Race Recap: TinkerBell Half Marathon 2014

 

TinkerBell Half Marathon, Year 3

Date: Sunday, January 19, 2014 @ 5:30am

Location: Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, CA

This was a special trip to TinkerBell this year because it's the first sisters trip that my little sister, Paula, and I went on together since childhood. Considering I'm almost 50 years old and she's heading into her mid-40s that's a big deal. You see, we're 6 years apart and by the time she became any fun I was leaving home. Of course I was the mean older sister who terrorized her as a young child...just ask her, she'll say she still has emotional trauma from that! lol!

She's also part of the reason I decided to start running in the first place back in 2011. She had been running half marathons for a while, and me being the brash big sister figured that if she could do it then I could do it. Maybe not as fast but I could certainly do a one and done half marathon. Little did I know that 2 years later I would have over 30 half marathons, 4 full marathons and several obstacle course races under my belt.

Travel and Expo Day: Thursday, January 16, 2014

I took off at 0'dark thirty to begin my nearly 4 hour drive to Albuquerque to catch my flight to Los Angeles. Why do I travel so far to catch a flight? Because if I'm flying to the West coast it costs me about $200 more each way to travel out of Texas rather than to fly out of Albuquerque. Yes, I am cheap! I also love that there are direct flights that I can catch there. 

I met Paula (P) at LAX, her plane having landed about 30 minutes before mine and we took Super Shuttle to the hotel. After checking in and meeting up with some of our room mates (we shared a suite with 6 other chicks), we headed over to the expo to check everything out and pick up our packets. As usual the runDisney expo was large and had my favorite booth, SparkleSkirts (the only running skirts I wear almost exclusivly) where I normally would have volunteered at least one day during the expo but I decided not to leave P alone while I worked a shift so I pulled out of the volunteer pool. I was really happy to see that entry into the official merchandise store was well controlled versus the madness that was at Princess Half Marathon last year. 

Paula and I at the expo.

Bumped into Run Kat at the expo and we screamed like
little girls when we saw each other! lol!

Silly Sisters

As many times as P has brought her family down to Disneyland Resort, she doesn't spend a lot of time in Downtown Disney...primarily because she has young kids and that can get expensive. So after we finished at the expo we wandered around DTD before grabbing some dinner at Brennan's Kitchen Express. We ended up exploring DTD for an hour or so after dinner before heading back to the room to chill, meet up with the roomies and get things ready for the upcoming days. 

Parks Day: Friday, January 17, 2014

I woke up early (while P slept in) to join some of the room mates who weren't running in the 5K to cheer on the runners. Afterwards P and I headed across the parking lot to Denny's for breakfast. The plan was to be at Disneyland before they opened so we could hit up some of the major rides before it got real busy. We headed back to the room after eating just to wait a few more minutes and check in with the room mates and then headed over to the resort where we all went our separate ways...the rest of the group to breakfast or the expo and P and I to Disneyland. Our first stop was Space Mountain, a childhood favorite, and then we made our way around the park to hit all the major rides with usually less than a 15 minute wait at most rides. Yes, we're too cheap to buy the photos that Disney takes so I just shot pics of the screens...lol! Cheapness is an Asian thing!

First roller coaster ride together since I was about 15 (Space Mountain).

On the Matterhorn Bobsleds

She whooped my butt on Buzz Lightyear

After about 5 hours in the park we decided to head out to lunch and walked to the Garden Walk to have lunch at PF Chang's. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel so that I could start getting things ready for the Facebook group meetup the next day and for a rest before heading to California Adventures...my first real time exploring the whole park. The furthest I had gotten in 2013 was to Tower of Terror and we (hubs and I) didn't even go in 2012. The 2012 TinkerBell was the first time I had actually stepped foot in California Adventures...ever.

We headed back to the resort after a couple of hours bumping into, actually running right by my friend, Lyn. We roamed around California Adventures with me again terrorizing P by making her go on Tower of Terror once (she actually liked it I think) and I finally got to ride some other rides in the park.

That's us on Tower of Terror, down in the bottom left corner.

My first time on California Screamin'.

After a few hours we were done at DAC and headed back to DTD to meetup with some of my Facebook friends so that I could show them taping technique for KT Tape then headed over to La Brea Bakery Cafe to have some dinner. We ran into my friend Eric, who I met at Princess HM in 2013 and ended up having sitting down to dinner with him.

After dinner it was back to the room to continue work on getting things put together for the meet up the next day.

