Surf City USA Race Report

I have received lots of comments asking about my race report from last weekend. I did the Surf City USA 5K last Sunday, February 1st. I've been soo tired this week and just didn't feel like posting. I'm back to work so I will be more post-y this weekend.

Monique and I departed for the race at about 6am. The race started at 7:15. We wanted to get there a little early since it was a Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K, and Kid's Race. My mom gave me the gate opener for their place in Huntington Beach. We didn't have to look for parking. I parked the car and had to arrange all my gadgets. Seriously, I was just running, technically all I would need is shoes, right? I had to have my ipod shuffle, and my Garmin. Monique was pissed cause she forgot her ipod. There's nothing worse than running without music. I can't stand listening to other people's grunting and groaning. I know alot of races prohibit headphones now though.



I decided to suck it up and leave my jacket in the car. I hate running with things tied around my waist. It was really cold outside, ok so like 50 degrees. That is cold to me. We walked up Main St. and waited for our race to start. The Half Marathon peeps started earlier and we were able to cheer them on as they ran past us. Our 5K start line was their 1 mile mark.




We started the race off great! I had an awesome pace. I was chugging away until I got to mile 2-ish. We had to do a loop around and bam, everyone crowded up. It was soo hard to get around people. Everyone was walking or heading towards the water table. I seriously had to zig zag around everyone. I got so frustrated, which slowed me down.

I got my best time ever, by 2 minutes. But I had a time in my head that I really wanted. Next time, I guess. It was a great first race of the year though. I'm glad that it did not get rained out like last year.

Metallica Concert

On, Wednesday, I posted a picture of the cover of Metallica's new album, Death Magnetic.

Well on Wednesday night, Angry Husband, his best friend, Eric, my pal, Monique, and I all went to see Metallica in Los Angeles. It was pouring rain. It actually poured rain all day. We were very skeptical and concerned about the traffic. We actually got there pretty fast and were all very hungry. We were not in the very best area of town, and started looking for somewhere to eat. Our only options seemed to be, IHOP and McDonalds. We settled with IHOP, and all squished into a booth there.

After eating we left to go to the concert arena. We paid $22 to park, yes twenty-two fricking dollars. We then waiting in line, in the rain, while we all got patted down and searched. Good times. We then entered the sea of black, black t-shirts that is. Everyone seemed to be wearing black.

The Sword and MachineHead opened up for Metallica. We weren't impressed. Actually, we were just trying to stay warm. The place was the temperature of an ice rink inside. Thankfully, I had my thicker jacket on.

Metallica came on stage in a blaze. They had lasers and fire in their stage show. It was quite awesome, actually. They played a ton of songs for about 2 hours. It was an awesome show. It really brought me back to the times, before Angry Toddler was born. Angry Husband and I saw Metallica together, three times before AT was born. The last time that we saw them in concert was 2004.

I went to my first Metallica concert in 8th grade. Metallica's music has been part of my life for a long time, and it has been a constant. I can recite the words to their songs, and I'm pretty sure, I have all of their albums.

I may be somewhat of a prep most of the time, but Angry Julie has her other dark side too.

And for people interested, here was the play list from the concert!

"That Was Just Your Life"
"The End of The Line"
"Creeping Death"
"Harvester of Sorrow"
"One"
"Broken, Beat & Scarred"
"Cyanide"
"Sad But True"
"Unforgiven"
"All Nightmare Long"
"The Day That Never Comes"
"Master of Puppets"
"Damage, Inc."
"Nothing Else Matters"
"Enter Sandman"

Encore:
"Last Caress/Green Hell" (Misfits cover)
"Seek and Destroy"

Halloween Par-tay!

I attended (2) Halloween parties this past Saturday. I wore my flapper costume. I was quite conservative compared to some of my counterparts. I thought I would share some of my pictures. I'm including one of Monqiue and I. Mo is my running pal and I have posted pictures of her before. I could post a ton more pictures, but you know, working in law enforcement and such...some people are actually undercover.

At the beginning of the parties!


Getting my drink on!


Ok, so I had a few drinkee-poos!


We all had some good times!!! I haven't drank like that in a long time and I definately felt it the next day.

One of the Hardest Things I've Ever Done

Yesterday was my first ever mud run. I ran the 5K portion of the SBSD Mud Run. I had never ever done a mud run. My co-workers participated in Camp Pendleton's Mud Run, 2 years ago and they really liked it. I mean, who would do this again, if they didn't like it, right?

