California International Marathon (Race Recap)

Sacramento,  CA
Sunday, December 4
Marathon #30
Weather - Overcast and chilly

After running the California International Marathon in the 2012 monsoon, Heather really wanted to run it again, in better weather. We were originally registered to run in 2015, but after a lack of training, we deferred to 2016.

Saturday

A was already at Heather's house, I had taken her over the night before. I got up a bit later than I should have, made coffee, and drove to the off-site lot to drop off the car. I arrived at the airport a little over an hour before my flight, but security was a breeze, so it was no big deal. Charged my phone a bit before boarding, and even though I was in "B," managed to get a window seat in the second row. Now that Netflix has the download option, I was able to watch the Amanda Knox documentary and the first episode of Bates Motel. Both were good.

Heather had already landed and was waiting outside my gate. We took an Uber to the host hotel, the Sheraton across from the finish, and checked in. We went to the expo and picked up our packets without any issues.

Phew! I actually registered!

"California fall" outside the convention center - this is the last quarter mile of the course

Neither of us had eaten, so we walked to The Patio and got lunch. Mmmm, mac and cheese and cornbread.

We were both pretty tired so we went back to the hotel and watched TV until about 5 when it was time to walk to meet some of my teammates for dinner at The Waterboy. The food was good, but it was a lot pricier (and more fancy) than I expected. Ah well.

Sunset from our hotel room

Spent the rest of the evening getting gear ready and watching TV. Lights out around 9.

Sunday, Race Day

Alarm was set for 4:40. However, I hadn't slept well and had gotten up around 4:15. By the time the alarm went off I was ready to go. We made coffee in the room and walked down the street to the shuttle bus pick up at the convention center at 5:00 am. The bus ride sure seemed long, and NOTHING looked familiar. Had we really run this before??

A billion buses and a California sunrise

We stayed on the bus until about 15 minutes before the race started. I had been using my addaday massager on my right calf all day Saturday because it was crazy tight and achy after my crazy training session with Junko on Thursday. We used the bathroom, I picked up gloves off the ground since I had accidentally left mine on the bus (wah!!) and squeezed in around the 5:08 pace group. 5:08 pace group? Such a weird time!

Start line

The first 5 or so miles were fine. We were running a fairly comfortable pace. I was pleased that my calf did not seem to be acting up. Shortly after the section aid station (maybe mile 5.5), Heather asked if I minded if we started a run/walk. I did not mind, and we began doing 4:1 intervals. This worked well for the next few miles. We saw Libby working the aid station at mile 8.4 (random to see a friend from Texas working an aid station in California), and kept going. We adjusted the run/walk a bit for aid stations and hills.

So pretty!

Turns out, Heather was NOT imagining chickens on the course (we saw them around mile 9 I think). Then, we saw a guy with two goats spectating. Of course we had to get a picture with them, HOW COULD YOU NOT?? We seemed a lot more excited than the goats, though.

GOATS!!! PET GOATS!!!

There was  nice downhill after mile 10, and I made a comment that it was unfortunate that we had a walk break on the awesome downhill. That was when Heather told me that her left hip was bothering her and that running downhill was actually pretty painful. Uh oh. I've been there. I asked her if she wanted to walk a bit more, and she joked that maybe she would just quit. We did a few more intervals, and there was a climb near mile 12 where she said that she was indeed quitting. Oh no! I asked her if she was serious about quitting, if it was that bad. If she planned on just a lot of walking I had  no problems staying with her, but I did want to finish. She said the pain had spread to her IT band and that walking also hurt so she was going to walk to the relay exchange and stop. :(

Dang! Bummer! I told her I would text her later and hoped she felt better and moved on. I felt pretty good for a while, stopping around mile 16 to use the bathroom (the only one on the whole course that did not seem to have a line). Somewhere around mile 19 or so, my lack of road running and actual distance running caught up with me. I decided I would attempt to do intervals, running 5 or 6 minutes with a quick walk break.

