Happy Halloween

Back from the overnight in La Mirada.

Loved the hotel. Room was rather small, but cute, comfortable … plenty of chi inside the room, inside the building.

Plenty of chi outside as well … Sizzlers next door and only 13 minute drive to the race site. No Starbucks in the lobby, but one a 15-minute-walk away, inside Target.

That hotel is going to be my go-to, whenever over-nighting in the area. That is, if the hotel isn’t crushed out of business by the giant Hilton -- with shops, stores and a cinema, being built directly across the street.

Having set the alarm for 4:30 this morning, even though I slept well and straight through, still I awoke up at 4:00 … just like at home.

I’m not scheduled for a Turkey Trot in November, the site for the December Gingerbread Run is too far away, so this looks to be my last 5K of the year. That being the case, maybe my body will adjust its sleeping pattern to waking up at a normal time for a retiree … I’m thinking 7:00?

Race went well. Finished in under an hour; but everyone in the group was young and so fast that I was left in the dust from the word GO.

Ergo, I started off in last place and finished in last place, but no more than three/four minutes behind the next-to-last walker.

 I almost won the costume contest until two last-second entries won the crowd over.

Too cute to resist, even I clapped, yelled and conceded the contest to the two little characters from Disney’s Monsters Inc.

Prize was $30 gift certificate at Wing Stop, so I wasn’t disappointed except, though I wasn’t interested, it would have been a nice gift for my granddaughter, who just advised me she’s moving into the adult building next door.

There’s a reason for everything, so I’m meditating and waiting for enlightenment on this latest development.

Would you believe that, after the race, heading to the hotel’s breakfast bar which, by the way, was fabulous … pancakes, waffles, eggs, biscuits, gravy, pastries, et al. I settled on eggs and one biscuit covered in gravy.

As I was saying, would you believe I spotted one of the hotel guests dressed as a minion.
Of course, I went over, greeted her as a fellow minion. She hugged me and one of the ladies in her group took a photo.