Monique, my usual running partner got me prepped for the race. I work black compression shorts, Nike shorts over the compression shorts, a tight black sports bra, and a tight fitting running tank top. I pair it with a pair of old shoes (well I retired my current shoes, due to mileage), and some thinner socks. I was stream lined as I could be. She told me that you don't want to be wearing any type of cotton, cause it only gets heavier when you're wet and muddy.

So we lined up to start the race. Before it even started, a firetruck pulled up alongside us. They turned on their hoses and sprayed the entire crowd. I was soaking wet by that point. We then started the race. The first obstacles that we hit were some cement barrels, and hay bundles. We had to hop over them. We then started running uphill. After we hit the peak of the hill, we made a left, and started on some obstacles. We went up and down little hills, at the bottom of the hills were mud ponds. Seriously, the mud was as thick as quick sand. I got stuck several times, but luckily there were lots of strong boys to help me out. This went on and on, until we had to climb another steep hill. Really, you couldn't run it, you just had to walk it, it was straight up.

Once, we ran down the steep hill, you thought you were at the Finish Line. Oh no, there were still tons of obstacles to go. We climbed over many steep hills, stomach crawled through some ponds, hopped wood walls/fences, and belly climbed some more.

When all was said and done, I was covered in mud on every inch of my body. My eyes were stinging from the mud, and my legs were throbbing. I look down at my knees and they were bleeding. They looked like hamburger.

We then waited in line for the showers. Yea, umm they sucked. Seriously, they were like tiny sprinklers suspended about 12 feet over our heads. We did not get clean at all. We then noticed that there was some kind of water truck over to the side. Well we walked over there and finally got semi clean. They had this water truck open like a fire hydrant on a hot summers day. We then had to walk back to my car and change our clothes. What a mess. Everything was caked in mud. We had to put everything in trash bags.

We all went to eat some lunch and then went home. I took a long shower when I got home including a nice 2 hour nap. I was physically and mentally exhausted. I cursed out loud and to myself several times during this race. Just when you thought you were done, another obstacle came along.

Everyone who had done the Camp Pendleton Race, which is a 10K, agreed that the obstacles were much worse in this one and that it was alot muddier. I don't know if I will ever do this run again, but I might try the Camp Pendleton one sometime in the future.

Monique brought along one of those disposable waterproof cameras along the way. She's going to take it in to be developed this week. Also, the official race pictures won't be up until Tuesday.

But here's some sample pictures to show what a Mud Run consists of.

Disneyland Family Fun Run 2008

A week ago, last Saturday, I ran the Disneyland Family Fun Run with my pal, Monique. It was part of Disneyland's 1/2 Marathon Weekend.

On the Friday before, we had to pick up our race packets. It was total chaos, which almost go Mo into a fight with some crazy lady. Geez... There were tons of people at the race expo. I got kinda sad though, cause I wished I could have signed up for the 1/2 Marathon. I also was pissed cause we paid alot of money, over $40 for this race, and it was not chip timed. Seriously, $40-something, and I can't even see what my time was.

So we arrived at the race, after paying $12 friggin dollars to park. There were apparently over 5,000 people running. Yikes! I made Mo go up the front of the pack. I started off really good. I keep getting stopped though cause walkers were getting in my way. People should know common etiquette, that if you are walking a race, you need to go to the left or right side so runners can pass. We ran through Disneyland and California Adventure. Throughout the race course, there were characters that you could take pictures with, well, Mo had the camera.

I finished the race under 34 minutes which is a personal best for me. I don't know my official time because I did not see a clock at the finish.

But we got tons of pictures taken, and I ran into my other running pal, Casey. I had been looking for Casey all over.

I told Mo, next year, we are definitely doing the 1/2 Marathon.

Running in front of the Matterhorn.


The medals for the end of the race.

Casey and I.

Monique and I.

Ryka Iron Girl 5K in Solana Beach, California

Monique and I are amateur runners. We've been trying to do these 5K's lately. She is a much better runner than moi. I used to be a better runner, well, when I was less fat. I started doing alot of 5K runs in 2002 and 2003. Then small child came along and I got super super lazy. Monique said I was the one who got her started doing these runs. Well it's 2007, and she's still running.

I guess that motivates me a little. Soo anyway, we got up at the crack of dawn and drove to Solana Beach. Where is Solana Beach? I've never been there? It's at the most northern part of San Diego, south of Encinitas. It's a quaint little town, and ohh soo pretty.

The race was really organized. We got lots of cool stuff.

It started getting really hot and humid though. I made it through though. I can't wait to do the next one. We might go to an Iron Girl in Arizona in December. I need to work out my work schedule, etc.