At the "wall" around mile 20

The last "hill" - bridge at mile 22ish

This worked pretty good until maybe mile 23. I was really done by then. It was a lot colder than I had anticipated, and while I normally do really well in colder weather, I just felt... well, cold. I didn't want to put gloves on, but I kinda wished I had worn arm sleeves.

Action shot from Heather just before mile 26

I sent Heather a text at mile 24 to let her know that I was close, and she said she would be near the finish line. The last mile of the course seemed to go on forever.
There was a big blue arch that you would THINK indicated the end, but NO. The sign right after said mile 26, yet when I crossed the finish line I was closer to 26.5. The race has the strangest finish line ever, with men and women finishing in different chutes.

Got my medal and then met up with Heather. Thankfully, she had brought my jacket. We went and got some post-race food and beers before heading back to the hotel. I actually was not able to finish my brunch, which was weird because I was REALLY hungry the last few miles of the race.

This is actually a breakfast burrito, NOT a panini

Showered and checked out at 3:00. We didn't head to the airport until 5, and I was very sad to see my flight was delayed. By the time I got to the airport, picked up A, and got home it was 1:20 in the morning.  Blah.

Official Time - 5:14:23
Official 10K - 1:10:24
Official 13.1 - 2:35:29
Official 20 Mile - 3:57:31
Overall Place - 5186/6174
Gender Place - 2227/2838
Division Place - 401/505

Thoughts:

• The race caps at 7,500 runners. According to results, there were about 1,300 runners that either didn't start the race, or didn't finish. The race does allow deferrals, I believe it cost another $40 to register, on top of whatever we paid last year.
• Expo is in a nice, spacious location at the convention center. Packet pick up was a breeze. There were not too many vendors I was interested in. Unsure what parking would have cost if we hadn't been able to just walk there.
• The shuttles are organized incredibly well. They were loaded efficiently and got us all to the race in plenty of time.
• PLENTY of port-o-potties. Supposedly they had 300! We only waited a few minutes to use one. They also had quite a few on the course, there were always lines for those though.
• The course is very runnable - I didn't find any of the hills very long or unmanageable. 
• Tons of aid stations. More sparse in the beginning, with two sections where there was more than 3 miles between them. By the second half they were pretty much every mile - 17 aid stations in all. Plenty of volunteers, with Nuun and water. There were also a few "food" stations - some had GU, bananas, oranges and even baked goods.
• Every mile was marked, with a handful of timing mats on the course. Lots of crowd support and music and "energy."
• Medal is big, but not very interested. Kind of wish the cityscape had a more "bold" outline.
• Nice, long sleeve and gender specific shirt.
• Finish are is a cluster. Super crowded. And the beer was non-alcoholic.
• Would I run again? No. But it's more because it was just "meh" to me, and I've now run it twice. Too many marathons to run this one a third time.

Angel Fire Adventure Marathon (Race Recap)

Angel Fire, New Mexico
Sunday, July 3
Marathon #29
Weather - Sunny/windy/warm

With a pretty big race coming at the end of summer, I knew I would need some longer runs. At the time I registered for the Angel Fire Adventure marathon I didn't yet have my training plan and decided, sure, why not. Well, I actually was looking for something close by when I didn't already have something planned, preferably on a Sunday so I could also do a longer run with Runners' Edge. I was having trouble finding a race until I expanded my search to surrounding states, and since I hadn't run a marathon in New Mexico, it was the "obvious" choice.

I registered right after I finished Revel, before I knew the hip was all jacked up. As race day approached I was apprehensive about what to do. I had already booked the hotel, and since the "easy four" and week of trail running had been "OK" - I figured I would head out and hope for the best.

As far as I could tell, the course was a double out and back, and figured I could ask the race director about dropping at the halfway point if I felt really awful.

