SoCal Bonfire and the SunRise 5k 8/15/14-8/17/14

Several months back, this year's traditional SoCal bonfire at Dockweiler Beach was announced with a date of Saturday, August 16th. Our roommate Danny isn't much of a beach enthusiast but he liked the excuse for a roadtrip and decided he'd join us for the weekend trip out to Cali! Since Danny has weekends off from work and Sean and I make our own schedules, we planned to leave Friday evening and return sometime on Sunday.

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.

It took us another 10 minutes to figure out directions to the race location because our GPS didn't like the address the organizers provided. We were on our way at about 6:40am though and, after a bit of driving around, we found the race and parked.

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.

The race didn't have all the fancy things like chip timing, a card machine for accepting registration fees, or a hired photographer but the organizers were very patient, helpful, and lenient with things, which was really nice. Danny hadn't yet registered but went to register just before the race and was told they only accepted cash. He didn't have cash on him but they let him run the race anyway, gave him a medal, and then let him drive to a nearby atm to get the cash after the race. One of the organizers did race photos with her camera. A few people were running a little late so they waited a few minutes for them to show up before starting the race.

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.

 

For the most part, I held my spot throughout the race. I'm not sure whether I got passed by anyone or whether I passed anyone but if so it was only one or two guys and no girls. The 6-year-old girl stayed comfortably right in front of me and in first place for the women the whole race, not slowing down or stopping for anyone and progressively gaining distance on me. So insane!! I stayed in second for the women, though there were quite a few guys ahead of me. Two of the guys just destroyed the race, finishing with times of 15:40 and 15:51. Sean came in strong with 5th place and a time of 19:14. I'd tried so hard throughout the race and pushed so much that I really didn't have anything left towards the end. I'd prepared music and put it on my huge Galaxy Note 3 to run with, since I don't own any other mp3 player. I didn't have any pockets so the phone was making my arm really tired but it was worth it for the much-needed music. The little girl was slowly disappearing into the distance and I started to notice the 3rd place girl creeping up on me but I was so exhausted I didn't care anymore. I really gave it my all start to finish but I was starting to wonder whether it would be enough to even finish the race. I was highly considering quitting and no longer cared whether I placed within the top 3. I held out though and crossed the finish line in 9th place overall and 2nd for the women with a new personal best time of 23:01. I was so dead I didn't even have the energy to take my finisher's medal til several minutes had passed and I'd caught my breath. Danny came in about 7 minutes later with a time of 29:48.

Sean speeding through the course:

 

Me trying to keep up:

 Danny running his own race:

The organizers had scheduled a group photo, the awards ceremony, and a raffle for after the race so Sean, Danny, and I hung around waiting for the rest of the runners to come in. Most of the other runners hung around too but the first and second place guys ran the race again for fun and then jogged around the parking lot to pass the time. Wow! The organizers and sponsors had provided bananas, blueberries, gatorade, water, sunscreen, deodorant, nutty granola bars, gummy candies, drink mix, Advil, and a couple of flyers and things in our race packets and on tables for after the race so we grabbed a few goodies and took a few pics!

Finally, it was time for the group photo!

The awards ceremony was next. It was pretty short, with only 6 prizes to give out due to the size of the race, but the prizes were awesome: trophies for the top 3 men and top 3 women! I'd never managed to catch up with that little girl, who'd destroyed all of us ladies in the race, but I'd pulled 2nd place and got a pretty rad trophy as a reward.

(Vid of award ceremony? )

The 2nd place trophy I got for my new personal best 5k time of 23:01!

After the race, Sean and I helped the organizers pack up a bit while Danny went to the nearest ATM to get some cash out for his registration fee and to have on hand. Then the three of us drove back to the hotel room where Seth and Indigo were still sleeping. We all lounged around for awhile and Sean and I crawled back into bed for about half an hour as we waited for the In-N-Out across the street to open so we could get some breakfast. When In-N opened at 10:30am, we all headed over to get some quick food. Sean and I ordered two hamburgers and a milkshake to share for $6.76. We all sat at a table outside (this was the only In-N-Out I'd seen without an inside dining area) eating and sharing our food with some sparrows there.

Seth had told us about and invited us to a collectible show he'd taken Danny to once before so once we were all done eating we drove maybe 10 minutes away to the place to see what they had and do a bit of shopping.

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:

Shopped out, it was finally time to head to the bonfire! Sean and I were the only ones going but Danny was dropping us off and then driving back to meet Seth and Indigo at Round 1 in City of Industry. Sean and I said goodbye to the other two and then drove towards the beach, stopping in Compton on the way to grab snacks to share with everyone at the bonfire.

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.

When we got to the pit, Latrice, Alex/Fob, Stephen/Ninjafar, Jeff Lloyd, Dalton/BlueChaos, and several of our other friends were already lounging around, cooking, and hopping in the ocean. We were quick to get in the ocean ourselves with some inflatable handcuffs we'd bought at Frank & Son just before coming. Unfortunately, we weren't in the water more than a couple of minutes before a lifeguard told us, as well as a mother and little girl nearby, that neither inflatables nor life jackets were allowed in the ocean - only on the beach. Weird! Didn't stop our fun though. We dropped the handcuffs off at the pit and ran back to the ocean to play in the crazy waves with our friends! The water was cold but we got used to it and were fine in it til we got out again. We had a lot of fun swimming under, jumping over, and getting owned by the waves as well as climbing on and playing around with each other in the water and on the beach! Eventually, I got a bit chilly though so we went back to the fire pit so I could defrost.

(Vid of arriving or pic of friends)

I couldn't seem to get warm enough but, luckily, I'd brought heavy windbreakers and a jacket. I put those on to help me thaw out a little and sat near the fire while socializing for several minutes.

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!

Sean and I made a few more trips down to the water to play around in the waves with each other as well as to take LOTS of pics for each other and for fiverr.com gigs one of our regular customers had ordered.

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.

Back at the fire pit again, Ervin asked Sean if he smoked and offered us a quick hit. We accepted but didn't do enough to get fucked up-just enough to want to eat EVERYTHING. Lol Sean and I had brought several snacks to share and I ate a bunch of those while trying to get everyone else to eat them with me. Then Sean and I ate a few pieces of meat people handed us as well as a Twinkie, a few marshmallows with chocolate, and who knows what else!

Then Sean and I volleyballed together a bit more and wrestled each other in the sand to burn off all the calories we'd just eaten!

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!:

Back at the hotel after Denny's, Danny fell asleep in his bed right away but Sean and I were insanely horny and wound up sexing each other quietly in our bed while trying to watch a movie. Mmmm... We finally fell asleep together at 3am.

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!

After food, Seth had to head out to get to work. Sean, Danny, and I said goodbye and started our drive home, stopping in the City of Industry to visit Round 1. They'd upgraded a lot of their games since Sean's and my last visit and they even had some brand new ones too! Danny walked around and played some games. Sean and I looked around for awhile and each took turns playing our first credits on the music game ProjectDIVA Arcade!

(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.

Danny got a smoothie at Jamba Juice in the mall parking lot and then we continued back to Vegas! I did the first half of the drive from Roscoe's to Barstow. In Barstow, we got gas, coffee, and tea at TA Travel Center and Sean took the wheel and drove us home. Once we'd unpacked and greeted the dogs, Sean and I said goodnight to Danny, prepared some food, and went to our room to watch movies, eat, and sleep for the next 13 hours!!

**Special thanks and credit to Cheetah Runners for many of the SunRise 5k race photos used in this post!**