Pink M&M Cookies & the Mini 10K

This past weekend I ran a race. (Well, actually, this past weekend I did a LOT of things, but I'll just talk about the race for this post.)

I ran the NYRR (New York Road Runners) Mini 10K. You might be wondering, "What's so mini about running 6.2 miles?" Well, check out this cool history: 40 years ago was the inaugural running of this race and it was named the 6-mile Crazylegs Mini Marathon. The name Mini came from the famous skirt that was in fashion (still is?): The Mini Skirt. Also, Playboy Bunnies came out to cheer at the starting line to promote the event (thus the crazy legs moniker.) 78 females ran it.

It was the world's first road race exclusively for female participants. That's right. No men.

"Big deal" you might be thinking. Or maybe you're thinking, "That's so cool!" Either way, it WAS a big deal and IS still cool. Women weren't allowed to run the Boston Marathon until 2 months before the first Mini (1972). Before then, race organizers thought that "women were not physically capable of running a marathon." It took another 12 years for the Olympics to have a marathon for females (1984 Los Angeles Olympics).

So, yeah. This all female race IS a big deal. Every year I run it I get caught up in the history of the event. I think, "This is the FIRST all female road race and I get to run it and be part of the history." I always get excited for this race. Seriously, check it out:

So, in honor of females achieving great things and rocking the world of running, here are some pink m&m cookies. Pink not because it's "a girl's color" but because it's starting to become the color of female awesomeness.

Oh, and FYI, this year 4,750 females completed the race.

(To read more about the Mini 10K, please visit NYRR. For more info on women's marathon history, click here.)

Pink M&M Cookies (adapted from squidoo)

Ingredients

1 cup of soft butter
1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups regular all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

12-ounce package of M&Ms

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. It is critical that the butter be at room temperature in order to make this step work nicely.

Beat in the egg and the vanilla.

In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.

STIR in M&Ms. Do not mix (m&ms will get chopped up/broken)

Using teaspoons, drop cookies of about one heaping teaspoon onto your cookie sheets, making them about two inches apart.
Bake for 10 to 13 minutes.

Cool before eating.

Bake well and prosper!