we came in like a wrecking ball

when i saw that the ROC race was coming to soCA again this year, i signed up right away.  i'd had a blast the last time, and this time the old lady was coming with me.  the hub had originally planned to sign up, but he got hurt playing softball and ended up having to back out.

the race was at stub hub center in carson, which was a familiar sight to both of us.  remember a couple of months ago when we were background extras in a movie here?

although we'd paid to have our race packets mailed to us, they'd only mailed out the t-shirts and a postcard that said we still needed to pick up our wristbands on the morning of the race.  this was super annoying to me because it seemed that we'd basically paid for nothing.  their explanation was that the chip on the wristbands might experience some sort of interference while going through the postal service process.  whatever, man.  lots of other race companies that offer mailed packets send them and it's not an issue.

there were food trucks and concession stands setting up to take everyone's money at the end of the race.

we were in the first wave at 8am, so we headed right over to the start line.

she was really excited.  can you tell?

the announcer dude was really energetic and tried his hardest to get the crowd hyped up.  it was funny to watch his antics from way back behind the crowd.

after we crossed the start, there was a stretch of about a quarter of a mile to jog across before we hit the first obstacle.

it was a pretty simple one - just climb the ladder and slide down the other side.  easy peasy.

just a few feet away was the next obstacle.  she really hates getting wet, but she sucked it up and grabbed a tube anyway.

we were soaked from head to toe after this one, but that was okay.  it was getting warm, and the water felt great.

i think "the sweeper" was next, but i didn't get a picture of it for some reason.  you had to climb up and then walk across a pretty narrow walkway, timing it so that you didn't get smacked by the giant rotating inflatable arm.  we both managed to make it across, but fell off right at the end.  i'm blaming it on my wet shoes, which made it extra slippery.  yeah.

the wrecking balls were next.  i was successful with this one last time around, but my confidence was a little shaken after falling off the sweeper.  and the same thing happened - i slipped off right when i thought i was safe.

"the drop" was next.  the old lady dubbed it the "titanic," because it looked like it from one angle.  and it was her least favorite because it was almost like a freefall, but i loved it.  and there was more water at the end of it.

this next one was similar - you climbed up the ladder using the rope to pull yourself up, and then slid down the other side.

the "jump balls" was where disaster struck.  you had to jump off onto the first ball and try to make your way across the other three to get to the other side.  i pretty much knew i'd fail at this one, but i tried it anyway.  and, of course, i barely landed onto the first ball and then fell right off.  damn.

but the old lady landed wrong, twisting her ankle at the very end.  she said it hurt, but felt strong enough to continue on and finish the race.  and so we kept going.

next up was something called the "leap of faith."

this didn't sink in completely until we got in line and noticed one girl go up the ladder, take one look at the other side and come back down the slide.  we looked at each other and decided that we'd better go check things out before we got to the front of the line - and saw this:

you're jumping right off of that ledge from the top, no slides or ropes or anything.  hell to the fuck no.  we peaced right outta that one and jogged our happy asses to the next thing.  besides, with the old lady's ankle, we had to be careful about which obstacles we chose to do.  and the next one looked pretty easy - just climbing over the inflatable walls.  we got through them pretty quickly.

the next one was a little more spartan-esque - another wall to climb over.  this one she definitely opted out of, but i went for it.

the giant slip-and-slide was our most favorite obstacle of them all.  we sprinted right up to it, hopped on and slid our way to the other end.  well, at least we tried.  we lost steam about halfway through and had to get up and walk off of it, but it was so much fun!

the barrel bounce was next.  you had to heave yourself up and over the barrel-shaped walls...about four or five of them.  this one was fun, but i somehow managed to land funny after the last one and ended up with a really weird feeling in my right foot.  it wasn't twisted or turned, but it didn't feel right.  luckily, it wasn't so bad that i was done.  like the old lady, i decided to fight through it and get to the finish.

we were both pretty stoked when we spotted another slip-and-slide up ahead, even though we did exactly the same thing and only slid down about halfway.  oh well.

then there was a pretty decent stretch of straight out running, but it was mostly downhill and easy to get through.

it came as a bit of a surprise to both of us when we turned the corner and realized we were almost done.  and i'm pretty sure she wouldn't admit it, but i think we were both a little bummed to see that it was almost over.  it had been a really fun course, and my nike+ app measured it at exactly 5K.

look at how tall this thing was!

fin.

don't know if i'd do it again, though.  i was pretty annoyed with their lack of organization in the parking lot and trying to figure out where to enter the venue and then packet pick-up...ugh.  the course itself was a blast, though, so while i tweeted #neveragain...well, we'll see.

turkey trotting

a few months ago, the old lady and i scored a sweet deal via living social for the turkey trot l.a. - a 5K through downtown los angeles on thanksgiving morning.  it's not my first time at this race, although i missed it last year.  and this time around, the old lady was in perfect health and ready to run with me.

after a bit of a snafu with the prepaid parking - aka us driving around in circles trying to get to the one lot that the prepayment worked at, only to find that all the surrounding streets were closed and ending with us parking at another lot after forking over another $10 - we made it to the start line.

although i was rocking my super awesome running vest (because it was 50 degrees and this so cal girl doesn't function too well in those temperatures without proper attire), i still managed to rep team superhero.  kind of like clark kent, only without the glasses.

hey, a news van!

we took a quick look around at the vendor tents.

and then we took a photo with gayle anderson, one of the reporters from local station KTLA.  it was fun to meet her and she let everyone hold her microphone in all of their pictures.

you know i can't ever pass up a photo op.

at the booth for the new year's race, i ran into one of fellow team superheroes.

and then after the national anthem was played, the gun went off and we finally got that show on the road.  we jogged along, weaving around and through other runners and walkers, and kept up a fairly decent pace...until we hit the first hill.

it was a gorgeous day.  also, i've still never been to the walt disney concert hall.  hmmm.  must remedy that someday soon.

i saw the first mile marker when we came up on it, but there were way too many people in front of me to get a shot of it.  instead, i got the other two:

almost done!

and then...it was over.  i ended up coming in 48th out of 152 women in my age division, she was #62 out of 118 in hers.  and there were over 2,500 total runners in the 5K.  not terrible, right?

we collected our bling, grabbed bottles of water and bounced outta there.

after all, it was thanksgiving day and we'd just burned a bunch of calories.  no better way to prep for a full day of eating, amirite?