A reminder that I’m old…but young

Last weekend, Eric and I did something we rarely do:

• We went to L.A.
• We stayed out past 10

I know, I know, let’s not go crazy.

To be fair, we were in bed by 11 pm since we were staying with a friend and were running the LA Cancer Challenge 5K the next morning.

On Saturday night though, we went out to the Dark Room in West Hollywood. Going to L.A. makes me feel all kinds of fancy and grown-up. From where we live, it’s a solid hour drive so we don’t make it out there too much.

But it is pretty cool to pretend we’re hip and cool and young by hanging out at a dive bar in West Hollywood.

And I say pretend in all seriousness, because we got there around 7 pm and had food and drinks with a large group of people. But it wasn’t until about 9:30 pm (right around the time I started yawning), that people started showing up in droves–and in Halloween costumes!

Halloween parties…I remember those.

I also remember when 10 pm signaled the time it was safe enough to venture out to bars without looking like you weren’t cool because you were out too early. So I guess I’m officially in the old folks camp now.

When did I become so old?

Anyway, in an effort to maintain some youth, we made a last-minute stop at Millions of Milkshakes, who’s only claim to fame is Kim Kardashian.

 

Because those shakes SUCK. Eric got a small Ferrero Rocher milkshake and it tasted like nothing and it was $5. For a small. And I LOVE Ferrero Rocher.

 

Spending the night in West Hollywood at a friend’s apartment was…interesting. The apartment was right off of Melrose Ave. and we heard this guy screaming his head off in the middle of the night and using language that would make Miley Cyrus blush.

When we had to wake up six hours later, I was not a happy camper.

Then Eric told me how much he would love to live in the city.

Eric and I have vastly different opinions about where to live. He thinks cities are perfect. What with their high crime rate and strangers yelling in the middle of the night keeping you up…yup, that’s his idea of nirvana right there.

I think suburbia with its great schools, nearby parks, and–oh I don’t know–safety, make a great place for raising a family.

The jury’s still out on that decision.

We ended up running the LA Cancer Challenge 5k on Team Tyler.

Tyler was a friend of Eric’s who passed away in 2012 of pancreatic cancer. He was 30 and he left behind a wife. He was also the only child of his parents.

This was the eighth year that Team Tyler has run the race (since Tyler was diagnosed), and between the 67 members, we raised $5,937. All funds go toward research on pancreatic cancer.

I think when it comes to donations and charity, it’s always great to be able to put a face on it. The only time I met Tyler was when Eric ran the race in 2010, the first year we were married.

But I met his wife and I met his parents, and it broke my heart to think such an outstanding and fit young man who had his whole life ahead of him was shockingly diagnosed and would lose his life just a few short years later.

Even though the circumstances for which Team Tyler was reuniting weren’t the happiest, it was great to see old friends and to meet new ones.

I ended up running the race in 31:43, which is about the same time–if not better– than my 5K times in high school.

Considering I’ve only run about 8 times since I did the Long Beach half-marathon last year, I’m pretty impressed with my time.

Which just goes to show that I may have a hard time staying out past 10 but I’ve still got it…