Cheer Day/Park Day/Meetup Day: Saturday, January 18, 2014

This was another 0'dark thirty wake up call...again not to run but to cheer for those doing the 10K. I had made a sign (the one below) and borrowed my room mate, Melanie's, sign to use to cheer on the runners/walkers as they went by our hotel.  I saw several friends as they went by and a few stopped to take pics with me. By the time the race was about halfway through I was well on the way to losing my voice from yelling so much.

Jessica (Snow White), Tammy and I during the 10K.

MJ, the admin ouf the TinkerBell HM Facebook group
I belong to and I while I was cheering at the 10K.

I had the unfortunate opportunity to witness taking a nasty spill just after she passed me. She must have just tripped and landed on the street face first leaving her with a nasty abrasion and bleeding on her temple. I'm sure she ended up with some pretty serious bruising and possibly a black eye as well. I dropped my sign and ran back into our room to grab a ziplock (I always have some for ice packs) and some ice and brought it to her. To her credit, she eventually got back up to continue the race after several minutes.

After the race P and I grabbed some breakfast and headed back to DCA for a few more rides before calling it a day around 1pm so that I could finish getting things ready for the meet up at 4pm. Now, our Facebook group has been doing these meetups since the first year of the race. We began with a group of about 70 and this year the group had grown to about 130 or more. I had name tags, items to be raffled and had to figure out how I was going to talk to such a large group in an open area with only half my voice. Thankfully, almost everything went smoothly...with the exception of checking in and getting nametags, but I'll work on that for next year...and we had a very successful meetup.

My friend Eric and I at the Tink HM Meetup

TinkerBell HM Facebook Group Meetup photo. Over about 130 of us.

After the meet up a group of about 40 of us headed to Naples Ristorante for a pre-race dinner, the second year we've done this. I have to admit, I didn't sit down as much as I did for dinner last year since we had 2 tables this time and things weren't going as smooth with the wait staff as it had the year before but it was nice seeing everyone bonding over their meals.

Dinner table #1

Dinner table #2

 The evening ended at about 7pm and we all headed out in our own directions to get back into the parks or get ready for the race the next morning. P and I headed back to the hotel to chill and relax after the events of the day and tried to get to sleep early...which for me hardly ever happens before a race.

Race day gear

Race Day: Sunday, January 19, 2014

Since this was race day we all woke up at around 3am to start getting ready for the race. We headed out to the start at just before 4am and luckily it was a nice, albeit dark, morning with perfect temperature to run and very little wind. We all split up once we hit the starting area and dropped our gear off at gear check. P was in corral B (told you she was faster than me) and I was in corral C. P had initially thought that she was going to walk the race since she had not trained, but decided while we were walking about that she'd try to run it. So we parted ways as we got to our respective corrals and waited for the start.

This was the first time at Tink that I didn't have anyone to start with in the corral. It wasn't for lack of trying but I couldn't get any cell reception due to the heavy cell traffic. Usually I use Facebook or text messaging to locate people to start with at Tink. It was not a big deal though since I'm used to attending races by myself anyway and I knew that I would run into people on the course.

TinkerBell HM 2014 Corrals A-G starting

As the race started I managed a slow jog as we passed thru the most crowded areas of the course. I had already planned to walk whenever I needed to but to definitely walk the "hills" (read over/under passes). I pretty much kept a slow 15 min/mile pace throughout the first 8 miles dropping to about a 16 min/mile pace after that. I felt much better than I did when running at Space Coast HM just about a month earlier even though my training was next to nil due to some foot issues that cropped up in December (seriously, when will I ever get away from my injury issues?). I finished the race feeling pretty good, if not a bit irked that I seemed to be getting slower every year but at least I didn't have the medical issues that landed me in the ER for six hours in 2013. Read about that little experience here (Part 1, Part 2).

P had already finished and had been in the hotel having had breakfast with Melanie's daughter so I stopped at Brennan's Kitchen Express to pick up some begniets and a burrito for breakfast. The rest of the day we just chilled in the room, ordering a Chinese lunch for delivery and otherwise being sloths. When we did move around we got everything packed...P just travels with one back pack while I on the other hand had 2 suitcases and a carry on since I had brought stuff for the meet up from home. It was simply leftovers for dinner and then sleep because we'd be catching an early shuttle back to the airport in the morning.

Travel Day: Monday, January 20, 2014

Again we were up at the crack of dawn to catch our flights out. Wasn't this supposed to be a semi-vacation? Shouldn't I have been able to sleep in at least one day? lol. I had changed our reservations so that we were supposed to be on the same shuttle but for some they had placed us on two separate shuttles. After getting hassled by P's driver we just decided to meet up at the airport.

