The Usual Suspects do the Beach Palooza



Back in November Jenny and I did the Warrior Dash.  While we had a great time I thought I was done doing race obstacle courses.  Then my sister in law Michele called me to ask if I wanted to do the Beach Palooza with her.  I decided why not.  Several of my Taekwondo friends wanted to attend, although only Norma and Toni actually committed to doing it.  Christina was going to come but had a school event, so Sydne took her place.  My TKD friends came up with our team name "The Usual Suspects."  Jenny, Sydne and I decided to dress up a bit to make it more fun. I think we had as much fun getting ready for the race as we did on race day.

The course was only a 5k set up with obstacles throughout the second half.  I think we had more fun at this one than the Warrior Dash because it was at the beach and we could spend the day enjoying the waves.

Jenny and Sydne spent the night so we could all ride together.  I made Mexican food and we watched Mel Brooke's movies most of the night.  Norma, her husband Mark and Toni rode together that day.  Michelle planned to met us at the beach and my girls were super excited to see Philip and Thomas.  We got an additional surprise when we got there.  Michelle had invited my other sister in law Amy to do the race with her as well.  David got to spend time with his brother and their kids while the ladies all did the race.  Our children were thrilled to be able to spend time with their cousins.  That their girl cousins showed up was an added treat for them. 

As far as I could tell everyone had a good time.  It seemed everyone had at least one other person going their same pace.  Amy and Michelle ran together, I jogged with Toni and Norma, and Jenny and Sydne walked together.  After the race Amy and Michelle headed over to their families and we joined them when we had completed the race.  They left to go have dinner together shortly thereafter.  Our group stayed and played in the water until it got late and we decided we were hungry.  We wanted seafood so we headed to one of our favorite hang outs to eat. 

Beach Palooza 2011