Fair Fun Run 5K...

Hi there!
So. Did the Fair Fun Run last Sunday. And I will say this. It was not really all that fun. I was actually annoyed. The way they advertised it was "Run, skip or walk! Play games and other fun stuff while you run thru the Fair". Ya no. There was no games to be played. No rides to be rode. Everything was closed up! The little volunteers they have (I'm realizing lots of races have these little volunteer folk that cheer you on throughout the race and give you water, medals and what not and usually have answers to questions you may have. The Fair Fun Run children did not. That may be the problem. They were really annoying kids. I had a few questions that I asked a few of these little morons and they looked at me blankly and said "I'm just a volunteer". Sigh. One of my best friends Robin was there with me, and had a teenager of her own. She stated hers wasn’t even as useless as these kids. Whatever.
So, we sign in, get our little bags of advertisements and our T-shirts. There's no sort of bag check or anything, so we trek back to my car and drop all our stuff off in there bringing only my phone so I can snap some photos of what I think will be some random fun stuff.
We're at the starting line, surrounded by real runners, and families and folks like us. I start noticing the shoes people are wearing. I noticed how mine are falling apart. Robin tells me I really need some better running shoes. I learn this in a much more painful way later.
The race starts late. Sigh. We head out. I try to run more this time, since Robin is a runner. She of course keeps telling me she doesn’t mind walking, but my pride keeps getting in the way so I push through my burning lungs and my now throbbing knee. I do walk a lot, but I ran much more than I ever have. We run onto Newport Blvd. I notice there is no cones and cars are whizzing past us. Um...that’s not very safe! The moron children who are supposed to be guiding the group and cheering us on are on their phones not paying attention to the people almost getting run over by asshole drivers. Nice. Robin and I push our way back onto the sidewalk. I will not die on Newport Blvd.
We round back into the parking lot and start around the front of the amphitheater. I see a few guys running at us and past us.
"Are they in this race?!" I shout in amazement to Robin.
"Yup" she states. Holy crap!! These dudes just did a 5K in like 5 seconds!!! As we round our way and a few other dudes go running by - I realize there's no girls!
"Where are the gals?" I ask Robin.
"They're usually 2 minutes behind the men". Huh. I learn something new every day. Although my friends Julie and Rose are pretty badass in the running area - I bet they would smoke those guys.
Anywhoo...we run into the Fair. Sweet! It's of course closed, but I'm getting excited to see all the fun stuff we get to do! We run. We keep running. We run past the rides. We run past the games. WTF!!!! There is no fun. There is nothing open for us to do! I notice a few other people are slightly annoyed as well w/some of the comments I'm hearing. Sigh.
Well - I make the best of it. I start stopping Robin and taking shots of her. As she does of me. We run through this one Fun Zone area and I start leaping up on the benches and running across them screaming "Where are my obstacles!!! Where are my fun things!!! I want to jump!!" I hear laughter all around me and some people cheering me on. That's right. I have support. And I'm entertaining people which is what I do best anyway.
So we run. We pass two of the moron teenagers and I hear her mumble something about a slide. I do a U turn and ask her what she just said.
"Take a detour and go down the slide!" she says!
"Hell to the fucking yes!!!!" I grab Robin and we run over to the slide ignoring the angry look from the father in front of me since I just swore in front of his daughter. Oops.
So that was our fun. That's it. The slide. I also felt bad because I noticed the idiot teenagers were chatting with each other and not telling everyone about the slide detour!! When Robin and I re-joined the runners I shouted about the slide and saw a few folks turn around. That's right. I'm helpin out.
We run up through the amphitheater which was kind cool watching them set up for whatever band was playing that day, then down and out and to the finish line. I'm now dying mind you because I've been running and jumping on shit and acting like a child so my knee has started to swell and my run has turned into what looks like a lame horse sort of lopping along next to Robin. We pass 2 moron teens that are actually cheering people on and I scream at them to keep it up. As we approach the finish line, I see supporters with signs for people "Go Brian!" or "Way to go Nora!". This is awesome. I make a mental note to find some fans to bring to the next race. What's also awesome is as my limping, sweating, red faced, and pain ridden body comes stumbling down the last stretch people are yelling encouragement my way. I don’t know these people but they see my pain and are screaming "You can do it!!!" "Power through it!!!!" "You’re doing great!!" I heart those people.
We cross the finish line and the retard teens hand us a medal. Robin and I stumble out of the way and take we finished photos as fire red hot pain starts shooting through my now swelling knee.
We decide to skip attending the Fair and have breakfast instead. I won’t do the Fair Fun Run again, but I'm so glad Robin was there at my side. She's one of my besties, and I'll always love her. And even though I pretty much screwed myself up for the rest of the week, I was glad I powered through. I got some great advice from Running Rose about running properly, and some great tips. Robin jumped on my ass about better shoes. And mom was ready for me with ice and Advil when I came home.
I'm no runner. I never will be. But I'm athletic. And stubborn. And I have to be active to live. So I really am enjoying all this random activity! Now to save up for a better pair of shoes...I got Urban Dare next weekend!