what football game?

i didn't realize until just recently that in my quest to conquer even more races in 2013, i'd booked back-to-back-to-back-to-back runs for the entire month of february.  like, my calendar has a race on it on every sunday for the whole month.  when i sent my list of calendar items to the hub recently, i totally got a cyber side-eye for it.  yikes.

the very next day after the color run, i was back in the car bright and early heading out to carpool with mr. lilcee to the redondo super bowl sunday 10K.  our original plan was for me to bring the bean, drop her off with lilcee and mini cee, and then they were going to head out to disneyland to play.  then i was to head home to shower, pick up the teen, and we'd go down to meet up with them.  but since the bean ended up totally out of commission for the day, we had to scrap the whole idea and let her stay home to rest.  she was so bummed to miss out on a super fun playdate, but i assured her there would be lots of other opportunities.  and she was feeling so icky, she didn't put up much of a fuss.  that's how i knew how horrible she truly felt.

mr. lilcee has done this particular race a number of times before, so he volunteered to drive us out.  but somehow we didn't end up down at the beach until about ten minutes before the start of the run.  we actually had to jog down to the race expo in order to pick up our bib and still make it on time.  oops.  and we were literally still pinning those bibs on and heading over to join the crowd as the gun went off.  whew - we really cut it close, but it was all good.

for me, 10K is still a rather daunting distance.  this sounds silly considering the half marathons i've completed (as well as the sucky long training runs for them), but that 6.2 miles always seems like more of a challenge for me than any other.  i don't know why.  odd, huh?  although the cool thing is that with every new10K i do, i somehow manage to shave off a minute here and there and end up with a new PR.

there was a lovely stretch of the course that took us along the beach.  it was an unseasonably warm morning, and i was happy to feel the ocean breeze.

i'm not sure at which point this was taken, but here you go.  you can totally see my tired ass huffing and puffing as i scurried towards that finish line.

i was making pretty good time, feeling like i could possibly continue the streak of new 10K PRs until i found myself at the bottom of this very steep hill.  i think i even groaned and said "are you KIDDING me right now?" out loud as i approached it.

i'm not gonna lie.  i stopped trying to run and walked my happy ass all the way up that damn incline.  with hills like that, i find that when i walk them, i'm pretty much going as fast as i would if i were running anyway.  so screw it, i just save my energy and walk as quickly as i can.

this strategy totally paid off as i turned the corner and finally caught a glimpse of the finish line.  and i don't know where it came from, but i caught a crazy burst of energy and i found myself sprinting like a madwoman for the last few hundred yards until my feet hit that timing strip and i was done.

i look pretty happy, don't i?

up ahead was the finish line festival.  i went over to check it out and realized that the hordes of people lined up were waiting for their free beer.  no, thanks.

my mom had mentioned that she was volunteering here.  i'd looked unsuccessfully for her at the water stations, so i sashayed around the vendor booths until i found her.  yay for my mama!

we chatted for a few and then she went back to work as i headed over to another booth to get a gander at the medal i'll be earning next weekend:

this run is sponsored by kaiser permanente.  they even had a mobile medical center where they were offering free physicals.  hey, why not?

i had my weight, blood pressure, and BMI checked out (i'm all good, in case you were wondering), but the nurse totally threw me for a loop when she said "okay, i'm going to do a quick sugar test so i'm just going to do a little finger stick."

ACK.  i hate needles.  i don't like anything involving sharp objects prodding around for some of my nice, warm blood.  i protested for a nanosecond and then tried to laugh it off:  "i'm such a baby, haha!"  she told me that even the big burly men balked at this part and assured me that it was no big deal.  i looked away as she started swabbing with the alcohol wipe, and then i felt her place something on my finger.  i held my breath as i heard a clicking noise and realized - oh!  she wasn't kidding!  it really didn't hurt at all, and i barely felt it.  whee!

i'm all good in that department too, by the way.  thanks for worrying about me.

mr. lilcee hadn't been able to connect with his friends who'd also run the race, and so with the big football game looming ahead and me wanting to get back home to tend to the ailing bean, we got outta there and headed back towards home.

the lilcee family may very well get sick and tired of us, as we've got plans to hang out for the next two weekends in a row.  heh.  i better bake them something delicious to make up for it.