rodeo race with the running club!

WE DID IT!!! Running Club went to our first race together as a club, and it went really well! I’m so happy that it all came together. It took a lot of planning, but all of our hard work definitely paid off! We all made it there, raced, and made it back (which I call a success). AND we all had a ton of fun!

The race was a 5K/10K at Huntington Beach, and it was rodeo themed, which was a blast 🤠 The actual race was on a bike bath right next to the ocean, and the views were gorgeous. The course was an out and back, so it was neat passing by each other and cheering for each other while running. It definitely helped motivate me. I also paced with someone for the whole race, and that really helped both of us push ourselves and run faster. It reminds me just how much easier it is to run with other people compared to running by myself.

I loved running along the ocean front, but I couldn’t fully appreciate it while running because I was pushing myself pretty hard. Even though running is mentally and physically challenging, during this race I found myself enjoying the challenge.

After completing the race, I felt a real sense of accomplishment because I knew that I tried my best. A few of us cheered on the rest of the club members who were finishing and we took lots of sweaty group pictures. Along with finisher medals, a few of us also placed individually 🏅 One club member got 4th overall, Katia placed 10th overall, and Katia, our friend Vivian and I, got top three in our age group! I think that was my first time being on a podium at a race, so that was pretty neat! I’m super proud of everyone who got out and raced. We had a lot of team spirit!

Since the race was at Huntington Beach, we pulled out our sunscreen and towels, and headed over to the beach after our race. It was so nice sitting on the sand, eating bagels as a group while chatting, and looking out at the beautiful ocean. There’s not much better than carb loading on the beach after your race 🌊

While we were splashing around in the ocean, we were taken by surprise when out of the corner of our eye, we saw a huge mass of seagulls invading our stuff. We realized that they were trying to get our food! And sure enough, they took one of our bagels :/ Future note: Beware of seagulls when you’re at the beach…they’ll take your bagels.

Time flew by so quickly, and before we knew it, we had to head back to the bus. When we got back, our bus driver, Favio, was dressed in rodeo attire with a cowboy hat and overalls! We had a fun bus ride back while jamming out to some Taylor Swift and 80s music.

It was a day to remember, and I’m so so thankful for getting to share this experience with the running club! I’ll always look back on the day and smile. I’m super proud of everyone who raced, and I’m also proud of us leaders for organizing and making it happen. It was definitely a highlight of my first year of college. I can’t wait to do more fun runs with the club in the future!