Sweet Time at Montclair Bread Co Doughnut 5K

Name of the race: Montclair Bread Co Doughnut 5K

Where: Montclair, NJ

Date: Dec 10, 2017

Time: 8:00 am

Distance: 3.1 miles

Terrain: Rolling hills

Entry fee: $40

Post-race Food: Freshly baked mini doughnuts from Montclair Bread Company, hot chocolate, coffee, and water

Swag: Spike bag, long-sleeved tech shirt, and finishers medal

Time: 28:56

Performance: Overall: 412/1847

Weather: 25 degrees, 86% humidity, 4 mph winds

Brrrrr! Winter arrived in style with a lovely snowfall on Saturday that was fortunately light enough to have the streets cleared, but heavy enough to prettily decorate houses and trees in winter wonderland style.

I’ve wanted to do this race for a couple of years, but it’s soooo popular that it sells out (2300 entries) in a matter of weeks. The first year they did it, I thought I would sign up closer to the date because I don’t like committing to winter races early, and it sold out in early fall. The second year I kinda forgot about this race, so by the time I remembered it was too late. I was not to be denied this year.

Ben shook his head when I told him I was doing this race because in his words, “It’s not like Brooklyn has any artisanal donut bakeries.” We might have a few, but I love races with good food.

Montclair is a cute little town with a kickass bakery, Montclair Bread Company, a bread company with a doughnut problem. Their stuff is AMAZING!!!! Before the race, I bought more doughnuts and an incredible croissant with everything bagel seasoning on top. DO NUT miss this place if you’re ever in Montclair. They also sponsor two other races throughout the year.

Because I’m still recovering from CIM, I did this as a fun run. Let me tell you, fun runs are reeaaaallly run. Unlike races where they’re fun after the fact, I have fun during the run. I took photos of people in donut costumes. I chatted with runners around me. When I saw that the aid station was handing out DONUT HOLES on a stick, I turned around and ran back to grab one. Because there were so many people, I waited patiently for mine and I didn’t mind the additional time. I did the 5K super easy and had a great time.

There’s no timing mat at the start line, so if you want to run this for time, be sure to get as close to the start line as you can. I didn’t care about my time, so I was in the middle of the pack, which was quite congested and probably stayed that way for almost two miles. I found out on Strava that my Wineglass pacer, Karen, won the race for women and received $500 for it. They offer fat cash prizes for the top three winners in the men and women divisions. Also they offer race day tracking, so Ben could have followed me online as I ran the 5K. LOLOLOL.

I got my post-race mini donuts. They had several different flavors; I got apple cinnamon and maple bacon. I drank my two little shots of hot chocolate and then took off for home because I had to get back to NYC for drunken German Christmas caroling.