i am not a horse

even though it's not far from home, i got up bright and early for the santa anita derby day 5K.  i hate worrying about parking, and i'd much rather get there with time to spare than cut it close and stress about being late.  plus, i had cookies to wrap and deliver after the race, so it all worked out just fine.

of course, i arrived with a solid hour before the start time, and so i sat in my car staying warm and catching up on social media.  when i finally decided to head out, i checked out the start line expo (not much there, just people registering and picking up bibs with a few tents advertising upcoming races) and saw the horn blower dude at the start taking pictures with runners.

although i was happy and excited to run this race for the first time, my heart was most definitely on the west side, where i was missing the hollywood half for the first time in six years.

runners at this race are self-placed in the corrals.  there were corrals starting with 8-minute miles and went up from there.  i decided to go with my usual 11:00 pace, although with my recent lack of running mojo i knew that was likely being pretty generous.

i'm always amused when i see these at a 5K.  like, it's 3 miles with a water stop halfway through.  but hey, to each his own.

as the first few waves were released, we got to move up closer to the start line.  i'm not a horse, but i thought it was a pretty fun idea to run through the paddocks to kick off the run.

"run" was a bit of an exaggeration, as you can see from the video i took.

we started going through the parking lot, heading out towards the arboretum.

we crossed baldwin avenue and ran down the southbound side for a bit.

then we hung a left into the arboretum.

not too long after that, we hit the first mile marker.

i'd forgotten how pretty it was here.  the last time we came to the arboretum was quite a few years ago, for a family photo shoot.

guys, when i say my running mojo has disappeared, i mean like i was huffing and puffing and struggling to get through my 30:30 intervals.  but then i caught a glimpse of this guy and realized that i had no room to complain.

there were a few of arcadia's famous peacocks walking through the fields, which i of course totally missed in this selfie.

but i found one posing for all of the runners not too far away.

pretty soon, we were on our way out of the arboretum and back towards the race track.

i just barely managed to catch the mile 2 marker.  heh.

we went back in through some back lot where we found at least one horse watching us go by.

and then it was down through this tunnel:

which then let us out on the other side of the track.

this tunnel took us under the track and onto the infield area.

a local radio stations was setting up for a show later in the day.  i don't know who was performing, but i didn't have any plans to hang out for it anyway.

and then for the final stretch of the run, the course took us onto the track where the horses run.  on sand.  like running at the beach.  i HATE running on the beach, and even worse there had been just enough rain the night before to make it extra soft and extra tough to run on.  ugh.

i had had it by then, guys.  i tried running a bit and realized that it just wasn't gonna happen.  and so i gave up, slowed down to a brisk walk and decided to share the final stretch of the race with whoever might be interested in watching via facebook live.  i did a lot of bitching and moaning, with a good bit of encouragement from my facebook friends as they commented on my live video.  i don't know if the link will work, but here it is in case you want to crack up at my stream of complaining.

i finally crossed the finish line and got a text immediately that told me i'd done the 5K in 39 minutes.  that's...terrible.  my lack of training and whining definitely showed in my results, and so i realized that i really needed to get back to it.  i still enjoy doing 5Ks, so maybe i'll just stick to those for a while.

just past the finish this jockey was posing for pictures with his horse.

and then i stopped for a photo op with my first 5K medal of the year.  in april.  heheheheheh.

this table of post-race snacks made me snort a little.  again...i'm not a horse, guys.

but i was happy to snag a bar here:

and a protein drink here.

i joined the line to enter a raffle and get a free reusable bag from lorna jane until i remembered that 1. i don't need any more damn bags and 2.  i don't like how their clothing fits me.  so i left.

on my way out i stopped to gaze at the statue of seabiscuit.

and snagged a couple more fun shots.

as i got back to my car i noticed that the start was completely deserted, with one man who was trying to take down the tents where registration and bib pick-up had taken place.

i debated setting up my phone to do a jumpy picture, but noticed that there were a bunch of cars driving around in the parking lot next to me for the mall.  i settled for this instead:

it was a really fun race with a great course and sweet bling at the end.  i'm definitely down to do this race again next year.  maybe i'll even get the hub to join me...we'll see.