Race Day

I had slept fairly well. I had mapped how far it was to Angel Fire from the hotel, and it was about an hour and a half, so I was up just after 4 am for the 6:45 start. I was checked out of the hotel by 4:15, and drove around town for longer than I would have liked looking for coffee. Finally found an open gas station, got a coffee and diet Pepsi, then started the drive.

Highway 64 into Angel Fire is a two lane highway, super straight until you near the hills, then  it is pretty curvy. I saw jillions of deer on the side of the road, so I was paying extra close attention, as dawn is when they really seem to be out. I was driving over the speed limit and it was STILL taking longer than mapquest had said. Shit.

There was no actual address for the race start, but when I started to get close I saw that there were markers on  the side of the road so I just followed those until I got to the parking lot at the entrance to the resort. The website had said it was a 1/4 mile walk to the start/finish area where I would need to get my bib. I was parked by 6:10 - only 35 minutes until the race start. I call shenanigans that it was a 1/4 mile. It took almost 10 minutes to walk over, then the same to get back - and I was walking pretty fast.

View from the start line. Wish the race would have been in those hills!

By the time I got back to the car it was 6:35, I still had to apply sunscreen, shove my gel in my pockets and get my sunglasses. I was halfway to the start when I realized I had left my handheld in my car. Crap. And then I still had to use the bathroom - I hadn't used one since I left the hotel! Got in line with 3 minutes to the start, but there were only two port-o-potties. I ran into Dave Bell in the line and we chatted until he headed off, while I still waited. The race is not chip timed and I was the very last marathon runner to cross the start line - 8 minutes late, snatching a bottle of water on my way out. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the race...

The race set out on the shoulder of the road... where we would remain the entire race. I was minutes behind everyone else and stupidly started out faster than I should have. Within a half a mile, my calves seized up. Tried to run through it, but I pushed too hard and by the time I gave up and started walking I had to go super slow and was limping. At this point, I was thinking, the calf issues are nothing new, if that is the only issue I have this will be fine.

When I say I was running super slow, I'm not kidding. Normally (at least in the last few years), in a road race I'm moving around an 11 minute pace. I was at a 13 minute pace for most of the first half. I was taking lots of walk breaks. Angel Fire is at 8400' and for whatever reason, the altitude was making me a little queasy, although some of that could have been the heat and sun.

The aid stations were about 2 miles apart, having ONLY Gatorade (various flavors) and water. I had brought enough gels for the entire race, but for the first time, the sweetness was really bothering  me. I had also forgotten my Base salt, and I was sweating like crazy.

I got passed by the first half marathon runner before I was even at the first aid station. I caught up to the first marathon runner shortly after that. I was NOT enjoying myself. Even though my hip was feeling all right at this point, I just felt overly fatigued and not into it.

Not much else to say about the first half. It wasn't great, but I figured I might as well just go for the full marathon. I caught up to Dave just after the half marathon runners turned off. He wasn't having a great time either. Then, I realized where we were...

Focus on the SIDE of the highway. Pretty trees!

When I had gone out last year for Ragnar, there was a section of trail that ran near the road, going UP. That's what we were on. So for about 2 miles, I pretty much just walked. It was steep enough that running wasn't even worth it. Just past mile 15 we had some downhill. I started running, slow still, but the hip was holding up. That is, until I was running across a gravel driveway and I caught my toe on a rut. I lurched forward to catch myself from falling on my face and the impact of stepping (of COURSE with my "bad" leg) jarred my hip. I yelled out and tried to keep running and couldn't. This was around mile 17. I basically walked the remainder of the race.

The only marker that made me feel almost as good as the finish line

At the turnaround, I noticed I wasn't alone in my misery. All the people at my pace were walking. I would walk for 3-4 minutes and then try to jog, but the way back was about a four mile climb, into a headwind. AWESOME. My kidneys were "hurting" like I needed to pee but there were no bathrooms on the course and nowhere I could go without risking public indecency. Since the race was on the road, there were a few Sheriffs cruising up and down the race course to ensure people weren't driving like maniacs.

