meatball, salad, and toast (all picture).

By 7 PM we were having tapas at Wildflour Bakery/Cafe. They are a gluten free and vegetarian dining establishment.

By this point we've had many wonderful appetizers and were ready for our main course. That's why I feel we had the best tour! Our next stop was Leonardo's II. We love Leonardo's. Rob and Marta (Mary Magdelena) both greeted me as if I was returning home. I need to go back. Again, a restaurant not located on Main Street, so they set up shop in Melz Salon, a hair salon. We took our plate of chicken and butternut squash gnocchi outside and dined on their front porch. The idea of eating where hair is cut is a little gross to me (the place was spotless, more my hang up). I want to go back to Leonardo's for more butternut squash gnocchi. Fortunately the event came with a wine bag and coupon for most of the establishments involved.

The half-way point was Fedora Cafe -- my go to restaurant when meeting friends. Fedora's outdid themselves with table clothes and centerpieces. They dressed themselves up for us. We had the choice of butternut squash soup or salad with quinoa, apples, squash, walnuts, feta cheese, dried raspberries, roasted garlic and honey vinaigrette. The portion was enormous! It took us every bit of our fifteen minutes to finish it. ;) 


It was tough, but we pressed on (or is that waddled?) next door to Acacia. Acacia served us a sampling of mini meatball, kale and something else (pictured below the salad). Delicious!

Stop #8 was another favorite restaurant located temporarily in a hair salon: Amalfi's located in the Mane Design. Amalfi's had delicious chicken and pizza. Nancy and I dined in salon chairs. I should have taken a picture of that!

At 8:15 we walked up Philips Avenue to Vidalia's. It was the end of the night and they were cleaning up. They served a beet side dish, and two other side dishes (that if I wrote this when I should have, I would share with you). It as good, but we were stuffed and still had three more stops to make!

Cherry Grove Farm set up a cheese tasting in Bambu Yoga -- a yoga studio that opened earlier in the week. One of the cheeses was soaked in cider from Terhune Orchards. One of the cheese (maybe the same one) was paired with 3 Monkeys Mustard, which started a couple of blocks away in a neighborhood kitchen and has evolved to earn the World Mustard Award two years in a row. Having the cheese course just before dessert was perfect timing!

The evening ended with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream (my choice) from Purple Cow and a chocolate cupcake from the Gingered Peach, slated to open on October 18. The dessert was even more perfect by listening to Stringzville serenade us.

It was a perfect evening.

I then waddled my way 3/4 of a mile to my house.

Family

I have been fortunate to be able to see a lot of family in the past week. The first visit was for a happy reason. The second a sad one.

After completing the Roller Coaster 10K, Don, Ashley, Maia and I drove up to Boston to have lunch with 98-year young Aunt Elva and two of her children, Martin and Helen. Aunt Elva recently suffered a stroke, but is working hard to get stronger.

The get together turned into a impromptu birthday celebration for me, which was very sweet. Helen even provided my favorite cake -- chocolate ganoche. Mmm... it was good, and very thoughtful.

Boston was not at all on our way home from Springfield, MA. But, whenever possible, it is important to honor your elders and make time for them.

This became even more apparent when we learned my Uncle Tom's mother, Marge, passed away at age 86. Though I am not directly related to Marge, we consider her part of our extended family. whenever we gathered in Ohio to hang with the Smith family, Marge came along. Last December when I was in Ohio for the Christmas Story Race, I went to visit her in the nursing home. We chatted about how New Jersey will always be God's Country to her (take that, Sterling!). I don't remember what we talked about exactly. We used to talk about Janet Evanovich, and how her brothers went to Princeton University, and how she grew up in Montclair. It didn't matter what we talked about. She was always up for a good conversation and a visit.

When I learned of her passing, I looked online for a cheap airfare. I found one flying on Frontier Airlines from Ewing, NJ to Cleveland, OH for less than it would have cost me to drive. Of course flying to Cleveland meant renting a car, but it was still a bargain.

As a bonus, I was able to visit with Smiths ranging in age from under 2 weeks to 94 years old. The great thing about funerals is that normal life slows down so you can enjoy those who matter to you.

As an extra bonus, I was able to catch up with Heidi for lunch. This has been my third visit to Ohio in 12 months. While I am grateful for being able to go, I'd also welcome playing hostess and not putting so much wear and tear on my car. Hint, hint friends ... come and visit!

Oxen Stampeding in Hopewell

Newsflash: Hopewell, NJ has been invaded by 68 oxen!

The 68 painted oxen are all part of the Hopewell Valley Stampede, the largest public works art exhibit in Hopewell. Their website includes links to pictures of the oxen, maps, and trails you can follow to see them. You can also vote for your favorite ox.

