The Last Hurrah in Pacifica + A Boat Fit for a Hobbit

Chapter 1 - RACE REPORT

My 4:30am last Saturday and every Saturday.    

8 hours of work later, I was shoving Gu and tape into my gear bag in a frenzy so that we could blow town and head for the ocean. Allison came with us because she's NEVER BEEN TO PACIFICA. I know, right? There was a slight detour to REI in San Francisco before we made our way down the coast to Rockaway Beach.

I just started watching Lost
and I'm on season 5
so I pretty much have
a whole different perspective
when looking out at the ocean.

Shenanigans ensued during the evening. I've discovered Vine and took way too many videos, but I was in bed by ten...thirty...ish to be up in the morning for the 8am start of Coastal's Montara Mountain half marathon.

The lot at the park filled early, so everyone coming in was directed to park along the streets- the neighborhood streets, like sleepy Sunday morning neighborhood streets. Streets with houses full of people that in no way expected to walk out for their newspapers and see a guy with his shirt around his neck lubing up. <photo not included> <if you follow me on Instagram, you can totally see the photo>.

I had 2 goals for this race: 1. Don't do anything stupid like get hurt two weeks before Way Too Cool which you've been training for since December, and 2. Seriously, NO SERIOUSLY don't do anything stupid like get hurt.

I was cautious running back down the mountain on the first loop. There's a section that is covered in golf ball sized rocks, and when you want to use gravity to your advantage and make up some time, it's not always easy to back off on the downhill. I had to keep reminding myself to run smart.

Coming into the aid station I recognized Janeth, who seems to be either running or volunteering at a race every weekend and always smiling. She refilled my handheld and sent me off with some encouragement which gave me a little boost as I headed out for more uphill. The Hazelnut loop was killer; It was hot, it seemed endless, and every switchback looks the same. It was tough, but great physical training as well as mental.

Finish! 4th AG, and
nothing stupid happened!

Chapter 2......A glimpse into the future

Julie Fingar...AKA race director of Way Too Cool. 

We took a little trip into Sacramento to stay on the boat. It's a fun place to stay because it's an old boat that's now a hotel, and all the rooms are quaint and cozy.

Quaint and cozy meaning small and little.

We've stayed on the Delta King a handful of times and really enjoyed it. The truth is that the rooms are small (if you're medium sized, like me(5'5"), you can reach up and touch the ceiling in the room no problem...if you're small sized, like GeNene (5'0"), you can reach up and touch the ceiling if you have a water bottle in your hand.

So basically, the boat reminds me of Bag End.
And now I want to watch
Lord of the Rings.

This is the door to our room. 

I wanted a picture that would show the size of the door...but when I saw the picture I realize it was more along the lines of this.

Little Green Men. X Files. 

I had a great 5 mile run along the American River and then came back to shower and head to REI. There was a crowd of about 40 people to hear Julie Fingar and Don Freeman speak. I find that I learn the most when people tell stories...what worked or didn't work, what it felt like, what you experienced. The more I hear that you wanted to quit but kept going the better. I understand that everything's different person to person, you have to find what works for you blah blah blah...but tell me what you experienced, what you ate, how you felt at mile 70, how you yelled at your pacer...how you trained, how you run hills, whatever!

I learned a few really important takeaways from Don. The one most important thing is something that I feel like is a total rookie mistake. When I have an important race coming up on the weekend, I chug water like it's going out of style the entire week prior to hydrate as much as possible. What I didn't realize was that I was over hydrating. Basically I'm flushing the electrolytes and sodium completely out of my body.

Gandalf.

Ok so Goodnight. See you on the flip side.