NAMIwalks for the mind of america

last time i checked, nami orange county had raised $95,286.00! thanks to everyone who donated. more than 60 communities across the nation held namiwalks; i’m trying to find out the total in donations.

i had a blast! the walk started at 9am, and we needed to check in at 8am; so i left home at 7am, since i was running to the start, 5.75 miles away. the run there was awesome! one of those “zone” runs i love so much.

my friends and i stuck together throughout the whole thing. we ran/walked it and had a blast! our fun included getting off-course and on the beach, racing on the sand at all out speed until we dropped dead, and scouting free sambazon acai smoothies from the surf contest tent.

we walked around huntington beach afterwards, enjoying the sun, people watching, and making plans for future adventures. my run back wasn’t a “zone” run, though. i had the messenger bag we got at the finish line, and running with that bouncy thing definitely wasn’t an easy task. moreover, i had forgotten my water and sunglasses at home, which didn’t quite matter at 7 in the morning, but were sure missed at almost noon. i had to walk for a few minutes every now and then, as i tried in vain to tie the bag to my waist, but the strap was just too long. i finally decided to just suck it up and keep going, as it wasn’t going to get any better, and any attempt at it would probably just add to the time between then and my shower. my garmin showed 11.5 and 2:00:35 when i got home. (i had it off during the 5k). not too bad considering i did some walking. now i just had to rest and tackle the next day’s half-marathon.