My 1st 5k DONE!!! :)

Well - I did it!

I cannot tell you how much I truly truly enjoyed my race! I have re-started this sentence a million times it seems!  Oui Vey!

Saturday Afternoon: 12:00pm
Finally on the road after a doing laundry, dishes & an ATM stop.   With my husband (Foxtrot) in tow, we sat in Bumper to Bumper traffic all the way from Aliso Viejo to Cardiff by the Sea - ugh!  The hour and a half drive to San Diego turned into a 3 hour road trip! :(  

First stop in San Diego - The Wrong Location
I like to pride myself on being great with directions and an excellent planner; this stop, well, was altered my sheer excitement.  I pulled up to J Street and 13th in San Deigo, close to Petco Park...No one was there; but they were setting up the "merch" tables for the next day's race.  After paying $5 in the "pay before you leave" box and talking to the nice Police woman, she kindly told us we were on the wrong side of town and where we needed to be was over 20 blocks away on C Street somewhere!  Whoops.

We finally arrived to the old City Hall in San Diego I believe is what they said, paid $5 again for parking and make our way to the EXPO!  We followed the Blue & Red Hot Chocolate 5k String backpacks into this amazing hall in the heart of San Diego.

We walked in, checked in and collected our Goody Bags - I got a Blue bag with the Women's Sweatshirt, and my husband got the Red bag with Men's Sweatshirt.  Tried them on and LOVED them!  Such great Amazing quality - totally unexpected.

We looked around at the different booths around the EXPO, got free samples of
ZipFizz,
and
Biscoff Spread along with marshmallows with chocolate fondu and of course, Giardelli Hot Chocolate.

And Then - The Most Amazing, Fantastic, Wonderful, HUGE and Enthralling...Photo Op!


Following the EXPO, we went to this amazing Tea Lounge - Cafe Bassam - a True Man's Tea House.  Along with Tea's Galore (Loose Leaf), they sold Cigars and had guns and duck painting decorating the walls.  We enjoyed the atmosphere of teachers grading papers along with sipping our pipping hot tea while French music serenaded us in the background.

Then Dinner - The Great Maple
I had the Best, and I mean the Best - Sockeye Salmon, I've ever had!  I almost had to lick the plate clean.

Back to the hotel for a couple hours of flipping back an forth from the channels, watching a few MMA fights and some bad movies.  Eventually around 10pm We shut off the lights to go to sleep...in the double bed with the sink hole in the middle.  The room was stuffy, so the gigantic wall fan was on "auto fan" and blew directly on me all night - cold, then hot, then cold, then hot - and there was a flood light outside of the window that had only shades NO CURTAINS!  I had the worst sleep ever!  I can't even fully describe it.

San Diego - 52degrees
5:15am - WAKE UP!
6:00am - Leave & try to find someplace to park the car - this took about 30 minutes.
6:30am - Get booty's to our "corrals"
6:40am- Kiss hubby, wish him good luck - he went to corral A, I went to corral B
6:45am- First Horn Start (Corral A)
6:48am- Second Horn Start (Corral B)

Once my horn blares, I turn up the volume on my Google Play - I begin to set my pace.  After weaving in and out a the slow pokes in-front of me, I find myself running!  I ran and ran, and sprinted and jogged and then walked a bit, and then ran and ran...We lapped around Balboa Stadium and - Down Hill!  WOOT!  At about mile 1.3 I could feel my endorphins kicking in, and then came the beverage station and I downed Gatorade like a freaking Olympian!  I felt really cool. ;)  I kept on going, rocking out to my tunes and then I made the left turn and felt the heat in my calves...I looked up and saw.....The Gigantic Hill before me!  Oh NO!  I jogged it a bit, but then decided 4 city blocks of running up a hill was opportunity to walk swiftly, while removing my arm band from my arm, removing my jacket, tying it around my waist and putting the band back on my arm.  By the time I reached the top, I sprinted down that hill and passed everybody!  That felt great!  I can start hearing the party music over my own earphones, I run around a couple blocks and see polic cars lights flashing, music is getting louder, a supporter on the side of the road with a cow bell and there it is, The Finish Line!  I can do it! I Can!  I push, I sprint, I can feel the nausea building in my stomach, the music "It's almost Over Now" (Most fitting) playing in my ears - I reach the Finish Line!




I did it













I think 10min 27sec is pretty damn awesome! Considering in high school I had over a 19 minute mile!  And Look!  I was 204 out of 856 female runners in my age group - I know it's no Gold Medal, but it's my starting point! 

I had a blast!  There was something so exillerating and fun about running next to hundreds of people, pacing yourself with someone else (who doesn't know it) and just breathing the fresh air!  I cannot describe the high I felt running & jogging in the cool 55degree San Diego Weather!  I will do it again - no Doubt!

Thank you for reading, thank you for following and thank you for supporting!  I can't wait to keep running and keep making progress!