Birthday weekend

I had one of the best birthday's ever this weekend - and that's saying a lot. Friday afternoon Matt and I left work early and drove up to Healdsburg. The drive was brutal through Marin with traffic galore, but worth it in the end. We went to the Healsburg half expo to pick up my # (I ran the half on Saturday) and then checked in to one of the nicest B&Bs - the Old Crocker Inn. Then we made it out to dinner at a pizza place (wine country style) downtown and off to sleep early.

Up by 5:30 we drove to Clos du Bois for the race. Matt dropped me off and made his way to nap by the Sonoma lake.

The start was a mess - the race coordinators forgot the #s and timing chips at the finish line so nearly 1,000 people were waiting in line to get their number. The start line was so narrow it was an opsticle course to get across the first time block. But the views and sunrise were well worth the chaos.

I ran the EXACT same time as the Nike Half Marathon coming in at 1:37. I placed 2nd in my age group (woot!) and even won a bottle of wine - very nice. Now I'm paying for the pace, though - somehow in mile 1 I pulled a muscle and am now hobbling around.

After the race we hung out with GGRCers for a bit enjoying the free post race tasting, and then went off to explore the wine country.

Another great night at the B&B and back to the city to recover. Crossing the bridge we were welcomed with the familiar fog of San Francisco - it's hot in Healdsburg and the fog was an inviting embrace coming home.