I tried REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY hard to not hate every single second of this race. Pictures like THIS made me feel a tad better (this was the side of the road, maybe around mile 22?)

To top it all off, I was getting eaten alive by deer flies. URG. I was in  bad place and cursing my stupidity for "needing" to run the full marathon.

Random sightings on my run back... (I did NOT take a picture of the decapitated owl):

The long long long long long road - but yay for the pretty mountain in the distance!

Deer leg. Just one.

Deer body. Down the road from the aforementioned leg.

Caped ninjas on horseback?

I passed maybe a half dozen people in the last 6 miles. Caught up to a guy I seen pacing earlier. He had to quit his pace leading duties after getting incredibly sick. We ran/walked together for most of the last two miles.

At the finish I collected my medal, was given a bottle of water, and then I headed to the "finisher tent" for my shirt. Not surprisingly, the size I had ordered (men's size XS, since no women's size) was not available. There was no food at the finish other than pretzels, granola bars, orange and banana slices. After a hundred thousand miles on the road, I really needed something more. "Luckily," I was still nauseous so I was fine for the time being. I hung around at the finish to wait for Dave and Stacy. I chatted with the race directors for a few minutes and let them know that they need more potties and that the walk from the lot to the start is NOT a quarter mile. The race director offered to adjust my time to my Garmin time since I started so late, which was nice.

Official Time - 6:08:46 (slowest road marathon, by quite a bit)
Overall Place - 64/78
Gender Place - 35/44
Division Place - 7/7
Mile 1 - 13:19
Mile 2 - 13:09
Mile 3 - 12:52
Mile 4 - 13:34
Mile 5 - 13:00
Mile 6 - 12:56
Mile 7 - 13:01
Mile 8 - 13:42
Mile 9 - 13:29
Mile 10 - 13:10
Mile 11 - 13:34
Mile 12 - 13:22
Mile 13 - 13:52
Mile 14 - 13:58
Mile 15 - 16:11
Mile 16 - 12:39
Mile 17 - 13:49
Mile 18 - 15:11
Mile 19 - 16:08
Mile 20 - 17:03
Mile 21 - 16:36
Mile 22 - 16:20
Mile 23 - 15:39
Mile 24 - 13:21
Mile 25 - 13:3
Mile 26 - 13:54
Mile 26.11 - 12:55

Back half = NOT FUN

Thoughts:

• This was the third year of the event and there are still some kinks that need to be worked out. The parking lot situation/time to walk to the start needs to be adjusted to a realistic time. The inaccurate info caused me to misjudge my morning and got me off to a rough start.
• The aid stations were well stocked with fluids, but NOTHING else...  I know better than to rely on aid stations for food, but for a $100 fee, something with salt would have been appreciated.
• The course was marked. But incredibly inaccurately. The only mile markers that were right on for me were 1 and 13. For example, the 26 mile marker was about .6 away from the finish. WTF! If I was someone who had a kick at the end I would have lost my mind.
• The race isn't chip timed, which is fine, but there needs to be more bathrooms at the start (and on the course) and the half should maybe start 30 minutes after (instead of 15) to ease up on the crowded start area.
• The race did start right on time, which would have been nice if I could have started on time.
• The post-race was not great - need more food for sure!
• The unisex shirts. Boo, hiss. Everyone knows how I feel about this.
• I do love the medal!

• The course itself is not great. I knew it was road, but it was all on the shoulder and most of the shoulder was gravelly and uneven. But! If I looked to my left or right, it was really pretty! Angel Fire is a gorgeous resort town, and running on the trails there is pretty fantastic. Sadly, I didn't get to do that (again, not the fault of the race, it's not like they mislead anyone into thinking it would be trail). I also realized, when writing my recap, that I did not take any pictures on the first half of the course when we ran through "town" and on not nearly a "pretty" road.
• Would I run this again? No.

