not such a lazy river after all

on saturday morning, i dragged the tired teen out of bed to join me and our friend kelley at the wet & wild 5K, held at knott's berry farm in buena park.  i'd somehow managed to talk her into volunteering at an aid station during the run, and i hoped it would be fun enough to keep her from strangling me for it later.

it was blessedly overcast with temperatures in the mid-60s.  perfect for a run.

kelley and dropped the teen off here and set out to find the start line.

chik-fil-A was a big sponsor of the run.  they even had a dude dressed up as a cow running the race - if you beat the cow, you won a free sandwich.

later, we met up with mr. lilcee and my friend winnie's husband, who told us that they'd watched the cow head right to the front of the runners waiting to start.  they said the guy must've been a marathon runner or something, because he stayed in front and kicked everybody's asses.  dang.  guess he didn't really want to hand out free sandwich coupons.

after we perused the pace placards for the corrals, kelley and i kept it real and placed ourselves in the one just before the walkers and strollers.

and then we were off!

this turned out to be one of the most fun runs i've done yet - almost the entire course wound around knott's berry farm, through a tunnel, and then into the water park.

i would've loved to stop in here for some delicious fried chicken.

now, the most interesting twist about this run was that the last third of a mile took you through the lazy river.  as in, you were in the water about waist deep - 2'6", to be exact.  the next few photos are via my iPhone, which was safely snuggled inside of a ziploc baggie.

this one makes me laugh, because you can totally see the bag.

after squishing in wet socks and shoes for just a bit of a stretch, it was over.

this guy's face totally cracks me up.

i wondered if this guy would be on a plate at the chicken dinner restaurant later that day.

my timing chip managed to survive the trek through the water.  thank goodness i'd double-knotted it.

group photo!

and i had to have this.  she looks stoked, don'tcha think?

we made a quick pitstop before heading home.  the teen and i giggled over her giving the barista this name instead of hers.

why yes, we did indeed go to starbucks wearing our sparkle skirts, finisher's medals, and soaking wet pants/socks/shoes.

but it was SO much fun.  seriously, this is definitely on the calendar for a repeat next year.  best 5K EVER.  my final results:

official chip time:  36:21.  that lazy river completely screwed me up, considering i'd run at least half of it without stopping for a walk break.  but cooling off in it and just the novelty of it totally made up for the lag in my overall pace.
out of 2,564 runners who finished without taking the "walk of shame" - otherwise known as wussing out and not going through the river - i came in #703.
and out of the 189 females in my age group, i was 27th.

not too bad, right?  i'm pretty happy with those results.