Baltimore Running Festival 5k and other fun fall activities

I think it's safe to say it's officially fall.

Stroller runs have gotten chilly.

As most lame suburban moms do, I used the change in season as an excuse to be completely basic this weekend.

First up: pumpkin farm baby play date. Our family met one of my best friends since middle school and her son in Western MD. They live about two hours away, and there's excellent farm land right in the middle. Our boys were born only 8 days apart!

BUT ARE THEY NOT THE CUTEST????

I mean....these boys....

Our third (and best) hay ride this year. 

#soskinny #fitfluential

Obviously everything we do with Dalton is fantastic but this was especially fun since it was our first baby geared outing since he has been able to walk. Of course, we still had to mainly carry him, but it was fun to let him wobble around in the toddler corn maze and similar activities.

Dalton has taken all of his required monthly sticker pics with a white llama (for size reference). When we realized this farm had a white llama, we naturally had to attempt a picture.

He's still not down with the animal kingdom #likemotherlikeson #proud

The farm had apple fritters that were essentially a giant bowl of fried dough filled with apple pieces...AMAZING. 

Next up: a race.

Once upon a time, my #motherrunner friend Katharine and I had this excellent idea of doing a postpartum redemption race - the Baltimore Half Marathon! Both of us have done either the half or full every year, except 2014 when we were both recovering from recently birthing tiny humans (two weeks apart, it's like I had a pregnancy pact with all my friends). 

But then, the #motherrunning became a bit too much, and we downgraded to the 5k. We heartily regretted this decision when we had to spend more time planning the logistics of packet pickup and public transit to the race than we intended to spend actually running the race. However, at mile 2, when we had one mile left instead of 11, we embraced our wise choice and never looked back. The race seemed to be over in a flash, and we even got medals. 

I was originally going to make this post a recap of the 5k, but really, what is there to say? I showed up, ran 3.1 miles at a moderate pace while dodging walkers who liked to use the middle of the course to stroll 6 abreast, and then I went home.

Dalton was unimpressed with my 5k medal.

Whether running 26 miles or 3, it's always important to cook a decadent dessert afterwards. 

Pioneer Woman Knock You Naked brownies

Luckily, I actually had an event to take my dessert to, so I didn't have to eat the whole thing myself. After Dalton was born, I attended a new mom support group that was hosted by the hospital where I delivered. Once my maternity leave was over, I couldn't just hang out with new moms in yoga pants at 10am on Thursdays talking about breastfeeding and sleep training any more, sadly. I met two amazing friends there, and we've doing a monthly mommy night at someone's hosue (yoga pants required) since we all went back to work (and have added in other new moms since then). I highly recommend a support group to anyone who is expecting! It was a lifesaver for me. 

Clearly what I was getting at was that last night was our mom night. We used to just lay all the babies on activity mats and drink wine. We could also get wild and stay until, like, 9pm, since little babies can sleep anywhere. Now that we have walking toddlers, it's clearly changed a lot - still great, just not quite as relaxing! 

What's your favorite fall food or drink? I used to love pumpkin spiced lattes, but this year, I'm all about the apple cider.