Avenue of the Giants Marathon (Race Recap)

Weott, California
Sunday, May 1
Marathon #28
Weather - Sunny, perfect

Heather picked the Avenue of the Giants marathon as her birthday race. Since my birthday is only a few weeks after hers, I invited myself along, registering right away. Then, of course, people asked... "how are you getting there." I assumed, by plane. Until I started looking at the logistics. The Avenue of the Giants is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and there is no such thing as a direct flight from Denver. Not such a big deal, but flying into the Eurkea airport (about 45 minutes north), was a lot more expensive. We determined that it was worth it to pay a bit more and not have to drive 5 HOURS from San Francisco.

Anyway.

We had already scoped out where the race was starting, so we planned on leaving the hotel at 6, giving us 45 minutes for the drive and then an hour to use the bathrooms, park, etc. Timing ending up working out really well. The marathon starts at 7:45, an hour before the half. It is also the smallest of the three events, so we were able to park with ease. By the time we parked, we weren't sure that we would have time to use the bathroom and then head back to the car, so we put on our throwaways and grabbed all our stuff and headed towards the start.

First time we went through the bathroom lines there was virtually no wait. We took some pictures and cycled through the line one more time before the start. It was REALLY foggy at the start, but we were sure that it would burn off later.

At the start line

Heather got a stress fracture in mid March. She had literally run less than 20 miles in the last 6 weeks. Up until the trip out, we were unsure what distance we were even going to attempt. That was settled when the race director told us that although she could stop at the half marathon point, she would get a DNF. Against better judgment, she wanted to go for the marathon. I, on the other hand, had put in my first ever marathon training cycle and run just about all my scheduled runs. (Well, until the whole lasik thing, then I had to cut some out). Kinda bummed not to see what my training could do for me (if anything), but I was committed to running with Heather. So the goal was "slow and low, that is the tempo" and not to screw up her injury any worse.

With that said, we lined up towards the back. I was still wearing my throwaway as it was a tad chilly in the midst of all the trees. The road we were on was pretty torn up, but very runnable. We chatted and the time was flying by. We were maintaining a slower pace than I even train at, but Heather was feeling good, so we didn't want to push the pace. The course was marked at every mile, and we had been warned that due to the giant trees, we might lose satellite on our watches, so I liked that there were markings. I hadn't really memorized where the aid stations were, but I had thought the first one would be around 2 miles in, and it wasn't until closer to 3. Not a big deal as it was still pretty chilly. Both of us got rid of our throwaways though.

The aid stations all had gatorade (the icky lemon-lime flavor) and water, as well as oranges. On the website, it said that there would be gels at "select" aid stations, which turned out to only be on the marathon course at mile 13, fyi, make sure you have enough for the whole race.

Anyway, we were stopping to take a lot of pictures. I had to stop every hour or so to put drops in my eyes. We walked all the aid stations and had to stop twice on the course to use the bathroom. The course is a double out and back, and the way out of the first out and back, it seemed downhill. However, it didn't seem that uphill on the way back (with the exception of a short climb around mile 11 or so).

At the half way point we joined the half marathon and 10k runners on a wider, two lane road. This road was MUCH easier to run on, as it was very smooth. We were definitely the back of the pack for the marathon, but I don't mind out and backs as I can see other people. I think the most interesting person on the course was a woman doing the half marathon CARRYING A BABY IN A BJORN. What. And she wasn't even last, or even close to last. Around mile 18 my garmin lost satellite. It would take over a half hour to recover it, so I was lost on our pace, and kind of where we were. (Not really, because there were markings every mile).
Heather finally started to have some issues around mile 20. Not where her stress fracture was (right tibia), but hip/glut and IT band on her left side. I'm guessing that she was favoring her left leg, trying to avoid hurting her right. By that point, spirits were definitely down and the chatter lessened, as she was in no mood for goofy chit chat. Did my best to keep her spirits high, but she was struggling. It was also getting really warm. The forecast had the high around 73, and considering I have been running in 40 degree weather, that seemed HOT. Most of the people at our pace were walking, so we actually passed quite a few people in the back half.

