Hi, guys! Another drive-by posting here.
First, let me apologize. Life is crazy with work commitments, working on the after prom committee, planning for graduation weekend, dealing with DD17's drama revolving around breaking up with her boyfriend, prom tomorrow night, her friend arriving from Texas Friday, graduation this Sunday, etc., etc., etc.
The 5 miler Saturday was more onerous than I'd expected. The sun was blazing hot. The course is beautiful and the residents were out in front of their houses, encouraging participants. Many people had their hoses out and would spray you if you wanted. Also, the fire company had 2 pumpers out and were spraying water on the course.
The really odd thing was that by the time the walkers at my pace approached any water station, it was broken down from 6 or 8 tables total to one table on each side and you had to wade through many, many plastic cups to get to the very last tables to get water. It seems a better idea would have been to leave the earliest water tables set up at each water stop and clean up the others. Also, if you are going to rake up the plastic cups, do it from the middle of the course out, not the outside. Just a few observations.
Overall, it was extremely enjoyable. My gun time showed a 15:30 pace, but my garmin time was a very solid 15:15 pace. Unfortunately, at the finish, they were collecting bib stips by 3 different people with absolutely no precision on timing or order. So, I was really glad to have my Garmin to give me an accurate read.
I regret that I hadn't trained to do intervals for this race. I just hadn't put the steps in ahead of time, so I am grateful to have maintained the pace even in my unprepared state.
I learned a couple of things from this race.
What I did right:
1. Took aleve beforehand for my hip and stretched a lot, and it absolutely unequivocally made all the difference in the world. No noticeable pain at all.
2. Wore a visor. Sun was wicked, so having that shade my face a bit was a huge help.
What I would do differently:
1. We walked about 3 miles before the race because our car was parked so far away and because I wanted to walk the boardwalk. It was good to warm up, but I might have been a tad faster if I hadn't 'warmed up' so much.
2. Wicking material is critical in the heat. I wore a pair of wicking capris (not a bad choice, though shorts might have been better), but my shirt was cotton. Now I know.
3. I would have worn my hip pack to carry a camera and take pix along the course and to carry a water/gatorade bottle. The gatorade would have helped. And I am much better at drinking from a water bottle than I am drinking from a cup!
Finally -- my goal was to not finish last. And if I was next to last, I didn't want the person behind me to be someone on crutches!
Overall, for women, I placed 2761/3056.
I had told my best friend that, based on last year's results, there should be about 300 people behind me. There were, in fact, 295 women PLUS however many men behind me. So, goal met. Lessons learned. On to training next week for the
Disneyland Half. EEK!!!!
Love you guys and miss you all terribly. Will be back to catch up as soon as we survive at least the first wave of drama around here!
I loved the picture report too! I am so very proud of you! 
You set a goal for yourself and you went out and accomplished that goal! 
You can do ANYTHING that you set your mind to, Cam! 
I think the keys are to take this journey in baby steps and to celebrate each victory, large or small. 
I think it is really great how you give yourself regular goals. That's what I have in mind for myself, it's just putting it into action. How is your DD doing? You are a real inspiration to me-Thank you. 
and therefore, post to the threads that I am trying to keep up instead of trying to post here over and over again. It is really frustrating, too, to lose a post that you think posted because the server was busy. UGH!
Hope all is well. 
