Napa Valley Marathon - #21

It has been over two weeks now since I ran the Napa Valley Marathon ... Marathon #21! I'm happy to have crossed yet another marathon off my list and had fun coming home to the Bay Area for the weekend for the race. For years I heard people rave about this race having a beautiful course and having a nice negative elevation which was ideal for PRs, and since hearing that I have wanted to run it. Several months ago I talked Tara into running this race and we had plans of shooting for a 4:20 PR for her, and a big cancer PR for me. (My previous races on chemo were 5:30 and 5:00.) Our training didn't go exactly as planned in the months leading up to the race though so in the end I was really just hoping for a sub 5:00 finish to at least prove to myself that I was making improvements and recovering from the chemo which I finished back in December.

 

 

Napa Valley Marathon Course

 

 

The race has a strict no-headphones policy which they threatened all of the runners about repeatedly leading up to the race, including a grumpy sign at the expo. I know there are runners who don't need music and who prefer to run without it. I'm not one of them. I find running in silence to be torture. I stressed about what to do about the headphones for weeks. Buy wireless headphones? Run in misery without headphones? Run with headphones and risk disqualification?)In the end I decided ... well ... let's just say that I have a friend who kept her headphones in her shirt and would take one ear out to listen to when it was "safe".. and then tuck it back into her shirt when it wasn't. I hear it worked out well for her. :o)

 

 

BOO on No Headphones!

 

 

David and I flew up to San Francisco Friday night and had dinner with my Dad, and then had breakfast the next morning with my best friend and her family. We also had a chance to see her beautiful new optometry practice downtown called Lunettes Optometric. Check it out if you need to have your eyes examined or need new glasses!

 

 

Lunettes Optometric

 

 

Lunch at Cornerstone Sonoma

 

 

We drove up to Napa after breakfast to go to the expo and to get my race bib. We stopped at Cornerstone in Sonoma along the way and I couldn't resist taking a picture on the giant purple Adirondack chair. I have a normal sized purple one at home.
 

 

Napa Valley Marathon Duffel Bag

 

 

We all stayed in Yountville that night at my friend Tom's house and had a nice carbo loading dinner at R+D Kitchen. Such torture to be in wine country and to have a nice dinner and not be able to enjoy some wine ... but I didn't want to break my rule of no alcohol the night before a race.

 

 

Dinner at R+D Kitchen

 

 

In addition to stressing about the earphones for weeks I was also worried about the weather. A big storm was coming through California and the weather reports were showing rain on race weekend. Luckily most of the rain hit on Thursday and Friday and by Saturday things started drying out. On race day we managed to stay dry until the last hour or so and were only hit with a light drizzle. (Which running through still leaves you soaked, but at least it wasn't pouring.)

 

 

San Diego Storm Watch

 

 

The course was a point to point and wasn't great for spectators, but we did get to see  David and crew around mile 18. I felt bad that they had to stand around in the rain, but I guess it could be worse. They could be running 26 miles in the rain! Ha.

 

 

Race Morning Mustaches

 

 

10 Miles Down, 16 To Go

 

 

20 Miles Down, 6 To Go!

 

 

Running In Rain - Ewwwww

 

 

We ended up finishing the race in 4:46:51, a time that both Tara and I were happy with. This was still much slower than any marathon I ran before being diagnosed with cancer, but hey, I'm making progress from my races last year when I was on chemo, and my doctor said that it could take 3-6 months for me to be fully recovered from its effects.

 

 

Napa Valley Marathon Finishers 

With Our Race Support Crew

Finisher's Medal - It's a Spinner!

 

  

We flew back to San Diego that night and then I actually took the entire week off of running! I probably could have run again by Wednesday but decided to give my body a rest until Saturday when a group of us got together to celebrate our friend Allison's recent wedding with a "mustache and wig" run. Why? Why not! (Okay, the real reason is that Allison loves mustaches and wigs. I mean, who doesn't??)

 

 

Allison's Mustache & Wig Run

 

We only ran 3 miles that morning and for the last mile and a half I was running between a 8-8:30 pace and felt great. I was recovered! Well, not really.  The next day I ran the San Diego Half Marathon for a friend who couldn't run because she was injured. I decided to start out with the 1:50 pacer running sub 9:00 miles. I felt good for all of two miles before I started to hurt, then get really tired, then wanted to quit. I considered calling David at one point to come pick me up but figured I'd just slow down, take walk breaks whenever I needed them, and just treat the race as a recovery run.

 

 

My Thoughts on the San Diego Half Marathon 

 

 

Finished - But It Was Painful

 

I finished in 2:12 ... and I started with the 1:50 pacers! I must have been crazy. Oh well, live and learn! I'm done with running races for a while and will be switching gears to triathlons. Next up is the Spring Sprint Triathlon May 4th!