Race Recap: Water to Wine Half Marathon

The half marathon starts at Sonoma Lake and finishes in Healdsburg, CA, a net elevation drop of about 100 feet.  Runner's World says this might be one of the fastest half marathon courses on the west coast.

I was told it'd be 93 on Sunday.  I know how warm Napa is over the peninsula.  I was worried I'd be too hot to run comfortably on Sunday.

We headed up on Saturday to pick up packets and shuttle tickets.  It was hot.  Once we were settled, we hung out in the hotel room in the air conditioning until it was time to load up on some carbs.

We went to a local italian place in downtown Santa Rosa and ordered sweet potato gnocchi and pasta candy (noodles shaped like candy pieces with spinach and some cheese on the inside).  Then we each had a chicken caesar salad.  Dinner was a good portion - not too much and nothing too small.  We headed to the grocery to get breakfast (I already had a bagel with a to go pack of crunchy peanut butter).  Then it was back to the hotel to watch a movie and fall asleep.  We set our alarm for 5am.

The shuttle was at 6:05am and the start was at 7am.  We got to the start with maybe 20 minutes to warm up.  I did some dynamic stretching and just froze while waiting.  Then we were off.  I had my Nike + app running with my music (which I totally forgot to set up my new playlist to play) and my garmin going.  So I had plenty of reminders of my time and pace.  And some good tunes to keep me moving.

I walked through all the water stops-there were 5 of them.  I was a little too sore to keep running after the 5th water stop but I did and managed to keep going.  The course was downhill for the most part though it did have some rolling hills.  I wasn't prepared for those hills.  My knees weren't ready for those hills.

I ran the entire race (with the exception of the water stops).  That's a huge accomplishment for me.  And I ran in shorts.  I'm in much better shape than I have ever been in my life, and I've always wanted to run in shorts and a sports bra.  I've checked one of those off my list.

I finished in 2:06.  I was stoked.  A huge PR for me.  I promptly had them ice my knees and then went back up the course to cheer Aimee in.  The medal had a wine stopper on the bottom of it.  Score!  And we were given a wine glass.  Another Score!!

After the race, we got some food and wine.  They gave us 3 wine tickets to taste with.  We then headed to La Crema and Murphy Goode winery.  We each bought a bottle of wine.  Then it was time to shower, eat a sushi lunch and head home.

Once home, I completed my workout programming for the next morning.  And elevated my knees.  And I took an epsom salt bath.  My knees were sooooooo sore on Sunday night.  After crossfit and endurance practice on Monday, I took Tuesday off.  And am heading to practice tonight.