Tuesday, June 14, 2011

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!

12 comments:

  1. Great post. During the running portion of my first triathlon I was actually heckled by a youngster who said “come on man, you run like a girl” to which I replied “If I ran like a girl I would be done by now”.

    I might actually try to make these cookies BUT if I do I’m using blue M&M’s because it’s a “boy” color and I will NOT share with the girls. Girl’s don’t share their pace with me, why should I share my cookies with them.

    All the best,

    Ron

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  2. Congrats on the race! That's so exciting, being a part of history & an all-female marathon. I didn't know something like that had never been done before. It's about time! And I like these cookies too. They're pink and girly, just the way cookies should be. :)

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  3. Great post Erika! I love your aside about pink not being a "girly" colour, but the colour of women's awesomeness. Yay!

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  4. That's guys!
    PRR - please use baby blue though. ;)

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  5. you're so lucky to be able to take part in that! i want to move to NY!!
    btw, congrats on the 10K. you must be so fit. this week, i almost passed out after running 3km on the treadmill!! how do you train for it girl?! are you a daily runner? i think i need to start training now if i wanna take part in a mini marathon in like 3 years :P

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  6. Hey congrats on your 10K, that is so awesome. I wish I could run that much. I've gotten upto 25 minutes on the treadmill and after that i am pretty damn sweaty LOL. With all that running, there is no guilt in gobbling up a whole plate of cookies though. Love the pink m&Ms
    *kisses* HH

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  7. You did so well! For both your running and the "pink" cookies. The cookies are very cute with the pink M & Ms.

    I'm currently training very hard for a run too...Fingers crossed. I hope the wintery weather down-under will not "destroy" this coming run...

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  8. I loved this post, look you are go! I just bought the xiser to help me with sprinting, and help me build up endurance for a 5k.

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  9. I'm going to make these for my cousin's Breast Cancer Walk Team. Thanks for the idea.

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Thanks for taking time to leave a message! xo - EB