a super fun run

hell has frozen, folks.  go look out your window and check for flying swine, because the unthinkable actually happened:

the hub joined me for a 5K.

can you believe it?  although i have to admit that i felt kinda bad as i watched him get out of bed at the ungodly hour of 5:30 - on a saturday, no less - to go out into the chilly morning air for a run.  but i was pretty excited to share the experience with him, and we'd chosen a pretty fun race to do.  it was at angels stadium, and judging from the traffic we encountered at the freeway off-ramp, a very popular run indeed.

we managed to make our way into the parking lot and find a pretty decent spot before heading over towards the start line.

don't we look happy?

i never knew the angels had a mascot aside from the rally monkey, but this guy was perched at the start line, waving at everyone as we began our 3.1 miles.

it was so crowded, with the usual walls of people who just can't seem to grasp the concept of walking no more than two abreast.  we managed to stay together for the first mile or so, and then i lost him as we tried to maneuver our way around the hordes of fellow racers.

the course had some pretty decent inclines, and i tried my best to continue to keep up at least a jogging pace.  by the time i reached the second mile marker, i was pooped and my shins and arches were killing me.

those aches and pains, by the way, are most definitely not a good thing.  that's usually the first sign that my shoes are worn out and need to be replaced.  i'd felt it during my last couple of runs, but had hoped it was just because i was tired at the time.  now, normally this would be cause for celebration - woohoo, time to go shoe shopping! - but this time...not so much.  and why?  well, because i have the hollywood half marathon coming up this weekend.  so now i'm faced with quite a conundrum.  do i suck it up and wear these shoes, risking possible injury and definite soreness for days, or do i forge ahead with the shopping, wear them for at least one test run and hope that's enough to break them in for the half?  decisions, decisions.

so anyway, back to the race.  it didn't take too tremendously long before i found myself heading back towards the stadium to run triumphantly through it.

except that i didn't want to do it without the hub.  after all, we'd started this thing together - i sure wasn't going to do the fun part solo!  so i stopped near the entrance and scanned the crowd, looking for him.

together we scurried down the ramp and through the tunnel.

man, we couldn't have run through this if we'd tried.  there were so many people stopped here and there, taking pictures and just hanging out.  i mean, i get it.  it's cool as hell to be down there when you're used to being up in the stands somewhere.

so you know what?  if you can't beat 'em, suck it up and join 'em.

when i was waiting for the hub outside, my friend nessdogg spotted me and waved a hello.  i caught up to her and managed to snap this:

more shots from the inside.

as we exited the stadium, the mile 3 marker gave us a kick in the ass and we picked up the pace.

all done!

the hub's next appearance at a race is coming in a couple of weeks.  in fact, the bean is going to be all up in the mix too.  the mud run she begged me to sign her up for is almost here, and i'm really excited to see how it all turns out.

you can bet there will be pictures.  lots and lots of 'em.  just you wait.

stuff

do you like spaghetti-o's?  i love 'em.  the others in my family, not as much as me.  but when i found this recipe for "grown-up spaghetti-o's" via twitter, i had to give it a shot.  plus, it was a super easy recipe using things i already had in the kitchen and i was feeling extra lazy about cooking that night (as i seem to be every night lately, oy vey).

when the most arduous task in a recipe is cooking pasta, you know it's gonna be a winner.  as is the inclusion of a full stick of butter (although the next time i make this - and there will be a next time - i'll likely cut down on that part, as crazy as that sounds).  all you do is mix everything together, top it with shredded cheddar, and cover it till it heats through and melts the cheese.

the ingredient list was almost embarrassingly simple and short, and yet it came out SO good.  this stuff was dee-lish-us, people.  you must try it, stat.  and yes, i used oriecchette, which we like to call "mickey mouse ears" instead of round pasta.  it held the sauce nicely.

oh, also - the teen's official graduation announcements have arrived.  MAH BAY-BEEE!

and just for fun, here's the bean with a mustache.

how's that for a random post, huh?

partyin' partyin' YEAH!

the bean's school easter party totally snuck up on me this year. i'd had grand plans to make some cute little easter bunny cookies for her class, and i just plain ol' ran out of time. oops. 

i'd actually given up on the whole idea of a class giveaway and embraced my slacker mom-ness until i walked into target and found a bunch of these on sale. rainbow peeps on a stick? excellent.  i threw together a quickie label and that was that.

i busted out my fun limited-edition shabby chic toms for the occasion.

here's the bean's party 'do:

the kids are prepping for the upcoming open house, and the teacher is really on top of things. she's already started putting up their hard work, and i got a chuckle out of this.

the first order of party business was a fun paper plate bunny craft. as she always is, the bean was super excited to show me what a good student she is.

then it was time for some real fun: hunting for easter eggs in the empty preschool playground.  armed with little bunny baskets they'd decorated themselves and the "you can each find five eggs" rule, they were set free.

their party treat was brought in by the room mom, and it was really cute. that's half of a sprinkle-covered donut with a candy bunny on it that would normally be hella creepy if he weren't so damn tasty.

i can't stop giggling at the unintentional photobomb in this shot.

i love getting to play in the classroom for these little parties. the time goes by so fast, and before I know it she'll be graduating from high school like her big sister. make it stop! 

or, at least, slow down a little.

will run for chocolate

my alarm went off far too early on the morning of the hot chocolate 5K. we're talking 5:15 here, people.  i tell you, these runs always seem like such a great idea when i'm registering for them. but those early morning wake-up calls are brutal.  anyway, with kelley due to pick me up at ten to 6, i scrambled to get myself ready as quietly as i could. with three sleeping friends in the room, i didn't want to cause a ruckus. i'm nice like that.

gotta love the live weather reports in the elevator.

we managed to find parking pretty easily, and stopped in front of the marshmallow man for a pre-race photo.

  

they really take their corral placement seriously.

the sign guy for our corral looked really excited to be there.

finally,we moved up towards the start line to wait for our release.  like cattle.

look at how many people were still behind us! i spied people wearing bibs that put them in corrals all the way back to M. dang.

 

as we finally got going, i was really surprised to find out that san diego is a lot hillier than i'd expected. we ran along some streets that were on a gnarly ass incline. happily, the first mile marker came up pretty quickly.

you can't tell so much from my crappy ass in-motion photography, but yeah...there were hills.  right as i passed the halfway mark, i found myself staring up at a really long, super jacked up series of hills to climb.

i was pretty stinking happy to finally teach the top, make a u-turn, and start heading back down.

one more mile to go!

as always, regardless of the length of the run, the final mile is the hardest for me to complete.

yay for finish lines! my motivation for every race i do.

i really need to stop wearing this shirt.  it's not really one of those fast-drying tech shirts and i always end up so sweaty and gross.

i decided to head into the merchandise tent to see if there was anything good.  that's where kelley eventually found me.

after dropping a little cash on a cute sweatshirt, we headed over to the chocolate tent for our reward. there was quite an organized assembly line going on in there, run entirely by volunteers.

was it worth it - early wake-up call, brutal hills, sweaty finish? um, hell yes!

you wouldn't think hot chocolate would be particularly appealing at a time like this, but it was damn tasty.

i also had a pretty good time dipping goodies into the gooey chocolate fondue.

the post-race shot.

bye bye, petco park!

if this ain't the breakfast of champions, i don't know what is.

it would be so awesome if they brought this race to the l.a. area. i'd totally do it again. i mean, wouldn't you?