Somehow I missed the self check-in at Southwest...just walked right past them...and ended up waiting in line to be helped by an agent. Then I put my bags on the scale to be weighed and found that one was too heavy so I was sitting there rearranging everything haphazardly before getting it below the max weight of 50 pounds (started at 53# and dropped it to 48#). There was no way I was going to pay for an overweight bag! We grabbed some breakfast and after we ate we said our goodbyes and headed to our respective gates.

The flight home wasn't bad...gotta love non-stops! And even the drive home from Albuquerque (after a quick stop for lunch at Japanese Kitchen and to pick up some Nothing Bundt Cakes mini-cakes) wasn't bad. All in all, another great TinkerBell HM Weekend.

What I like about this race:
Sentimental value...this was my first half marathon ever. The course keeps changing slightly each year, this year we were running in the parks for about 6 miles while in previous years it was 5 miles or less. I met the majority of my running friends at this race in 2012.

What I do not like about this race:
Nothing really, love it!

Would I do this race again?
Considering that it's my third year doing it, I would have to say yes. Without hesitation.

Official Time: 3:31:23

Runcation 2013 - Part 1

Travel Day - Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Well, the trip started off rough when we overslept about an hour and a half and instead of leaving at 3am we ended up leaving at 4:30am. When we head up to Idaho we plan on an 16 hour drive but the older we get the longer the drive gets, this time it took us a total of 18 hours. It was an uneventful drive but it seemed to take forever. One thing that we did differently was to stop and eat in instead of eating on the road…that probably account for one of the extra hours of the drive. I don’t know where the 2^nd hour came from. We finally arrived at my mother in law’s house at about 10:30pm. The hubs spent about 2 ½ hours just talking and catching up with his mom while I was unpacking and going on a 1 mile run to start up my run streak again…hopefully to last until Labor Day. I also did the scheduled workout for Focus T25 and got my ass handed to me, but it wasn’t bad considering that I had been on my butt for 18 hours. I got both the run in well before midnight and finished the workout just after midnight. It was time to head to bed because I was finally feeling sleepy.

Packet Pickup Day - Thursday, July 18, 2013

After getting a few hours of much needed sleep, about 4 hours actually, we went out for a 3 mile run and did the scheduled T25 workout right after getting back. We hung out at the house and relaxed for most of the day until the MIL drove us out to the greenway so we could have a place to run without worrying about the traffic on her busy country roads. The greenway goes around/by a lake and some canals and runs about a 7 mile loop. Did I mention there are trees, shade and nice scenery here in Idaho…totally different from the high desert of New Mexico. We also stopped by Anytime Fitness to pick up two temporary memberships so that we could work out, especially since I had just had a workout plan designed for me by a trainer at home.

We headed up to Idaho Falls (about 30 minutes away) at about 3:30pm to go to packet pickup which was starting at 5pm. We were about 45 minutes early so we looked around the store where the pickup was and then drove the course for the Idaho Falls 13.1. We got back to the store at about 5:10pm and went into the store. The pick-up was kind of weird in that you chose your own bib and entered your own name and bib number into the computer. It seemed like a kind of self service registration. There wasn’t much (really anything) for swag aside from the shirts and a water bottle. We were going to stay for the guest speaker at 7pm, but I got to antsy and didn’t want to wait another hour and a half so we headed back to the MILs house.

I decided that we needed to start some carb loading and we made some baked rigatoni and sautéed squash/zucchini for the in-laws and ourselves. We just spent the rest of the night just hanging out before everyone headed to bed. Of course, I couldn’t sleep so I headed out to the gym (24/7) and did my prescribed workout and by the time I got back to the house I was ready to sleep.

Rest Day (Sort of) – Friday, July 19, 2013

With nothing on the agenda we planned to take it easy for the day and just relax. Our nieces came to the house while their parents were at work and we ended up playing croquet with them and MIL outside in the 90°+ degree temperature. I never realized that croquet took so much time. I was doing a load of laundry (tech stuff from previous days) and sat out the second game to hang the clothes to dry. Wow! Imagine that, you can actually hang clothes on a outdoor clothes line and not have them be dirtier than when you hung them up (never ending blowing dust/dirt in our neck of the woods). After getting the clothes hung I decided it was time for a nap, I must have been out for close to 2 hours because the girls mom was there to pick them up very shortly after I got up. The hubs mom had made some tapioca so they were all having some (I don’t like the stuff) and the girls were headed home about 20 minutes after I woke up.

