Insane Inflatable 5K – 2017

This last weekend was my last run of the year.  Okay, last paid for run; I still plan to run a couple of times a week around my condo.  It was the Insane Inflatable 5K, which was being held in Pasadena.

It was actually on the grounds of a country club.  I could tell that we were running on what used to be part of a course, but it didn’t look like it currently was in use.  It certainly wasn’t in use that day.  I suspect the course was actually 2.5 miles, but I have no way of clocking it.

As the name suggests, there was no mud or water.  Instead, it was made up of inflatable obstacles.  And it was a blast!  There were about 10 of them over the course.  It was pretty much climb up and slide down.  Sometimes, we had to climb through or go around something.  It was different, and a lot of fun.

I do think it could have been a little better thought out.  There were so signs pointing to the parking, which was about a quarter of a mile away from the start of the course.  I had no problem with the added walk (great warm up and cool down), but signs to let me know I was looking in the right place would have helped.  On the other hand, parking was free, which was wonderful.

The course was laid out with a series of yellow cones, but just on one side.  As long as you keep the cones to your left, you were okay.  It mostly worked, but it wasn’t the best way to lay out a course.  A couple of times while getting off an obstacle, it wasn’t obvious where to go next.

It seemed like a lot of people were walking this one, and there were some young kids on it.  I was one of the first to finish in my wave, which never ever happens.  And everyone was spread out, which is part of why marking both sides of the course would have been nice.

Still, it was a very fun run and I’d certainly sign up to do it again.

Survivor Mud Run 2017

Back in September, I did my last mud run of the year.  And possibly my last Survivor Mud Run.

For the second year in a row, this mud run has consisted of just mud pits.  Lots and lots of mud pits.  Now, don’t misunderstand, I do mud runs to get muddy.  Hello!  Otherwise, I’d just do regular runs.  However, I also enjoy the other obstacles.  And this one had some fun other obstacles.  I get why we can’t splash down into the lake any more, but we don’t have the web of cords to climb through or the tube to crawl through into the deep mud pit.

It’s very disappointing.  I get that digging mud pits and filling them with water is a lot of work, especially with the drought we’ve been having.  But you’d have less of that to do if there were fewer mud pits.  As much as climbing over things messes with my fear of heights even that is better than mud pit after mud pit after mud pit.

Last year, it was the same way, and I chalked it up to a fluke.  But two years in a row, and it makes me think this is the new normal.

If it were a local race, I’d probably still do it.  After all, I haven’t missed one since they started.  But with this being a 2 plus hour drive (depending on traffic) away, that’s a lot of time and gas for something that is disappointing.

Who knows.  I may change my mind next year.  But for now, I’m still leaning toward skipping it next year.

Fire

I grew up in Santa Rosa, the town most recently in the news for having been hit so hard by the fires in Northern California.

Of course, I didn’t have any idea of what was coming.  My phone battery was almost dead, so I turned it off on Sunday night, something I don’t do that often.

On Monday the 9th, I turned my phone on.  I had it checking e-mail, and I was looking at Facebook.  I saw some notifications that friends had marked themselves safe in a fire, but I wasn’t that concerned since those often don’t mean that these friends are really in any danger.

But then my phone connected enough to get the text from my sister-in-law.  “We are safe, you folks and my folks are safe.  But we think our house is gone.”  Yeah, that was a jolt to the system.

That’s when I started to realize just how big this entire thing really was.  My brother’s house was indeed burned in the fire, and my parents spent a week under mandatory evacuation.  Fortunately, their house was spared.

But my brother and his family were lucky to get out period.  The fire came up so fast that they didn’t have any warning.  My sister-in-law woke up smelling smoke.  She woke up my brother, they figured out what was going on, and got the kids.  They grabbed their computers and important papers, and left.  My brother stayed behind long enough to wake the neighbors.  That was all the time they had.

It’s been two weeks, and they are beginning to get things figured out.  Thanks to a family friend, they have a place to stay while their house is being rebuilt.  But they will have to replace everything they had.

Meanwhile, I’m still 400 miles away trying to wrap my head around this and figure out how I can help.  That week at work was brutal on top of everything going on with my family.

What has been wonderful is the outpouring of support.  My brother’s church is part of an organization of churches that sent a tractor trailer of stuff to help the members of the church who were affected as well as many others in the community.  I’ve had comments offering to help from authors and Trixie friends and my church who have never met my family.  It’s truly been wonderful.

But the rebuilding is going to take a very long time.