Ascot Hills 5K

This Saturday, I did something I rarely do – a 5K.  Just a plain old regular 5K.

I signed up because a friend from work has been trying to get me to do a race with him, and this one was on a Saturday.  I figured that was a good thing.  Unfortunately, it was a ways away, and I had to wake up super early on a Saturday to go and do it.  Even worse, a friend from high school was in town last minute.  Fortunately, I got to see him Friday night because the friend I was going to do the race with flaked on me.

The race itself was in downtown LA at a park I had no idea existed.  Then again, I haven’t spent that much time in downtown LA, so that isn’t a surprise.  They call it a hill challenge, and they are right.  There are two hills in the 5K, and even though I regularly do run hills around my complex, these hills still got to me.  I had to walked parts of the uphill parts.

I finished in 38 minutes, which was a pretty good time as far as I was concerned.  I would have been faster if I had run the entire thing, of course, but given the hills, I’m very happy with that time.

There were so nice views of the city along the way.

I’m sure I would have enjoyed the run more had I not been so upset over my friend flaking on me.  But that kind of took the enjoyment out of it for me.

Men’s Retreat 2019

This past weekend was men’s retreat with my church, and I went again.  That’s the one advantage of the mud run I used to do that weekend going out of business, I guess.  It was at the same location as last year, a camp associated with my church’s denomination.

The location is great, up on a mountain in the woods.  The camp itself isn’t too big, which is nice because you can walk everywhere you need to go in a couple of minutes.  We got one of the nice, newer cabins again this year, which include plenty of outlets.  Granted, after the first night, I didn’t have to charge my phone.  I got no reception up there, so I was only using it to read, and I kept it in airplane mode.  You really don’t use much battery when you do that.

I rode up on Friday afternoon with my pastor.  It was nice getting to talk to him for a few hours.  Of course, he headed out Saturday night so he could preach Sunday morning.  I rode back with a guy I’d met up there.  He attends second service, so I rarely see him, but it was nice to get to know him better.

We played some disc golf, and volleyball.  One team from my church won the trivia contest.  My team didn’t.  I tried my hand at the poker tournament, but didn’t make it too far.  At least I wasn’t the first one out.

The speaker was okay.  He told some good stories, but the Bible wasn’t a big part of his talks.  And he seemed to wander.  Last year’s speaker wasn’t the best either, so I guess I need to adjust my expectations accordingly.  Or maybe I’ve just spent too many years around good preaching.

Overall, I’m glad I went.  I could have used a few more days up there to truly unwind.

Bubble Run 2019

Wow, it’s been almost a month since I updated this blog hasn’t it?  Of course, there hasn’t been too much of excitement going on.  Work, church, ultimate Frisbee.  Well, except for this last Saturday.

This last Saturday, I did The Bubble Run for the first time.  It was down at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.  The run was in the parking lot and the stadium itself.  It was supposed to be a 5K, but I really have no way of knowing if it was or not.

And the bubble part of the name?  They had five bubble machines set up along the course for us to run through.  What I didn’t realize was that the bubbles would leave colored patches on our shirts, but that washed off as soon as I put it in my washing machine.  Still, my legs were colored, which I found amusing when I got home.

Honestly, the bubbles were a bit underwhelming.  It was fun and different, but I don’t know that I’d go out of my way to do it again.

However, running through the stadium was a lot of fun.  We did that twice, once on the ground level running the outside of the field (not the part the players play on).  And then again inside the stadium itself past the concessions.

I did it with my friend Rory.  He seems hooked on this kind of run now.  Sadly, he’s moving away in a week, so it will be harder to do another run like this with him.

We got a good deal, where we just had to pay for insurance and a small donation to get in.  That definitely helped make it worth it.