run for your life 5K

so i was oddly dreaming that the run for your life 5K was somehow in NJ and that i needed to print out the directions for lindsay, when all of a sudden, i woke up, looked at my alarm clock, and saw that it was 7:33!!! and of course, the CD symbol was blinking, which meant that the CD hadn't been able to play and get me up at 6:45 -- my original wake-up time. to be honest, i'm utterly SHOCKED and DISMAYED that alarm clocks don't have a fall-back beeping mechanism so that these kinds of situations don't happen. grrrr!

i raced out to my phone, only to realize that i'd already gotten 2 missed calls from lindsay, who was supposed to pick me up at 7:30. (sorry, linds!) thankfully, i didn't wake up at 8:30 or something crazy like that. so in a lightning-speed-span of 5-10 minutes, i brushed my teeth, threw on sweats, grabbed my phone and keys, and raced out w/my bag and some fruit. this was certainly NOT the way i'd hoped to start my weekend, but alas, shit happens. grrrr! thank goodness for packing up the night before. whew!

w/in 15-20 minutes, we made it down to playa del rey. i don't remember the last time i was this far south (other than going to SD), but it was actually a really nice day. we'd been worried it was going to rain or some nonsense (given the horridly wet week), but we were saved from any more downpours. we were unfortunately made to wait a bit too long (in my opinion), as we were slowly turning into popsicles. (and yes, i know it's not THAT cold. but standing around, it sure felt that way!) thankfully, our daydreams of cafe lattes kept us going. that and random people watching.

we noticed some interesting clusters of people, particularly some yuppy white folks (which isn't meant to be rude in ANY way, b/c they did look yuppy and they were indeed white) and some annoying asian kids (who were both annoying and asian). some runs tend to be a bit more diverse, which made these groups stick out more than usual. i also noticed some cute interracial couples (specifically asian/white), which surprisingly enough (to me, at least), seem way more plentiful in LA than in NY. (by this, i mean the interracial element, not the cute element.) it's interesting how race is so salient in my perceptions of social situations. a soc prof asked me about this a few years ago. at the time, my immediate thought was, when is race NOT salient? thinking about it, though, i suppose race isn't necessarily the first thing that comes to mind for most people. then again, that begs the question, why not?

after what i thought was way too much time waiting around, the race finally started around 9AM. and i have to say that i think we did quite awesome. the organizers made us go in a makeshift circle, heading up the running path for about 1.2 miles, turning around and coming back on the other side, and then turning around again and coming back on the original side. this seemed *much* easier than the track given the changing scenery. plus there's something motivating about running w/people and even having them pass by you on the opposite side of the running path. it really does make it seem like a team effort! (i told linds we should make buttons.)

at the end, we made it in a little over 33 minutes, which depending on the accuracy of the timer, puts us at approximately an 11-minute mile. i think we both agreed that that was quite good! our next run will be the annual run/walk @ UCLA, where the proceeds will go to the mattel children's hospital. i did the run last year in about 33 minutes as well, so let's see if i can beat my own time -- or at least make it in the original time! i mean, let's not be *too* ambitious.