Race for Africa . . . in New Jersey!?

Well the blog has obviously taken a hiatus. Sorry about that. It seems lately these feet have not hit any trails lately and I guess I assumed since the blog is called trailmomma that well, I should be writing about trail running. I guess any running will have to suffice from here on out because the trails seem to sparse lately and that makes for a much too boring of a blog no?
The family (Vans, The Peanut and I) headed for the east coast last week. We flew to New Jersey, my home state. I cannot tell you how many people here in California expressed a “New Jersey?! What why?! I hope it is to visit family!” type of attitude when I shared with them my future travel plans. New Jersey IS called the Garden State people, despite what you see when you land in lovely Newark. Sheesh!
Anyway, the visit was great. The grandparents really enjoyed spoiling The Peanut who took the New Jersey attitude to heart and expressed it proudly at times.
I was able to squeeze in a four mile run through my old running neighborhood which brought me past my old High School and my old Middle School. I don’t think I looked that intimidating when I went to school. Those teenagers hanging outside are big and somewhat scary! I think I might have accomplished 4 miles roughly and was totally drenched in sweat from the humidity and my hair had that perfect humid curl to it! Aaahhh, I do miss some things from the east coast.
What I didn’t miss however, were the double takes and stares I received from various people either standing at a bus stop or getting into their cars. Does no one run in New Jersey? I can’t be the only one they’ve seen running through the neighborhood!
In addition to my neighborhood jog I also took the liberty of signing Vans and I up for a 5K race that was happening in Morristown New Jersey. I had never done an organized race in New Jersey before and this one started at 11:00 am which is perfect for Vans since he is not exactly a morning person. Grandma and Grandpa were going to join us too and take on the duty of watching The Peanut while we ran! What fun!
The race cost us $25 each and it gave us a T-shirt. Apparently the money was going towards the efforts to build wells in Africa. Hey, I didn’t really care what it was supporting, I was just happy to be running AND happy they were blasting Bon Jovi when I got to the race start followed by some Bruce Springsteen and some Rocky IV Eye of the Tiger Music (yes, I realize Rocky takes place in Philadelphia but the essence of big Italian men always reminds me of NJ. I am sure I am not alone in this).
At the race I met a rollerblading Elvis who was quite impressed I had come from California for the race (rriiiiight, I came for the race).
A 5K in New Jersey is unlike any 5K in Sacramento. The difference you ask? Well primarily, there are HILLS in New Jersey whereas Sacramento is as flat as a pan cake. Basically the race consisted of running up one hill and then running down another rinse wash repeat for 3.1 miles. I won’t lie, it was tough but Vans and I survived and with decent times I might add. I won’t say who beat who during that 5K because really, that’s not the point of the race OR this blog but I betcha you all can guess. 
Post race we enjoyed some live entertainment, lots of free food and sunshine and just some relaxation time on the Morristown Green. It was a wonderful day and one of my favorites of the trip. Looks like I will have to schedule MORE runs when we visit New Jersey!