five years running

after doing it for the last four years, running the OC fair 5K seems to be a tradition for me.  it's always a good time, and because there are always those "fun detours" along the way, it's one that i never run hoping for a decent finish time.

this year, with the old lady nursing a sore ankle (but not wanting to miss out on the race), i was prepared to do a lot of walking.  totally fine, since i hadn't done a lot of running anyway.  i don't do a lot of summertime running because i'm a delicate flower who can't really handle being out there when it's over 75 degrees.

i was pretty excited to bust out my newest sparkle athletic skirt for the occasion:

we got there fairly early so we could snag a decent parking spot and allow us plenty of time to grab our bibs and t-shirts.  we killed some time sitting in the car, and then when it was about 15 minutes till go time we headed over towards the start.

as usual, my friend rudy novotny was the race announcer and i'm pretty sure i was beaming when he rattled off a list of shout-outs for a handful of runners by name...including me.  we listened to carrie underwood's rendition of the national anthem, and then we were off.

we got almost to the first mile marker before the old lady finally decided she needed a break and we slowed down to a walk.

and not long after that, the guy in first place was making his way towards the finish line.  yeah.  we weren't even halfway through and he was pretty much done.

no biggie, though.  we finally went through the gate and found ourselves inside the fairgrounds amongst all the fun stuff.

pretty soon, we were at the first "fun detour" - the basketball throw and the break-a-plate toss.

i totally missed the basket, but i was super stoked when i hucked the softball as hard as i could and broke one of the plastic plates in half.

we said hello to the horsies and passed the 2-mile marker.

by the way, if you happen to be running a race, especially one where the course becomes pretty damn narrow in some parts, please don't do this shit.  save it for strolling through the fair as you hunt for a churro or something.

fun detour #2 - the super slide!

there were photo ops with the fair food mascots, but we'd already wasted plenty of time at the detours and the walking.  i snapped a few quick shots as we passed by.

from previous experience, i knew we were almost done by the time we got here:

this was somewhat new, though.  i didn't remember this little pavilion before entering the amphitheater having been there before.  or it was there and i was totally oblivious.  could go either way.

i haven't stopped at fun detour #3 since my first go-round at this race.  and since we really weren't in a hurry at all, we decided to scamper down the stairs and take advantage of the photo op.  it's kind of cool to stand down there and look out at the audience - basically the only time i can pretend i'm a legit rock star.

and then it was time to head back to the course and finish off this sucker.

all done!  yay!

i even got to sneak in a quick hello and photo with my friend rudy.  he's such a sweet guy.

by now, you probably know that starbucks is my go-to for a post-race beverage.  we took turns heading into the restroom to get cleaned up and changed for a little disneyland fun, and i'd packed a couple of these for us to use.  they're seriously a lifesaver for times like this.

see?  all cleaned up.

it was a pretty busy day at the 'land, and our first stop when we got through the gates was to grab a fastpass for our favorite ride:

we were starving so we headed over to rancho del zocalo for some delicious mexican food.

afterwards, we spent a little time browsing through the shops and hanging out doing some peoplewatching.  our fastpass time came pretty quickly, and after this:

we were done.  it'd been quite a day, and we headed home and collapsed on the couch for nap time.

until next year, OC fair!
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