The MIL ordered pizza for dinner and I prepped a chicken with the rub from Roast Sticky Chicken. We just sat and watched TV until about 9pm when the hubs and I went to sleep. The big question was if I’d sleep more than my traditional 3 hours of pre-race sleep.

Half Marathon Race Day - Saturday, July 20, 2013

The hubs and I woke up at 3am after he had slept for at least 6 hours and I had managed to get just over 5 hours in. We were both ready to go and had eaten breakfast (whole wheat English muffin and OJ for me) by 4:15am so it was time to leave for the Idaho Falls 13.1. We did a double check of everything and headed out for the approximately 30 minute drive to the finish line where we would be bused to the start. I had to answer the call of mother nature and the race info said that permanent, real restrooms would be available at the finish line…well, they were locked. Bummer. I ended up having to use the port-a-john which I really dislike except in emergencies so I guess I’d count this visit as an emergency. 

Flatrunner Beth (my gear for the day).

By the time I had made my way back to the car, the buses had arrived and I saw the hubs heading over to get on one…he didn’t even wait for me! Lol! Anyway, we were bused 13.1 miles to the start of the race right amongst a windmill farm. The weather wasn’t  bad…a very light breeze and temps in the high 50s. On the ride up a small group of us were talking about the race and other races we had done and just enjoying the company. We arrived at about 6am, start time was 6:30am, and took pictures talked with more people…one guy was intrigued with my Bataan Memorial Death March tattoo since he was a history buff and had grandfathers who were at Pearl Harbor and another base during WWII. 

As the start time got closer, we all inched our way towards the start. The hubs and I knew we’d be back of the packers so we were in no hurry to get to the front. All of a sudden everyone started running! We, and others around us, never heard a “Ready, Get Set, Go!” or a starting gun going off. We took our time and were actually DFL for the first 3 miles. At the water stop a group of 5 guys stopped and we passed them as well as a couple who were also doing run/walk/run.  Also at the 3 mile mark was the one uphill section. It wasn’t a small uphill either, it was pretty steep but we managed to run about half before beginning to walk. We continued our run/walk/run, the other couple eventually passed us up at around mile 7-8 and the group of guys was nowhere to be seen. At least we weren’t DFL, close to it but still not DFL.

The view towards Idaho Falls.

Sunrise behind the windmill farm.

2nd bus walking down to the start.

Yours truly.

Pretty bling

During the race I had one GU and sucked down 4 packets of mustard. Yes, mustard to help alleviate and prevent any cramping. Now, I’m not a fan of mustard but this is the first race that I had only one tiny moment of cramping and nothing else. It wasn’t very smart of me to try the mustard for the first time during the race, but it worked effectively with minimal GI issues. Mustard packets will now be on my person for any future races…now I just need to figure out where to buy/confiscate some!

We didn’t make our sub-3 hour goal, missing it by less than 2 minutes but we did finish and that’s all that matters. After getting my neck adjusted by the chiropractor on site, we made our way to the car and stopped at a convenience store to get some chocolate milk to drink. After the drive back and getting cleaned up we headed to a local restaurant with the MIL and had lunch. The hubs went for a huge Louisiana style burger while I opted for a prime rib  sandwich with sautéed onions and mushrooms.

After lunch we just hung out at the house with the old man complaining of his sore calves. We eventually decided to use some leftover hamburger to make nachos for dinner along with shrimp and deviled eggs…yup, weird combination! Now I’m just typing this up and getting ready to watch “21 &Over” on my laptop since I don’t think the in-laws would enjoy the movie and the rough language in it. So I guess that’s it for now, more later…The M.A.D. Marathon is next on the book next Saturday. Whoa.

Video: Troy and I crossing the finish line.

Finishing Time:  3:01:45

What did I like about this race?
Scenery is pretty, even running through the shopping district wasn't bad. Great volunteers and police traffic control. It was mostly downhill! Nice medal.

What did I not like about this race?
The big hill that we had to go up. The fact that my GI tract did not agree with the mustard too well. There was one turn that wasn't marked well and no one was there to make sure you went the right way. The starting gun/yell/whatever was not loud enough for everyone to hear.

Would I do this race again?
Yes, it's a nice course and it would work into a visit with the in-laws so it's a 2 for 1 type situation.

Race Recap: Costume Party Run HM - Inaugrual Race

Race: Inaugural Costume Party Run Half Marathon
Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA
Race Date: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Ummm, yeah, that's the medal...6" in diameter.