On a lovely, but warm, afternoon, Don and I saw about 20 of the oxen. We didn't love all of them, but we admired them, studied them, and took pictures of them.

The exhibit is reminiscent of the Cow Parade movement that was started in 1999 in Chicago (we saw it in NYC in 2000), and is now mooooving to Shanghai. In 2004, we saw giant sculptures of Frogs in Erie, PA. 

Local artists paint the animals. Each one is unique. Many are themed with their location -- such as the one in front of the elementary school has little drawings on it done by students. They are then on display for a couple of months. During that time, online bids are accepted. A few are held back to be auctioned off in person. 

Periodically some have had issues (mostly due to vandalism) and have been taken in for repair. Check the website for details.

In the meantime,they are out and about to be admired through October 19. Kate took her kids around to see 65 of the 68 in one day (three were out for repair or had not yet been installed), so, yes, it is possible to see them all in one day, but it makes for a long day. If you decided to go that route, be sure to visit one of the local restaurants for a snack and to show your support.

Enjoy!

Little Free Library

Beauty and the Beast jokes aside, Don gave me a library for my birthday. A "Little Free Library" to be exact. My library was built by Art, a local retiree who enjoys taking on small woodworking projects. I admired the Little Free Libraries he built for Lawrenceville Main Street and placed in Weeden Park.

The idea behind the Little Free Library movement is to "take a book, return a book." Their initial goal was to create more than the 2,509 libraries than Andrew Carnegie built in the late 19th, early 20th century. Started in 2009, by January 2014 there were over 15,000 Little Free Libraries registered. Many others exist that have not been registered. Mine has been registered (or will be once we finish filling out the paperwork).

The library has already become a conversation piece with our neighbors. People stop me to ask about it. They smile as I explain the concept. They also add books to it. At least one person has borrowed books from it. 

To me the project is simply a book swap.

To the people at Little Free Library it is a mission. According to them I should alert the media about the box and have a team of volunteers at the ready to stock the box. I also need to have a suggestion book for comments. I should also put a flyer in everyone's mailbox explaining what is happening. I should join the Little Free Library groups on Facebook and other social media. Of course, I should only stock it with "good books" and figure out what types of books I want to specialize in swapping.

I want to keep it simple. Neighbors have already put books in the box. Today I picked up a bag of about 50 books for $3 at the Friends of Ewing Library books sale. I plan to print copies of this blog post and leave it in the box for people to read. Long term we are talking about putting a bench in front of the house to encourage people to sit and read.

Hopefully through this box I can get to know our neighbors. After living here for 14 years that should not be too much to ask.

Roller Coaster Race: the 10K

The day after participating in the Roller Coaster Ride challenge, Don and I participated in the 10K race option.

My friend, Anne Martin, announced the race on her blog a couple of months ago. I was intrigued, plus it was taking place over my birthday weekend, so I mentioned it to Don. He was in. We invited a friend of Ashley's along to keep her company. And we were off!

On Saturday, Don and Maia participated in the ride challenge and easily rode 5K worth of coasters in only a couple of hours. They billed the race as through the theme park (as noted by the red line), then "through local neighborhoods" for the 10K option. Looking at the map, the blue line mostly goes through the Six Flags parking lot. Ho hum. 

It was cool to run through the theme park before it opened. The neat thing about races that go through theme parks (such as Disney races) is that rather than use port-o-pots, they open up their bathrooms. With that said, a port-o-pot in the parking lot might have come in handy.

The race started early. Not insane early, like at Disney, but still when the sun was still waking up. This made for some good photo opportunities. It also allowed us to finish before they opened the park to the general public.

When I signed up for the race I planned to go at Anne's pace -- a gentle 13-14 minute mile, 1 minute running:1 minute walking. When I read the race documentation that said we had to finish in 75 minutes I started to worry -- that is more like a 12 minute pace. I can do a 12 minute pace, so I went ahead with my usual pace just in case. I spent most of the race nearly catching up to April (she ended up finishing 16 seconds before me). When I met up with April at the end, she said she made it her goal to not let me beat her. Too bad, we could have spent the time chatting with each other and continuing to maintain our 2:1 pace. Don found a racing buddy, Ben, and had a great time chatting with him throughout the race. Lesson learned: next time find a running buddy and the race will be more enjoyable, even in the boring parking lot.

I finished in 78 minutes. Don was cool and relaxed when I finished as he finished in 70 minutes. 
Don and Anne both came in first place for their age groups. Okay, they also came in last place for their age groups. They were both happy to go home with awards. The ride and the run each had different ribbons, but the same medal. In the future I hope they change that, if for no other reason than to encourage people to do both. 

