Sean and I thought it'd be a good idea to research races in the vicinity of the beach to see if we could get a bit of a pre - beach workout. We actually found a race right on the beach with low entry fees and various race distances (5k, 10k, 15k, and half marathon) but the 5k sold out before we could register for it and I wasn't in the mood for a longer race. Also, Sean and I actually convinced Danny to run whichever race we found with us as long as it was a 5k or shorter. Luckily, there was another race on the way in Pomona, CA, maybe 45 minutes to an hour from Dockweiler Beach. The entry fee for that race was low too ($28 including a $3 processing fee) and they had trophies for the top 3 males and top 3 females as well as finisher's medals for all runners. We gave it a shot and registered through Active.com.
Day 1 - 8/15/14:
Sean, Danny, and I left our place in Vegas around 8pm or so. I drove the first two hours while Sean worked on some eBay listings and Danny napped. We stopped in Baker, CA for a restroom break and food at Del Taco. Then Sean took over driving while I worked on some fiverr.com gigs.
Danny had booked us a hotel room at Motel 6 in Pomona in exchange for Sean and me paying for gas for the trip.
Motel 6
2470 S Garey Ave
Pomona, CA 91766
We arrived at Motel 6 just before 1am. Our friend Seth/Happy Feet and his female friend Indigo had done a photography job in the area earlier in the day and had asked Danny if they could stay the night in our hotel room because they didn't want to drive back to their homes the same night. Danny said they could stay and when we arrived they were already there waiting.
Danny went to the hotel lobby to check us into our room. While he was doing that and Sean and I were unloading bags from the trunk, a car with two police officers inside pulled up and started questioning us. The driver asked what we were doing there. I replied in a confused voice, "..checking into the hotel.." He asked what we were doing in the area. I replied, "We're here for a race." Then he asked what kind of race it was. I said, "a running race." He asked the name of the race and I told him it was the SunRise 5k and asked him why all the questions. He didn't have an answer ready so Sean asked him if it was strange for people from Vegas (we noticed him looking at our license plate) to visit the area. The officer replied that it was a bit strange and asked where the race was to be held. I said I didn't know the address off the top of my head but that it was called SunRise 5k and it was taking place at 7am the following morning there in Pomona. I walked away from him at that point and he finally drove off and left us alone.
Seth finally came over to our car and introduced us to Indigo. Then the five of us went up to the hotel room, got settled in, and hung out and watched tv for a bit. Just before 2am, Sean and I got washed up and hopped in bed together to get some sleep before the race. It was hard to sleep with lights and tv on and everyone else still up and talking but Sean found a way and I put my headphones on, put on some music, and fell asleep a few minutes later.
Day 2 - 8/16/14:
Sean, Danny, and I woke up at 6am. We were so tired but it was time to get dressed and ready for the race. At 6:30am, we left the hotel room.
SunRise 5k race location:
Country Crossing Park
167–169 Village Loop Rd
Pomona, CA
We parked at 6:54am and jogged about a minute to the race registration and start line area. It was a fairly small race, with a total of 53 runners (37 females, 16 males), but the organizers had put effort into it and done a good job with it.
When everyone was ready and lined up at the start line, one of the organizers started us off with a whistle, rather than a gun. Since the race results were based on gun time, a lot of us had tried to squeeze towards the front of the pack. When the whistle went off, those of us at the front stumbled over each other a bit but got our feet under us and were all on our way! With a race motto of, "We eat these hills for breakfast", the route started with a couple of laps around a grassy field, took us through the park on a sidewalk pathway that was flat in some sections but went up and down relatively steep hills in others, and ended us with two more laps around the grassy field.
Right from the start, Sean, a few other guys, and a 6-year-old girl sprinted off ahead of me.
Sean speeding through the course:
Me trying to keep up:
(Vid of award ceremony? )
The 2nd place trophy I got for my new personal best 5k time of 23:01!
