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!**
