Cupcake Run

Long story short, after bruising my knee bone (in two places! oy), I had to take five awful weeks off from running and do dreaded PT. I'm still at PT but slowly working my way back to running and should should be able to run Philly Half, but as a training run, not at a possible pr pace. To say that I'm disappointed is an understatement but I've injured my knees enough times to know that this was only a minor setback and that I'm actually really lucky that I can run the race in November at all.

I've been going to physical therapy for three weeks now and I got cleared to start running this week so what better way to celebrate then with a 5k? I ran the cupcake 5k in Astoria, Queens with my roommate today. If you know me, you know I am usually very against these non-competitive races. $40 for a 5k? I would normally turn up my nose. And I promise this won't become a regular thing. No color runs/ warrior dashes for me. I like a starting line, chip timing, and no more than $20 to run, $30 if you give me a kick-ass tech tee. But after weeks of not running and my roommate doing couch-to-5k, we wanted a fun, no stress 5k that we could do together and I really wanted her to have a positive first experience. So we signed up a week before when I'd finally gotten the go-ahead from my physical therapist, and we took the N train to Astoria.

This was mile 2.5- the marshmallow frosting was a but difficult to keep down

The main rule of the race- the WHOLE cupcake must be in your mouth before you continue running. 

The race was very low-key. No baggage check so I brought my trusty backpack to hold my stuff. The race wasn't timed as far as I could tell but it didn't matter as I wasn't running for time. They did award top overall men and women. You had to eat three cupcakes, one at about the 3/4 mile mark, one at about mile 1 1/2, and one a little after mile 2. You had to eat the whole cupcake before running again. The first cupcake was vanilla with vanilla frosting that was SUPER buttery. Butter is delicious. This was the point where I was basically like, "I was born to do this." The second cupcake was a red velvet, basically the best kind of cupcake. I took some water at this point to help the butter cream go down. Hmm, words I'd never thought I'd type. The final cupcake was a s'mores cupcake. I never felt like I was going to throw up, but I felt pretty gross by my third mile, not going to lie. I wasn't racing this but I don't think I would have been able to. Eating that much sugar and butter, no matter how much you love it, is kind of a shock to your system.

shirt was this color with this cute logo on it

Overall, I had so much fun! My roommate finished and only walked a bit- I am such a proud roomie :) Everyone at the race was super nice and it was well organized. They capped the race so there weren't too many people and there were lots of volunteers helping out. The tshirt is very nice. Cotton, but with a cute cupcake running on it. Goodybags also included a free game of bowling at Astoria Bowl and a free drink at a local bar.
So $45 is a bit much, but I'm considering this less of a 5k and more of a fun experience and celebration back to running and training. Plus, I never ever say no to a cupcake. So there's that. 4 weeks until Philly!!