Water to Wine

I wish I could say I was ready for this race, I wasn't.  Oh, I knew I could run the distance.  I knew that I would run it faster then my first half, but I also knew I would struggle to finish in under 2 hours.  Its crazy, I tapered fairly well, except Tuesday I ran too hard and did something to my left leg.  Okay, time for the excuses:

1. My left leg was bugging me
2. It was too hot - where was the famous Sonoma county fog?
3. It had too many hills
4. I had to run behind a truck and breath truck fumes
5. I had to run on dirt behind other runners who were kicking up dirt
6. An old friend stepped on my left hallux, you know the one where the toe nail is still growing back

Seriously though, no excuses, I just didn't get good tempo training in.  My training has been a bit sluggish.  I think it takes a race like this, a disappointment, to motivate me to start training hard again.

Its probably not that easy.  I'll just reflect, run, try to run faster, and hope for better in November.

The Ride

Driving up to Kendall Jackson winery was fairly bad.  A lot of traffic, the start and stop variety, a 2 hour 41 minute trip turned into a 4+hour trip.  We got there, picked up the race packet and eased our road aches with a little wine tasting.  The Pinot Noir was very good.

Visiting with an Old Friend

A friend that I have known since high school, who has been living out of state for like a decade, has returned.  To my surprise, he has moved to a place very close to this race.  He recently emailed me to ask me about my trip to France, I turned his attention to my blog, and he deduced where my next run would be.  A phone call later and we arranged to visit.

The visit alone made the trip worth it.  I wasn't sure I would repeat this run, but now I am rethinking just to have an excuse to drop by.

Dinner

My wife and I, along with friend and his significant other went to:

No pictures of meals this time.  My wife went with seafood Risotto, I had lamb on ravioli's.

We had an unremarkable chardonnay to go along with the dinner.  We shared a serving of Tiramisu.

The Race

I guess I got there a bit early...

The course:

The times:

According to this data, Modesto was more hilly, but that is silly.  My best pace numbers aren't to bad, but only 3 sub 9 minute miles.  The final official time was 2 hours and 30 seconds.

Pros and Cons

I liked the location of the race.  I liked that the race was a dedicated half marathon and not coupled with a marathon. I liked the racing shirt, the finish medal (practical wine bottle stopper), and the 13.1 sticker.  I never thought I would put a 13.1 sticker on my car, but it was free, this was my 4th half marathon, it was time.  The organization was excellent, the people helpful, and the police did a great job of keeping us safe at traffic lights.  I liked that I was able to visit a good friend.

I didn't like that a good chunk of the race was open to traffic and we were delegated to the bike lane.  In the final mile I had to burn some much needed reserve to pass several people who were slowing, while on an over pass.  I was nervous to say the least.  I didn't like running through the wineries.  I know, kind of the point, but the dust really was awful.  And following the truck really was crappy as I kept thinking of how I was sucking in those fumes.

As of this moment the next race is return to Monterey in November, but I'm thinking about the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll half marathon.