Apples and Wine and Running 9 Miles

Good afternoon readers! I’m relaxing right now because I’m exhausted from this morning’s Nine Miler. Phew. I can’t believe I ran another nine miles. I haven’t run that far since JULY where I ran 9.3 miles in my 15K. Holy crap! I felt much better today, though, than I felt that day! It must mean I’m in better shape than I was in July. 😉

This morning I woke up with a strong urge to bake. And I was sad because it was either bake or go running, and I knew I had to get my run in today. Then I realized I actually had TIME to bake, since I got up early enough. I ate my pre-run breakfast, first: A bagel thin with with maple peanut butter, and banana.

And then got to bakin’: Anne’s Pumpkin Muffins!! The thing I liked best about this recipe: Healthy Ingredients!

Woohoo!

I haven’t tried them yet, but they look amazing. I will let you know what I think.

So then I ran nine miles. In one hour and 30 minutes.

Average Pace – 10:03 (best yet for a long run)

Splits:

mile 1 – 10:37
mile 2 – 9:50
mile 3 – 9:46
mile 4 – 10:28
mile 5 – 10:35
mile 6 – 10:15 <–Pit Stop + Shot Blocks + Water
mile 7 – 10:50
mile 8 – 9:43
mile 9 – 8:27

And done. My run was pretty uneventful. My long runs have been done on the same route every time…so I’m getting pretty used to it. Although, I may change it up a bit next weekend. So, because of my run, I have been hungry all day.

To fix that, Chris and I headed to Smith’s Tavern, in Voorheesville.

In my opinion, the pizza here is that its some of the best in the Capital District. My parents have been coming here since before I was born. They brought my sister and I here when we were still in our baby seats. No lie. My favorite part when I was little was watching the train. They still have the train!!!

Anyway, we ordered an app to start: mozz sticks!

Fried cheese is always good.

And we ordered “The Roundabout”; with spinach instead of bacon. Actually, we ordered it with HALF bacon (for Chris) but it didn’t look like there was any on it. Sad face for Chris. But it was still great. It was a white pizza with herbs, mozzarella, ricotta, onions, tomatoes and spinach. Yum.

It was so flavorful. I ate two pieces, and saved the last two for dinner. Chris ate his whole half. 😉 There is something awesome about their crust, too. Its crunchy on the bottom, but still kind of chewy.

After lunch we headed to the Altamont Orchards Apple & Wine Fest! We met Rebecca & Alicia there! 🙂

We ended up sampling wines from a few new york wineries, but it was so packed in the wine tasting barn, that we didn’t get to see much! My favorite was from White Springs Winery, called “Mull it Over”; a red mulled wine, that is best served HOT. It tasted like hot apple cider and was amazingly delicious, so I had to buy a bottle! According to their website, you will “Enjoy a bottle of spice when there is a chill in the air. Simmer in a crock pot to enhance the flavors and aromas. Perfect for the upcoming holiday season!” Umm, yes please!

And then we saw this:

Hello cupcakes! I love you! I got a Samoa Cupcake!! Like the girl scout cookie. The samoa is like my favorite cookie, ever!

The cupcake was….good. But not an amazingly-delicious-i-need-to-have-more type of cupcake. I mean, it was pretty good. But I’ve had better. Like, maybe, CRUMBS. But I won’t complain. I love cupcakes.

Anyway.

Chris and I walked around with the girls for a little bit and checked out the sights. I thought there was going to be more local food, but they mostly just had fair type of food. 🙁 And they had lots of apples + baked goods, too. It wasn’t as good as I was hoping it was going to be, but around here we take what we can get, I suppose.

Okay, I’m still pretty exhausted, so I’m going to rest up. Tomorrow, I am going to be a WARRIOR. Get my drift? Can anyone guess what race I’m doing tomorrow? 😉