The sections in the sun were so warm!

We took a few short walk breaks, but I was really amazing at how much Heather was able to run! She is crazy/a rock star. I had thought the last aid station was about 3/4 of a mile from the finish, and was getting kind a discouraged when it seemed to be taking so long to get there. Turns out, it was like .3 from the finish. Both of us had some kick left and we sprinted past two people in the chute (one of which was behind us in line at the airport and remembered us).

Heather was pretty bummed with our "slow" finish. Since I'm slower anyway, I didn't care. PLUS, SHE HAD NOT RUN IN 6 WEEKS!

Official Time - 5:29:51 (not even my slowest road marathon)
Official Pace - 12:35
Overall Place - 444/522
Gender Place - 197/256
Division Place - 29/36
Garmin Time - 5:30:18
Mile 1 - 11:23
Mile 2 - 11:48
Mile 3 - 11:43
Mile 4 - 11:14
Mile 5 - 12:33
Mile 6 - 12:01
Mile 7 - 14:07
Mile 8 - 11:50
Mile 9 - 11:51
Mile 10 - 13:23
Mile 11 - 13:58
Mile 12 - 11:25
Mile 13 - 12:02
Mile 14 - 11:53
Mile 15 - 11:52
Mile 16 - 14:05
Mile 17 - 14:09
Mile 18 - 14:23
Mile 19 - 33:52 (this is where my garmin lost satellite, pretty sure this was almost 3 miles)
Mile 20 - 12:50
Mile 21 - 12:29
Mile 22 - 12:31
Mile 23 - 13:35
Mile 24 - 12:42
Mile 25 - 11:06

Overall, my watch only measured 24.59 miles, so I lost about 1.6 miles due to the whole big trees / satellite issue.

Collected our medals and headed up to the finish area. I was hungry and wanted beer. SADLY, the "food" SUCKED. A bag of stale chips and peanut butter and jelly wraps were IT. Urg!!! We were in the middle of nowhere, so it's not like we could just drive down the street and get food. As for the beer, apparently only some special "club" was able to get beer. They had a big sign for Eel River brewery, but not everyone was able to get a beer. SO DISAPPOINTING. They did, however, have a food truck where you could BUY food, but our car was a ten minute walk away.

Thoughts:

• Course is beautiful. Hands down, one of the prettiest road races I have run. I LOVE TREES AND GREEN THINGS SO MUCH!!
• Race was pretty well organized, and I liked that there were plenty of aid stations and potties located on the course. Lots of friendly volunteers, the aid stations were never out of supplies and it didn't seem like they were overwhelmed.
• Do not love that the race shirt is a cotton tee. I won't wear it. They did have lots of other options of tops and merchandise to BUY at packet pick up. Maybe if this was a first marathon, or I didn't have a bazillion other x,y,z.
• Cute medal. We think it is a bobcat on it. We did not see any on the course, nor do I know if they live in the area. But cute.
• BUMMER BUMMER BUMMER about the finish area. It SUCKED having to drive back to Eurkea (well over 40 minutes away, just to get food). Was not pleased with that.
• So, if the question is, would I run again? I probably would not, but more because of the expense in getting there. I don't think anyone would be disappointed with the course, and the lack of food and beer could certainly be solved - if you knew about it in advance.

Week in Review (April 26 - May 2)

Holy crap. How on earth is it MAY????

Tuesday (15,231 steps) - Didn't get up early. Again. I planned to run during my lunch hour. However, I left my special eye drops at home, so I had to run to Walgreen's to buy some. I went "the long way" so I could get a semi-decent run in. This was one of the best runs I have had in ages. It was "fast" and cool, and I didn't want to die.

I work only a few blocks from the state capital

Wednesday (14,529 steps) - Had my "one week" follow up for my lasik. Can start cutting back on the prescription drops, and everything is looking good. Run club after work with A! A struggled a bit as she has soccer practice after school and she was tired.

