Take the 5K challenge (from Weight Watchers)

Hi everyone!

I'm back with an update on my 5K challenge!

I starting hanging around active.com which was a site Weight Watchers said to go and meet others and get active by walking....then go do something wild like sign up for a 5K walk!

So I did! I met alot of great people and 1 person in particular from my area. Although we played email tag more than we got to walk together, we DID sign up for a 5K walk in the beautiful town of Idyllwild, Ca. It was their Idyllwild 5K and 10K Run and Fitness Walk.

There was also another wonderful gal from Palm Springs who took it further by doing her own 5K walk to which she made not only the route, but also complimented it with a tour of famous homes we would be walking by as we enjoyed the cool morning! It was fantastic! (Thank you Jan!) This walk was May 30, 2009 and I walked this one with my husband and twins. It was a great way to start off the weekend and prepare for the big 5K the following weekend!

Here is a recap of my 1st real 5K walk in Idyllwild this past Saturday...
This is the beautiful owner of the Taqhuitz Inn at Idyllwild! We stayed overnight here and loved it!
The best part for me was the wonderful smell of the towels...(bear with me...) it brought back memories of coming home from college and smelling mom's laundry. Mine never smelled as good, even though I used the same stuff....the towels just were so fluffy and heavenly smelling! But if you end up in Idyllwild, make sure you stay here...cute place with a full kitchen, fridge, plenty of hot water, and tons of sleeping space!

This is my new friend Susan in her cool race shirt ready to go the morning of June 6th. We were very excited and I will admit I was very nervous as well.












Need to register? These are the gals you want to see. It was amazing how many people waited until the morning of the race to register! My stomach would have been in knots if I had waited till the last minute. Brave people...either that or they have done this before.
*special note-what was so great about these ladies is that they were so full of energy and spunk! They were there last night when we picked up our registration packet Friday night and were so nice and answered my millions of questions.

My son demonstrating just how cold it was...you could see your breath...it was a very chilly 36 degrees at 7:00am.
I was saying how cold it was, that is was just freezing, but the announcer heard us and clarified that is was only 36 degrees, which clearly is not freezing...as you know, freezing is 32 degrees which clearly isnt 36 degrees...it got a laugh out of everyone.

Susan and I had our feet ready and in position for the start of the race. I am on the left, Susan is on the right.
We had to laugh because all the serious runners were going to trample us once it started. We survived without so much as a scrape or scratch.






Here Susan and I are at the beginning of the race. Notice we are all smiles. I think I was still thinking at this point, "What the heck am I doing?"

And we are off!!!!!
Susan and I started off arm in arm in case we got knocked over by someone....LOL





We literally had a cheering section on our route! It was so great!
This is where we walked through the campground and I felt sorry for all the campers who were sleeping as we noisily walked through chatting away....



Luckily the path was marked well....as I am very much directionally challenged. These arrows were fabulous and helped my tired brain by telling my legs where to go.







Yes I had to make a pit stop...but I wasn't the only one...LOL





















Wait! Is that the...YES!!!! It's the FINISH LINE!!!!! He is showing me where to go-probably because I am close to dragging my arms on the ground and my tongue is hanging down a foot out of my mouth! I did it! I really did it!


Here is my sweet family that got up so early to be at the finish line when I came in! Yeah Family!!!!











Here we are going through the finish line!
We were so ecstatic that we finished it!!!!!
If you go to the results page, you will find us at #59 and #60! I am sooooooo happy I made the effort and had such a great pal to do it with!








Here are some other highlights...my children entered the 1/2 mile kids' fun run.



And THEY ARE OFF!!!!!! (the two kids in long sleeve brown shirts # 94 and #95)











Cope coming across the finish line!
I just love this picture! He is sooo cute!




Here is Tierney....I was gonna push the others aside so I could get a good picture of her, but I thought that wouldnt be too good...(just joking)
She is the third one in the brown shirt.











We ate at different restaurants around town...




Jo'Ann's is smack dab in the middle of town center....







and this place is so much fun for all ages-
old candies and toys long forgotten...

Remember When... Toys
The Fort
54225 N Circle Dr
Idyllwild, CA 92549
(951)271-6310

All in all it was a very enjoyable weekend and I would definitely do it again! Look and see when our next 5K is in Palm Springs, email me and we'll hook up and walk it together! I am challenging you to sign up for one! What have you got to lose? :)