The 5K, Barney Butter, and 2010

First of all, I want to say 

Happy New Year to everyone! 

The Holiday Bowl Parade 5K
This was a very fun race!  I went into it with the goal of having fun and it was "mission accomplished".  I got to run it with my friend Beckie who is out from Colorado for the holidays.  She is a San Diego native who moved to the Denver area a couple years ago.  

That's her, registering for the 5K

Beckie recently finished the Couch to 5K program so this was her first race- ever.  She did great!  It was fun being a part of her first race... she was so excited about the swag and the goodie bag.  She ran the whole way and we actually came into the finish line together.

 Here we are before the race, in front of the Star of India (the ship in the background).

I'm glad to see my reflective Road Runners logo works.

 And here we are after the race... with the San Diego
Harbor behind us.

The course was beautiful.  The weather was running-perfect.  The atmosphere was so much fun!  There were thousands of spectators there to watch the Holiday Bowl Parade and the 5K course ran along the same route, prior to the parade.  They cheered the runners as we went by.  I almost felt like a celebrity.

 Did I mention the route was beautiful?

And my favorite part of the race?

 NO BLUE PORT 'O POTTIES!   

That's right, folks- real bathrooms with flushing toilets, soap and running water... thanks to the Hilton at the start of the race. 



My Time?
The race didn't have the time chip thingees so I am not putting much stock into the actual race time.  At the start, it bottle-necked so badly that we probably walked for almost two minutes before being able to run.  The time at the finish said 39:10, which isn't too different from my prior 5K times.  So, did I PR?   I might have, if I could subtract some of the time it took to walk to and beyond the start line.  I decided not to wear Rudy (my Garmin) so I'll never know for sure.  And that's OK because I had fun and my heel and legs felt pretty good!


Barney Butter
I was the lucky winner of She Wears a Red Sox Cap's Barney Butter Giveaway. I got it in the mail yesterday and I have to say, this is without a doubt the best almond butter I've ever had!!  I tried it on organic apple slices and it was delicious!  My favorite part of this almond butter is that it isn't as sweet and gooey-rich as other almond butters I've tried.  It tastes like almonds!

I received a jar of the smooth and the crunchy kind. My favorite is the crunchy but my husband liked the smooth better. I will have to order this in place of the brands I've been buying because it is so yummy!  If you'd like to try this deliciousness for yourself, check out the Barney Butter website. They have free samples.

Thanks, Kelly, for the scrumptious almond butter! 

Check out some of the other blogger giveaways going on right now... you can find them on my sidebar to the right. 

Alright everyone!  Off to party!  Have a fun and safe New Year's Eve!!