We went to Garbanzo's for dinner after. Haven't been there in ages, it was so delicious. Started packing for this weekend.
Thursday (18,916 steps) - Mainly because the forecast was looking bleak, I actually got up early and did a run. 4ish miles along the lake at sunrise... really, nothing can beat that!

Clouds, they are a-rollin' in.

Gymnastics and Tokyo Joe's. Finished packing.
Friday (12,174 steps) - Rest day! A had a dentist appointment, and then I took her over to our friend's house where she would be spending the weekend. She had the day off from school, but I still had to go to work. Womp. Our flight out of Denver was at 7:30, but because it had been snowing all day, I left work a tad early to meet Heather at her house and drive over to the airport. Traffic wasn't bad, parking was easy. We grabbed a drink and got Mexican food to go. Our flight was on time. OH WAIT, JUST KIDDING. Long story short, we sat at the gate for ALMOST TWO HOURS. Why? First class catering effed up and their food wasn't on the plane. Finally, after the passengers started to revolt and were asking to get off the plane, the pilot made the executive decision to depart. We were pretty sure we wouldn't make our connection. Bought TV, tried to watch "Joy," but it was so hard to hear, that I pretty much know nothing about what happened, other than she invented a new mop. We landed in San Francisco with about 15 minutes to make our connection. We did make it to the gate, and were told "due to weather in Eureka, we may have to turn around and come back." Luckily, that didn't happen. Landed on time, airport shuttle picked us up. By the time we got to our hotel it was after 1 am. Eesh.
Saturday (20,166 steps) - Got up fairly early and had breakfast at the hotel. Pretty decent buffet style with eggs, bacon/sausage, potatoes and french toast. And THEN we went for a short, easy run by the water.

Quick showers, then took the shuttle back to the airport so we could pick up our rental car. We drove up to Trinidad, took pictures and went for a short walk.

We stopped at Lost Coast brewery in Eureka for a beer and lunch.

We then took an incredibly scenic drive down to the Avenue of the Giants to pick up our packets. Fun afternoon!

One of the best pictures I think I have ever taken

Spent some time relaxing at the hotel and then went to get pizza for dinner. Because, carb loading. In bed not quite as early as planned, around 10:30.

Sunday (60,099 steps) - Avenue of the Giants marathon, recap to follow.

We ended up having burgers and beers at Lost Coast again. Why mess with a good thing? And no, we didn't bother stopping at the hotel to shower first. Spent the remainder of the evening watching tv (we watched Mean Girls, lol). We were too lazy to go out for dinner, so we just ate in the hotel restaurant (grilled cheese, fries and cheesecake).
Monday (14,115 steps) - Last day in California. I wanted to do a short shake out run, so got up about 20 minutes before Heather for a 15 minute jog. Kinda painful, but I knew I would be sitting most of the day. After breakfast we drove up to the "Trees of Mystery." Sounds cheesy, but it was pretty neat! Took tons of pictures, went on a nature walk, and rode a gondola.

View from the top of the Sky Ride

This tree started growing DURING THE CRUSADES???

Stopped in Trinidad on the way to the airport to get food (and had a mimosa while we were waiting). The Eureka airport is so small there is not a gift shop, or food, with the exception of a vending machine. A ONE GATE AIRPORT. Flight to San Fran was fine, uneventful. Landed a few minutes early in Denver. Went to Heather's to get my car, then picked up A right around 10 pm. Stopped at Old Chicago for take out mac & cheese because I was staving and knew there was no food at home. Phew.

Stats:

• 155,230 steps
• 40 miles run
• No cross training, except our nature hike, lol
• No strength/stretching

Everything Else:

• It was "staff appreciation week" at my job this week. We had special "meals/treats" every day, which was nice! I got a Target gift card from the firm, flowers and an Amazon gift card from my attorneys, won a day off with pay, AND, I also found out I won the quarterly "perfect attendance" award, good for $100 Visa gift card. Pretty exciting!

• Nothing else....