Travel Day #1: Friday, July 5, 2013 

Thankfully after last weekend's 16+ mile drive, I decided to do the drive to San Diego (with the husband) in 2 days since it was also an estimated 15+ hour drive. This first day we traveled just over half way from home to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ. The drive was uneventful although we did end up leaving about an hour later than planned. I did make the mistake of stopping for gas at a small place about 22 miles east of Tucson only to find that the gas was $4.79/gallon for regular! Talk about sticker shock. I only put in $30 worth (even though we could have gotten away without) because I didn't want to pay for a full tank. This was the most expensive gas the whole trip...even more expensive than in California! 

We rolled into Tucson after about a 9 hour drive at about 6pm and unloaded our stuff at the lodging we had been assigned before heading to Sushi on Oracle, a great little Japanese place that I had the pleasure of going to when I ran my first race in Arizona early last year. I really recommend this place...it's really small so try to get there on an off time. We didn't do anything else aside from chill in the room and sleep. Very quick and uneventful trip to Tucson.

Travel Day #2: Saturday, July 6, 2013

We were up by 5am and on the road around 7am after stopping for some breakfast at Mickey D's. I try not to drive with the AC on but in 100°F+ temperatures I made an exception especially since we were driving through the desert of Arizona. One of my most interesting sights on this trip was the border fence which we could clearly see on different parts of the freeway in the areas of the dunes. It's big and it's long...the last time I drove through here back in 2007 or so it didn't exist so just watching the length of the fence was pretty amazing especially how close it came to the freeway at times.

The border fence in the background.

The beauty of the AZ desert.

We arrived in San Diego at about 2pm and went directly to the expo at Road Runner Sports. It, the expo, was much smaller than I expected and the only goody we received was a funky trucker's cap (not even a tech running cap) with the race's logo. Now, having a race expo at a running store is just plain mean!! I wanted to buy so much but fought off the urge. However, in their "gently used" outlet I did find a pair of Kinavara's that were just half a size too big for me...could have had them (barely used) for $50 if they fit. Bummer! While at the expo I met up with Dianne, a friend from my TinkerBell HM crew, and saw inspirational runner, Misty Diaz, who has Spina Bifida. 

We checked in on MCAS Miramar into their brand spanking new lodging and then headed out to Dave and Buster's to meet up with some TinkerBell HM Facebook Group friends (Linda, Paige, Lyn and Sandy). BTW, don't trust Google navigation to get you to Dave and Buster's San Diego...got us completely lost! We had a late lunch/early dinner with Paige and her family, Linda & Arman, Lyn and Sandy then played some of the games for a while. To my son and FDIL if you're reading this...I have some D & B tickets to mail to you guys! We headed back to the base and made a stop at the exchange to purchase some things that I had forgotten before heading to the room to settle down for the night. We made sure our gear was ready (but I forgot to take flat runner pictures so I took them post race) and turned in so we could be rested for the race.

Race Day: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Since the hubs and I were dressing up as Charlie Brown and Lucy from Peanuts I woke up at 3am to curl my hair. Since I have a natural wave in my hair you'd think it would take a curl pretty easily, but no. I have to use setting gel plus a super freeze hairspray to get it to stick. It took me over an hour to get that done (only to have it fall out almost immediately in the humidity). By 4:40am we were ready to go. We headed down to the car and lo and behold...a flat. The hubs changed out that bad boy and we were on the road at around 5:10am for the short 15 minute drive to the start. Again while Google Navigation got us to Qualcomm's surrounding areas it failed to get us off and onto the road to the stadium. Once we got onto the right road and parked it was about 5:30am. I picked up my new obstacle course race (OCR) medal rack from a friend in the Weeple Army (Russ at Epic Medal Racks) and then headed to the start to find some friends from Half Fanatics and the TinkerBell HM FB Group. We never found them only to learn later that they weren't actually at the start but at the race logo background by the start. Oh well.

Even before the race the humidity was crazy. I've lived in the desert for 20+ years now...I wasn't used to this coastline humidity anymore (grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area). I knew I was in trouble. When the race started it didn't take much for me to start sweating like a pig. I kept things slow for the loop around the stadium parking lot, but even then by the time we hit the roadway I was already sweating bullets. Within the first half of the race I look at the husband (running in a cotton shirt for the costume) with sweat literally falling off his head...not dripping, but pouring off his head. The course was rolling hills out and back on Friars Road. Have I mentioned before that I don't like hills?

