This is a repost from my running blog with the added benefit of some pictures. Since I have also dropped the ball, hopefully soon to be retrieved, on my travel and photo blog it seems appropriate to share it here too.
It would appear that I have dropped the ball on writing about running and now, or at least since September, have also dropped the ball on running. Rather it has been more like a winter time break. Apparently my right hip takes issue with being made to run in the cold so after 2.5 months some chiropractic, some acupuncture, some rest and avoidance of looking my Runner’s World magazine squarely in the eye. I want to pick the ball back up and at least walk with it.
When I started this blog it was going to be all about my training for a Napa 2 Sonoma half marathon. So I did that. Left out all the glamour of flying into Sacramento. My long time childhood friend and long distance training buddy (meaning she lives in a different city not that we run distances together) piled with all our stuff and food into her car and started our drive from Portland Oregon to Napa Valley California with an overnight stop in Grants Pass. Our itinerary was scheduled as follows:
A. Drive down to Grants Pass and stay the night
B. Drive from Grants Pass to get our bibs for the race and check into our hotel
C. Make it to the starting line
D. Run Race and finish
E. Decide anything and everything else on an as needed basis
Now, there are a number of problems and freedoms associated with this style of planning. The freedom with it, is that we are on the same page with what needs to get done. For all you planners out there your hair would have stood on end.
Shortly before arriving in Grants Pass it started to get hot. (At least hot for my Northwest disposition). When I say hot we will call it about 98 degrees and for some reason the AC in the car was on strike, broken, not functioning.
Upon further inspection we discovered that the car was in no immediate danger of stopping so we continued to point B of our itinerary. Little did I know… Just outside of Redding, CA the temperature went up it was like 101. We thought that was warm. The farther south we drove the hotter it became. As it was my turn to drive I watched the temperature increase. 103…104….106… you know how the rest goes finally at 109. I put a piece of paper in front of the car thermometer. Watching the persistent increase in temperature was starting to give me anxiety and we stopped in an air conditioned store for some ice and washcloths. After some time we returned to the inferno with some ice cubes in our headbands we persisted in our icy sponge bath. I named her car Horse with no name because it felt like the desert. And we discussed nearly every topic known to us, particularly focusing on what do people do for money in these places, except the weather and running and furthermore our ability to run the next morning after nearly incinerating ourselves in a car through Northern California. Eventually Redding turned in to Sacramento which allowed us some cooler temperatures (like 102). Like clockwork entering the Napa/Sonoma region the temperature dropped into the 80’s and then the 70’s resting steadily in the upper 60’s which felt luxuriously frigid at that point.
Upon arrival to pick up our bibs. We were sweat soaked. The right side of my head felt like a dread lock and we judged ourselves harshly as we saw many clean and pressed people go to pick up their bibs before their evening dinner plans.
Picking up our bibs and checking in for the race went without a hitch. We even got one hearty gasp from one of the vendors when we asked if he sold earbuds. He replied that he unfortunately didn’t and was apologetic thinking that they wouldn’t be allowed. No problem, my own fault for not remembering them. Could be worse like driving 500 miles without AC.
Hotel check in was simple our next goal try to go to bed and wake up at 4 something to make it to the 5:45 bus to the starting line.
The next morning we made it to the last bus, decaffeinated. I remembered something I had read about not eating any new foods but I wondered about not drinking coffee. We will see where this goes…
The race was great. About 8 miles at a conversational pace through the beautiful Napa Valley. The weather overcast in the upper 50’s when we started and the upper 60’s when we finished and we both finished.
What followed was refueling and rehydration and at some point, after a nap wearing our new technical running shirts and medal, a half bag of doritos and an extra salty margarita (I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that part).
With that, I have least remind myself of how much I enjoy running and hope that all my hips, ankles and knees will cooperate from here on out.
So how do you stay motivated to run in the winter? How do you come back from a running break? Particularly after you’ve been injured?
My first half marathon.
To the starting line
A look into the vineyard and all that wonderful cloud cover.
Happily sipping vinegar the day after the race.
Wanderer's Lust 