Dana Point Turkey Trot, recap

This race originally was pitched by Snork, following her Warrior Dash trip. She wanted to do the 10K, until she was reminded that is TWICE the length of a 5K. Heh.

Somehow, the Snork's didn't even REGISTER. Leaving me to run alone. I mean, H was there, but he's quick, so I didn't even see him after the starting line.

And this is how I ended up driving to Dana Point at 7am in this weather...

Brrr.

THANKFULLY, I was decked out in my Race Socks...

Cute, right?

Anyway, we get there, super early because we still needed to pick up packets and find parking... Which was a chore. But we found parking, about 3/4 of a mile away, and wandered down to the expo area. Down a cliff. A giant, giant cliff. At least it was a pretty walk, and warmed us up.

Pick up and bag check was manned by a giant group of disorganized kidlets - seriously, I'd guess middle schoolers, and a LOT of them. I saw more people freaking out about bags they couldn't locate, than people happily retrieving bags and going on their way. But, we picked up our race swag (cute neon yellow bag, non-hideous shirt, random snacks, and an effton of papers :D), re-packed the bag with our jackets, and checked them in, then headed over to the staging area.

This race was.a.mess. Seriously, a hot mess. There was something like 12,000 people participating, and kids running around, and PETS, people brought PETS and it was awful. I can deal with crowds, I was prepared to dodge and weave for awhile, but... seriously. Leashed dogs?? Ugh.

So I purposely placed myself behind what looked like the Serious Runners, and just in front of the Dog and Kid Brigade.

The first mile was great - it was congested, but I was expecting that. I felt good... no. I felt AMAZING. I hit mile 1 at just over 9 minutes - which is stupid, I don't run that fast, and I was intending to finish in 33 minutes... I knew I couldn't keep it up, but I was pleased.

Then the obnoxiousness started.

Some giant corporate team had a bazillion kids running as well - and they were darting in and around the runners. Followed closely by some woman dragging a smaller kid by the hand - literally, dragging him between the runners.

Yep. Me and at least two other girls went down.

The chick running with the group of heathens glanced down, and GIGGLED. Yep.. She sure did. Gigged. "Ooops! Sorry!" And bolted off. Which, let's be honest, I heard later that I looked pretty homicidal, so she may have feared for her life.

Anyway. The rest of this was ugly. I limped around after that for about a half a mile, and did a slow jog/walk/shuffle until the end. I was pissed, and hurting, and pissed, and wanted to kick some kids. I refrained, though. Somehow. :D

All told, I did NOT hit my goal of 33 minutes.

But, my knee is still swollen, and it hurts a lot, and this is significantly better than CDM was. So... I'll take it.

It could have been worse.