The costumes were fairly varied with a lot of Thing 1 and Thing 2's, tourists, Ninja Turtles and others. There were some that stood out like the hot rickshaw guy (pulling a wheelchair transformed into a rickshaw...his real name is Samuel and is now a FB friend), the guy dressed as a large stripper, a 6'9" tall Richard Simmons (his real name is Ray) and a Hi-liter. I had friends who were Wonder Woman, Super Weeple, Ambiguously Gay Duo, Bat Girl, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the Grinch, etc. It was great to see all the costumes out there. I don't normally dress in costume for races (especially one made of cotton) but this time I decided that hubs and I would go full out as Charlie Brown and Lucy.

Inspirational runner, Misty Diaz, who has Spina Bifida.

Jess, the zombie 50's housewife.

Breakfast and stripper all at once!

Dianne and I.

Team Seuss.

Arman.

Blind & deaf inspirational runner and guide.

Tourists.

I don't know him, but he's reppin' Team Red, White and Blue!

Hardest costume to run in?

The 2 Dave's (Weeple Army) as the Ambiguously Gay Duo from SNL.

Hi-Liter.

Sandy was in the zone and didn't hear me calling her!

Hot Asian dude (inside joke), Samuel.

Matt from Weeple Army doing situps, push ups
and squats at each mile.

Hubs and I as Charlie Brown & Lucy.

Post-race flat runner Beth/Lucy.

Paige, Nate and Braden near the finish.

My new OCR medal rack.

As per custom by mile 8 I had started cramping. I had forgotten to pack my mustard packets, which are supposed to work wonderfully for cramping and instead started popping Endurolytes at a double dose, so I waddled the remaining portion of the race. When I tried to run just a 100 or so feet to the finish I couldn't because the cramping would start as soon as I tried to start running. The husband learned the art of the "fake run", you know when you're tired or cramping so you start an easy jog when you see the photographers...My pics doing this actually look pretty good! lol!

After turning in our timing chips, I had to ask how we got our medals because the turn in station wasn't clearly marked IMHO, we received the huge medals. I'd be lying if I didn't say that the only reason we did this race was for the medals. We hung out with Team Seuss for a while waiting for some people to finish and taking some pictures before heading back to the base to shower and head out to get our flat fixed, then a post-race brunch and finally to Coronado Island to look around.

It took us about a half hour of driving around after we were finally cleaned up  to find a tire shop open on Sunday to fix our flat. We then headed over to The Broken Yolk Cafe to meet Paige and her family for brunch. We had originally planned to hit Old Town and Coronado Island, but settled for the Island only because we were both pretty tired. After driving around in the traffic for about 20 minutes we finally found a parking space and walked down to the beach and around the Hotel del Coronado. Unfortunately in my 3rd or 4th trip to the Del (known as Hotel Del by locals) we still managed to miss the tour of the hotel since only one is done on Sundays. After spending $23 on a scoop of homemade ice cream, a chocolate shake and a bottle of Sprite (talk about sticker shock!) we decided to call it a day and headed back to the base.

Coronado Beach

Hotel del Coronado

I ended up doing most of our laundry (thankfully I always pack some detergent since the laundry rooms were out) before dinner time. Dinner just had to be at L & L Hawaiian BBQ because if you know me at all, you know that I do love my Hawaiian BBQ!! The rest of the night was just spent packing and chilling before the long 15+ hour in one day drive home.

Travel Day: Monday, July 8, 2013

Driving into a fierce desert summer thunderstorm...
with bad windshield wipers.

We were up and out the door just after 6:30am after having Hawaiian BBQ leftovers for breakfast. The drive was uneventfull until about a hour or so west of Tucson when a huge thunderstorm hit and pelted us with sheets of water, enough that I had to pull to the side because my wipers wouldn't move any rain away. Talk about scary! We made it to Tucson for lunch and headed to Holloman AFB in New Mexico where we replaced my wiper blades and had dinner. We finally made it home right at midnight. Thankfully a relative calm hit and I stayed up until about 2:30am before finally going to sleep since I had swimming lessons at 6:15am.

What I liked about this race:
Meeting all my new and old friends. The great costumes worn by many people.

What I disliked about this race:
A trucker's cap, really? The expo at a running store...okay, it wasn't that I didn't like the fact it was at a running store, it was just too much temptation. Hills. Two long loops around the Qualcomm stadium parking lot (they're taking away 2 miles of this next year). Humidity.

Would I do this race again?
Probably, yes, but not in any rush to even though the medal is supposed to be a full inch larger next year.