Frank & Son Collectible Show
19649 San Jose Ave
City of Industry, CA 91748
The show was REALLY busy with so many attendees we had to park blocks away and walk to it, kind of like a fair or convention. It was basically a warehouse with nerdy game and comic memorabilia being sold anime-convention-style but with better prices throughout and a discount store, like a cross between a dollar store and a thrift store, in the front. There were a lot of fun and interesting things there but Sean and I didn't find anything we had a use for or wanted to spend on til we checked out the discount store. The store, as well as most of the vendors in the warehouse area, only accepted cash. They DID have really good prices on a lot of fun and useful things though. Sean and I spent about $17 there, almost exclusively on things to resell and profit lots on.
Inside Frank & Son:
We arrived at the beach at 3pm. Danny said he'd be back to get us around 10pm. Sean and I grabbed our beach supplies and headed down to meet everyone by the fire pit at tower 55-the traditional bonfire spot.
(Vid of arriving or pic of friends)
Our group had a volleyball to play with so a few of us got together and played with it in the sand for awhile. We didn't have a net but we drew a line in the sand and improvised. For the most part, we weren't very good but we didn't care and weren't keeping score. It was fun and it got me warm again pretty fast!
More people, including Ervin, JSB, Phil, JJK, Ryan/Dukamok, Sappy, and lots of others, arrived as the day progressed. We got a table set up, made smores, cooked all kinds of meat, played a fun watermelon smashing game using a baseball bat, and got into lots of other mischief!
Check out the rest of our beach shots here!:
(Link for fb album of just beach pics)
While on the beach, Sean and I found one of those weird, blue and clear jellyfish we'd come across in San Francisco. 
The sun had mostly disappeared by about 8pm and people were getting a bit cold. A lot of us huddled around the fire, chatting and throwing unused supplies, trash, and other random items into it.
(bonfire vids)
Just before 9pm, most of the people who were still there started packing up and leaving til it was just Sean and me there. We'd managed to convince a few people to take leftover supplies with them but when it was just the two of us left we finished cleaning up the area, gave some supplies to random people walking by, and finally took the rest with us. I don't like waste and the snacks would be awesome for the trip home!!
Since we didn't have service on either of our phones, Sean and I had a hard time finding Danny when he came to pick us up. We found him around 10:30 though and finally started back to the hotel in Pomona. Traffic was bad on the way back. Having not slept much the night before, we were all exhausted. We were hungry too, however, so we went to a Denny's near the hotel for a quick bite to eat.
Bored while waiting for our food!:
Quick bite!:
Day 3 - 8/17/14:
Sean and I woke up at 11am. Danny was already awake. Sean and I were tired but check out was at noon and the room was a mess so we had to get up.
Once we had everything loaded into the car, we looked up the nearest Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles to get some delicious brunch! The location we found was in Anaheim but when we arrived, after driving quite a bit out of our way, we realized it was still under construction and not yet open for business. :( The next closest one was the Long Beach location Sean and I had eaten at in February. It was about half an hour away but we really wanted Roscoe's so we made the drive. Seth met us there to eat with us just after we arrived. There was a 45 minute wait for a table but it was still totally worth it so we grabbed a number and waited. We were finally seated at 2pm. Sean and I ordered a $6 daily special (2 chicken thighs, a biscuit, and rice and gravy), a $5.30 waffle, and extra gravy (maybe $1.50 or so?) on our chicken. O..M..G.. It was all sooooo worth the price, the gas, the drive, the wait, and everything - especially the waffle! The food was SO good. It was Seth's first time there and he liked it too!
(Vid of us playing instead of pic?)
When we were all done in Round 1, we walked through the adjacent mall, visiting a pet store to admire the cute animals and stopping at an Auntie Anne's to get a free pizza pretzel using a coupon I'd received recently.
**Special thanks and credit to Cheetah Runners for many of the SunRise 5k race photos used in this post!**
