Hollywood, Take 2

It's been one thing after another as I attempt to run my next 5K.  A whole year has passed since my last update, and during that time I've had to bail on three different races!  A year ago I was in the middle of training for the Hollywood Hard Rock 5K in November.  I continued to run throughout September and then in October a life-altering event put everything on hold.  My wife and I had adopted our son back in 2013, and we were put on a waiting list for a second adoption early in 2015.  On October 1 (after waiting about six months and having a few close calls) we were called about a 3-month old girl!  The whole month after that was a whirlwind of excitement.  We had a meeting with social workers on October 7, then finally got to meet our little girl on October 13.  All this while I was still running and planning on going through with the race in early November.  We had another meeting with social workers on October 14, during which we got to take Lucy (the name we decided on for her) out for a little family outing.  Then, finally, on October 15 we got to bring Lucy home!  It's no coincidence that at that point my running ceased.  Our life was quite full now with our 2-year-old boy (a handful himself) and now a 3-month-old little girl who we discovered was quite fussy and would not be an easygoing baby.  The transition from the foster home to our home was rough on her, and in turn on us.  Lots of sleepless nights and frustrating (and heart-breaking) moments when we couldn't calm Lucy down and just had to endure her crying fits.  Getting training runs in was the farthest thing from my mind.  My wife had the hardest time, being home with her while I was at work.  When I'd get home it was all hands on deck to help out with the baby.  I figured I'd need to wait a few more months at least until I could consider another race, and so the Hollywood 5K came and went without me.  And I was fine with that.  We were blessed beyond belief to have been chosen as parents for Lucy, and despite the hardships I was fully focused on caring for her and easing her transition.  Running naturally took a backseat.  And to make a long story short, it took a few months, but eventually Lucy did indeed get comfortable with us and her fussiness slowly but surely decreased.  By the time spring of 2016 rolled around, she was crawling, laughing, sleeping better, eating great, and becoming the most adorable and precious little girl.

And so we come to my second failed attempt at a 5K in the past year.  In late March we were at our local farmers market when I was stopped by a guy at a booth signing people up for a 5K right here in Apple Valley.  My wife suggested I do it, so I gladly signed up.  It was to take place April 23, so I immediately threw together a training plan and started running.  All throughout April I was able to get in at least three long runs per week.  Things had gotten a bit easier with the two kids; my wife was working from home and we had a babysitter coming to help out during the day, so getting out in the evening for a run seemed less out of the question now.  However, as the race day neared we were dealing with sicknesses with both kids.  And sure enough, only a day or two before the race I came down with whatever they had and felt weak and wiped out.  I decided to forgo the race, to my disappointment.  Looking back I probably could have just pushed through it and run anyway.  A similar thing happened back in 2014 when I ran the Timberwolf 5K in Irvine.  I came down with a cold the day before the race, but ran it anyway.  So I'm not 100% sure I made the right choice this time.  It seemed that bailing on races was becoming a regular thing, which was unfortunate.  In some cases the situation was out of my control, but in others, like this Apple Valley 5K, I just sort of used the obstacle as an excuse.  And so my running ceased.  Summer came, we got busy, and suddenly the new school year was around the corner.

So now for the third (and hopefully final) aborted 5K.  In August I was determined to give it another go, so I found a race for early October called the Aloha Run in Long Beach.  My wife even agreed to run it with me!  We thought we could make a weekend out of it and take the kids to the aquarium.  So I drew up a training plan for the both of us and just as we were gearing up to begin, forces conspired against us.  For two weeks straight, forest fires ravaged the nearby mountains and filled our skies with smoke and ash.  The first fire, the Pilot Fire, was just south of us near Silverwood Lake.  It lasted a couple days.  But then the Blue Cut Fire broke out near the Cajon Pass and proceeded to destroy over 30,000 acres!  My school even shut down for two days due to the bad air.  So running was definitely out of the question.  Our training plan had been reduced by 2 weeks, and I felt we had lost valuable runs, especially for my wife who is more of a beginner runner.  So we decided to skip the Aloha Run.  Once again, I let an obstacle get the better of me.  I could've condensed my training plan and still gone for it, even if I didn't feel 100% ready.  It was a crazy, eventful, busy year, and it made for challenging circumstances in which to focus on things like running regimens, but the bottom line is I could have still run at least some of those races.  The goal now is to rise to the challenge and be ready for the obstacles that will inevitably come.  And so I'm not wasting any time in picking my next race.  I'm going full circle.  I bailed on last year's Hard Rock 5K in Hollywood, which set off a string of aborted 5Ks, so I'm going back to Hollywood for a do-over!  The Hard Rock 5K this year is on November 5 and I'm going for it! 

Before I begin logging my runs in preparation for the Hard Rock, I have many runs to document from this past year.  It's been too long to recall details from each run, but I have the basic data.  I went on 17 runs, some in the fall of 2015, the rest in the spring of 2016.  I totaled 43.28 miles for a total time of 8 hours and 35 minutes of running.  Here is a quick rundown of those runs:

September 19, 2015:
Distance: 0.97 miles
Time: 10:21
Location: Yucca Loma to Rio Vista

September 23, 2015:
Distance: 1.65 miles
Time: 20:11
Location: Yucca Loma to Rio Vista and back

September 25, 2015:
Distance: 2 miles
Time: 25:10
Location: Yucca Loma to Kasanka to Apple Valley to Powhatan

October 1, 2015:
Distance: 1.76 miles
Time: 20:10
Location: Yucca Loma to Kasanka and back

October 3, 2015:
Distance: 1.01 miles
Time: 10:32
Location: Rio Vista and back

October 7, 2015:
Distance: 2.12 miles
Time: 25:08
Location: Yucca Loma-Kasanka-Apple Valley-Powhatan

October 8, 2015:
Distance: 2.52 miles
Time: 25:48
Location: Apple Valley to Catalina and back

October 12, 2015:
Distance: 2.38 miles
Time: 25:17
Location: Yucca Loma-Apple Valley-Sitting Bull-Ottawa

October 14, 2015:
Distance: 1.51 miles
Time: 16:09
Location: Yucca Loma to Rio Vista to Cochise

April 4, 2016:
Distance: 2.61 miles
Time: 30:53
Location: Kasanka to Yucca Loma to Cronese and back

April 8, 2016:
Distance: 3.8 miles
Time: 48:12
Location: Yucca Loma-Kasanka-Havasu-Ivanpah-Ottawa

April 10, 2016:
Distance: 3.45 miles
Time: 40:14
Location: Kasanka-Yucca Loma-Cronese-Apple Valley-Ottawa

April 11, 2016:
Distance: 2.57 miles
Time: 34:13
Location: Kasanka-Yucca Loma-Apple Valley-Powhatan-Cochise

April 15, 2016:
Distance: 3.97 miles
Time: 45:17
Location: Kasanka-Yucca Loma-Apple Valley-Sitting Bull-Paraiso-Ottawa-Havasu-Yucca Loma

April 16, 2016:
Distance: 3.84 miles
Time: 49:23
Location: Ivanpah-Havasu-Kasanka-Yucca Loma-Cuyamaca-Ottawa

April 18, 2016:
Distance: 4.27 miles
Time: 55:13
Location: Yucca Loma-Coachella-Cochise-Powhatan-Apple Valley-Yucca Loma-Delaware-Apple Valley-Sitting Bull-Ottawa

April 20, 2016:
Distance: 2.85 miles
Time: 33:15
Location: Ottawa-Havasu-Yucca Loma-Cronese-Havasu-Cuyamaca