Catalina Adventure

Boy, was that weatherman WRONG!!! Well, let me start the story at the beginning.

We left Friday at 4pm from Downtown Long Beach instead of Dana Point because Long Beach runs a dual hull boat... more stable so less chance of getting sea sick. But, the boat we were on stopped at Two Harbors before going to Avalon. It was a 2hr long ride.

We got to Avalon late and had to walk to the hotel in the dark. It started raining about midnight and did it RAIN!!!

The next morning, the race boat from Marina Del Ray was supposed to arrive, but it was so rough and windy, the boat had to turn back.

The skies were dry when Chris started the half-marathon.

Cheryl and I started the 5K about 15 minutes after Chris left. The rain didn't start again until after Cheryl and I finished the 5K. Then it POURED AGAIN! The boat arrived eventually and there was another start for the half-marathon and the 5K. Both races were chip timed, so they easily factored everyone's times in together.

The buffalo run half-marathon is a trail race. It starts at sea level and climbs up to almost 1600'. Chris came in muddy, soaked, and tired at 1:49. He came in 16th out of 311... AND 2nd in his age group!!! He came home with a finishers medal and a 2nd place (silver medal)! YAHOO, CHRIS!

Cheryl and I ran the 5K. I finished in 25:36, 1st place in my age group! Cheryl finished in 28:18, 1st place in her age group! Cheryl and I both come home with GOLD! The Moore family is racking in the medals! This is the first time that Cheryl has ever won 1st place in any athletic event! She would have never thought it would be in a running race, lol!

AND AHEM... Look at the 5K overall women's standings... I CAME IN 1ST OVERALL! I could not believe it! I was standing at the booth with the overall men's winner and he couldn't believe that he won either. I think all the good runners were running the half-marathon, but still.... YIPEE FOR ME!!!

We almost didn't get home today... The wind and rain calmed down enough for the boats to travel again, but tsunami conditions were causing problems in Long Beach Harbor. The tide pulled back so far that there wasn't any water in the harbor to pull in at the dock. The boats were delayed so much that we were able to catch an earlier boat out of Avalon. Our boat had no trouble crossing and pulling into Long Beach, but we saw on TV when we got home that the tide had gone out again and the downtown dock was sitting in mud again. Whew! We just made it!

We're home now, showered, warm, dinner done, laundry done, and we looked at each other and asked, "Is it still Saturday?" It sure was a full day! Yahoo for sleep-in Sunday!

If you have made it through this HUGE post... thanks for hanging in there! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!