Napa Valley Trail Half Marathon #3

Jason is at the top of the first monster
hill of the race course.  

My third half marathon of 2013 exceeded my expectations.  Somehow I found a race that was completely different than the first two races I did, which doesn’t seem possible since they were so unique on their own!  This race was in the Napa Valley region of California (wine country!) and was completely on trail.  It was one super tough race, but a fun adventure I won’t forget.

We arrived a couple of days early to try and acclimate a little to the weather.  It was in the mid 60’s most days we were there.  However, the early mornings in the valley are cool (which is what helps make such great grapes for wine).  I think race morning started in the high 30’s/low 40’s.  Regardless, there was no snow on the ground and the air is more dry than Iowa this time of year.

We were able to walk/run a small part of the Napa Valley State Park trail the day before the race.  This both calmed my nerves by being able to actually see the terrain and wrecked my nerves because parts of the trail were steep!  It wasn’t until the start of the race that I finally relaxed enough to just go and enjoy the race.  In fact, as soon as we saw the trail, I decided to rename this adventure from “race” to “fun run” to take some of the pressure off.  It helped :)

Another rocky climb on the Napa Valley Trail.

There were three race distances – a 10k, half marathon and marathon.  The race consisted of a six mile loop, which the half marathon group ran twice.  The 10k did just one loop and the marathon did three loops with an additional loop to another area of the park.  The first part of the loop was mostly uphill (and some parts felt straight up!) and the latter half of the loop was mostly downhill.  That was such a relief on both laps to know the tough stuff was already tackled and momentum would help carry me through the end.

I went out at race start just slightly slower than my road race pace but stayed pretty consistent for longer than I anticipated.  It wasn’t until I reached the first monster hill that I had to slow my pace to a walk.

Walking happened more frequently for me during this race than any race I’ve ever done.  However, most racers walked the hills.  In a race with this type of terrain it’s about pacing yourself so that you can do the entire distance.  Once I hit the downhill portions I zoomed through lap one.

The race start line - I was nervous!

At the start of lap two, I had two small waffles (similar to Honey Stinger waffles).  I needed just a small snack because my energy was zapped.  I wore a fuel belt during this race because it wasn’t supported (it did have one aid station at the end of loop one, but that doesn’t help you at the top of one of those monster hills!).  I likely had the snack too late because I felt my legs starting to wobble.  At the first big downhill, I tripped over a rock or a root and went sliding down the trail.  I literally slid 20 or more yards.  Once I came to a stop, I just kind of looked around.  There’s that quick moment of shock.  I tore up both of my knees, my hand and my hip.  Despite the blood sliding down my knee, I jumped right back up and started running again.  The race was too important to me to let a quick spill take me out.

Post race excitement!

Apparently I had reserved something in the tank too.  When I reached around 1.5-2 miles to go, I had a sudden surge of energy.  I had been holding a very steady, safe pace when I realized I could push it a little.  I started taking off and before I knew it, I was passing a whole bunch of people.  I felt like I was zipping down that trail at 100 miles per hour.  I’m sure it was actually a little slower :)  I’m not sure how many people I passed, but I remember there being several, so my 30th place finish out of 169 felt really, really good! What was more surprising to me, and what I didn't expect after walking so much, was that I finished in under 2 hours.  Now, I heard controversy that the race was short of the 13.1 miles on many people's GPS watches.  Even Jason thought it was short.  Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, I don't know.  What I do know is that I raced really hard for just about 2 hours and I'm really excited about my effort!

The aftermath of my hill slide. 

Post race celebration with
a Napa Valley wine.

As I think about the past three races, I’m humbled, surprised and excited about my ability to run these half marathons.  It has been an exhilarating and exhausting challenge and I look forward to the next races on the list.  Racing is a fun experience – I hope that you’ve had a chance to experience crossing a finish line or that you’re considering putting an event on your to-do list.  The race itself is fun, but a lot of the excitement and joy comes from the experience to get there.  Crossing the finish line I guess is the icing on the cake.  Or in the case of this half marathon, crossing the finish line was the popping of the cork to wine tastings in Napa and Sonoma :)

Miss FitGab