Two words: Wine Slushie.
That’s right, wine slushie! I’ve had beer shots throughout the course of a marathon, but this is truly the first time I’ve ever had wine during a race. And it was glorious!
This course is marketed as a downhill course, which in theory it is. However, you kind of know what you’re getting yourself into when you commit to running a race through wine country. It isn’t flat there, and neither is this race. But there is a net decline in elevation to the tune of about 300ft, and regardless of the terrain, it is beautiful!
We flew into San Francisco the day before the race, which was a Saturday. We rented a car and drove to Napa, which is always such an easy, beautiful drive. We stayed at the host hotel so that we didn’t have to worry about logistics the day of the race, and it was located in a really convenient location to food and wineries, which are things we would be interested in seeking out immediately after crossing the finish line. =)
Packet pickup was also at this hotel, and to our surprise (although we shouldn’t have been surprised at all!), they had wine tastings at the expo. We did not hold back, and this was an excellent way to kick off our wine country weekend!
I got my packet, which was really easy to navigate. We had a choice of a duffel bag or a backpack, which I chose the backpack. They are really nice, really well constructed bags, so this was another great bonus (in addition to the wine)!
The buses left bright and early for the starting line in Calistoga on race day. I was in the hotel lobby at 5:00am to grab some portable breakfast items from the continental breakfast and get on the bus, which got me to Calistoga at 5:45am. If you’re wondering, it is pitch dark still at 5:45 in Calistoga in early March. The race started at 7:00am, so I used this free hour to take some photos, stretch, use the bathrooms, and get my sweats into the gear check before lining up. A giant perk to a smaller race is that there were no lines for the porta potties. I was able to go twice before starting the race. Also, there are no headphones allowed on this course, which just encourages everyone to talk to each other both before the race and along the course. I’ve never ran a more social marathon in my life, which really made this marathon unique. I was a little concerned about the no headphone rule, as I always run to music. But on the course I really didn’t need them due to the social nature of the race.
We started promptly at 7:00am. Seeing the vineyards at dawn is so pretty, so the first 5 or 6 miles really just flew by, which was a pleasant surprise as the first few miles have some decent rolling hills to contend with. My goal was to run flat 8:30s, but when I took a watch check at mile 6, I realized I was pacing closer to 8:10s. The first large hill at mile 5 came and went without notice, and I actually ran an 8:05 split over that mile. I knew that if I could make it past mile 6 I would have a bit of a “break” from the rolling hills until I approached mile 14. I pulled back on pace a little bit, but overall was feeling really great. I let my legs lead me, knowing I needed to slow down slightly to save my legs for the middle mile rollers. I crossed the half marathon point at 1:50, which is an 8:23 pace. This was slightly faster than I was planning, but again, I was feeling strong!
Mile 13 and mile 15 have long, gradual hills, which did affect me after running on slight rolling hills for the first 13 miles. Mile 13 is the first time my splits dipped into the 9s, and to be honest, I was close to hitting the 10s! My mile 13 split was 9:05, then recovered to 8:37 for mile 14, then back up to 9:55 at mile 15. Mile 15 is where this race got hard for me. This is also the point in the race where the roads start opening up to traffic, so only half of the Silverado Trail was blocked off. I don’t know if it was the traffic, the scenery, or what specifically made me start running poor tangents, but I started running a “dumb” race. I was making mistakes that i knew not to make. For example, I just stayed on the center line of the road rather than running the inside track. It was easier for me to zone out and concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other if I didn’t have to try to find the shortest distance around each curve. However, this was a stupid approach, as the Silverado Trail is a windy, curvy road. My watch would buzz for the following mile about a half of a mile early, which was not helpful for the mental game. At the end, my watch read 26.46, which is not only the farthest I have ever run, but also the worst tangents I’ve ever run in a marathon! Vineyards are distracting! =)
I approached mile 23 where you turn off the trail and run along some really pretty tree-lined roads, which at this point, the change of scenery was well welcomed. My splits had dipped to average 10:05/mi, so I knew I needed something different to concentrate on. I am not even kidding, when I turned off at mile 23, there was a gorgeous land/yard to my right that had a wooden fence with horses that literally ran next to me for about a quarter of a mile. The horses seriously were running by my side for quarter of a mile!!! Then, at mile 23.5, the owners of a vineyard (who owned the horses?) were handing out wine slushies to the runners. You could choose between white and red, of which I could not make a decision, so they gave me both! At this point the sun was really hot, so the idea of a slushie was amazing. This totally did the trick, as I was able to finish my last three miles at an average pace of 9:15/mi (my fastest splits since mile 14).
After the race I grabbed my food and went to the gymnasium where they were giving free massages. I took my number which I thought was going to be a long wait, so I was pleasantly surprised when my number was called in about 20 minutes. This is actually the only race where I was actually able to take advantage of the free massage after the race!
So, here is what went well and what I could have done differently:
What went well:
- My mental game was pretty strong. I came into this race under trained, so I knew I had to rely on my mental strength to carry me through the late miles.
- I made friends along the course, making the miles go by really quickly. I was worried about not having my ear buds, but I was able to realize pretty early on that I wouldn’t need them.
- I fueled well for this race, which can be a challenge before destination marathons. I had oatmeal with peanut butter, a bagel, a greek yogurt and coffee. I usually start feeling slight hunger by mile 3-4 at destination races, but I really didn’t feel hungry at all during this marathon. The continental breakfast at the host hotel was substantial!
What I could have changed:
- Training – I only had 200 miles of training going into this marathon, with my longest run being a half marathon in January. I also only ran 24 miles in February – life got really busy and my training totally fell by the wayside.
- I didn’t run my back half tangents well. I ran an extra .3 mile, which is about 3.5 minutes added to my time. In the future I will not use the auto lap option for miles in a race, and manually hit the lap when I cross the mile marker – this will help my mental game when my laps are way off.
- I probably ran my first half too fast. My goal was 8:30s, so I should have stuck to them rather than let my splits pace closer to the 8:10s. Save the legs!
I am hoping to come back and run this race again, only next time with more training under my belt. This is a bucket list race that I would highly recommend. There is no better reward for running 26.2 miles than being able to spend the afternoon and next few days sipping wine at the beautiful wineries!