Incredible girl’s weekend! My sister-friend, Michelle, flew down to join in on the fun and cheer us on.
First stop: Lunch at the Oxbow Market, one of my favorite places! We all picked up lunch at the yummy C Casa.
Next stop: Packet pick up at DeLoach Vineyards. We had to park at in a field about a quarter mile away and get shuttled in. It was crazy hot and waiting for the shuttles was tough. The Expo at DeLoach was delightful; an excellent variety of vendors and other races. We got our awesome jackets, bibs, and bottle of wine and shuttled back to our car.
We checked into our hotel room at the Fountaingrove Inn. This is a photo of an old round barn located above the property…
We had a big group dinner with about 20 other MRTT runners at the Windsor Golf Club. Good food and they did an excellent job managing a large group.
Runner tradition is to lay out all of your gear the night before. Here are Shannon and my outfits…
Me and my sole sis, Shannon! She is the friend you need when you need laughter and fun in your life!
Our MRTT tribe!!
IT.WAS.HOT! One of the hottest races I have ever ran. Totally atypical weather for Santa Rosa. Marathoners were dropping like flies. It was brutal. I was pleasantly surprised to see my time was holding strong and I was looking forward to finishing under three hours, which is always my goal. But, we ended up stopping to help a marathon runner who needed medical attention. We were with her for about fifteen minutes before we were able to leave her at an aid station. Trying to get back into the groove was very difficult and I could not keep my heart rate low; so I ended up walking a good deal for the last two miles.
This lovely woman is a part of our group. Mindy is a Boston Marathon runner, running the Santa Rosa marathon. She was just ahead of me, about to finish her marathon as I was coming in to finish my half. I saw her and decided to sprint to catch up to her. As I caught up with her, I said, “you know I’m pacing you, right?”, and she replied something to the effect of, “let’s finish this B—-!”, and she took off sprinting! There was NO WAY I could keep up with her. She was half a block ahead of me, stopped, turned around, and waited for me! I yelled for her to keep running, but she stayed with me until a small sprint at the finish line. I would have walked so much more for that last mile if she had not been there to push me.
Heading in to the finish line….
We went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool. Had dinner at the hotel, and a friend of Shannon’s (also a Shannon), joined us. She works for one of the local wineries (Robert Foley Vineyards) and brought a bottle (2012 Pinot Blanc) to share. It was divine. It’s common practice in that area to bring your own wine and pay a corkage fee.
The next morning, we had breakfast at a local mom and pop diner, the Piner Cafe. Then it was on to the Charles Schulz Museum. It was a delight and someplace I look forward to bringing the boys. For now, they just have to appreciate the Snoopy grilled cheese maker I brought back for them! 🙂
We hit up a thrift store in Vacaville, then home. We packed a lot in a few days!!