last day in ca... sad!

when I was booking my ticket, I asked sarah if there was a more convenient time to take me to the airport – would she prefer morning/afternoon/evening. She told me she had something to do sun morning, but mid afternoon would work well for her. I was curious about what was going on sun morning, but I figured since she didn’t say what she didn’t really want to say. Well, then I got an email saying that she was going to run in the Redondo beach 10k and I was all, what!? You don’t run! But as it turns out miss sarah does indeed run these days and I am so proud of her and her efforts! So, we woke up early on Sunday and drove to Redondo – I think the race started at 830? I can’t remember. Anyways, we parked the car and trekked to the area to pick up our t-shirts where we also found one of sarah’s coaches who is a ridiculously fast runner and was an ‘elite’ runner in college or something. I think he said he ran a 4 something mile. Someday I’ll be there… right… anyways. We met a few other team members and then it was time to head over to the start line. It was freezing. I was so cold! But, I knew it warm up fast as soon as we started running. As I usually do I ran the first mile which is dumb b/c then I get off my pace and I tire out quicker, but I never learn my lesson. I think in part b/c there are so many people and you kinda get run over if you don’t run. And plus with all the excitement, it’s hard to stay on pace! Sarah and I stayed together for a little bit and then we split up.

The course was beautiful for the most part b/c we ran down pch (I think it was pch… whatever they call that portion right along the beach). It was super sunny but nonetheless the glare wasn’t too bad off the ocean. It’s a hillier course than I’m used to here in flat Chicago, but it’s the kind of hilly that is a long grade and so you don’t really notice it too much until you get to go downhill. By notice, let me clarify: it feels much tougher, but you can’t figure out why it’s harder until you finally realize you’ve been steadily going uphill. Now, a 10k is just a little more than 6 miles which is a nice length. However, it is so not so nice when you are about 5.5 miles along and then there is a huge hill. And by huge, holy crap this thing was steep. I walked the whole way up and I was still about to die when I reached the top so I had to walk some more before getting back in to my pace. I crossed the line around 1hr 17mins which is pretty darn good for me. I’ll take it! I had planned to meet sarah back by the jack fm tent, but I figured she wouldn’t be that much further back than me and people were waiting at the finish line so I thought I would too and then I could be her cheerleader… I kept looking over at the tent to make sure that she wasn’t over there and never saw her. But apparently, her shins/legs were killing her and wouldn’t work for her so she was unable to finish.

So we walked back to the car, we were see that a car has blocked us in! are you kidding?! So rude!! So while we were pondering what we were going to do, a car in front and over one space came to the car. Thank god. b/c I had been trying to help sarah maneuver in the very small amount of room we had between the two cars blocking us (it was a dirt patch area) and trying to somehow get out of the small spot behind us to the right. We weren’t doing so well at that. The guys who ended up helping us agreed that the truck behind us was super rude and then they moved there car and helped sarah get her car out through their spot. They were so nice! Who knows how long we would have been stuck there. To properly thank that nice truck who blocked us in, sarah left a great note on their windshield. I believe that note is captured on her blog if you’d like to know what it said. So with the car out, we headed on our way.

Sarah needed to stop by her office, so I got to see where all my emails get read and where she spends her days. I’m kind of weird, but I enjoy seeing where people work and their office atmosphere. It gives me such a better idea of what people are talking about when I can visualize it.

After that, we headed home where I had about 30 mins before I had to jump in the shower to get ready for my flight. So, we decided to flop on the couch and relax. Sarah fell asleep and I had to be careful not to do that… I needed a shower … I doubt anyone would want to sit next to me on a flight with my stinky self for 4 hours! So I got ready and then it was time to go to the airport. Sarah was kind enough to drive me and I was beyond sad that my ca week was coming to an end. It was an awesome awesome week as I knew it would be and I’m so glad I was able to see all of you!! I can’t wait to come back…