a fair-ly fun run

i actually wasn't going to register for this year's OC fair 5K.  sure, i'd had fun last year, but the thought of making the trek down to costa mesa at some ungodly hour on a sunday morning didn't sound like something i wanted to do again.

but then when we found out that i'd won third place in the cookie competition and that the awards ceremony was on the same day as the run, i figured it was a sign.  the teen was interested in doing the run with me too, and we managed to talk the bean into joining us too.  although she wasn't super excited at the thought of doing the 3-mile run, we promised her that it would be fun with a couple of cool detours to play at.

it was cool and cloudy when we arrived at the start line.  because i knew we'd be walking most of this one, i brought a small backpack to put our goody bags and t-shirts in, so we wouldn't have to scamper back to the car to drop it all off before the run began.

she was...less than excited to be doing this.

although the promise of receiving one of these at the end cheered her up a little.

and this made her smile.

one of these things is not like the others...

i don't know what they were discussing here, but it looks pretty intense.

aaaaaaand we're off!

i ran into a couple of fellow superheroes along the way.

not long after the first mile, we entered the fairgrounds and the fun began.

"IT'S SO FLUFFY!!"

the bean was over it.  "i don't want to do this anymore," she said.  luckily, we came upon a water stop and she was a happy camper.

just beyond that, we arrived at the first "detour to fun."  i'd left my timing chip off on purpose, anticipating long lines at the fun stops.  i'm such a dork - i didn't want a super sucky finish time recorded in my name.

the bean balked a little at the sight of that giant slide, but the teen and i assured her that it would be fun. we let her pick which one of us to ride with (me), and then we headed up the stairs.

view from the top.

i thought she'd done just fine, but...

so despite the crazy long lines for the two carnival games that were open for us, we stuck it out and hoped one of us would win her a prize.

waiting for the slide and the games put us pretty far behind schedule.  so much so that the entrances to the few remaining fun detours were blocked by the time we got to them.  like, we didn't get to go and take silly pictures down on the stage at the amphitheater.

the teen took pity on her sister, who was just plumb tuckered out.

but when we got here, she put her down so we could run the remaining distance.

the triumphant finish.

when i caught sight of this, i thought of how awful it would've been had they run out of medals before we crossed the finish line.

yay for the bean's second 5K!