Santa Ynez Half Marathon

What an impeccable week of vacationing, I seriously didn't want to go back to NYC. But reality is reality & the race was definitely a reality. With a ton of my Washington friends doing the race, I knew I had some serious competition. There is nothing like showing up on race day all decked out in my training gear only to be outbeaten by a girlfriend who was only able to get a run or two in to get ready for the race. I know that is quite un-sportsmanlike of me to say...but it truly was how I felt.

With the fires in SB coming on hard, there were a lot of concerns about the race. The temp was extremely hot, the wind was going strong & the fire caused poor air condition. But the race director decided to have the race anyways & truthfully I didn't really feel any impact of the fires raging 30 miles away.

We got to the race in perfect time, I ended up taking some Endurox pills which P gave me...which I think really worked for the first hour or so of the race. The lines to the bathrooms were crazy long, just the first sign the race was poorly managed. J, A & I all decided to start together, which was really great to cheer them on & run alongside them just like our ol' high school days. We were watching matching pink tshirts, which definitely helped the audience cheer us on.

The first 5 miles of the course were rolling hills with not a lot of room for improvement. Once we passed the small town of Los Olivos, we were faced with a .7 mile steep uphill. I truly just kept my head down & didn't look up until the hill was done. Thank god I had my headphones on because my breath was so out of control.

After the hill, it was smooth sailing for the next 4 miles or so. A lot of down hills that really helped me pick up my pace, I even ran 2 sub-7 minute miles which was amazing for me. I really felt great during these miles, almost indestructable.

From mile 11 to the end, it was not the race I wanted to run. I thought the course flattened out, but I was so so so wrong. From mile 11 to mile 12.5, it was completely awful. I seriously was shocked to find hill after hill after hill. I basically dragged it in, holding a 7:45 pace to the finish.

I saw C just as I was finishing, which was great. We both watched as the rest of the girls made their way in, all finishing with great times. Afterwards, we waited in line forever to get our shirts & wine glasses & finally made it over to the wine tasting to swallow our pain with several tastings of the valleys finest wines.

Distance: 13.1 at 1:39:39
State of Mind: I miss California so much, so confused about where my life is heading