As with most inaugural races, this one did some things really right, and left room for improvement in other areas.

We were among the first to pick up our packets at 10 AM. They were very confused. They were having troubles assigning bibs. They let us leave without the extra theme park ticket we purchased. We were told it was free parking, but when we went to the gate they insisted we had to pay $20 to park. When Anne went later, they seemed to have the bumps figured out.

On the plus, they started right on time. It was a small race -- 54 5K racers, and 52 10 K racers. They did stay until the end when Anne and Deirdre finished to loud cheers.

On the downside, the 5K race was a double loop through the park. The 10K race added a few miles through the parking lot. This gives you a sense of how big the parking lot is versus the rest of the theme park.

On the side of leaving room for improvement, Six Flags has characters. Have Tweety, Bugs, Porky Pig, Scooby Doo and others cheer on the runners.

So far there are no plans to host a similar event by this company at Six Flags Great Adventure. They hope that changes. I've heard Great Adventure sponsors a triathlon, so maybe they feel that is enough.

I don't know if I would do it again, after all it is still not Disney.

Roller Coast Race: the ride

Six Flags recognizes not everyone wants to run a 5K race, so they devised an alternative: ride 5K worth of roller coasters. They even provided a chart to help figure out how to reach that distance (16,405 feet).

Roller Coaster 
Distance
Minimum Height

Batman: The Dark Knight 2,620 ft 54”
Bizarro 5,400 ft 54″
Catwoman’s Whip 1,180 ft 48” (41″ w/adult)
Flashback 886 ft 48″
Goliath 1,203 ft 54″
Gotham City Gauntlet 1,213 ft 54″ (46″ w/adult)
Great Chase 337 ft NA
Mind Eraser 2,100 ft 52″
Pandemonium 1,345 ft 47″ (43″ w/adult)
Thunderbolt 2,170 ft 48″

As a rule of thumb, I stick to the rides with the shortest height restrictions, not because I am short, but because I have become a roller coaster wimp over the years (especially after having Ashley).

I knew Batman, Bizarro, Goliath, and Mind Eraser would definitely be out. Adding up the rest, I was not coming up with 16,405 feet. 

Don (and Ashley's friend Maia) hit their goal within 2 hours. They started on Thunderbolt (2,170 feet), two trips on Bizarro (10,800 feet total), Gotham City Gauntlet (1,213 feet), Catwoman's Whip (1,180 feet), and another spin on Thunderbolt (2,170 feet). Don collected his medal. Maia was not registered, but we were able to get her a medal later.



Ashley and I rode Thunderbolt with them. It is a classic wooden coaster. I was in the last row. Just this quick spin reminded me why I am not as big a fan of being bounced about in a coaster as I once was. During the ride, Ashley was not happy about it, but later asked to ride it again.

We then sat and waited while our coaster enthusiasts worked on their challenge. As storms were threatening to shut down rides, and the lines were getting longer, we knew that was our best strategy. 

Maia won the award for being the bravest. She has not met a ride she did not like. 

It was hot and I was tired, so we left for some lunch. Before we made it on another ride, though, those storm clouds arrived. We saw a flash of lightning, heard some thunder, and felt two rain drops apiece. It was enough to shut down the rides. The answer to "what is the policy on reopening the rides" was less than helpful. It boiled down to the shorter rides would open first, then the medium sized ones, then the tall ones once it was declared that the storm was out of the area. Umm...okay?



Since it seemed to have stopped, we hung out. Ashley and Maia discovered the kiddie rides were running so they went on a couple of them. Then we saw the bigger rides were doing test runs, so we hightailed it to the back of the park to ride Sky Screamer -- at 400 feet the World's Tallest swing ride (yes, this includes the flags on top). Ashley and Maia rode together. I rode alone. Don took pictures of us having fun. Great views of the area. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures on the ride (bummer).

We rode Pandemonium together - a ride that felt like Gadgets Go Coaster meets Alice's Tea Cups. Even that description might not do it justice. Let's just say three of us laughed our way through it and Ashley tolerated it.

For future record, Six Flags New England has a water park that is part of the theme park admission. At my insistence, we left our bathing suits at home. We always pack them (they don't take up THAT much space), but I was trying to pack as lightly as possible. I learned my lesson.

In the end, I had about 6,000 feet of coasters. Yes, I could have ridden rides up to 9 times each, but when I saw the medal was the same for both riding and running, I was glad I stuck with just the foot race. Maybe next time I would be brave enough to do both -- just as long as I could skip Bizarro.